The magic roundabout train chase was an iconic scene from the 2005 film "The Magic Roundabout". In this scene, the characters Dougal, Brian, and Zebedee find themselves in a thrilling chase aboard a train. The chase begins when the evil Zeebad, who has stolen a magic diamond, attempts to escape on a train. Dougal, Brian, and Zebedee are determined to stop Zeebad and retrieve the diamond. The train chase takes place on a precarious and winding track, adding to the excitement and danger of the scene. The three heroes use their wit and resourcefulness to outsmart Zeebad and his henchmen, who are determined to protect the stolen diamond at all costs.
The Magic Roundabout/Doogal
Once, while I was in America on holiday, I saw something on TV that greatly confused me: a trailer for the then upcoming Johnny English Reborn movie. Thing is, I’d already seen the trailer back home. But here it was different. Everyone in the film, besides Rowan Atkinson, had been redubbed despite the original voices being English. Well I looked into this and I discovered that American dubs of British media is far more common than you’d expect. For the most part, it’s done to swap out British lingo for more recognisable American terms.
Fun game to play in America: Use a sentence with the word “trousers” and look at the confusion on their face.
But this got me thinking. There are a lot of examples of films or tv shows having certain elements altered when they’re dubbed for another country, ranging from basic name changes to even plot alterations. With that in mind, could there therefore exist a case of an American dub of a British film so different from the original that it requires a separate analysis? And wouldn’t you know it, I found said case. So today, let’s take a look at The Magic Roundabout as well as its American redub, which is so different, it doesn’t even have the same name: Doogal… Seriously, they don’t even use the word roundabout in this version. It’s either a carousel or a merry go round.
Based on the classic British kids show (of which we have little memory of, so hey, unbiased review) it honestly does make sense they’d change the title at least seeing as it’d have no brand recognition in the states. But some of the changes…. Well, we’ll get to those. Now since we’re technically reviewing two movies (or at least two versions of the same movie) at once, this could get a little long and confusing. So please try to pay close attention.
The movies take place once again in that most curious of worlds where both humans and animals can talk yet the class system remains the same. Or at least it does for dogs since the main character: a skye terrier called Dougal/Doogal (Dougal = UK. Doogal = US. Hope that helps) is the only one with an owner.
He’s walking through the village as a rabbit called Dylan and a cow called Ermintrude are… giving us a rendition of “You Really Got Me”. Yeah, both films are jukebox musicals. Say what you want about Strange Magic, at least the songs actually tie in to what’s going on, here it’s just filler. Thankfully, the US version cuts most of these, leaving in the bare minimum. In fact, most of its soundtrack choices overall are better since the UK version often has very familiar musical scores that won’t fit the tone of a scene. So, points for that… Sadly, it then loses those points for then tacking on cartoon sound effects and a completely pointless narration from Judi Dench.
Barely nine minutes in, having not established anything, Dougal/Doogal accidentally damages a roundabout, resulting in it freezing over and sealing his owner and some townspeople inside. Instead of trying to… you know… melt the ice, he and his friends call upon the help of the wizard Zebedee: some kind of part man part spring monstrosity. Also, he’s voiced by Ian Mckellen, the only voice actor present in both versions thanks to the magic of star power.
The UK version had Kylie Minogue, Ray Winston and Jim Broadbent. Why did their star power fail?
Zebedee (something Spellchecker recognises as a real word for some reason) reveals that the magic roundabout doubled as a prison for his evil icy opposite… sigh… Zeebad… How clever. I can’t be the only one who thought he should be called Zobedee, right?
(Why should he be called that?)
You know, Hippity Hoppity. Bibbity Bobbity. Zebedee Zobedee. Would have made sense.
Zeebad sets about his plans of freezing the world with the help of his newfound henchman, Sam the soldier: a toy soldier animatronic that fell off the roundabout which he gave sentience. Because apparently Zeebad’s ice powers work on the same principle as Elsa’s.
With the first act over before it began, Zebedee sends Dougal/Doogal, Dylan, Ermintrude, a snail called Brian and a talking train off on a quest to gather three magical diamonds. If they get them first, they’ll be able to imprison Zeebad again. If Zeebad gets them first, he’ll be able to use them to FREEZE THE SUN!
(That last part sounds kinda awesome)
Believe me, it’s not.
From here on out, the plot’s pretty predictable. Heroes vs villains. Treasure hunt plotline. Basic stuff. The problem is, we aren’t invested because as you may have noticed, we haven’t had any time to connect with the characters. Dougal/Doogal goes on and on about how he’s worried about his owner, yet we find it hard sympathising since we know nothing about either of them or their relationship.
