You know it's a bad sign when the Paw Patrol movies, Elmo in Grouchland, and the live-action Dora the Explorer movie got better reviews than this.

Hey there Diva, current employee at Walt Disney World here…. Everything in this movie is something our parks REALLY try to avoid. If we have audience participation, it’s from the guests who WANT to join in on the action. Or if it’s spontaneous like monsters Inc laugh floor, it’s very brief. The costumes for characters have a certien design element, like Mickey is normally smiling, but the way his head tilts, one is for pictures and others are nuteral… and on top of that, we never try to dumb things down for the kids. We try to make kids and adults feel special and included, but never in a condescending manner. I saw a kid talk to Alice about having Tarts, and not only was alice in character, she was acknowledging the kid’s feelings and making sure she wasn’t condescending. As for the non talking ones like Mickey, they can be little scamps at times but it’s never in a mean or threating way. Basically this film is a good teaching tool for new Disney people. Basically whatever you see here, do the oppsite of that

Basically, Oogieloves was proof that, contrary to popular belief, it's possible to insult a modern preschooler's intelligence. And I grew up watching shows like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, so I know how good this type of entertainment is when done right (like in the "Bluey" cartoon series).

12:51 Kenn Veiselman's mealy-mouthed "Why is there evil in stories? Why can't it all be nice?!" argument is infuriating, and really goes to show what an embarrassingly clueless hack he is. Now, are there kid-friendly movies with no actual villains? As much as it pains me to say it, yes, there are. There are no major villains in the "Winnie the Pooh" cinematic universe (there were some VERY mild baddies in the 80s animated series, but that's it) or in "My Neighbor Totoro". In "Pollyanna", our heroine has antagonists, but they're not evil, just flawed and misguided. The massively crucial differences? 1. Stories that grab your interest with no major villains or antagonists are the exception, not the rule. 2.The aforementioned films have no villains... but there ARE conflicts. Amidst all the mild whimsy, Pooh and his friends have to learn valuable morals like moderation, cooperation, kindness, and tolerance. The townspeople in "Pollyanna" (especially her aunt) are made to realize how wallowing in negativity isn't the way, and that Pollyanna's optimistic philosophy has altered their lives for the better. "Totoro" only has one real conflict, but it's a doozy: a potentially fatal illness that might take the girls' mother from them. Maybe all stories don't need evil, per se, but there DO need to be stakes. There HAS to be a reason for us to care what's going on. Annoying, one-note characters dithering around on a lame-brained quest with no conflict, no themes, and no arc for 90 minutes would even try Donna's patience!

"Pixar always has the triumph of good over evil, but why does there have to be evil in the first place?" There doesn't have to be evil, but there has to be CONFLICT. Characters want something BUT are being kept from it through external-forces, an individual acting against them, their own mindset, or an entire society. This is storytelling 101. The biggest hurdle the Oogieloves had to overcome was a milkshake-contest. The Barney movie wasn't this childish, holy crap.

"The idea of interactivity isn't new, but the idea of interactivity in the theater is." Yeah, Kenn - tell THAT to us MST3K fans....

I truly think Christopher Lloyd demanded to have no lines in this movie hoping he wouldn't be recognized.

What every blackmailed - oh sorry "guest" Star looks like they're thinking: Cloris Leachman - "For my grandkids, and oh please no more" Chazz Palminteri - "Pain! Pain! Let's get out of here afterwards" Toni Braxton - Tired and uninterested Carey Elwes - Smashed drunk, high, and trying to hide all regrets! Jamie Pressly - "Whatever." Christopher Lloyd - Dead inside.

This whole thing is so inane it genuinely feels like a fake kids' movie that would show up in the background of a real movie

12:54 Kenn…a lot of Pixar movies don’t even have villains. They’re often just as much if not much more about the internal lives and struggles of their main characters.

Ladies and gentlemen: after almost 140 cases, she’s finally done it. She’s finally touching the train wreck that we’ve ALL wanted her to cover for the entire run of this show. God have mercy on this poor woman.

