As a watcher of the TV series, I watched this with interest to see what was better/worse than it.
First of all, the new CGI animation was good. Not exactly Disney quality, but when you can count the amount of wrinkles on the end of a dog's nose, I'm officially impressed.
I was also pleased with the way the characters were portrayed. Not just Dogtanian and the musketeers, but other underwritten characters from the show like Milady and Juliet get more to do here and have noticeably stronger personalities.
Even Pip, who annoyed me immensely in the original because he always seemed so out of place, actually has a place and a reason for existing. And when the film actually got me to LIKE him, you know it's doing something right.
On the downside, there is a pretty awful love song here which fortunately isn't on for very long (unless you want to torture yourself by staying through the credits). And the plot structure is very predictable, especially if you've already sat through other iterations of this oft-told tale before.
Still, those are minor quibbles in the great scheme of things. This film surpassed all my expectations, and I recommend it mostly for fans of the old show (you may even spot a few tributes to it, if you keep your eyes peeled). Who knows, maybe even your kids will like it too... ;) 6/10.
First of all, the new CGI animation was good. Not exactly Disney quality, but when you can count the amount of wrinkles on the end of a dog's nose, I'm officially impressed.
I was also pleased with the way the characters were portrayed. Not just Dogtanian and the musketeers, but other underwritten characters from the show like Milady and Juliet get more to do here and have noticeably stronger personalities.
Even Pip, who annoyed me immensely in the original because he always seemed so out of place, actually has a place and a reason for existing. And when the film actually got me to LIKE him, you know it's doing something right.
On the downside, there is a pretty awful love song here which fortunately isn't on for very long (unless you want to torture yourself by staying through the credits). And the plot structure is very predictable, especially if you've already sat through other iterations of this oft-told tale before.
Still, those are minor quibbles in the great scheme of things. This film surpassed all my expectations, and I recommend it mostly for fans of the old show (you may even spot a few tributes to it, if you keep your eyes peeled). Who knows, maybe even your kids will like it too... ;) 6/10.