For a 60 minute animated film, Tugger doesn't really have much to offer on it's own other than being a distraction for little children (I would know since I used to watch it on Netflix when I was little), I'm gonna go through the movie beat for beat so I can explain the flaws, and I'll do it in a similar way as ElectricDragon505 does his reviews
Story - In concept, it does actually have an interesting idea; a Willys Jeep who has a dream to fly, thanks to one of his engine parts being recycled from an airplane. The concept also gives the movie the moral that's caused it to be labeled as a Christian film, that being to always follow your dreams, though, the way they tell is kind of confusing, but i'll get into that in a moment. Despite the compliment, I can not fathom just how bad the pacing of the film is; it would've worked as a short film, say around 20 to 25 minutes, but it's instead a 60 minute film, resulting in the movie to be very padded. We don't get to see Tugger legit try to be like an airplane and fly until 35 minutes into the movie, and in the meantime, we instead get to see plenty of times where he is just ridiculed for his dream of flying, which kind of makes the movie rather meanspirited and it sometimes overshadows the "hold onto your dreams" moral, but later when Tugger nearly dies from being crushed by an oncoming plane while trying to fly like one, they suddenly want him to continue his dream of flying, like, what?! I did read about the movie's absolutely troubled production and even though this movie had no company insisting for it to be changed drastically, like Don Bluth's The Pebble and The Penguin, but it still seems like the production problems this movie DID have just kept the movie's script from a potential rewrite; to put simply, and to quote Roger Moore, "It's better acted than scripted"
Animation - To put it bluntly, it's literally on the same level as Hoodwinked (2005), and that's not really a good thing. I know the movie's budget is only $2.4 million, but for a film directed by someone who was an animator of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, it's quite incredible how cheap the animation looks. Firstly the character designs and animation, in my opinion, the character designs are actually kind of good, like, Tugger himself looks just like a Willys Jeep painted blue, but in terms of the character animation, it's very mixed for me; sometimes there is some fluidity and life to the character movement, especially on Shorty, but on the other times, it can get very stilted, and on other times, there's both goofs and inconsistencies with the animation, for example, there's one scene near the beginning where Tugger tries to help a burning plane land, and you see him driving, but his wheels don't even move at all, and also, the animators can never decide if Tugger's windshield is folded down or if it stays up, so throughout the movie, it keeps changing positions in every shot, in one scene, it's folded down, in the other, it's folded up, rinse & repeat. That and the non vehicle characters don't look well designed, especially the dog, Max. I know this is the only film produced by Genesis Orlando, but what else can I really say about the animation just literally being on the same level as Hoodwinked? Not much I'll say
Characters - Honestly, there's ony a few characters I can say much on. Starting with Tugger, who is possibly the only vehicle character in the film that even has a point to exist, his determination to forfill his dream of flying will definately charm some, and he does have some character flaws (such as being overconfident, being rather wreckless, etc) that do work in his favor; plus Jim Belushi's voice for the character does fit him surprisingly well (however, there's also an earlier version where Tugger sounds completely different, and I swear to god he's voiced by Tony Oliver, aka the voice actor for Arsene Lupin III). There's also Shorty, who I assume is supposed to be the comic relief, but I never found him funny to be honest, plus there's one cringeworthy pun he makes at one point. He's also the worst in the lineup of characters who keep trying to put down Tugger's dreams, mainly because he's usually the one telling Tugger to just let it go already, but suddenly changes his mind after Tugger nearly dies. There's also this pair of Shell Oil Company gas pumps named Ma and Pa, who usually just bicker at each despite apparently being in love with each other (which honestly sounds so wrong when you think about it). As for the rest of the vehicle/non human characters, I don't really know what to say because they barely appear at all and only have a few lines, such as a pink ladder vehicle who's only joke is that going under it causes bad luck; it feels like they're only there just to appease major anime fans due to the people who voiced them like Bridget Hoffman (heh, another Lupin III connection), Bob Papenbrook, and Steve Bulen. In terms of non-vehicle characters that aren't the gas pumps, there's the Chief, voiced by Lance LeGault of A-Team fame, who's basically just a typical shouting commanding general person, and his dog Max, who is one of the weirdest dogs I've ever seen before, for three reasons: 1. He's voiced by someone named Tom Kinney, which I feel like it's supposed to be Tom Kenny, but they never fixed it. 2. He had a mustache for some unexplained reason, and 3. He basically has a fetish for Tugger (not literally though), because every single time he (aka Tugger) makes some loud noise near him or he sees him anyway, he literally bolts after him as if he were some sick pervert, and he does this three times in the movie, one of which could've gotten him KILLED. With the exception our leading Jeep, most of the characters are just so bland and honestly forgettable
Verdict - Tugger: The Jeep 4x4 Who Wanted to Fly is a perfect definition of a good idea gone to waste, thanks to it's padded and overly long story, animation that's mostly garbage, and characters that barely have any character to them, the only redeeming thing about this movie is just Tugger himself, but he isn't even to support the movie. As for my reccommendation, I would say just get the DVD and use it as a method to distract your kids, since they may end up getting something out of this film, but I feel like someone should do what Children's Video Library did with The Smurfs and The Magic Flute and just cut the movie down to the parts where stuff even happens.
Final rating: 3/10
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