Speaking of characters, you’ll notice some stark contrasts between versions. Take Ermintrude for example. In the UK version, we get an opera loving aristocratic Joanna Lumley performance. In the US, we get a Whoopi Goldberg-esque character played by Whoopi Goldberg.
How come Whoopi Goldberg can only play herself and Guinan?
The redub is something of a double-edged sword though, as the UK Zeebad played by Tom Baker is a typical dark and growly villain we’ve seen fifty thousand times. The US Zeebad played by Jon Stewart is more of a jokey, casual villain, which in all honesty is my preferred kind of villain. And he does have some occasionally funny lines.
Comedy for that matter varies. The UK version has some pretty lame lines or at some points no jokes at all. The US adds in extra dialogue that while at times gets annoying, does result in a good line. For example there’s a scene in Zeebad’s ice lair (of which all exterior shots are cut in the US version. So far, the strangest edit they’ve done) where Sam is polishing some ice weapons. UK version: complete silence. US version: we get a self-aware bit where Sam says “nice weapons sir. I just hope we never have to fight anyone at room temperature”.
But the double-edged sword strikes again. The UK version has its own self-aware bit where the heroes meet a mute moose that they try to communicate with. Ermintrude says “whoever heard of a talking moose?” prompting the train to say “says the talking cow”. Again, a funny line. But it’s ruined in the US version as the moose is now voiced by Kevin Smith. Even so, Ermintrude’s line is still there… and yet Train’s isn’t. In fact, most of Train’s lines have been removed. You went through the trouble of getting Chevy Chase to redub him and then take away most of his parts in the script? Why? My only theory is it’s because Train is the easiest to redub as he hasn’t got a mouth and they didn’t wanna waste the opportunity.
So far then, a mixed bag both sides. They’re neck and neck. What’s the one thing that’s gonna separate them? Whelp, there’s one factor you need to consider with the US version. At the time, Shrek was immensely popular. Therefore, everyone in Hollywood was working on the principle of: Fantasy Setting + Pop Culture References + Fart Jokes = Ka-Ching.
As such, the moose now has a flatulence problem and there’s references scattered throughout. And I don’t mean there’s a subtle wink here and there. They’re everywhere! 50% of the dialogue is just them talking about films, TV, celebrities, etc, sometimes at complete random. Seeing as I don’t have nearly enough time to make fun of them all, here’s a list of all the things they reference and expect very little kids to know about. Enjoy!
- Blue Man Group
- Snickers
- Three Musketeers (the chocolate bar. Not the group)
- Looney Tunes
- Halo
- Mission Impossible
- The Little Engine That Could
- Arthurian Legend
- Lord of the Rings
- Pimp My Ride
- Art Garfunkel (had to look that one up)
- Humvees
- King Kong
- Tomb Raider
- Pink Floyd
- Soul Train
- The Shining
- Michael Jackson’s Thriller
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Budweiser
- Dawn of the Dead
- The Matrix
- The Wu-Tang Clan
- Hammer Time
- Karate Kid
- Harry Potter
- CSI
- Indiana Jones
- Star Wars
- Austin Powers
- Star Trek
- Thomas the tank engine
- The Apprentice
- The Terminator
- Paul McCartney
- David Beckham
At least there’s one positive to this move. It allowed you to discover Art Garfunkel.
I haven’t seen something this dated since when I looked at my calendar this morning. Nobody’s able to get any characterisation in simply because there’s too much pop culture. Granted there wasn’t much characterisation in the UK version to begin with, but at least it was easier to differentiate between actual dialogue and stuff they’re quoting.
The Magic Roundabout is… Ok at best. It’s your basic kids adventure. You can show it to your very little kids and it’ll keep them distracted for an hour and fifteen minutes. Doogal meanwhile is a testament to the earlier 2000s. Everything bad about that era of film is here… Which is why out of the two, it is the one I recommend.
Like I said, The Magic Roundabout is ok. It’s a harmless, mostly brainless kids film. Doogal is bad, a special kind of bad that only comes along once in a while. You can’t help but laugh at how awful this came out. They added some clips at the end showing the voice actors doing the recordings and it’s clear they’re having fun while doing this. It sorta has the same feel as an Abridged series. The difference being that rather laughing at how they’ve added self-awareness to something that played it straight, you’re laughing at how they managed to mess up what was supposed to be a simple redub job so badly.
It’s probably funnier if you have seen the UK version before the US version, but I still maintain that Doogal has to be seen to be believed.
