We watched Dougal and the Blue Cat, a stop-motion film made in 1970 on the strength of the incredibly successful TV series The Magic Roundabout. This was a children’s series made in France and exported all around Europe. It became a cult favorite with kids and adults in the UK for good reason. It’s simple, charming, and Eric Thompson’s scripts are full of winking little gags for any grownups in the audience. Each little five minute episode is delightfully cute and if you don’t smile all through any given short, you may have a hole in your soul.
However, what works brilliantly in five minutes somehow pales when told in eighty. For the grownups, anyway. Our son was so captivated and charmed by this movie that it would be churlish not to recommend it for any under-eights in your own home. It’s certainly better than darn near any modern computer-animated cartoon, and even if your kid won’t quite understand that references to Blue Peter are actually gags, there’s enough fun here to keep them amused and not frightened.
Honestly, any movie that involves Zebedee losing his magic mustache to the machinations of a wicked cat called Buxton who thinks he’s the king and schemes to turn the garden blue can’t be called a bad movie. Just not really one I enjoyed, surprisingly. But the kid did, and that’s what counts.
Fire Breathing Dimetrodon Time 