Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel

Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Fergus Hawk Ostby
Produced by	Audrey Wells Stephen Swofford David W. King David K. Lovegren Jenni-Magee Cook
Screenplay by	Mark Fergus Hawk Ostby Ashley Edward Miller Christopher Markus Stephen McFeely
Story by	Chris A. Bailey Rob Renzetti Viki Anderson Mark Fergus Hawk Ostby Ashley Edward Miller Christopher Markus Stephen McFeely
Starring	Sarah Silverman Owen Laramore Giselle Eisenberg Neil Patrick Harris Billy Crystal Ginnifer Goodwin Ed O'Neill
Music by	Hans Zimmer John Powell
Cinematography	Peter Lyons Collister
Edited by	Craig McKay Arthur D. Noda
Production companies	Walt Disney Pictures Dice Productions
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date	April 10, 2019
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$200 million
Box office	$1.828 billion

Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel is a 2019 American animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Dice Productions and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby in their feature directorial debuts from a screenplay by them and Ashley Edward Miller, it is the sequel to Vanellope & Friends: Off To Adventure Camp and the seventh installment in the Vanellope & Friends film series. It features the voices of Sarah Silverman, Owen Laramore, Giselle Eisenberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Billy Crystal, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Ed O'Neill. In the film, Vanellope von Schweetz, Judy Hopps, Hank, and her two new kid friends, Ryan Oliver West (Lawrence Broderick West's brother) and his school crush and best friend, Bethany Hayden Banks, are accidentally sent to the year 1969 in a time-traveling DeLorean automobile built by Ryan's eccentric scientist friend, Gordon "Doc" Owens. However, the DeLorean loses electricity, threatening the West family's existence after this accidentally prevents Lawrence's future parents from falling in love, and forcing them to go on the search for a way to make electricity to re-power the DeLorean, reconcile the parents, and return to the present, all while trying to stay ahead of the Doc's enemy, Dr. Gremlin.

Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel was released theatrically in the United States on April 10, 2019. The film received universal acclaim from critics and broke several box office records including becoming the highest-grossing Vanellope & Friends film, the highest-grossing Walt Disney Pictures film, the highest-grossing animated film of all time, the highest-grossing PG-rated film, the second highest-grossing film of 2019, the eighth highest-grossing film of all time, and the highest-grossing film produced by Dice, earning $750 million in its opening weekend and eventually earning a collective total of $1.828 billion worldwide, becoming the tenth animated film to pass the milestone. It was nominated for Best Picture (the fifth and currently most recent animated film to be nominated for such an honor), Best Sound Editing (as one of the last films to be nominated), and Best Animated Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards, and was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. This was the last Dice film to involve producer Audrey Wells and executive producer John Lasseter, following Wells' death and Lasseter's exit from Disney, both in 2018. A sequel, Vanellope & Friends: Return To Adventure Camp, was released on August 30, 2019.

Plot

In Anythingville, Vanellope von Schweetz, Judy Hopps, and Hank witness the comeback of Lawrence Broderick West from a vacation. They befriend his four siblings who moved in with him: brother Benjamin "Biggie Benny" Ed West, little brother Mateo Rhode West, feisty sister Earlene Etta West, and Ryan Oliver West. However, Ryan and a band of his fellow students struggle at an elementary school music audition, his siblings are professional and social failures, his mother, Tabitha Tilly Pratt, is depressed, and his father, Greg Ivan West, is often bullied by his supervisor, Bennett Tennant. Ryan confides in his classmate, best friend, and love interest, Bethany Hayden Banks, that despite his ambitions, he fears becoming a worse failure than his family.

Late that night, Vanellope, Beth, Judy, and Hank follow Ryan to the Anythingville Shopping Mall, where he meets and introduces them to his eccentric scientist friend, Dr. Gordon Owens. Gordon unveils a time machine built from a modified DeLorean, powered by electric plutonium he swindled from his arch-enemy, Dr. Gremlin, a sadistic blue gremlin who is a mad scientist. After Gordon inputs a destination time of November 29, 1969 (the time he first conceived his time travel invention), Gremlin arrives unexpectedly in his gremlin-shaped UFO. He briefly renews an argument with Gordon about his past: Gremlin was adopted and raised as an infant, but when he grew up, he became obsessed with plutonium and betrayed him by tampering with it, for which Gordon kicked him out of his life. Gremlin defeats Gordon and chases Vanellope, Ryan, Beth, Judy, and Hank in the DeLorean, but the chase inadvertently activates time travel when they reach 88 miles per hour (142 kilometers per hour). Arriving in 1969, the group loses Gear, but realize that they are sans electric plutonium and therefore cannot return to 2019.