"If I wanted a song about milkshakes, I'll stick to 'Can't Stop the Music'... BECAUSE CLEARLY THERE'S A GUN TO MY HEAD, FORCING ME TO MAKE THIS CHOICE!"--Brad "The Cinema Snob" Jones.

You know a film is bad when Diva starts having a crisis of her own court's punishment system at the end of the review. My sympathies go out to the braincells she had to sacrifice to watch this drek. I saw this on a livestream around 2015 or so, and thought it was the most inane thing I've ever seen. And this is coming from someone who had to watch A Troll in Central Park during a housesitting job for someone's 7 year old daughter and 5 year-old son. *shudder* May I never hear the words "I want more goldfish!" again...

This is the final boss of all bad children's films.

"Gewfy Tewfy- BUY A F*CKING BELT!" -cinema snob

The only saving grace is that this movie gave us one of the greatest comebacks in angry review history; Zuzie: "This is the most amazing movie EVER!" Brad "Cinema Snob" Jones (before the #ChangeTheChannel controversy): "YOU'RE BIASED!"

I strongly believe this movie make the Doodlebops look like Panic at the disco. The Wiggles now look like the Beatles. And the Imagination Movers look like the Monkees

What child is going to understand the J. Edgar Hoover reference? And before anyone says that was a joke for the adult audience, what adult would want to watch this with their child? That’s like saying that an adult would willingly watch something as inane as Barney or Teletubbies, those shows weren’t family friendly, they were for toddlers alone! You got this, Diva. Remember what Donna said, you’re very, very close to something.

RIP Cloris Leachman (1926-2021). You deserved far better than this.

The celebrity actors were all kidnapped before agreeing to do this

In the words of Arthur Read, "THAT'S A BABY MOVIE!"

"How can a movie this inane be this confusing?" Great line, very applicable to bad kids' entertainment

This movie is like- What if Rocky Horror Picture Show was more like Baby Geniuses? And boy does it show in more ways than one. The celebrities don’t want to be there, the guys in the suits look miserable, the suits themselves are butt ugly, the humor falls flat on its face, and the camera angles are awful! It seems although a lot of talent and budget went into this film, it doesn’t know who its audience wants to be. Because the kids have to have the parents take them to see this movie and sit through it with the children. Such a waste of Christopher Lloyd and Clorice Leechman 😔 They wanted to make a Teletubbies movie, but the director couldn’t get the rights, so he made his own type of movie. Which, is almost exactly what happened with Baby Geniuses as well. Bob Clark wanted to make a Rugrats movie, couldn’t succeed in getting the rights, so he rounded up a bunch of people who had worked with him previously or had wanted to work with him, got himself some 40 babies, and made a movie. And 25 years later, nobody remembers any of it.

Spill, back when it existed, had the most amazing review of this. Korey and Co-Host's description of the events that unfolded just baffled poor Leon and it lead to one of my favorite quotes from Co-Host: "Oh my Oogie God!". And Korey had the best reaction to Toofie's pants falling down. He said "Get this mf'er a belt or some rope or something! Cause i'm sick of his pants falling down almost looking like he gangsta Oogie and s**t!"

Elmo in grouchland did a better job being an interactive movie released in theaters. Also, seeing Toys “R” Us Time Square at 1:05 makes me wish that store comes back.

4:04 Theory: Big Brother Mirror Lady is an unfortunate soul who, under some form of immortal punishment, is forced to be in/watch this movie unfold against her will. Diva can probably relate.

"I'm gonna get some candy. I'd rather rot my teeth than stay here and rot my brain!" -Grandpa Lou

Honestly, Kenn Viselman should be punished by having everything he asks about explained in the most condescending way possible.

What you said reminds me of Steve Byrnes's theory on why Barney is so hated while other kids' characters are believed. Characters on Sesame Street can be vulnerable, neurotic, they deal with problems, they teach coping. Then you have Barney who just sluffs off problems and is happy to the point of deranged.

You can almost hear Grandpa Lou Pickles shouting 'LAND WITHOUT BRAINS IS MORE LIKE IT!!!!'

