A Film Review by James Berardinelli
Featuring the voices of: Thomas McHugh, Fred Newman, Chris Phillips, Constance Shulman, Frank Welker, Doug Preis, Guy Hadley, Alice Playten
Director: Maurice Joyce
Producers: Jim Jinkins, David Campbell, Melanie Grisanti, Jack Spillum
Screenplay: Ken Scarborough
Music: Mark Watters
U.S. Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Doug's 1st Movie represents a new nadir in animated entertainment. What's surprising about this is that the film is a product of Walt Disney Productions, a studio that prides itself on quality animation. Now, I realize I'm not a member of the picture's target audience, which, judging by the on-screen evidence, is comprised of two groups: children not yet old enough to form full sentences and adults who have recently been lobotomized. Nevertheless, even movies made for the most undiscriminating audience should offer something redeeming. The only good things I could find about Doug's 1st Movie are that it's in focus and there's no sign of Pauly Shore.
Those looking for silver linings might observe that the film has a skinny running length of 73 minutes. However, that only seems like a boon until you're forced to endure those 73 minutes. Length doesn't mean much when you're being tortured. What does matter is the intensity of the experience, and, when it comes to that, only a handful of films come to mind that are more unpleasant. There are times when reviewing movies seems like the best job in the world. Then there are occasions when I'd rather be strapped to a chair listening to Michael Bolton and Celine Dion songs. This is one of those instances.
Although this is Doug's first foray to the big screen, it's certainly not the first time he has been exposed to the American public. (This, by the way, explains the existence of the movie. No one would possibly fund something this bad if there wasn't already a guaranteed, built-in audience.) Doug began life back in 1991 on Nickelodeon. In 1996, Disney acquired the property and moved the series to ABC, where, now renamed "Disney's Doug", it began a weekly run that catapulted it, however improbably, to the top of the Saturday morning ratings heap. When Paramount announced it was developing The Rugrats Movie, Disney moved quickly to get their own TV cartoon franchise on the fast track to theaters. And, as bad as the former film is, it's a masterpiece when compared to Doug's 1st Movie.
The movie, like the TV program, takes place in the small, sleepy town of Bluffington. It's there that Doug Funnie (voice of Thomas McHugh) and his friends, Skeeter Valentine (Fred Newman), Patti Mayonnaise (Connie Shulman), and Beebe Bluff (Alice Playten), spend their days like most 12-year olds with blue, green, and purple faces: going to school. With the annual Valentine's Day dance coming up, Doug is trying to work up the courage to express his affection for Patti, but a complication comes along in the person of Guy Graham (Guy Hadley), a dashing upperclassman who is also attracted to her. Meanwhile, Skeeter has discovered that the legendary Monster of Lucky Duck Lake is actually a harmless, caring creature.
For a 22-minute Saturday morning cartoon, the style and content of Doug's 1st Movie would be fine. In a motion picture, however, they're an embarrassment. The vocal characterizations are bland and the storyline (what there is of one, at least) is thinner than one-ply toilet tissue. Perhaps the biggest shocker of all is how bad Doug's 1st Movie looks, especially considering that Disney is the backer. The simplistic animation is unacceptable for a big screen project - it's on par with the line-drawing approach used in the old Charlie Brown TV holiday specials (while lacking the Peanuts' inherent charm and clever humor). If it takes years to craft something like Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King, one can assume that Doug's 1st Movie was dashed off in a few months at a fraction of the cost. The film makers claim they "upgraded" the animation for the movie from "Disney's Doug." If that's the case, it doesn't show. Rarely has an attempt to bilk the public out of hard-earned cash ever been more obvious.
Doug's creators, Jim Jenkins and David Campbell, along with director Maurice Joyce and writer Ken Scarborough, have pulled off the increasingly less-difficult task of bringing a barely watchable motion picture into wide release. Doug's 1st Movie exemplifies all that's bad about today's brand of so-called "family features" - it's dumb, unsophisticated, and cheesy. Parents dragged to see this film by their offspring are hereby warned to bring headphones. I can only hope that Doug's 1st Movie will also be his last.
© 1999 James Berardinelli