Vanellope, Ryan, Beth, Judy, and Hank navigate through a burgeoning 1969 Anythingville. They encounter Ryan's teenage father and discover Bennett was bullying Greg even then. Greg falls into the path of an oncoming Plymouth Barracuda while smitten by the voice of a teenage girl, and Ryan is knocked unconscious while rescuing him. He wakes up to find himself tended to and cared for by the girl, who turns out to be a teenage Tilly. Vanellope, Ryan, Beth, Judy, and Hank track down and convince a younger Gordon that they've come from the future. Gordon explains that the only energy source available in 1969 capable of generating the power required to travel through time is a lightning bolt. Ryan shows Gordon a flyer that documents an upcoming lightning strike at the Anythingville courthouse. As Ryan's siblings, including Lawrence, start to fade out from a photo Ryan is carrying with him, Gordon realizes the group's actions are altering the future and jeopardizing their existence.

The five devise a plot to get Tilly and Greg acquainted, but the plan goes awry when they are apprehended by Gremlin, who had teamed up and made a deal with Bennett and his gang to sabotage the five as revenge on Gordon for his past misery. After Gremlin takes off in his UFO with an evil laugh, Bennett claims Tilly while his gang locks the group in the trunk of a car belonging to the Anythingville High School dance's performing band. Greg arrives, expecting to find Ryan, but is assaulted by Bennett. After Bennett hurts Tilly, an enraged Greg knocks him unconscious and escorts the grateful Tilly to the dance. The band frees Ryan and his friends from the car, but the lead guitarist injures his hand in the process, so Ryan takes his place, performing while Greg and Tilly share their first kiss. Beth and Ryan even begin to fall in love.

With their future no longer in jeopardy, Vanellope, Ryan, Beth, Judy, and Hank hurry to the courthouse to meet Gordon. Gordon receives a letter from the five warning him about their future and tears it apart, worried about the consequences. To save Gordon, the group recalibrates the DeLorean to return ten minutes before they left the future. The lightning strikes, sending Vanellope, Ryan, Beth, Judy, and Hank back to 2019, but the DeLorean breaks down, forcing the group to head back to the shopping mall, arriving just as Gordon had been defeated. While Ryan grieves at his side, Gordon sits up, revealing he had pieced the group's note back together and faked his defeat.

The next morning, Ryan, Vanellope, Beth, Judy, and Hank wake up to discover that Ryan's family is better: his father is now a confident and successful science fiction author, his mother is fit and happy, his siblings are successful professionally and socially, and Bennett is a servile valet in Greg's employ. A day later, however, while Ryan and his family invite Vanellope Beth, Judy, and Hank to their house for a playdate night, Gremlin suddenly appears in his UFO, having found out of Ryan and his group's return to 2019, and proceeds to drop a bomb down on the West family's house before taking off in his UFO. Vanellope, Judy, Hank, Beth get to safety, but the explosion apparently kills Ryan, Lawrence, and their family to everyone's horror. All of Anythingville mourns for the loss of the West family. Later, Vanellope realizes that the only way to fix things and save Ryan, Lawrence, and their family is to go back to the past and alter the time where Gear's bomb killed the West family.

Vanellope and Gordon recalibrate the DeLorean to a destination time to travel way back to 5 minutes before the family's deaths. Instead of the bomb killing the Wests, Vanellope aims a slingshot at the bomb, making it explodes in mid-air. Vanellope and Gordon's doubles suddenly accidentally merge, generating a massive cosmic shockwave. Vanellope, Gordon, Ryan, Beth, Judy, and Hank race in the DeLorean, but cannot time-travel because of a rip in the space-time continuum caused by the merging of the trio's cosmic doubles. A huge portal appears over Anythingville, and several historical figures and objects rain down upon Anythingville. Vanellope, Ryan, and Gordon realize the only way to stop the rip from worsening is to travel into the future and go very fast, henceforth creating a gravitational field equal and opposite to the rip. An angered Gremlin chases the DeLorean in his UFO to try to intervene, but it crashes. Vanellope, Ryan, and Gordon travel to the future for a few minutes and close the rip. The historical objects and figures, along with Gremlin, are dragged back to their perspective times before the rip closes. After a few seconds, Vanellope, Ryan, and Gordon return to the present.