Musical Hell 10 sins count (as of March 2024): 2012 - From Justin to Kelly 2013 - Love Never Dies 2014 - Spice World 2016 - Glitter 2017 - Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas 2019 - The Mighty Kong, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, and Elf Bowling: The Movie 2022 - Music (first and only episode to go beyond 10 sins) 2023 - Charming 2024 - The Oogieloves in the Big Ballon Adventure

This reminds me of the South Park Chinpokomon episode when Sharon says that children’s entertainment that is flat-out stupid can be worse for children than any kind of vulgarity. I wholeheartedly agree.

Wow, I honestly didn't think Oogieloves would break you so badly

I feel like this would be so much better as a parody film, adult swim movie or a existential horror

17:10 Am I the only one who now wants to commission art of Marty McFly looking absolutely dumbfounded at Doc Brown's new ride?

"Do any of us ever learn our lessons?" I think our favorite demon just had an identity crisis.

From the director of Disney Channel’s “Camp Rock.” No really.

Oooh boy, this makes the Care Bears look like high art. I love how they have a white woman doing Flamenco, which is actually from Spain, while they all travel around in a Mexican sombrero.

AniMat was right; you're already too old for this movie when you're born. This movie is indeed for ages sperm to fetus.

I didn't realize the Oogielove movie was so... Recent. It feels like it belonged in the era of Banannas in Pajammas. But that show was comparatively wonderful with my nosgalgia glasses on. Maybe because it knew it had to be short.

Kenn Viselman has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. I mean, he's a marketing executive so it makes sense, but all those quotes from him really shows that he really misses the mark when it comes to children's entertainment. Also, to quote Cinematic Excrement at 2:12, "Let's not count that chicken before it hatches, okay?"

12:53 1) That is because Pixar Movies aren't aimed at preschoolers they are aimed at elementary schoolers to adults 2) Pixar has had a lot of morally grey characters 3) I am guessing he never watched Finding Nemo. Nobody was evil in that movie.

Fun fact: This movie did so bad that it was exclusively released for purchase at Walmart. Yeah, you read that correctly. Freaking Walmart was the only store where you could find this movie, and that’s if you could find it in the bargain bin pile. 😂😂😂 I was hanging out with our cousins at the time, and our aunt, for some reason, decided to put this on for the youngest one (the “target” audience). Yeah, he wasn’t even paying attention to the movie, while us older ones were just witnessing how painfully bad and upsetting the whole thing was, and wondering just WHY did anyone think this is theatrical material? More than anything we criticized just how ugly the costumes were, especially the Oogies themselves, how annoying the musical numbers were written, and just how stupid the movie was overall. It’s THE definition of a condescending movie, that thinks even kids are stupid.

Cary. Cary, I’m so sorry we failed you.

Oogieloves is like those dreams you have when you have a nap in the middle of the day and you realize you don’t know if it was a real thing or not. In a bad way

12:50 Because a story without conflict is boring. The greater the conflict the more engaging your story is. 14:10 This man was in "The Princess Bride"...this man was the lead in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights"...he was probably in some other high profile films too that I'm not cultured enough to name them off the top of my head, but the point remains this man is a dignified actor. Look how they've massacred him!! 😭

The funny thing is, Thomas The Tank Engine is one of the more under-sung gems, in the realm of solid children's entertainment that doesn't treat its audience like idiots - even and perhaps *especially* its American release as "Shining Time Station" (notorious film conclusion aside). Watch it to see one-role-wonder Brian O'Connor play a better ham AND a better character than everyone in Oogieloves combined, or Didi Conn, in what should have been an Oogieloves-ian "I haven't had real work since Grease" role, instead convince you that she was born to play maternal role models. It was a good lean into enthusiasm for its subject and quiet dignity. If only Kenn Viselman had been paying closer attention.

...I've finally found a film I can show to my mother and go "see? there are worse films I could have brought home from the library than Barney's Great Adventure!"

Cary Elwes' performance as Bobbly Wobbly looks like it was written for Jim Carrey in the 90s.

