Like a standard merry-go-round The Magic Roundabout moves quickly but goes nowhere. Stars including Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy and pop prince Robbie Williams provide some amusement as the wacky residents of The Enchanted Village, but the cogs need greasing on a rickety plot that centres on a quest for magic diamonds. Most disappointing is that this CG-animated adventure airbrushes the sly charm and trippy otherworldliness which made the 60s stop-motion series a cult hit among kids and grown-ups alike.
Trouble begins when sugar-addicted mutt Dougal (Robbie Williams) accidentally releases the villainous Zeebad (Tom Baker) from a supernatural prison. For no particular reason except that he's mean, Zeebad freezes the magic roundabout and tips the world into the next ice age. Dougal must put things right by recovering three mystical diamonds with the help of spring-loaded sorcerer Zebedee (Ian McKellen), affable snail Brian (Jim Broadbent), opera-singing cow Ermintrude (Joanna Lumley) and spaced-out rabbit Dylan (Bill Nighy).
"THE STORY ISN'T INHERENTLY FUNNY"
Williams is fine as Dougal, but a doleful Broadbent stands out with lines like, "Let's charge them!" before proceeding to slither at a snail's pace. As the dippy hippy Nighy also offers a few laughs, but these are thinly scattered and fail to distract from the clanking plot mechanics. In contrast to recent US tooners like Shrek and The Incredibles, the story isn't inherently funny, relevant, or convincing. Essentially it's too 'dumbed down', tragically bypassing the cheeky 60s subtext of the original TV show and sapping its nostalgia value. In short, the magic is gone.
The Magic Roundabout (2005)
