Animal Crackers (2017 film)
Animal Crackers (2017 film)
| Animal Crackers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | Bear McCreary[1] |
| Edited by | Ximo Romero |
Production company |
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| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $17 million[3] |
| Box office | $11.2 million[4] |
Animal Crackers is a 2017 American-Chinese 3D computer-animated comedy-fantasy film directed by Scott Christian Sava and Tony Bancroft, and written by Sava and Dean Lorey, based on the animal-shaped cookie and loosely based on the graphic novel by Sava.[5] The film stars the voices of John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Danny DeVito, Ian McKellen, Sylvester Stallone, Raven-Symoné, and Patrick Warburton.
The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 12, 2017. It was released in China on July 21, 2018.[4] Initially set to be released in the United States on multiple release dates through various distributors, who faced financial difficulties.
It was officially released on Netflix on July 24, 2020 and received mixed reviews from critics.[6]
Plot[edit source]
In 1962, brothers Bob and Horatio Huntington run a traveling circus together, doing well in spite of their vastly different personalities. After a show, the circus' resident gypsy fortuneteller, Esmerelda presents her beautiful niece, Talia, to her employers, asking them to give her a job. Bob and Horatio are both immediately smitten with the lovely girl, but her affections are solely for Bob. When the pair announce their plans to marry, Horatio becomes furious, and delivers an ultimatum to his younger brother to choose either Talia or himself. Bob marries Talia, and Esmerelda gives them a mysterious box as a wedding gift, which allows them open a new circus; Buffalo Bob's Rootin' Tootin' Animal Circus, known for animals performing amazing, seemingly impossible, feats.
Years later, Bob's nephew Owen marries a girl named Zoe at the circus. Upon initial excitement however, Owen soon discovers he now has to work as a taste tester for Zoe's father Mr. Woodley at his dog biscuit factory. Meanwhile, Horatio, whose luck has taken a serious downturn since his break with Bob, sneaks into Bob and Talia's trailer, trying to find the secret to the magic animals, and accidentally starts a fire which apparently kills Bob and Talia. Their funeral is attended by Owen, Zoe, and their daughter Mackenzie. Horatio makes an unexpected visit, and announces that he'll be taking over the circus. He and his henchmen start a fight, causing the Huntingtons to flee.
Before they leave, circus pets Old Blue the bloodhound and Zena the cat give the Huntingtons the mysterious box, they later discover it holds animal cracker cookies. Owen eats one and turns into a hamster. The Huntingtons return to the circus to figure out how this happened. They learn from clown Chesterfield that the animal crackers will turn the user into the animal they eat, but it contains only one human cookie to change them back. Later, he tells them they inherited the circus. Zoe is excited, but Owen, determined to please Mr. Woodley, decides to continue his job. Zoe restores the circus while Owen stays at the dog biscuit factory. Mr. Woodley, frustrated that Zoe quit her job, begins to consider Brock, an egotistical saboteur, as her replacement.
Buffalo Bob's Rootin' Tootin' Animal Circus reopens, but is a disaster, upon the discovery of no animals. Owen reluctantly decides to eat the animal crackers and performs stunts as an animal. By the end of the day, Owen grows to like it, and decides to quit his job. As his finishes packing up though, Brock unwittingly eats one of the cookies and turns into a mandrill. To catch up with him, Owen turns into a lion, but Brock gets captured by Horatio's henchman Mario Zucchini who also steals cookie crumbs. Owen soon discovers he lost the human cookie, and will remain an animal forever. He attempts to adapt to life as a certain animal, but has little success. Binkley, an employee of Mr. Woodley who's trying to create a new type of dog biscuit, discovers the animal crackers and persuades Mr. Woodley to attend the circus.
At one performance, Horatio offers Owen his human cookie for the circus. Owen however, refuses, thinking remaining an animal will at least keep his family together, but he is forced into the deal by Horatio's henchmen, who are now mutated animals consumed from the cookie crumbs. The circus performers fight the henchmen. Horatio eats some crumbs and turns into a chimera. He is confronted by Old Blue and Zena who reveal themselves as Bob and Talia, alive but forever trapped in animal form due to the destruction of their human cookies in the fire. They ask Horatio to redeem himself, but he refuses. Horatio flies up, grasping them. Owen, Zoe, and Mackenzie, and the other circus performers work together to save Bob and Talia. Upon capturing Horatio, Owen turns Horatio into a hamster as punishment. Mr. Woodley reevaluates his views on the circus, and with Binkley, decides to create a new circus souvenir using her failed experiments. Owen and Zoe now work happily at the circus, with Owen debuting as a dragon.