Kenn had his hands in Thomas the Tank Engine, but, judging by this movie, he clearly did not take any advice in regards to children's entertainment. One of the things that made the early seasons of Thomas special is that the crew chose not to talk down to their audience. Even Reverend Wilbert Awdry (author of The Railway Series, which Thomas is based on) has once said "You've got to remember who you're writing for. You're not merely writing for children. You're writing for the unfortunate people who've got to read the stories over, and over, and over again."

12:54 I agree with you, not all children stories shouldn’t be all sugar coated they have to have dark edge to them.

This movie has confounded me since its inception. There is NO reason this movie could have been anything more than a failure. Preschool franchise theatrical movies are never successful, and not even Follow that Bird or Elmo in Grouchland, two heavy hitters from a MAJOR and influential preschool series. Barney's movie pretty much killed his franchise (thank goodness for that). And again, those are BIG names in the industry. Oogieloves looks like it's 15+ years out of date, looking like a public access Barney knockoff from the 90's with cheap mascot suits that couldn't even pass for a mid-level budget series. And that's even if they had a name presence outside the movie. There is a certain level of hubris to give them the movie introduction when this was barely low quality DTV series at best. The kind of video you'd only see at a close out store already in the clearance bin with like 5 layers of discount sticker on it. There was NO way this was going to be a name brand thing if they couldn't go the more reasonable TV series route first. I REALLY want it to be the case that they did try to sell it as a TV series, but no one wanted an ancient relic looking series when they have nice, clean, futuristic CGI models...also talking down to kids like they're complete idiots. So basically, already it had several things going against it. No name recognition, out of touch, and pandering to an audience more suited to home video. Already a bad idea? Let's pile on more. Encouraging 3 year olds to be hyperactive and express bad behavior in a movie theater (something they basically do already)? Check. I mean, they gave out WANDS! Light up wands to see the movie. It's bad enough the movie was annoying as it was, nay, the CHARACTERS were annoying as it was. Now we have a bunch of bratty little toddlers running up and down the aisles with big flashing plastic straws, swinging them around, while a bunch of obnoxiously precious named mutant Cabbage Patch Dolls sing off key with B and C listers doing their best impersonations of bad amusement park stage performers. What part of that was appealing to ANYBODY? It never felt like it was a "come and plan your family a fun day of entertainment" like even mid level kid's movies do. It was a "hey kids! Scream and cry and throw a temper tantrum until you wear your parents down and drag them miserably," situation. And even then, no takers. At BEST, this would have been a DVD next to the checkout register at a very small regional grocery store chain that completely out of touch Grandma would get for a 2 year old's birthday. Right next to the "Enchanting Tales" Disney movie cash ins.

"Do any of us ever learn our lessons?" And with that, the stage for Diva's swan song review is set. Considering next month's review is (unless things have changed) going to be Diva's last day in court, it's fitting that her final two cases should be about the grand puba of bad children's movies and a movie that's all about lost souls in Hell facing judgement for their sins.

This makes Blue’s Clues, The Wiggles, Barney, Teletubbies, Dora, Peppa Pig, Caillou, and Cocomelon look butch.

The structure isnt based on a 3 act structure, its based on video game progression. "We need (x) amount of (y) items to save the day! Will you come on the adventure?" And then its just a series of events where they collect each item until they have all the items.

You know, Carey Elwes was also in the Disney dub of Ghibli's "Porco Rosso", and I'd probably say he pulls off a decent American accent (also along with Elwes, we have Michael Keaton, Kimberly Williams, Susan "Megara" Egan, and Disney regular Brad Garrett).

10:07-10:13 Bobsheaux: Why? The balloon is right there! Just grab it and get out of here.

Toni Braxton was Belle on Broadway, Damnit! Justice 4 Toni!

Way to go, Oogioves! You broke Diva! First Music, now you!

“Kenn Viselman’s main claim to fame was bringing Thomas The Tank Engine to US TV.” Wow, he is a massive liar! The man who ACTUALLY brought Thomas to the US was a man known as Rick Siggelkow. Rick partnered with Britt Allcroft (The woman responsible for bring Thomas to TV in the first place) and made Shining Time Station.

