| |
|---|---|
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Directed by |
Phil Lord |
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Produced by |
Phil Lord |
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Screenplay by |
Christopher Miller |
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Story by |
Arthur K. Cunningham |
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Based on |
The Adventures of Teddy and Friends by Dipper |
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Narrated by |
None |
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Starring |
Elijah Wood |
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Music by |
Yuri Delgado |
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Cinematography |
Truman Fitzgerald |
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Edited by |
Amber Greensburgh |
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Studio |
Universal Pictures |
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Distributed by |
The CC MovieCC |
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Release date(s) |
November 17, 2017 |
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Running time |
187 minutes (TV) |
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Country |
USA |
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Language |
English |
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Budget |
$8.9 million |
| [Source] | |
Teddymovie: Teddy vs. Aliens (formerly Teddy: The Movie) is an American traditionally/CGI animated musical dramedy action science-fiction television film that premiered on The CC (Cartoon Comedy) and on theaters (for a limited release) November 17, 2017. It is distributed by its movie company, The CC MovieC, in cooperation with Haus Stoodios and Universal Pictures. The movie stars Elijah Wood as the voice of Teddy and Michael Cera as the voice of Bibi, the main characters, who along with their friends, must battle intergalactic foes to salvage New Stuff City, their hometown. The movie is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who also directed for The Lego Movie. The movie's title was changed from Teddy: The Movie to Teddymovie: Teddy vs. Aliens to avoid negative connections to the Title: The Adaption trope. The film was expected to garner $9 million dollars during its 2-weekend limited run in theaters. At the end of its 2-weekend limited ruin in theaters, however, it under-exceed expectations, only grossing $8.9 million dollars in total at the box office. The movie got mostly positive reviews, and holds a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 123 reviews.
Plot[]
The movie starts with an international meeting being held in outer space between all alien species, where the The Alien King Father showcases his latest plan to finally invade the New Stuff City and the "meddling pieces of stuffies" that inhabit it. He proposes that all alien species should unite together to invade New Stuff City and finally get revenge on the stuffies, and hands over copies of contracts to be signed by every king of every alien species (who are in attendance) in order for the union to be finalized. The other kings don't seem very convinced until The Alien King Father bribes them with milk if they form said union, to which they comically and quickly sign all of the contracts.
Meanwhile, on New Stuff City, Teddy and Bibi are celebrating their joint 18th birthday, so their friends scramble to make them a party. They decide to hire a DJ, so Bibi contracts sell-out rapper Frank Cap the Rap Moose as a DJ while Om Nom and Tin Woodman are put in charge of the party supplies. Stella and Kitty are given the most important task: getting a "doubled" cake (a cake that is two times the normal size) in commemoration of Teddy and Bibi's shared birthday. At the party, everyone seems to be having a good time, even a usually socially awkward Teddy, until Frank Cap arrives and "starts up" (in his own words) the party, blasting off hip-hop music in his speakers and bringing more people in, making Teddy uncomfortable and causing him to lock himself in his bedroom. Bibi tries to persuade him into coming back and to stop being boring, but Teddy doesn't budge and Bibi storms off angrily, proclaiming that it's his birthday party only and not Teddy's. This worries their friends, but after they too fail to persuade him to keep on partying, they leave him alone.
The newly-formed alien union, under the command of The Alien King Father, begin their intergalactic trek across space and into planet Earth, but they end up running out of fuel for their shared spacecraft, the Galactiana. They all admit defeat (with the exception of The Alien King Father, who tells them to "pipe down their little green selves"), until The Alien King Father catches sight of a extraterrestrial convenience store that sells milk, comically stating that the spacecraft (which is owned by him) depends on milk as fuel. The Alien Queen Mother rolls her eyes and tells him to tone down the milk jokes, and afterwards they get the milk and head out to New Stuff City. They manage to arrive and carry on their attacks, destroying buildings and fear-mongering the stuffy inhabitants. The Alien King Father then churns out tiny spacecrafts out of his own spacecraft and orders the other aliens to look for Teddy and Bibi in them, confessing that he'll want them for "special things", and goes to look out for them as well.
