Featuring the voices of Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, and William H. Macy. Rated G.

Not all cartoons are created equal, and some cartoons are a lot less equal than others. Doogal, in fact, is not even up to snuff with itself, having been tailored from two previous versions featuring French and English actors. Those, in turn, are based on a British TV series called The Magic Roundabout.

The original telly spots are here transformed into an almost-state-of-the-art fiesta of CGI with little of the wit or imagination found in Pixar and DreamWorks products. I don't know much about the French version, but the English one boasted the voices of Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Joanna Lumley, and Robbie Williams, among others.

The only holdovers we get from the U.K. crowd in this tale about a troupe of animals and a Thomas-like train trying to save their village merry-go-round (the roundabout of the title) from global freezing are Ian McKellen and Kylie Minogue. They are apparently Yank-worthy enough to be heard alongside the likes of William H. Macy and cast standout Whoopi Goldberg. Jon Stewart does a rare voice-acting turn as a jack-in-the-box villain who wants to see our ragtag friends freeze. In any case, it's hard to grasp what's at stake in the story, which lopes along from face-off to face-off with little glue to hold things together other than incessant and rarely funny pop references (to Star Trek, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Lord of the Rings movies).

Doogal, by the way, is the name of the tale's hero, a rather dull dog called Dougal in the original and Pollux in the French version. But never mind the Pollux; even the Sex Pistols couldn't make this overprocessed snoozer interesting for people over seven-and ELO is actually what you get on the soundtrack.