In the aftermath of the closing of the rip, Ryan confesses his love for Beth, and the two kiss, and Gordon departs into the future in the DeLorean. The next day, a school music show is held at Ryan's school, where Ryan and his fellow junior band members put on a successful performance, with Vanellope, Judy, Hank, Beth, and both kids' families attending. Later, Lawrence announces his intentions to give Ryan the title of the new mayor of Anythingville on Beth's tenth birthday.

Cast

• Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz
• Owen Laramore as Ryan Oliver West, the 10-year-old brother of Lawrence, Biggie Benny, Earlene, and Mateo, and is Beth's best friend and later boyfriend.
• Giselle Eisenberg as Bethany Hayden Banks, a 9-year-oldwho is Ryan's best friend and love interest and later girlfriend.
• Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Gremlin, a sadistic blue gremlin who is a mad scientist and Doc's arch-nemesis and former adopted son.
• Billy Crystal as Gordon "Doc" Owens, an eccentric scientist who is a friend of Ryan.
• Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps
• Ed O'Neill as Hank
• Jane Krakowski as Tabitha Tilly Pratt, a 1969 teenager who grows into Lawrence and Ryan's 2019 mother.
• Vince Vaughn as Greg Ivan West, a nerdy 1969 high schooler who grows into Lawrence and Ryan's 2019 father.
• Damon Wayans Jr. as Geoffrey Tennant, a 1969 high-school bully-turned Greg's 2019 boss.
• Cameron Boyce as Lawrence Broderick West, the mayor of Anythingville and Ryan's big brother. This is the comeback of him after he disappeared from two previous films in the series.
• Jackson Robert Scott as Benjamin "Biggie Benny" West, the brother of Lawrence, Ryan, Mateo, and Earlene.
• Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Earlene Etta West, the sister of Lawrence, Ryan, Biggie Benny, and Mateo.
• Jeremy Maguire as Mateo Rhode West, the brother of Lawrence, Ryan, Biggie Benny, and Earlene.
• Cobie Smulders as Toni Banks, Beth's single mother.

Box office

In the United States, Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel was released alongside The Curse of La Llorona and Under the Silver Lake, and was projected to gross $215--250 million in its opening weekend. The film grossed $889 million in the United States and Canada, and $939 million overseas for a worldwide total of $1.828 billion, making it a box-office success. The film grossed $750 million in its opening weekend, ranking the box office with its $1.8 billion gross and breaking the record for the highest-opening for a Dice film, the highest-opening for an animated film, and one of Disney's highest box office openings. It crossed the $1 billion mark with $1.510 billion in its second weekend, becoming the tenth animated film to pass the milestone and the fastest animated film to pass $1 billion, passing the milestone in just 10 days. Its theatrical run ended on August 25, 2019. Produced on an production budget of $200 million, it surpassed Magic Tree House as the highest-grossing film produced by Dice to date.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 280 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Emotional and engaging for so may fans of the franchise as it is deeply breathtaking to look at, Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel has enough real power from across time and space to take entertain children and adults alike 88 miles per hour". It is the highest-rated Vanellope & Friends film on that site. Another website, Metacritic, signed the film to a score of 97 out of 100 based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim", also the highest-rated Vanellope & Friends film on that site. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

David Ehrlich of Indiewire called the film "devastatingly emotional" and praised the ending scene, saying, "The scene where Beth stays in Anythingville is a tearjerker, and in this case, conceptually happy, and that's no joke". A.O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film five out of five stars. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film "Two Thumbs Up". James Berarddinelli of ReelViews commended Ben Stiller's performance of Creasy Corden. He wrote, "It's great to see Ben Stiller in such great movies like this one". Carrey Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "As directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel is a heartwarming melody".