The problem with a movie like this is that the target age demographic is so young (toddlers) that the brand would need to be a phenomenon on its own before it could be successful in the box office. The toddlers this would appeal to are too young to just see a trailer and beg their parents to see it and remember that they asked to see this two minutes after asking. Toddlers have to be obsessed with a thing to be that consistent/make parents feel it's worth it, otherwise parents, who won't want to sit through this anyway, won't feel any obligation to take them to the theater. However, I think Kenn truly believed that his film would appeal to kids of all ages not at all understanding the differences in development, or that Pixar's target demographic isn't toddlers.

Saw a review of this a few years ago, and spirits, I still can't believe this actually EXISTS! How in the world did they get all these celebrities to participate?! There is little more disgusting in the long run than a kids costume-puppet series that talks down to its audience. This is the distinction between shows like this and Freaking Barney ... and a Sid & Marty Krofft production. The Kroffts don't talk down to the kids and their shows are still entertaining for adults. And not just because we're still very convinced everyone was high while filming the Krofft shows. Wait - that WOULD explain why THIS thing exists....

This is some child's favorite movie and I feel so bad for their parents

I've worked tech crew on Sesame Street Live!, Disney Junior Live!, Paw Patrol Live!, Nickelodeon Jr Live!, Disney on Ice, and Blippi Live! so believe me when I say that I feel I am qualified enough to deem this the most vapid, monotonous, tuneless piece of media created for children ever. What a fever dream of a movie 😵‍💫

Fun fact: I recently learned that "create your own Circle of Hell for a 'modern day' sin" is actually a fairly common creative writing assignment for high school and college students reading the Divine Comedy. I've seen several examples, ranging from just as humorous as this show - a mini-circle for people who stick gum on the undersides of tables - to very serious - a new addition to the Circle of Violence for those who caused violence through negligence; the punishment is being fused into a cliff face (as they chose to take no action in life, now they can't do it even if they want to) and its most prominent inmate is the UN Secretary General during the 90s who refused to intervene in either Rwanda or the Balkans. As for this film itself... so, this was made by someone who was actively TRYING to create this Family Guy gag? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/irlhiNOU1dLDYYk.html

I suppose the only good thing about this movie is that when they ask you to get out of your seat to move around, you can just leave and never watch the movie again

After so many years, Diva finally covers the Oogieloves. Now the world waits in bated breath for the answer to the ultimate question: will she cover Our Drawings?

*Ruffie:* Will this thing never END?! What we're all thinking!!!!!

I suspect by the midpoint in your script, your spellchecker was having a seizure. "Schloopy" "Goobielove", etc... I'm going into sugar shock just typing that.

before it came out i remember seeing an advertisement for this movie in a magazine at a doctors office. when i first saw the advert i thought the movie was gonna either be a perversion/parody of a kids film or be “deceptively childlike” (like strays, death to smoochy, ted, sausage party, etc). i guess i was baffled by a film for toddlers and toddlers alone coming to theaters, that wasn’t already part of a huge franchise like barney or paw patrol or w/e

The fact that this movie was pitched as a Teletubbies movie is sad. How would you even realistically adapt Teletubbies into a movie?!

The *only* reason I believe that there was no blackmail involved in the casting of this is that there is no possible way Toni Braxton or Cloris Leachman have ever done anything bad enough that it getting out would be worse than being in this movie.

I have seen the face of madness, and it is green, yellow, and purple... Also, it honestly was sobering to hear Diva sound so defeated at the end. When you're so used to her sentences, you can tell how much of a hole there is when she doesn't even bother and just cuts off.

The raccoons in the kitchen: probably a sort of referring to the mistaken belief raccoons wash their food (that is why in Dutch they are called 'wasberen', washbears). I think.

When the Tweenies have more expressive faces, you know you’ve messed up big time.

I remember seeing an ad for this in one of my National Geographic kids magazines and being absolutely confused because I thought the oogieloves was a tv show getting their own movie and it was going to be like up because they had the characters holding a ton of balloons and floating away.

