The Ugly Duckling and Me! (2006) voices Morgan C. Jones, Paul Tylak, Anna Nugent, Gary Hetzler directed by Michael Hegner, Karsten Kiilerich Movie Review

The Ugly Duckling and Me! (2006)   2/52/52/52/52/5


The Ugly Duckling and Me! (2006)

This Ugly Duckling's not for Me

Ratso is a ducking and diving city rat who having escaped the clutches of those who are after him finds himself out in the country having accidentally got hooked on a train. It is out in the country that Ratso comes across an egg which when it hatches reveals the ugliest duckling he has ever seen. But not only is Ratso mistaken by the duckling for his parent but he sees a potential money making opportunity. Yet as Ratso tries to exploit his new side kick to make a quick buck he starts to realise that maybe there is more to life than using others to make money.

As someone who has been a fan of the movie "Hans Christian Andersen" starring Danny Kaye for as long as I can remember it is Kaye's voice as he sings "there once was an ugly duckling" which I hear every time the story is mentioned. Unfortunately the magic and charm which Kaye conveys in singing the song is not conveyed in Dutch animation "The Ugly Duckling and Me!" and if truth be told I found this new take of Andersen's famous story to be hard work and not that entertaining. Now in fairness I am not in this movies target market, in fact it has been a long time since I was that age but even so there was little for me as a grown up to make me even mildly entertained especially as I found Ratso quite an off putting character.

But of course "The Ugly Duckling and Me!" was not made for me but I would say those who are still in single digits and I guess it ticks the boxes. We have quirky characters and quirky voices plus plenty of colour. I guess even the humour probably works at the single digit level whilst the animation which is not the best is passable for young animation fans. Plus with the Andersen story at its heart it has a solid grounding with important lessons to be taught which in fairness it does.

What this all boils down to is that with "The Ugly Duckling and Me!" it is a case that this is an animation for younger eyes only as it offers up pretty much nothing for those adults who are forced to watch. But for those who are young the underlying Hans Christian Andersen story makes it worth watching even if other aspects are not as impressive as other modern animations.


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