Doug's 1st Movie

As long as there's not a second, I suppose I can live with Doug's 1st Movie, which, like The Mod Squad, started its life on TV and perhaps doesn't really belong in a movie theater. Of course, what's the use of having media conglomerates if we can't be hit with the same old product, over and over again? Doug's 1st Movie is the movie version of "Disney's Doug," one of those Saturday-morning cartoons brought to us by the friendly folks at ABC/Capital Cities. It features a 12Ã?-year-old everykid named Doug Funnie who looks a lot like a somewhat older Charlie Brown--dots for eyes, a reverse-C for a nose and crinkly hairs sprouting from his head. Like Charlie, Doug's a pretty average kid, if not a little below average, and that may explain why kids respond to him. Here, he's faced with an important decision: save the lizard-like monster that just crawled out of Lucky Duck Lake or impress the girl he secretly pines for, Patti Mayonnaise. (Funny, I don't recall ever having to deal with that one.) Doug's 1st Movie keeps tipping the hat to E.T., but it doesn't have that movie's storybook charm. Nor does its portrait of American life hold a candle to, say, "The Simpsons." It's like "Peanuts" without Lucy or Linus or Schroeder, just the blockhead.