The Magic Roundabout (2005)

The rope. * replace the o with an a cuz IMDb wont let me use it) scene got me hard. When the springy dude. Took out his 13in mamba. My kids asked what is that mum? To which i beat them for not cleaning skid marks out of my boxers. However, overall i'd give it 8 orphans out of 10. However the heroin overdose scene got to my heart a bit.

This seemed to me like the perfect example of marketing gone wrong ! It's a pre-school property, but they want to get as many viewers as humanely possible, so they age it up to try and get 9 year olds, and add in jokes tailored for adults et al. But without the scriptwriting abilities of a Pixar or even a Dreamworks. Result : my 3 yr-old jumped out of his seat into my lap from the intro - too fast, too loud. I didn't even laugh politely at the jokes BUT I saw the original french version, there is yet some hope that it might have gained in the translation - that would be a first ! And visually, too bright too colorful, ends up being downright ugly !I attended the Paris launch event, and after the viewing, few and far between were those who went to congratulate the team. Kinda heartbreaking actually as they had put together a really nice event.

Let's get clear with two things first: 1. I have not seen anything of the original show so my childhood could not be ruined by this movie. 2. This is a movie for children and children only. Parents may not enjoy the jokes and the plot as much as the children accompanying them, but I say at least we see a movie that is not too "grown-up" for those some-year-old. And with the lively characters they can emotionally connect to, surprisingly nice CGI graphics and enjoyable music it's sure they will not be bored for a second; rather be fully entertained by the big adventure story that playfully steals scenes from other adventure movies - but from the greatest ones, namely Indiana Jones and The Lord of the Rings (okay, and from other movies too). If I was a kid, I would have loved this movie. As an adult I see it's a great and spectacular children's movie.

My friends dragged me to see this with them for a joke. The cinema was full of kids and I was really embarrassed! But I definitely don't regret seeing it.The plot was, unfortunately, the weakest part of the movie. It was just so Saturday-morning-cartoonish (complete with evil twins, magic diamonds and walking skeletons) that anyone in the cinema over the age of nine is unlikely to be interested. But anyone under that age will be delighted from start to finish.It's the cast and music that really did it for me. Robbie Williams, despite his complete lack of experience as an actor, pulls off his role as Dougal with natural skill and emotion, which is pleasantly surprising. Jim Broadbent and Joanna Lumley seem to have great fun in their roles (as Brian the snail and Ermintrude the cow respectively) and Bill Nighy, well, lets just say there's no one else in the world who could've done Dylan the drug-addled bunny like he did ("no way man! I'm in, like, a higher state of unconsciousness..."). Kylie Minogue did well enough, but she only has about three lines. Tom Baker and Sir Ian Mackellen also seemed to enjoy giving very camp performances as the arch rival jack-in-the-boxes Zebedee and Zeebad (though Sir Ian sounded a little too much like Gandalf). The music, which seems to include vocal performances from Kylie and Robbie, is fantastic and well above average for a kids film today. If you've seen the film, I think you'll agree the soundtrack is a must-buy! But still, it's not all great. The plot is full of gaping holes, and while it mostly works with a very young audience in mind, the jokes aimed at adults are not laugh-out-loud funny, they just raise a knowing smile. There are some rather strange movie references too. It features references to Pulp Fiction, LoTR, and The Matrix (courtesy of some unexpected kung-fu fighting on Dylan's part) and I'll be damned if I saw a Dragon Ball Z reference in there! (Watch the scene where Zebad fights Zebedee for the first time - then again maybe it was just cheesy...) I never saw enough of the original 5 minute episodes to be a fan, but really, it seems very different from the original, so old-time fans may be disappointed, or maybe they'll appreciate seeing their old favourites in some new action-packed situations. It's up to them.Yes, it falls flat in MANY places, but it's also got a childish, endearing charm that may make you wish you were seven again.