Cast[edit source]
- John Krasinski as Owen Huntington, MacKenzie's father, Zoe's husband, Horatio and Buffalo Bob's nephew and the circus owner.[7]
- Brendan Sava as a young Owen.[8]
- Emily Blunt as Zoe Huntington, MacKenzie's mother and Owen's wife.[7][9]
- Noelle Ellison Thomason as a young Zoe.
- Lydia Rose Taylor as Mackenzie Huntington, Owen and Zoe's daughter and Mr. Woodley's granddaughter.[10][11]
- Ian McKellen as Horatio P. Huntington, Buffalo Bob's brother and Owen's uncle. He hates it when Zucchini calls him his "henchman", and keeps correcting him because he is his master, not his henchman.[10][12]
- Danny DeVito as Chesterfield, the circus's top clown.[10][13]
- Sylvester Stallone as Bullet-Man, the human cannonball who only says his name until the end of the movie.[10]
- Raven-Symoné as Binkley, Owen and Zoe's intelligent co-worker at the dog biscuit factory.[10][14]
- Patrick Warburton as Brock, a big strong employee of Mr. Woodley who likes to pick on Owen and Binkley.[10]
- Wallace Shawn as Mr. Woodley,[15] Zoe's father, Mackenzie's grandpa, and Owen's father-in-law. He originally didn't like that Owen was Zoe's husband and kept calling Owen a "nincompoop", but later accepted it.
- Gilbert Gottfried as Mario Zucchini, a small motorcycle rider who thinks Horatio's his minion, which is actually the other way around, as Horatio keeps correcting him. He speaks like a superhero announcer. His name might be a reference to Mario the plumber because of his appearance and/or the Zucchini brothers from The Muppet Show, who are also circus performers.[10][16]
- Harvey Fierstein as Esmeralda the Fortune Teller, Talia's aunt.[10][17]
- Tara Strong as Talia/Zena, Esmeralda's niece and Buffalo Bob's wife.[10][18]
- James Arnold Taylor as Buffalo Bob/Old Blue, Talia's husband, Horatio's brother and Owen's uncle and former owner of the circus.[10][19]
- Kevin Grevioux as Samson the Strong Man.[20]
- Tony Bancroft as Stabby the Knife Thrower.
- Anthony Sava as El Diablo the Fire Breather.
- Donna Lynne Sava as Petunia the Fat Lady.
- Alyssa Trama as Gretchen the Bearded Lady.
Production[edit source]
Development and writing[edit source]
In 2010, Scott Christian Sava wrote a screenplay for Animal Crackers but was unable to garner any interest. In June 2013, Harvey Weinstein had seen a short film of the screenplay made by Sava[21] and two months later the Weinstein brothers made an offer to buy the rights to Animal Crackers.[22] Sava co-directed the movie with Tony Bancroft and co-wrote the screenplay with Dean Lorey.[22]
Financing the movie were executive producers Mu Yedong on behalf of Wen Hua Dongrun Investment Co., La Peikang, board chairman of China Film Co., and Sam Chi for Landmark Asia.[23]
Despicable Me character designer, Carter Goodrich, was hired in October 2014.[2]
Pre-production[edit source]
The voice cast was completed by casting director Jamie Thomason.[10]
In the last week of October and throughout November, 2014, Sava via the Animal Crackers Facebook page, there were sneak peeks to the look of some characters along with announcing the voice cast for those characters Kevin Grevioux as Samson the Strong Man,[20] James Arnold Taylor as Buffalo Bob,[19] Tara Strong as Talia,[18] Harvey Fierstein as Esmerelda the Fortune Teller,[17] Gilbert Gottfried as Mario Zucchini,[16] and Raven-Symoné as Binkley.[14]
On November 6, 2014, Blue Dream Studios announced Sylvester Stallone, Danny DeVito, and Ian McKellen as lead voice cast.[10] On February 3, 2015, John Krasinski and Kaley Cuoco joined the cast as Owen and Zoe Huntington, respectively.[7] On March 30, 2015, Emily Blunt replaced Cuoco due to a scheduling conflict.[9]
"When I was writing Animal Crackers I had specific voices in my head. Certain characters I wrote with actors in mind. Horatio was always Sir Ian McKellen. Brock was totally Patrick Warburton. Bullet-Man could be no one else but Stallone! To find out that each and every one of these actors have agreed to come on board this film and bring these characters to life… I'm flipping out," said Sava.[10]
It was announced via Sava's Facebook page that his son, Brendan, would play 12-year-old Owen Huntington and his wife, Donna, would play the Fat Lady.[citation needed] On May 22, 2015, it was revealed that Wallace Shawn had been cast as Mr. Woodley, Zoe's (Blunt) father.[15]
