23
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxThe original English scripts certainly were peppered with sly, topical asides aimed squarely at adults. Paul Bassett Davies' updated screenplay attempts to follow suit, but what passes for topical these days is pretty much limited to industry inside jokes and constant allusions other movies. Thankfully, the animation itself is thoroughly inspired.
- 50The Globe and Mail (Toronto)The Globe and Mail (Toronto)The slapdash dialogue and smug vocal talent -- even the presence of the much-loved host of "The Daily Show" is wearying -- detract from the visual appeal of the most energetic sequences (like a raucous train chase) and what's left of Danot's designs.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckStrictly for the small-fry set, lacking the visual style, wit or imagination necessary to entice adult viewers.
- 40L.A. WeeklyMark OlsenL.A. WeeklyMark OlsenDoogal is one of those pickup-and-redub jobs, the original version having been made by European studio Pathé based on a 1960s British children’s show, "The Magic Roundabout." And lacking even the minimal pop-cultural pizzazz of "Hoodwinked," the story, dialogue and animation here really are for-kids-only.
- 38New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardA dreadful animated movie stuffed with bad puns and little internal logic. More dangerous than the world icing over is the danger of eyeballs rolling back into the heads of parents accompanying kids to this.
- An animated clunker.
- 25New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickWilliam H. Macy lends a little class as a snail, but Smith nails it in the closing-credit outtakes: "Don't expect Robin Williams-caliber work."
- 25Boston GlobeBoston GlobeCharm-free, incoherent, and heartlessly sentimental, this woodenly animated co-production by American, British, and French companies offers boredom and irritation for parents, needlessly scary images for tots, and, for the pubescent boys who apparently run mass culture, a flatulent blue moose. It's ugly to look at, too.
- 25Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe polite word for all this is "repurposing," a euphemism for "hauling someone else's garbage."
- 25San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSan Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubIt's a movie that scrounges so desperately for laughs, it features both a flatulent moose and a flatulent train.