| Disney In The House: Wild Animal Expedition | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ash Brannon |
| Produced by | Stephen Swofford |
| Screenplay by | Ethan Reiff Cyrus Voris |
| Story by | Ash Brannon Ethan Reiff Cyrus Voris |
| Starring | Sarah Silverman Fran Drescher Arnold Schwarzenegger Owen Laramore Dakota Fanning Ginnifer Goodwin Ed O'Neill Will Arnett Annaleigh Ashford Rihanna Julia Roberts |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Larry Fong |
| Edited by | Andy Netley |
| Production companies |
Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Wonder Studios |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Release date | February 28, 2020 (United States) |
| Running time | 112 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $175 million |
| Box office | $781 million |
Disney In The House: Wild Animal Expedition is a 2020 American computer-animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Wonder Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Ash Brannon from a screenplay by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, it is the sequel to Disney In The House: Return To Adventure Camp and the ninth installment in the Disney In The House Cinematic Universe. The film stars Sarah Silverman, Dakota Fanning (from archive recordings of her child voice), Ginnifer Goodwin, and Ed O'Neill reprising their roles, with Owen Laramore replacing Cameron Boyce from the previous films. They are joined by Fran Drescher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Arnett, Annaleigh Ashford, Rihanna, and Julia Roberts voicing new characters. In the film, Vanellope von Schweetz, Judy Hopps, Hank, Beth Pierce, and Lawrence Pierce find themselves in an underground world called the Habitatopia and must unite its inhabitant wild animals to stop the spider monkey tribe's evil queen Spide from letting her tribe reign supreme, with help from a brave river otter named Witherspoon.
Disney In The House: Wild Animal Expedition was released theatrically in the United States on February 28, 2020. This was the last Walt Disney Wonder Studios film to be animated using their old software system, Wonder-O-Gram, before officially being replaced with Alakazam in 2021. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and grossed $649 million in its opening weekend, eventually earning $781 million worldwide against its $175 million budget, making it the highest-grossing film of 2020, even though its theatrical release was cut short in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like several other films released in the early months of 2020, the film was made available to own digitally several weeks after its release. At the 93rd Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Animated Feature, losing to Disney and Pixar's Soul. A sequel, Disney In The House: Easter Egg Hunt, was released on April 16, 2021.
Plot[]
The underground world of Habitatopia celebrates the arrival of Witherspoon, an adventurous explorer and an otter. His arch-enemy, Spide, the misanthrophic queen of the spider monkeys, plots to let her tribe rule by destroying Habitatopia (consisting of the Savanna, the rainforest and tropics, the outback, and the polar regions).
In Disneyville, Vanellope von Scwheetz, Judy Hopps, Beth Pierce, Hank, and Lawrence Pierce encounter Witherspoon, who reveals his plot to save Habitatopia to Vanellope, who resolves to help him stop her and convinces her friends to come along. Vanellope, Judy, Beth, Hank, and Lawrence go underground and approach the Savanna. Lion, Giraffe, and Elephant are looking for their herd of antelope to which Vanellope makes a deal with them: If they help find the herd, he, Giraffe, and Elephant can join the quest. A pack of hyenas attacks the herd, but Vanellope, Witherspoon, and Lion manage to protect it.
In the Rain Forest and Tropics, Vanellope, Witherspoon, Judy, Beth, Hank, Lawrence, and Lion collect Monkey and Parrot and see a shocking evidence: Monkey's house has been ripped to shreds. They question Jaguar, and she explains that Spide hired carnivorous animals to kill them. True to form, a python chases Vanellope, Witherspoon, Judy, Beth, Hank, Lawrence, Lion, Jaguar, Monkey, and Parrot out of the Rain Forest and Tropics, though they defeat it. They reach the Outback and collect Kangaroo, Koala, and Dingo. Suddenly, a tasmanian devil comes to bring them to Spide. Vanellope manages to defeat the Tasmanian devil. After reaching the Polar Regions. On land, Beth gets cold, and they warm her up by a fire, drawing the attention of Seal, Polar Bear, and Penguin.