Back at the party, everyone is having a good time until one of the aliens destroy Teddy and Bibi's apartment, scaring everyone who starts looking for an escape. One of the aliens recognizes Teddy and kidnaps him, shocking his friends, especially his brother Bibi, feeling guilt over his previous spat with his stuffy brother, so he plots a rescue mission with the help of his friends: Om Nom, the diminutive green-colored extraterrestrial from the freemium mobile game Cut the Rope, Tin Woodman, the tin man from The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Snuggles, from Despicable Me, John Crazy, a notoriously insane (hence his surname) scientist who resides in the stuffy duo's apartment, Stella, the boy-crazy bird from Angry Birds, Kitty, Teddy's girlfriend, and Pac-Man, the yellow pellet-loving character from the Pac-Man arcade games. Frank Cap offers to join them in case they get famous and will result in attention directed towards him, due to his failing rap career. As their team is being assembled, Grammy Stuffy, Teddy and Bibi's over-affectionate grandmother arrives with gifts for her grandsons, professing no shock at the deteriorating state of her surroundings. The gang tries to divert her away by lying that the party got cancelled, but Grammy doesn't buy it. Then an alien comes buy and recognizes Bibi, attempting to kidnap him, but Grammy astounds the gang when she shows off her karate skills to the alien, who gets knocked cold. Grammy starts declaring that anyone who gets close to her grandsons to cause them harm "will get the stuffing beat out of their stuffy a-" but is interrupted by the gang, who lets them join their gang after she is angry that someone would kidnap Teddy.
The Alien King Father's mood changes from indifference to glee as he gets news that they have managed to kidnapped Teddy but not Bibi, since he is comically referred to as "the forgettable one", therefore making them hard to recognize him. But The Alien King Father announces that their job is done and they no longer will be required to kidnap Bibi, stating that he is "useless" to their plan. His plan is for Teddy to tell him (or rather be forced to) the source of all stuffy life, which is located on an intergalactic planet somewhere, so he can "rip it out" to pieces and rendering the stuffy species a "stuffority" (or minority), switching social class places with the stuffy race, which was always considered superior. He requires Teddy since his parents were local celebrities in their hometown of STUFFX-1093109 for being president and vice president of the intergalactic archaeologists association, and for being the only ones to know the source of all stuffy life. Teddy won't comply, so the Alien King Father professes to do it "the harder way" by stuffing a "Trooth" denture in his mouth that tells him the truth. It is revealed to be in the Stuffgreth planet, satisfying the King with the answer. He makes Teddy his slave that will dig him up the source of stuffy life, and brainwashes him in the process so he doesn't disobey his commands and/or orders.
The stuffy gang is in need of a spacecraft similar to that of the aliens in order to look for Teddy, so they get Grammy to hide under a kind-hearted grandmother facade in order to karate-punch one of the hench-aliens and retrieve their spacecraft. They get one and name it the U.S.S Teddster in honor of Teddy, managing to trick more hench-aliens and destroying their spacecrafts, leaving their faiths unknown (though in a more adult context, it can be asserted that they died). Unfortunately, our gang fears that they are rendered unable to detect the U.S.S Intergalactica, 'til they find a radar detector installed in their spacecraft's control units, which can detect a certain spacecraft if its name is typed in. The King's spacecraft is detected, and the gang head off to space.
The U.S.S Intergalactica is headed towards Stuffgreth, but the King is unable to detect the planet since his absent-mindedness prevents him from searching it. His stupidity causes him to accidentally deactivate Teddy's brainwashing, and after realizing what happened, Teddy breaks the radar, angering the King, since he doesn't know where Stuffgreth is located. He starts invading planets (like the Stuffungle, Fast Stuffood Stuffery, and a fascist version of New Stuff City) as a means of locating Stuffgreth with no success. Teddy is happy at the prospect of the King's failure until they reach Stuffgreth, located at the very end of the Stuffy Path galaxy, after invading many other stuffy planets. Teddy recoils in fear as the King orders him and the hench-aliens to start digging, unless he wants the king to caress his stuff-intestines.
The U.S.S Teddster is hot on the U.S.S Intergalactica's trail, and eventually they reach Stuffgreth, where they are treated with the horrific sight of a malnourished and dirt-ridden Teddy digging for the source of life. They try to save him but the King disowns this idea and makes them work for him, which they're forced to since the King is powerful and capable of killing. Teddy, tired of being commanded by the King, begins fighting him and this angers him, stirring a war, with the majority stuffies vs. the minority aliens. The little skirmish soon unfolds into an intergalactic war, and our stuffy friends will need the help of their friends, so through the U.S.S Teddster they contact Camilla, The Statue of Liberteddy, their kids, etc., to come help them. They get all the help they can and soon, the stuffies outnumber the aliens 2 to 1.
