Doug’s First Movie

This artlessly animated extension of the Saturday morning cartoon show is a bland riff on E.T. Daydreamer Doug Funnie is a middle-schooler in a town populated by green-, blue- and purple-faced kids with either monotone or whiny voices. He is harassed by a bully and competes with an upperclassman for the attention of a girl as Valentine’s Day approaches. When Doug and his pal Skeeter bring home a sweet-natured blue monster from a nearby lake, they discover that a prominent citizen is covering up local pollution problems. My kids stayed moderately interested in Doug’s low-keyed dilemmas, but I was nearly lulled to sleep.