kingandy | The Magic Roundabout

Just got back from the cinema with my mum - late afternoon showing, there was us and three families in the cinema, nice and quiet really.

I enjoyed The Magic Roundabout immensely^[1]. As children's films go, it was a thumping good motion picture; the mood was perhaps rather darker than is common, and there were moments of actual tension - though these were marred slightly by the fact that, being a children's movie, you knew that everything would turn out alright and nobody would die. That said, the stakes were high, the threat was real and the proof was in the pudding. No, I don't know what I mean.

The plot was standard quest-item-collection fayre, with the it-was-here-all-along variant ending and an its-all-your-fault trigger. Yes, things were kept simple and occasionally reiterated so the younger audience members could keep up, but there was the odd complication to keep it interested.

The plot out of the way, let's move onto the writing, of which I thought quite highly. As I mentioned, the mood was quite dark (considering the subject material); something which becomes apparent from the really quite distressing opener. The dialogue remains true to character right the way through (though some may take umbrage with Dylan's fight scene) and the inter-character relationships even develop a little through the course of the adventure. There was plenty of foreshadowing and even a gun loaded in Act One (alright, maybe Act Two) that was not seen again until the finale. Nothing, I think, is pulled out of anyone's ass to save the day; it's all clearly seen on screen up to an hour beforehand. And, in keeping with the original series, the dialogue was littered with puns and people talking at cross-purposes, one high point being a conversation between Brian and Ermintrude regarding stars. He is thinking romantically about the sky, she is reading a magazine about celebrities.

(While I'm thinking about puns and double entendres, I'll note Dylan's concern that, should Zeebad be triumphant, nothing will grow, not even grass. It alarms him considerably and is a theme that is later referenced on several occasions.)

Visually, the movie is impressive. Things look solid, the snow looks (quite) real and there's lots of hair. Somewhere along the line somebody made a conscious decision to make things as close to the original models as possible, to the point where Ermintrude's legs are clearly made of fabric and there's a seam down Brian's side. Nods to the series are thrown in as frequently as is reasonably practicable - trees and flowers on maps and noticeboards, for example, are the monotone cardboard-cutouts from the TV show. (Pleased to see at least two of the non-Florence children from the TV series present and correct - Rosalie and, I think, Paul. Though they are not named as such and have no lines to speak of. Disappointed that the original theme tune was not used, or even referenced in passing.)

My favourite scene was probably the full-on Wizard's War between Zeebad and Zebedee, with fire and ice bolts flinging around and mid-air spring acrobatics. There was even a "Fly, you fools!" moment, as Zebedee fell into a chasm. Smashing.

So overall, a quite solid movie, and a good way to spend an afternoon if you don't mind your action movies bright and colourful, with rounded edges, and lots of fun.

[1] But then, I enjoyed the Hulk movie, so what do I know.