Our stuffies outnumbering the aliens distresses the Alien King Father, who is only commanding the aliens and not fighting himself, but he decides to actually join in the fighting, doing his best at shooting any of the stuffies but Teddy, since he still needs him to find the source of stuffy life. However, a missed shot hits Teddy between his eyes, knocking him unconscious. Everyone is shocked and Kitty tries to resuscitate him using CPR to no avail, and he is pronounced dead. Every stuffie starts mourning and Kitty cries the most, her tears falling into Teddy's heart. She starts kissing Teddy, hoping he will be revived at the last moment "because that happens in every movie", but nothing works. Even the aliens have a moment of silence, to which the King tries to stop since he believes Teddy deserved it, but has a moment of silence as well since Teddy will no longer find him the source of stuffy life. Afterwards, he starts digging for the source himself when no one is noticing, but he is pushed into the hole he was digging and buried alive by the stuffies and aliens alike, with the aliens angry since he killed their stuffy slave. The aliens then declare peace since the King is dead and can't command them to search the source. The stuffies and aliens sign a treaty that declares the end of the war and that the stuffies and aliens are equal in social class and not majority or minority, or vice versa. The film ends with our stuffie friends deciding to resume the party in Teddy's commemoration, with the aliens joining in as well. A black screen is shown with the text "Dedicated to Brandon Cornish (1953-2017), a wonderful friend of the stuffies. We'll miss you".
Cast[]
Main article: The Adventures of Teddy and Friends § Characters
- Teddy (voiced by Elijah Wood) - The main character who's a yellow teddy bear. He's more smarter and more of a worrywart than his laidback, koala brother.
- Bibi (voiced by Michael Cera) - The other main character who's a gray koala and is more laidback and "chill" than his worrywart yet smart brother.
- Om Nom (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) - The little cute, green alien character from Cut the Rope who loves candy. In this movie, he doesn't speak much, though.
- Tin Woodman (voiced by Jason Bateman) - The character from The Wizard of Oz.
- Mr Snuggles (voiced by Pierre Coffin) - A minion from Despicable Me. Pierre Coffin reprised his role of minions from the Despicable Me franchise, having voiced Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil and Stuart.
- John Crazy (voiced by Jim Carrey) - Teddy's kooky scientist friend.
- Stella (voiced by Katie Holmes) - Bird of Angry Birds fame who's obsessed with all the boys in the "stuffy gang" (most notably Teddy).
- Elizabeth "Kitty" (voiced by Jillian Bell) - Teddy's cat girlfriend who belonged to Queen Elizabeth II (1926-), hence her full name.
- Pac-Man (voiced by Jack McBrayer) - Character from the eponymous game franchise who's a yellow orb with an infinite hunger.
- The Alien King Father (voiced by Morgan Freeman) - The main antagonist of the series, this alien happens to be the king of aliens who commands them to attack Teddy and his friends. He's also the father of Alien Princess Daughter and Alien Prince Son.
- The Alien Queen Mother (voiced by Scarlet Johansson) - The main antagonist's wife who also happens to be the queen of the aliens and also a mother to the Alien Princess Daughter and Alien Prince Son.
- The "Milk" Alien (voiced by Danny DeVito) - An alien sidekick who can't speak much apart from repeating the word "Milk", hence his name.
- The Alien Princess Daughter (voiced by Anna Faris) - The alien princess and daughter to the Alien King Father and Alien Queen Mother. She is like every teenage girl with boyfriend issues.
- The Alien Prince Son (voiced by Zac Efron) - The immature alien prince who's also the son of the Alien monarchy who acts like every teenage boy.
- Frank Cap the Rap Moose (voiced by Wayne Brady) - New Stuffy City's most famous rapper who also happened to be born there, Frank Cap helps the gang fight off the aliens in hopes of getting more public attention after his latest album, Diz Body, flopped.
- Camilla (voiced by Holmes) - A stuffy woman who was obsessed with Teddy but helps him fight off the aliens.
- Turbo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) - Main character from the 2013 animated film Turbo who helps the gang.
- Statue of Liberteddy (voiced by Baker) - New Stuff City's beloved statue who is a helper.
- The Kids (voiced by Art Parkinson and Alison Brie) - Teddy and Kitty's offspring in the form of Angry BirdsTM who are brought along.
- Teddy Sr. St. Stuffy (voiced by Brad Pitt) - Teddy's quirky father who appears to him in apparitions telling him he's proud of him and that he can win the battle against the aliens with his stuffy friends. It is not revealed if he is deceased or not.
- Teddiana Stuffy-Stufferson (voiced by Jennifer Love-Hewitt)- Teddy's pessimistic mother who also appears in apparitions. She's also not revealed to be deceased or not.
- Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) - Main character from the Peanuts comic book franchise.