Filming[edit source]
On January 27, 2015, Sava announced on Facebook via the Animal Crackers page that first day of "studio sessions with the actors" began in Los Angeles.[7]
Music[edit source]
The film's original score was composed by Bear McCreary,[1] and its soundtrack includes original songs by Toad the Wet Sprocket, Huey Lewis and the News, Howard Jones, and Michael Bublé.[24]
Soundtrack[edit source]
| Animal Crackers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
| Released | July 17, 2020 |
| Recorded | 2015-2016 |
| Genre | Film soundtrack |
| Length | 46:25 |
| Label | Sony Masterworks |
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Welcome" (John Adair version) | Ian McKellen | 2:08 |
| 2. | "While We're Young" | Huey Lewis and the News | 3:40 |
| 3. | "Like That" | Fleur East | 3:08 |
| 4. | "The Tractor" | Chris McDougall, Leslie Austin, Dayan Kai | 2:39 |
| 5. | "Master of the Ring" | Connor Clark | 2:50 |
| 6. | "Could've Been Mine" | Ian McKellen, Gilbert Gottfried | 2:09 |
| 7. | "We're in This Together" | Howard Jones | 4:52 |
| 8. | "Don't Stop Me Now" (2011 remaster) | Queen | 3:12 |
| 9. | "One of Those Days" | Toad the Wet Sprocket | 2:42 |
| 10. | "Today (Is Yesterday's Tomorrow)" | Michael Bublé | 3:22 |
| 11. | "Lost and Found" | Katie Herzig | 4:43 |
| 12. | "Animal Crackers Overture" | Bear McCreary | 5:22 |
| 13. | "Papa Bear" | Bear McCreary | 2:57 |
| 14. | "Showtime" | Bear McCreary | 2:23 |
| Total length: | 46:25 | ||
Score[edit source]
| Animal Crackers: Original Motion Picture Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film score by | ||||
| Released | July 17, 2020 | |||
| Recorded | 2017 | |||
| Genre | Score | |||
| Length | 1:14:03 | |||
| Label | Sony Classical | |||
| Bear McCreary chronology | ||||
| ||||
All tracks written and composed by Bear McCreary.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Animal Crackers Overture" (Extended Version) | 5:51 |
| 2. | "The Huntington Brothers" | 3:28 |
| 3. | "Life at the Circus" | 3:59 |
| 4. | "The Dog Food Factory" | 4:54 |
| 5. | "News of the Fire" | 1:45 |
| 6. | "Circus Memorial" | 3:58 |
| 7. | "Holy Moly" | 2:35 |
| 8. | "Zucchini Chase" | 4:16 |
| 9. | "Little Cookie Me" | 3:22 |
| 10. | "The Magic Is Gone" | 3:01 |
| 11. | "Brock and Woodley" | 3:43 |
| 12. | "Papa Bear" (Extended Version) | 3:13 |
| 13. | "A Helping Hoof" | 1:58 |
| 14. | "The Tiger" | 3:14 |
| 15. | "Monkeying Around" | 3:58 |
| 16. | "An Offer From Horatio" | 3:40 |
| 17. | "Freak Fight" | 3:54 |
| 18. | "Chimera" | 5:57 |
| 19. | "Showtime" (Extended Version) | 6:40 |
| Total length: | 1:12:58 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 20. | "Fanfare for Bulletman" | 0:45 |
| 21. | "Blue Dream Studios Logo" | 0:20 |
| Total length: | 1:14:03 | |
Release[edit source]
Theatrical[edit source]
The film had its world premiere in competition at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 12, 2017.[25][26] The film was originally set to be released on April 28, 2017 by Relativity Media, however, a financial crisis within the company prevented them from releasing the film. It was then set to be released on September 1, 2017 by upstart film studio Serafini Releasing before they also shut down.[27] A few months later, in November 2017, it was announced that Entertainment Studios would distribute the film worldwide. In April, Sava posted on Facebook that film was set for a release date of August 10, 2018.[28] The deal with Entertainment Studios was dropped in June 2018.[29]
Eventually, the distribution rights were bought by Netflix and the film was released on July 24, 2020 on the platform.[30][6] It was the second-most streamed film on its opening weekend.[31]
Reception[edit source]
Critical response[edit source]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 64% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 6.00/10. It had a critical consensus which read: "Animal Crackers is far from the most distinctive animated fare, but its wacky humor and zippy speed make it a decent diversion for younger viewers[32]." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews[33]."
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