Doogal
Doogal is the official American English-language dub of The Magic Roundabout (released in France as Pollux - Le manège enchanté), a 2005 French-British computer-animated adventure fantasy film based on the TV series of the same name. Doogal was released in the United States, produced by Action Synthese Studio and distributed by The Weinstein Company, where audiences are not as familiar with the series on February 24, 2006. While the original 2005 FN/UK version of the movie and the 2007 revival television series it was based on the original 1963 television series had mixed-to-positive critical and audience feedback, Doogal is panned and is considered to be one of the worst animated movies or dubs ever made. It is a rare case where a dub of a movie and the original are judged on different spectrums.
The three heroes use their wit and resourcefulness to outsmart Zeebad and his henchmen, who are determined to protect the stolen diamond at all costs. The train speeds through various obstacles and landscapes, including tunnels and bridges, making the chase even more thrilling. As the chase progresses, the train reaches incredible speeds, with the heroes narrowly avoiding collisions and jumps.
Why It’s Always Crashing And Falling Down Rather Than Spinning Round And Round [ edit | edit source ]
PNote: This will only focus on issues present in Doogal (the American version of The Magic Roundabout) - references to any narrative issues present in the French/UK English dubs are based on their continued problematic presence in the former'
- Overuse of pointless narration (presumably in an attempt to justify the cost of hiring Judi Dench in the role) of things that viewers can see for themselves, often undercutting several of the film's more prominent dramatic scenes (most notably Zeebad's breakout and the slow-motion climax)
- Poor attempts at humour, consisting mostly of constant pop culture references and flatulence jokes, much like most Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer films, which were not present in the original British version. It could be because The Weinstein Company wanted the film to be more fitting to Americans because Americans were obsessed with pop culture references and toilet humour, because apparently they made them laugh for some odd reason. The film therefore suffers from an incessant number of context-irrelevant and overly rapid-fire pop-culture allusions, some of the more egregious as follows:
- When the now-audible skeletons ambush Doogal and the gang, the first one says "Here’s Johnny" from The Shining, another says, "Bring out your dead!" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and when one skeleton just flat-out mentions Pirates of the Caribbean, another tells him "Hey, I thought we said no Disney Jokes", followed by one yelling “Wazzup” from Scary Movie.
- Upon discovery of the hidden tunnel, Zeebad says, "Well, someone’s been watching CSI."
- A reference to mh:Besttvshows:Thomas & Friends is said during the chase scene where Zeebad says "Are we gonna lose this race to Thomas the Tank Engine?", even though Thomas has nothing to do with The Magic Roundabout!
- When the gang finds the first diamond, Dylan catches the diamond and lustfully claims "My precious" and then "Just kidding", referencing Lord of the Rings.
- During the camping scene, there was added sound effects where Brian is playing a video game and he says “Master Chief ate it!”, referencing Halo, even though he never owned a gaming console in the original movie!
- During the temple scene with the skeletons, Dylan mentions Pink Floyd, and asks to be referred to as Neo from The Matrix.
- When Train first appears, he says, "I'm the train, and you're not", which references Saturday Night Live, which also starred Chevy Chase.
- Ermintrude says of the skeletons, "Lookin' all Dawn of the Dead and everything.", referencing Dawn of the Dead.
- When Ermintrude wakes Dylan up from a nap, Dylan says "What's up, Doc?", which is Bugs Bunny's catchphrase.
- The Train says "I think I can, I think I can" when trying to climb back up the ledge which is a reference to both Dumbo and The Little Engine That Could.
- When the skeletons turn into one giant skeleton, Doogal tells him that he and his friends are "a couple of Muggles on our way to Hogwarts here for a pickup from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named", referencing Harry Potter.
- Zeebad jokes about a Star Trek convention during the train battle scene.
- There are so many random pop-culture references that we wish to add to the list, but all 83 are listed in IMDb.
- Both Screenwriter Cory Edwards, co-writer of Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil and Harvey Weinstein are mostly to blame for these unfunny jokes.
- The original version of the movie was already in English, but the film was rarely unknown to Americans, so The Weinstein Company decided to make it popular to only the USA and that’s it. It can be argued that US cultural preferences differ to the extent where a redub could be justified (particularly in light of the unfamiliarity of the franchise to general US audiences), the redub in question attempts to distance itself from the UK dub by exaggerating its 'Americanized' humour and dialogue to an absurd, almost self-parodying degree, indicating The Weinstein Company’s approach to adapting the film to be overly extreme.
- “Things are about to get hairy”, we’re sure things are going to get way worse!
