Back in the early to mid-90s, Nicktoons was my jam! I loved most of them and Doug was one of my favorites. I was shocked when after a couple of years, Nick not only brought it back for a couple more seasons, they also made a theatrically released movie as well.
How to Download Doug’s 1st Movie
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform, for example from Disney+. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you want to see more Disney films based on TV series, check out our reviews of Recess: School’s Out and Teacher’s Pet.
The Movie Review
The movie is actually something that brings the whole story of Doug to a close and while I did not get into the later seasons of the show, I was interested to see how it would all end. The thing is, Doug’s 1st Movie is not the best Nickelodeon movie if I am being honest, it feels like it should have been a TV special rather than a full movie if that makes sense.
One area where the movie is better than the TV show is the visuals. Doug’s 1st Movie looked fantastic at the time, it was much brighter, clearer, and had more animation than what we were used to seeing on the show. Even now, I feel that it holds up very well and while it looks noticeably better, it has that same iconic “Doug” look to it.
Ok, so while I think it looks great, the plot is something that I feel lets this down and that is why I feel it would have been better as 60 minute special than a full movie. Doug and Skeeter are hanging out down by the lake when a “monster” appears. This is a friendly monster and the two take a liking to it and decide to sneak it back to Doug’s place.
Now, what caused this was the fact that local businessman Bill Buff has been badly polluting the lake! There are a few different plots running throughout the movie. For example, Rodger has this AI robot and Patty starts a relationship with school journalist, Guy. There is a lot going on here, but none of it is all that exciting, to be honest with you.
Buff gets wind of this monster and wants to capture it to hide the fact that this is what his pollution has caused! One aspect of the movie I thought was cool was Rodger and his gang coming together with Doug and Skeeter to try and save the monster. We also get a bit of closure with Doug and Patty too.
As I write this, I know that it sounds like Doug’s 1st Movie should be great and has a lot of fan service for longtime viewers of the show. It is just the execution of things that leaves a bit to be desired. It is not bad or anything like that, it is just not all that exciting either.
I consider myself to be a pretty big fan of the show, especially the first four seasons. I was legit excited to check this out and while there are things I like about it, it just never fully clicked for me. I get that they wanted to close Doug off with a movie, but as I have said, a TV special may have been better.
