Doug's 1st Movie

Yes, we all know the bland cartoon about the bland character Doug Funnie who goes to a bland school and has a bland family and a bland best friend, okay you all get the point, the show and everything about it is pretty bland. For some reason, Nickelodeon, the studio that made the series, sold it off to Disney to continue the series after the movie because Disney bought the place responsible for the show's animation, Jumbo Pictures. But enough background with the show, we are talking about the movie, which was released in Spring 1999. Because hey, a whole bunch of shows released movies based on their shows, so why not it So looking at the movie itself, will it actually be full of surprises like the swamp monster or will the movie just be like Doug's bland self? Let's find out.

The Story: Welp, I can very well say that blandness does not begin to describe this movie. As a matter-of-fact, calling it 'bland' is practically a compliment and that is not necessarily a good thing. This movie is basically all about Doug and his best friend Skeeter trying to hide the fact that a monster has emerged from his city's local lake while also struggling to live down the loser status they have during a Valentine's Day Dance at their school and the villain, Bill Bluff, is planning on destroying the lake for money purposes. Yep, it's basically the whole 'kid discovers strange creature who is harmless and a greedy businessman tries to ruin its home' plot. You can't get anymore boring, stale, predictable and unengaging than that. Heck, even other movies that have this plotline have done it better like E.T.

the Extra Terrestrial and The Iron Giant. Here however, the movie is just a regular episode of the show that is stretched out into a movie. Wait no, forget that, it actually feels like a Direct-to-Video film than a theatrical movie. Though that brings up another point, this movie was originally planned to be a straight-to-video movie, but some executive at Disney got the big idea to make this feature-length! Getting back into the movie itself, it doesn't even try to make up for its shortcomings throughout its execution. All the movie does is just Doug and Skeeter try to hide the monster form the public, they are humiliated when they get the nerve to try and expose the monster, Doug tries to make up with his crush Patty for the dance, the boys try to get their Mayor to stop Bluff from destroying the lake and a completely pointless side-plot involving the school bully Roger trying to get the monster all to himself. If I have to find any sort of enjoyability from the story, it's that at least some of the dialogue and humor are tolerable. However, they are completely overshadowed by how unengaging the story is. As I said before, calling the movie's story 'bland' is a compliment so instead, I will best describe the movie in a few words: A BORING WASTE OF TIME!

The Animation: Remember what I said before about the movie being planned to be Straight-to-Video, well the animation clearly shows that throughout the whole movie. If you saw this on the big screen back in 1999, I do not blame you for feeling like you were just watching a giant tv rather than a movie screen. That's basically the only thing I can say about the movie. Because the movie was rushed to be feature length-rather than Direct-to-Video, it leaves out any belief that this could ever be a movie fitted for the big screen. Starting with the background animation, it's only just a standard city field with houses, yards, a school and a city and the movie does nothing to make it stand out. The only place that I got to give it at least some credit for is the lake and the forest surrounding it. It may not be a large redeemable quality, but the animation on the polluted lake and the worst are sort of the best the background animation has to offer. As for the character animation, since the movie has a mostly down-to-earth tone, it does sort of work well with the movements as the characters walk around like they were actual people rather than just be quirky cartoon characters. As for the designs, like with the movements, they do make the characters feel like actual people, the variety of different colors not withstanding, since they look like reap people. The only exception to this is the monster himself, Herman Melville, as he has a dinosaur-like appearance and walks around like an actual monster. However, while the animation does have its good moments, there's just one thing that stops it from reaching it's full potential and that is, say it with me now; BLANDNESS! I mean really, the animation here is too down-to-earth and simple that you will end up feeling just as bored with it as you do with the film's story, since I have to mention once again that his movie was planned to be released on home video! And because of this, even if the animation does have some qualities you can appreciate, the blandness of it all makes that an afterthought.

The Characters: Oh boy, I can say with all honesty that I was not looking forward to analyzing the characters of the movie because, let's face it, they are all, you know what...bland. I mean these characters are so one note and simple that characters from other animated movies with this appeal like The Black Cauldron are more enjoyable to watch than these guys! To talk about the characters in a nutshell, Doug is the typical loser who tries to improve his social status, Skeeter is his goofy best friend and an annoying comic relief, Roger is the bully, Patty is the love interest, Guy is basically Doug's romantic rival, Bll Bluff is the standard businessman villain, and Porkchop is Doug's loyal dog who's basically Gromit from Wallace and Gromit. The only character who I think sort of stands out from the rest is the monster himself Herman Melville. His child-like demeanor and the fact that he is a literal fish-out-of-water does sort give the movie some humor, especially when Doug and Skeeter dress him up as a girl, which lead to some of the funniest scenes. As for the rest of the cast, well to be honest, they do not really make the feature any better, as characters like Bebe Bluff, the Mayor and Roger's gang seem like they're only there because they were in the tv show. Speaking of which, I feel like that's why the characters in the movie aren't all that great; it's because they belong on a tv show, not an animated movie! If there is anything good i can say about these characters, it's that at least the voicing acting is decent. While the script they are given is utter trash, you can tell that they are at least trying their best with what they have. Other than that though, I think it's safe to say that the blandness of the characters speaks for itself.

If there is a film that can be best described as "Bland: The Movie", this movie would fill that category to a tee! Doug's 1st Movie the most simple and dullest movie that was ever made and is a prime example as why some movies based on a cartoon should stay a cartoon. In fact, I would be a lot more tolerable to the movie if the people who made it stayed the course and made it to a Direct-to-Video, or at least a Made-for-TV movie, because at least then, I wouldn't be so hard on it, but no, it had be on the big screen. Yes, there are some good things to take from it, but they pale in comparison to the rest of the movie's flaws. I cannot begin to describe how pleased I am that I am finishing this review because I do not have to put up with this blandness ever again! Heck, that is the last time I am ever using this word when describing the movie! Oh and before I forget, it gets the AniMat Seal of Garbage! Nickelodeon, if you ever watch this, please heed my words when I say that you dodged a bullet when you disavowed the series.

Story: 2/10

Animation: 4/10

Characters: 3/10

Score: 3/10