Dooly the Little Dinosaur: Ice Star Adventure

Dooly the Little Dinosaur: Ice Star Adventure (Korean: 아기공룡 둘리 - 얼음별 대모험; agigonglyong dulli - eol-eumbyeol daemoheom) (also simply known as The Little Dinosaur, Dooly) is a 1996 South Korean fantasy comedy adventure animated film based on the 1987-88 television series Dooly the Little Dinosaur as well as the manhwa of the same name. The film is directed by Kim Soo-jung (creator of Dooly) and Kyung Won Lim. It was released on July 24, 1996 in South Korea to commercial and financial success.

구성 (Plot)
One day, a giant piece of Antarctic iceberg flows into the Han River. A baby dinosaur that went extinct billions of years ago was trapped inside this piece of iceberg. Dooly wakes up from the state of housework and reveals her appearance, and from that day, she stays at the house of small citizen Go Gil-dong. Because of Dooly, a curious and troublemaker, Go Gil-dong's house never feels comfortable for a day. To make matters worse, Hee-dong, Douner, an alien who's the Prince of his home planet Kanttappia, an African lady, Ddochi, an ostrich, and aspiring singer Michol Ma appeared. As the days go by, the troubles of them become more and more daring, and Kil-dong Go's anger pierces the sky.

Dooly's party, who is repeatedly beaten by Go Gil-dong, decides to travel into the future to quickly become adults by riding Douner's Time Cosmos. However, due to the malfunctioning of his 'Time Cosmos' Spaceship (it's shaped like a violin), it is thrown into the maze of the universe. While wandering in space, Dooley and his party face a crisis as they encounter the nuclear layer of space. Meanwhile, Gildong, hanging from a rope, falls and wanders in the middle of space, and is constantly chased by the space nuclear layer. Then, he meets the spiny fish and discovers the existence of the Bayo King trying to rule the universe. After landing on an ice star that only dead souls can go to, Dooly's party is pursued by the Bayo King's men, and Hee-dong, Michol, and Go Gil-dong are captured by the Bayo King.

With the help of Dooly's group, Dooly rescues them, and Dooly meets Gong Sil-i, an old girlfriend, and learns that her mother is trapped in the lens. Dooly and his party fight against the Bayo King. The Bayo King is blown up by the surcharge of Gildong and Hee-dong. Dooley has a thrilling reunion with her mother. Dooley wants to live with her mother and become an adult, but her mother tells her that Dooly is an adult now that Dooly can do her job. Dooly and her mother are looking forward to meeting next day. Dooley returns to Earth with full regret leaving her mother in the galaxy. The same routine is repeated again, but our Dooley cherishes her hope for her mother without losing her laughter.

그것이 흔들리는 이유 (Why It Rocks)

 * 1) The plot, although it reuses some story ideas from the original 1987 series, is solid on it's two feet and manages to add some fresh and new story lines that wasn't shown in the original and is still manages to be entertaining such as traveling to a bizarre ice planet to find Dooly's mother, the film's main purpose.
 * 2) Top-notch and fluid animation that is a big step-up from the television series, and it's new art style is also pleasant to the eyes.
 * 3) *What is also interesting about this is that the film was animated by Seoul Movie, which was owned by mh:besttvshows:TMS Entertainment at the time.
 * 4) The voice acting is decent at best.
 * 5) The characters are still likable as usual, especially the titular character himself and the Bayo King, who looks and acts like a threatening villain, as he tried to destroy Dooly's mother as well as everyone else, and his powers are also cool.
 * 6) The songs that appear through out the film is pretty catchy, even if it isn't translated in the English dub. This is especially the case for the remixed version of the original show's theme song played in the credits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUOPgy-CFfo
 * 7) A handful of moments that is worth a chuckle, especially from Kil-dong. Also, in one scene after breaking from the rope, he begins singing and dancing in front of Bayo King in an amusing way, as much to his disapproval.
 * 8) There are also heartwarming moments, like the scene when Dooly sees her mother again after missing her so much.
 * 9) A majority of moments in this film, especially the final battle scene, is very entertaining and fun to watch and the end part where Dooly finally defeats the Bayo King by freezing him with his magical finger was also epic.
 * 10) "What a collection of ugly creatures!"
 * 11) The ending was pretty sad, but in a good kind of way.

나쁜 품질 (Bad Qualities)

 * 1) Kil-dong, while funny at times, can be pretty unlikable as usual, especially the way he treats Dooly and his friends, similar to his 1987 counterpart.
 * 2) There are plenty of inappropriate moments that feels out of place for a family film, such as Dooly showing Hee-dong's penis (which is uncensored) in one scene with the latter peeing in Douner's mouth, which is downright disgusting. Although, this can be justified since South Korea has different views on what suitable or not suitable for children.
 * 3) As mentioned before, the songs were unfortunately not translated in the English dub, although it does kinda make sense that the film is supposed to be set in Korea.
 * 4) The English dub, depending on your view, is pretty mediocre compared to the original Korean version.
 * 5) While a great villain, the Bayo King's characterization can feel a bit generic, as he has that overused "I'm gonna rule the world because I'm evil!" personality.
 * 6) It can get a bit mean-spirited at times.

리셉션 (Reception)
Dooly the Little Dinosaur: Ice Star Adventure received positive reviews from critics and audiences and proved to be a box office success in it's home country, South Korea. The film currently has a 7.3/10 on IMDb and a 3.3/5 on Letterboxd.

비디오 (Videos)
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하찮은 일 (Trivia)

 * The movie was based on the beloved South Korean television series from the 1980s, mh:besttvshows:Dooly the Little Dinosaur, as well as the manhwa of the same name.