Dougal and the Blue Cat

Dougal and the Blue Cat (Pollux et le Chat Bleu) is a French-British animated fantasy musical film based on the The Magic Roundabout. It was released in France in December 1970 before its English version, narrated and voiced by Eric Thompson, was released in the UK in 1972.

Plot
Life at the Magic Roundabout is disrupted when a blue cat called Buxton finds his way into the garden. Everyone loves Buxton except for Dougal, who discovers the cat's evil plan to take over the garden, make everything blue, become king of the blue army and destroy all who are not blue.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It remains entirely faithful to the source material of the original show where all the characters, even Dougal, are still likeable and charming in their ways.
 * 2) The plot of the film is well-written and splendid with great direction from the original show's creator Serge Danot.
 * 3) Excellent narration and voice acting from Eric Thompson with the same wit and charm. It even features Fenella Fielding as the voice of Madam Blue while Eric Thompson provided the voices for all the characters.
 * 4) The stop-motion animation for 1970s standards, in the same style from the original series itself, is remarkable.
 * 5) There are numerous songs written for the film, such as "Florence, it's a Lovely Morning" and "Success! King Buxton".
 * 6) It introduces two of the main villains in the film who are both sinister and cunning.
 * 7) * Buxton the blue cat, he pretends to be their friend when everyone takes a liking to him, while he is secretly intending to take over the garden as the blue king and destroy anything that is not blue. He manages to keep everyone from suspecting his evil plans when Dougal tries to warn them that he is evil after finding out his evil plans from the abandoned treacle factory.
 * 8) * Madam Blue, she wants everything in the universe to be coloured blue. She is shown to be more sinister and menacing than Buxton where she doesn't hesitate to threaten him during his test of the seven doors in the factory in order to crown him the title of king.
 * 9) The original French version of the film is just as good as the English version.
 * 10) It has some very emotional and heartbreaking moments.
 * 11) * When Buxton's army captures all the characters, except Dougal, and imprisoned them in the factory dungeons, Florence tearfully sings her sad song about this as she, along with everyone else, cries.
 * 12) * The scene when everyone thought Brian was dead when the snail went back into the treacle factory to retrieve Zebedee's magic mustache seconds before it collapses, even Dougal tearfully and genuinely admits that Brian was his best friend. Buxton came to the garden in tears of remorse over his actions after an enraged Madam Blue stripped him from his title as king.
 * 13) The scenes in the film are just heartwarming.
 * 14) * Dougal surprising Florence with a bouquet of flowers when she arrives in the garden to introduce Buxton to Dougal. In the French version of the film, it is mentioned that it's also her birthday.
 * 15) * Dylan singing a lullaby for Buxton while Ermintrude and Brian make up Dougal's bed for Buxton to sleep in.
 * 16) The ending of the film was happy and heartwarming when everyone forgives Buxton for his actions as Brian shows up alive and unharmed with Zebedee's magic mustache before everyone goes for a ride on the Magic Roundabout.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some scenes, such as when Buxton enters the Nightmare Room during his test and Madam Blue's thunder storm around the factory in the scene where Dougal rescues his friends from the dungeons can be frightening for younger viewers.
 * 2) During Florence's sad song as everyone starts shedding tears, Ermintrude has a plastered smile on her face as she's shedding tears, though Florence and Brian are respectively sporting visible frowns for the first time. For the later scene when everyone is crying again when they thought Brian was dead, Ermintrude's face had to be more lowered so her smile isn't as noticeable on screen.

Reception
Dougal and the Blue Cat received positive reviews with an 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes based on over 250 ratings, an 7.1/10 from IMDb and an 3.7/5 from Letterboxd based on 214 ratings.

Trivia

 * While Eric Thompson provided the voices for all the characters in the film, he didn't want to voice Madam Blue and instead gave the role to Fenella Fielding because he wanted that character to have its own distinctive voice that stands out and echo its mysterious and sinister personality.