Spide kidnaps everyone and takes them inside her lair, announcing the purpose of her plan and leaving them to die. Vanellope frees herself, puts on a parachute, and jumps down to safety. The others assume Vanellope died, but is given a message that she is still alive. Spide's evil plan involved making things her way forever; the only way to do so is to turn all wild animals into Spider zombies. They go to find Vanellope but are intercepted by the animals who have been transformed. Vanellope arrives on the scene and chastises Spide for forcing her views on everyone. She then proceeds to steal Spide's scepter and smashes it, snapping the possessed animals out of their Spider zombie state.
With her plan foiled, Spide places blame on Vanellope for destroying her perfection and her tribe's survival. A giant black widow spider attacks Spide's lair. Vanellope tells Spide to let go of her anger, reminding her that is not necessary to destroy animals and their habitats and that all animals should get along, no matter how different and far apart they are. A remorseful Spide apologizes to Vanellope and Witherspoon and accepts their offer of friendship. The lair crumbles as the giant spider continues attacking. As everyone evacuates, Spide destroys her lair with a lightning blaster, crushing and sinking the monster.
With Spide and Witherspoon's war finally over, the animals and Spider Monkeys make peace. Vanellope, Judy, Beth, Lawrence, and Hank return the animals to their own Habitats and return home, where Vanellope allows Witherspoon and the Spider Monkeys to take up residence in Disneyville.
Cast[]
- Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz, a resident of Disneyville.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Witherspoon, a adventurous river otter with a Brooklyn accent.
- Fran Drescher as Spide, the queen of Spider Monkeys and Witherspoon's arch-nemesis who wants to destroy the Four Habitats to let her tribe reign supreme.
- Owen Laramore as Lawrence Pierce, the mayor of Disneyville and Beth's older brother. He was previously voiced by Cameron Boyce in the previous films.
- Dakota Fanning as Beth Pierce, an eight-year-old who is Lawrence's younger sister and one of Vanellope's best friends.
- Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, a resident of Disneyville and one of Vanellope's best friends.
- Ed O'Neill as Hank, Disneyville's greatest septopus and one of Vanellope's best friends.
- Will Arnett as Lion, an African lion and the leader of the Savanna.
- Annaleigh Ashford as Jaguar, a jaguar who resides in the Rain Forest and Tropics.
- Julia Roberts as Polar bear, a polar bear and Seal's friend.
- Rihanna as Kangaroo, a red kangaroo.
- T.J. Miller as Giraffe, a giraffe and Lion's friend.
- Sterling K. Brown as Elephant, an African elephant and Lion's other friend.
- Rupert Grint as Parrot, a scarlet macaw and Monkey's best friend.
- Drew Van Acker as Monkey, a squirrel monkey.
- Clive Owen as Penguin, an emperor penguin.
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Seal, a harp seal.
- Andy Dick as Koala, a koala bear.
- John Krasinski as Dingo, a dingo.
- Eden Grace Redfield as Joey, a joey and Kangaroo's daughter. She lives in her mother's pouch.
- John DiMaggio as Nut, Spide's lawyer.
- Jessica Bennington and Dee Bradley Baker as Fella and Fill, two crabs who tell Vanellope and the gang that they are on the Savanna.
Box office[]
In the United States, Disney In The House: Wild Animal Expedition was released alongside Playing with Fire, Midway, Doctor Sleep, and Last Christmas, and was projected to gross $125 million from theaters in its opening weekend. After earning $314 million in its first day, including 9.1 million from Thursday night previews, eventually earning $649 million in the opening weekend, it grossed $383 million in the United States and Canada, and $398 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $658 million worldwide.
Critical response[]
Disney In The House: Wild Animal Expedition received positive reviews from critics. The film has a 74% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 195 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Though its story is somewhat thinly-written, Disney In The House: Wild Animal Expedition boasts excellent animation, the voice acting is well chosen, and the wild animals are wonderfully-realized". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, signed the film to a score of 71 out of 100 based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.