- Grammy Stuffy (voiced by Betty White) - Teddy's over-affectionate 98-year old grandmother who comes to his party and buys him his cake. She is proven useful in battling the aliens.
Soundtrack[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "A Day in New Stuff City" | Dipper | Elijah Wood, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman & Jillian Bell | 1:00 | |
| "It Happened" (ft. Bastille) | Sia Furler | Sia Furler | 2:38 | |
| "Happy Birthday To You" | Patty and Mildred J. Hill | Jason Bateman, Kate Holmes & Jillian Bell | 0:10 | |
| "The Alien Take-Over" | Samuel England | Morgan Freeman & Scarlet Johansson | 1:26 | |
| "Be a Hero" (ft. The Chainsmokers) | Angela Overton | Mary J. Blige | 2:45 | |
| "Take On Me" | Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket & Pål Waaktaar | A-ha | 3:18 | |
| "Sacrifice" (ft. Sam Smith) | Yuri Delgado | Adele | 4:25 | |
| "Stay the Night" (ft. Hayley Williams) | Zedd, Hayley Williams, Benjamin Eli Hanna & Carah Faye | Hayley Williams | 3:37 | |
| "Centuries" | Michael Fonseca, Raja Kumari, Jonathan Rotem, Justin Tranter, Andy Hurley, Patrick Stump, Joe Trohman, Suzanne Vega & Pete Wentz | Fall Out Boy | 3:51 | |
| "Never Felt Better" (ft. Rihanna) | Sia Furler | Sia Furler | 3:28 | |
| "Umbrella" | Christopher Stewart, Terius Nash, Kuk Harrell & Shawn Carter | Rihanna | 4:36 | |
| "To Home and Back Again" | Yuri Delgado | Michael Cera, Elijah Wood, Jason Bateman, Jillian Bell, Tom Kenny | 1:19 | |
| TOTAL: | 29:03 | |||
Production[]
The movie had begun production back in mid-2015, almost two years before it was officially announced. It was based on a 208-paged screenplay by Arthur K. Cunnigham, who proposed for it to be a movie just a mere month after the show ended in May of 2014. It took a whole year for the movie to began production due to casting and budget issues. Originally, the movie was set to air in summer of 2016.
The movie's title, Teddy: The Movie, was changed to Teddymovie: Teddy vs. Aliens, in order to avoid negative connections to the Title: The Adaption trope.
Marketing[]
On November 11, 2016, a teaser photo was featured on The CC (Cartoon Comedy)'s website, TheCC.com. The photo featured the main members of Teddy and his gang redesigned to look more traditionally animated than before instead of the traditional animation/Flash animation mix seen in the original series, though they kept their original look. It was quickly praised and the creator of the original series, Dipper, did so to, stating that "this movie is like my kid if my kid behaved so well". A trailer is set to premiere in June 2, 2017, in theaters, along with the release of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, and on TV in The CC (Cartoon Comedy) May 26, 2017. A second trailer premiered later in theaters and on TV June 9, 2017. Afterwards, many other trailers received TV spots throughout the summer. It was frequently advertised during this time on The CC (Cartoon Comedy) channel as a milestone in "the first theatrical film by The CC (Cartoon Comedy)".
Cast gallery[]
.jpg "220px-Michael Cera 2012 (Cropped).jpg (16 KB)")
Release[]
Home media[]
The film was distributed by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on Blu-Ray disc, DVD, and on digital download (on The CC (Cartoon Comedy)'s app The CC APP) May 1, 2018. The Blu-Ray discs have sold 80,000 copies, but the DVDs have so far outsold them with 700,000 copies. The success of these DVD sales would prove essential in reviving The Adventures of Teddy and Friends for a 30-episode fifth season on May 12, 2018.
Reception[]
Teddymovie: Teddy vs. Aliens has received average to positive reviews for its "gorgeously aesthetic" use of traditional and CGI animation. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation website, the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 123 reviews. Critics also praised the variety of colorful characters, but noted that it could be cliched at times. Most pointed out the "Chosen One" trope being painfully "shoved" into the film, along with the "Damsel in Distress" trope, but others indicated that the film put its own "stuffy" twist to them. Another major criticism was the subtle product placement, most noticeably having a Minion as one of their characters. Finally, one last (yet really popular) criticism was towards the film's ridiculous running time, clocking in at 187 minutes for the television broadcast (it was split into two parts to better accommodate airing) and 199 minutes on the silver screen. However, positive criticisms point out the ending, citing it as "cliche-less" and "heartbreaking".
Studios[]
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