57. Hey Duggee At The Cinema; movie review

HEY DUGGEE AT THE CINEMA
Cert U
63 mins
BBFC advice: Contains no material likely to harm or offend

"Let's sneak in at the very last minute when the lights are down and sit in the corner and hope nobody notices us."
The first part of my cunning plan to avoid embarrassment at Leicester Vue on Sunday had already failed.
It turns out that this is one of the very few Vues without ticket machines so we had to ask for "two tickets for Dougee At The Cinema, please".
"Do you mean Duggee. And is that two adults tickets?", replied the cheerful cashier.
I had to try to save face by explaining that I have a website which compels me to try to watch every UK cinema release.
However, we clearly could not go around every parent of an under-three who was in the auditorium and wondered why two middle-aged people were watching a collection of CBeebie cartoons.
So, we avoided making eye contact as Duggee replied "woof" to every question and his playmates, the "squirrels", earned badges of various descriptions.
The compilation of ten-minute shorts with their favourite characters means the very young children are not bored and become used to the surroundings of the cinema.
I can only applaud the concept.
It means the toddlers have access to myriad subjects, ranging from making friends to the weather and space and the format for each of the episodes is reassuringly the same.
Each time there is a countdown and the squirrels get excited to see what adventures Duggee has in store.
Thereafter, fun is had, a cubs/guides-style badge is presented, Duggee gives the squirrels a hug and their parents come to fetch them.
And Mrs W and I cringe as the parents cajole their children to stay still with popcorn and fizzy drinks.
Everyfilm has got off to a very decent start in 2019 but I have to confess that I had been avoiding Grant Orchard's Hey Dugee At the Cinema.
Mrs W proved she is a saint by accompanying me to see it. Onward to Peppa Pig's Chinese New Year! If only we had a small child to accompany us.

Reasons to watch: If you have an under-three
Reasons to avoid: If you don't

Laughs: Only at our predicament!
Jumps: None
Vomit: I wsn't looking closely enough at others in the audience
Nudity:  None
Overall rating: 6/10 (I have no idea how to rate it)

Did you know? Hey Duggee, won three awards at the Children’s BAFTA in 2018, winning in the Pre-School Animation, Director and Digital categories.

The final word. Grant Orchard: "I’ve got kids, two boys, and they’re nutsy and quite a handful. All that energy, and all the stuff that we were doing with them, I’ve tried to get in the show. That kind of high energy and sense of fun."

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