- The trailer is false advertising: It claims the movie is created by Butch Hartman (though he isn’t mentioned) with the line "From the creator of The Fairly Odd Parents;" this is 100% false since he only wrote only 3% of his script for the movie that appears in the final version.
- The majority of the original British voices have been dubbed over by celebrities more familiar to the American public, solely for target nationality/to increase box office returns and regardless of the extent to which these actors actually fit their respective roles (such as Kevin Smith as the infamous flatulent moose). Only two members of the original British cast, Ian McKellen and Kylie Minogue return to reprise their roles.
- However, Minogue decided to re-dub her role with an American accent, while McKellen remained the only actor whose voice was unchanged.
- It has no sense of pacing.
- In the original version of the film, some characters like the Train and the Moose barely speak. But in this movie, they were given voices solely to provide Kevin Smith and Chevy Chase cameo appearances (also in the original United Kingdom version, the moose did not talk, but the train could do so).
- The lip-syncing is very poor.
- Terrible voice acting, except for Ian McKellen and Kylie Minogue, even from famous actors such as Jimmy Fallon as Dylan, Whoopi Goldberg as Ermintrude, William H. Macy as Brian, Chevy Chase as Train, and Jon Stewart as Zeebad. Barely any of the cast show enthusiasm because of how dead they sound. Almost none of them were even trying.
- On a related note, the voice of Doogal provided by Daniel Tay sounds nothing like Robbie Williams. Also, why would Doogal need a voice of a child?
- In the first trailer of Doogal, they kept Doogal’s original actor, but not in the actual movie!
- The characters are flanderized in this dub. For example, Doogal became a cowardly idiot. Another example is that Dylan became a fast talker and an immature comic relief character.
- Many scenes and bits were cut and moved around in this version for continuity. For example, a post-credit scene showing Zeebad in his prison was removed from the American version for unknown reasons, and live footage of the American actors recording for the film was added into the end credits. A sequence that features the song "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra was moved to the very end of the film, as a credits song. Every shot that involved Zeebad's ice fortress was also cut from this movie. Glimpses of the fort can be seen in the background in a few shots, but it's never shown in full view.
- Poor grasp of the source material, especially for an adaptation (despite American audiences' lack of familiarity with the 1960s TV basis).
- Plot Hole: It is revealed at the end of the movie that the ice enclosing the carousel could've been cracked through conventional means since Ermintrude breaks the ice with her singing.
Dougal, Brian, and Zebedee work together as a team, using their unique skills and abilities to navigate the challenges of the chase. Zebedee, with his magical spring, bounces effortlessly between cars and obstacles, while Dougal provides comic relief and Brian uses his intelligence to outwit the villains. Throughout the chase, the heroes encounter numerous heart-stopping moments, including near misses and daring escapes. The tension builds as the train nears its destination, and the fate of the stolen diamond hangs in the balance. Ultimately, the heroes are able to outsmart Zeebad and retrieve the magic diamond, bringing an end to the thrilling chase. The magic roundabout train chase is a highlight of the film, showcasing the creativity, wit, and bravery of the beloved characters. It is a scene that captivates audiences with its fast-paced action and edge-of-your-seat excitement. The magic roundabout train chase is a timeless and exhilarating moment in cinema history, leaving a lasting impression on viewers of all ages..
Reviews for "The Magical Elements in The Magic Roundabout Train Chase"
1. Sarah - 2 stars - The magic roundabout train chase was a complete mess. The plot was confusing and all over the place, making it hard to follow along and connect with any of the characters. The action sequences were poorly executed, with choppy editing and unconvincing special effects. Overall, I found it to be a disappointing and underwhelming experience.
2. Mark - 1 star - I really didn't enjoy watching The magic roundabout train chase. The story was predictable and lacking any real depth. The acting was subpar, with unconvincing performances from the entire cast. The train chase itself was just plain boring, with no real tension or excitement. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on this film.
3. Emily - 2 stars - The magic roundabout train chase was a huge letdown. The whole concept of a train chase seemed exciting, but the execution fell flat. The pacing was off, with long stretches of nothing happening followed by brief moments of mediocre action. The dialogue was clichéd and filled with forced humor that missed the mark. I was hoping for a thrilling and entertaining experience, but unfortunately, this film didn't deliver.
4. Alex - 1 star - The magic roundabout train chase was a disaster. The plot was convoluted and made little sense, leaving me confused and uninterested throughout the film. The characters were one-dimensional and unlikable, with no development or depth. The train chase itself was poorly shot and lacked any real excitement. Overall, I found this movie to be a waste of time and would not recommend it to anyone.