The Ooogielove characters look like the disturbing, gone-wrong love children of the Doodlebops and the Sid the Science Kid friend group, who were then later raised by the Cabbage Patch Kids for some odd unknown reason. 😬

It's almost physically painful to see Cary Elwes in this. Like you just want to give him a hug and tell him things will be OK

Not sure what's worse for Cary Elwes being locked in bathroom playing a game for Jigsaw or being in this movie

Oof, I was wondering if you'd ever cover this one. My condolences. This is the film that caused Sean from Cinematic Excrement to fall into a coma.

This movie was long overdue for it's trial here in the Infernal court! It was one of those movies that utmost certainly deserves the level of vitirolic scrutiny it faced from various reviewers in the past. Sure, I get it; getting worked up at a movie geared towards babies/really young children is the epitome of low-hanging fruit, but at the same time, I and many other people still stand by the belief that just because something is geared towards children; doesn't give it an immediate free pass from criticism. And this movie should serve as a go-to example of why you shouldn't just feed children whatever 2-cent bargain bin schlock to keep them occupied.

The Bedbugs deserved better.

Aside from Elmo in Grouchland, another movie for preschoolers that is basically Oogieloves done right is "Miffy The Movie" [sic]. Its stop motion animation is basic yet visually charming, and the characters have actual arcs on which they face their fears.

This doesn't even look like a movie. This looks like of one of those live stage shows they make of children's cartoons. It has the actors in the costumes that don't move right, the interactive dance breaks. Except I know children who enjoy the live stage shows of their favorite cartoons.

If the goal was to make a fun movie to yell insults at the screen, they succeeded. If the goal was anything besides that, I think Kenn missed the point of why people watch Madea.

Was this movie made just to validate the existence of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared?

He got the audience participation idea... from a Madea movie... I ... I ... no words... i think i can feel my brain melting out of my ears

Did everyone forget about Lamb Chop? It was like the female version of Mr. Rodgers with chill storytime.

Kenn does know that when people are shouting at a movie, that's usually NOT a good thing?

OK saying this was originally intended to be a teletubbies movie makes some sense. The window instead of the Sun Baby/the tubbies getting visions on their stomachs, J Edgar instead of The Noo-Noo etc.

Interesting, and so ironic it's almost fitting that this would be one of the most overall bleak and agonizing episodes of the series.

No, they’re not “thanking” the audience-A lot of preschool movies, like Barney or Elmo’s have to introduce kids to the concept of sitting in an audience and watching their first movie, which involves audience participation. (It’s preschool-cable, not Rocky Horror.) Just like the interactive arena kiddie-concerts that “Kenn” wanted to INSTANTLY turn his ex-Bedbugs into, in the spirit of the Wiggles, the Doodlebops, Sharon Lois & Bram, and of course….the Super Duper Party Troopers: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rJ91iLCdvNneeo0.htmlsi=HrxAZYmWfsfZLTX9. 😛

19:18 funny you mention that when in ABC's broadcasting of "Peter Pan live" they wanted people to post #SaveTinkerbell all over social media in order to save Tink..

The ' Why can't it all be nice?' thing makes me want to roll my eyes into the back of my head for many reasons. One is that having a serious ( more or less ) conflict ( doesn't have to necessarily be evil ) makes a story easier to engage with and more interesting. It also gives the protagonists actual motivations.

13:56 Given that birds can neither be gassy nor have bunions, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that the bird DIDN'T say that.

Haven't gone through quite all the comments, but my wife noticed towards the end of this review that the name of the fish is a pun (not a good one, mind you). He's named Ruffy and he's orange, so he's an orange roughy. Of course, the species was originally named slimehead until the 1970s, which seems more appropriate for this dud of a movie...

when I saw the trailer when I was 12, I knew I wanted to avoid this. Looking back, I made the right choice.

I'm shocked you didn't look into this film much sooner in your career. My condolences for you having to watch this trainwreck of a film.

Yeah, "Follow That Bird," this ain't!

Goddamn this movie was so vapid it gave Diva an existential crisis at the end XD