| Vanellope's Adventures 4 | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
Audrey Wells Alicia Kirk Andrei Svislotski Bosco Ng |
| Produced by |
Audrey Wells Stephen Swofford Roy Allen Smith |
| Screenplay by |
Scott Alexander Larry Karaszweski |
| Story by |
Audrey Wells Alicia Kirk Andrei Svislotski Bosco Ng |
| Starring |
Sarah Silverman Owen Laramore Taylor Goll Neil Patrick Harris John Cleese Cameron Boyce Ginnifer Goodwin Ed O'Neill Michael J. Fox |
| Music by |
Hans Zimmer John Powell |
| Cinematography | C. R. Florimonte |
| Edited by |
Sarah K. Reimers Tatiana S. Reigel |
| Production companies |
Walt Disney Pictures Dice Productions |
| Distributed by |
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Release date |
April 12, 2019 (El Capitan Theatre) April 19, 2019 (United States) |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $200 million |
| Box office | $1.828 billion |
Vanellope's Adventures 4 is a 2019 American animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Dice Productions and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Audrey Wells, Alicia Kirk, Andrei Svislotski, and Bosco Ng (the latter three in their directorial debuts) from a screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszweski, it is the sequel to Vanellope's Adventures 3 and the fourth installment in the Vanellope's Adventures film series. Sarah Silverman, Cameron Boyce, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ed O'Neill, Michael J. Fox, and Wells reprise their roles from the previous films, joined by newcomers including Owen Laramore, Taylor Goll, Neil Patrick Harris, John Cleese, Izzy G., Lila Sage Bromley, and Amandla Stenberg. In the film, Vanellope von Schweetz, Lawrence, the Anythingizens, and their two new kid friends, Ryan Oliver West (Lawrence Broderick West's brother) and Meredith H. Oak, a school's laughingstock, are accidentally sent to the year 1967 in a time-traveling DeLorean automobile built by Ryan's eccentric scientist friend, Dr. Gordon Owens. This threatens their families' existence by preventing their future respective parents from falling in love, so they must reconcile their respective parents and return to the present, all while trying to stay ahead of the Dr. Owens' arch-enemy, Dr. Gremlin.
Vanellope's Adeventures 4 premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on April 12, 2019, and was released theatrically in the United States on April 19. The film received universal acclaim from critics and audiences, who praised its story, humor, animation, voice acting, and characters; it earned a rare 100% rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. It even broke several box office records including becoming the highest-grossing Vanellope's Adventures film, the second highest-grossing Walt Disney Pictures-released film, the third highest-grossing animated film, the highest-grossing PG-rated film, the second highest-grossing film of 2019, the eighth highest-grossing film of all time, and the second highest-grossing film produced by Dice, earning $871 million in its opening weekend and eventually earning a collective total of $1.828 billion worldwide, becoming the eighth animated film to pass the milestone. It was nominated for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards (becoming the fifth and most recent animated film to receive this nomination), winning Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, Annie Awards, and Critics' Choice Awards, making it the first and currently only Vanellope's Adventures film to win in the category in any of these award ceremonies. It was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. This was the last Dice film to involve producer Wells and executive producer John Lasseter, following Wells' death and Lasseter's exit from Disney, both in 2018. A sequel, Vanellope's Adventures 5, was released on January 31, 2020.
Plot[]
Dr. Gordon Owens, an eccentric scientist, adopts an infant blue gremlin and raises him as his own son. However, when the gremlin develops an obsession with time travel as he grows up, he becomes a mad scientist and tampers with electric plutonium by concocting a science experiment that horribly fails. As a punishment, Dr. Owens kicks the gremlin out of his life, causing the gremlin, now going by Dr. Gremlin, to become sadistic and resentful towards Dr. Owens.
Ten years later in Anythingville, Vanellope von Schweetz befriends Ryan Oliver West, Lawrence Broderick West's brother who recently moved in to Thing's Happen Town with the West family. On his first day at Things Happen Town's elementary school, Anythingementary, he befriends Meredith H. Oak, a girl at his age who confides in him her loneliness from being the classroom's outcast and shunned by the popular girl, Hailey Havera. However, Ryan becomes loyal and sympathetic towards her.
Late that night, Vanellope, Meredith, and Lawrence follow Ryan to the shopping mall, AnyCanHap Mall, where he introduces them to Dr. Owens. After unveiling a time machine built from a modified DeLorean powered by electric plutonium, and that the date Vanellope, Ryan, Meredith, Judy, and Hank are in is April 19, 2019, Dr. Owens inputs a destination time of November 30, 1967, the time he first conceived the invention of time travel. Unexpectedly, Gremlin arrives in his gremlin-shaped UFO, sedating Dr. Owens with tranquilizer darts and chasing Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith in the DeLorean. However, the chase accidentally activates time travel when they reach 88 miles per hour (142 kilometers per hour). Arriving in 1967, the four friends lose Gremlin, but realize that they are sans electric plutonium and therefore cannot return to 2019.
Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith navigate through a 1967 Things Happen Town. They encounter several students at Anythingementary from back then (who are the five friends' respective future parents), including Earlene Tabitha West (Ryan's future mom whose parents are the 1967 mayors of Anythingville), and a Hailey Havera who was the popular girl of school even then, who competes with Earlene, whom she dislikes, for the affections of Ivio Ori Greg (Ryan's future dad), like how Meredith 2019. Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith track down and convince a younger Dr. Owens that they've come from the future. Dr. Owens explains that the only energy source available in 1967 capable of generating the power required to travel through time is a lightning bolt. Ryan shows Dr. Owens a flyer that documents an upcoming lightning strike at the Anythingville courthouse. As Ryan and Lawrence start to fade out from a photo the former is carrying with him, Dr. Owens realizes the group's actions are altering the future, thus jeopardizing their existence.
Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith devise a plot to fix the time paradox by getting the 1967 students acquainted with one another at Anythingementary's nightly prom. At the prom, Earlene finally wins Ivio's affections, and the two dance and share their first kiss, while her friends find love interests of their own. Ryan and Meredith also fall in love as the two dance. Suddenly the prom is crashed by Gremlin, who had teamed up and reached an agreement with Hailey and her gang to sabotage the quartet as revenge on Owens for his past misery. Gremlin sedates Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith with tranquilizer darts, and abducts them in his UFO, Hailey apprehends Ivio to keep him for herself, while her gang lock Earlene in Anythingementary's timeout corner room.
Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, Meredith awaken to find themselves imprisoned in a laser cage in Gremlin's UFO. Suddenly, the UFO's electric plutonium tank runs empty, causing it to lose power and slowly descend toward the ground. Now free, the four friends open the UFO's cargo hatch. Gremlin attempts to re-tranquilize the quartet, but, using duct tape, they tie one of his bombs to a fire extinguisher, which swipes Gremlin away as it is sent flying and explodes, killing Gremlin and destroying the UFO just as Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith jump out the open cargo hatch. Meanwhile, Earlene's friends free her from the timeout corner room, and she confronts Hailey and demands she surrender Ivio. Hailey refuses and starts assaulting Earlene, but Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith, safely floating down to Anythingementary using a parachute, subdue Hailey and send her and her gang into the timeout corner room.
With a time paradox corrected, the quartet's future is no longer in jeopardy. Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith hurry to the courthouse to meet Dr. Owens, who receives a letter from the five warning him about their future and tears it apart, worried about the consequences. At the same time, to save Dr. Owens, the quintet recalibrates the DeLorean to return ten minutes before they left the future. The lightning strikes, sending Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith back to 2019. Vanellope, Ryan, Lawrence, and Meredith return to AnyCanHap Mall, just as Dr. Owens had been defeated. While the four friends grieve at his side, Dr. Owens sits up, revealing he had pieced the group's note back together and faked his sedation by wearing a dart-proof vest. Dr. Owens departs in the DeLorean, and Ryan and Meredith share their first kiss.
The next morning, Ryan reunites with the now adult Earlene and Ivio, and now dons white gloves just like his brother. Ryan and Meredith start a romantic relationship and become the popular kids of Anythingmentary. That night, Vanellope and Lawrence hold a prom at Anythingementary in Ryan's honor.
Cast[]
- Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz, an empathetic, friendly, optimistic Anythingizen.
- Owen Laramore as Ryan Oliver West, a 10-year-old boy who is the newest Anythingementary school student and the brother of Lawrence.
- Taylor Goll as Meredith H. Oak, a 9-year-old girl and an Anythingementary School student who is Ryan's classmate, 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.
- John Cleese as Gordon "Doc" Owens, an eccentric scientist who is a friend of Ryan.
- Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, a rabbit and an Anythingizen who is one of Vanellope's friends.
- Ed O'Neill as Hank, an Eastern Pacific red octopus who is one of Vanellope's friends.
- Izzy G. as Earlene Tabitha West, a 1967 Anythingementary School student who grows into Lawrence and Ryan's 2019 mother. Cassandra Lee Morris voiced Earlene as an adult, returning from the first film.
- Lila Sage Bromley as Hailey Havera, the popular 1967 Anythingementary School student who loathes Earlene, which, out of them both having a huge crush on Greg, leads them to often compete for his affections.
- Iain Armitage as Ivio Ori Greg, a 1967 Anythingementary School student who grows into Lawrence and Ryan's 2019 father. Bill Wise voiced Ivio as am adult, returning from the first film.
- Cameron Boyce as Lawrence Broderick West, the mayor of Anythingville and older big brother.
- Michael J. Fox as Mr. Ziploc, Lawrence's adviser and best friend.
- Amandla Stenberg as Brynlee Stanford, Lawrence's girlfriend.
- Giselle Eisenberg as Toni Oak, a 1967 Anythingementary School student who grows into Meredith's 2019 mother. Megan Hollingshead voiced her as an adult.
- Jbunzie as Vanilla von Schweetz, an Anythingementary School student who grows into Vanellope's 2019 mother.
- Mia Talerico and Beckett Hipkiss as Bonnie and Stu Hopps, two rabbits and 1967 Anythingementary School students who grow into Judy's 2019 mother and father.
- Chloe Coleman as Mary, a green octopus and a 1967 Anythingementary School student who grows into Hank's 2019 mother.
Box office[]
In the United States, Vanellope's Adventures 4 was released alongside The Curse of La Llorona and Under the Silver Lake, and was projected to gross anywhere between $480---525 million in its opening weekend. The film grossed $888 million in the United States and Canada, and $940 billion overseas for a worldwide total of $1.828 billion, making it a box-office success. The film grossed $871 million in its opening weekend, ranking the box office with its $1.9 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 $1.501 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 September 5, 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, Vanellope's Adventures 4 has an approval rating of 100% based on 340 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Groundbreaking, breathtaking, innovative, and engaging for everyone, Vanellope's Adventures 4 goes 88 miles per hour towards an Anythingishly historical masterpiece." It is the highest-rated Vanellope's Adventures film on that site, and one of the highest-rated films of all time on the site. Another website, Metacritic, signed the film to a score of 98 out of 100 based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim", also the highest-rated Vanellope's Adventures film and highest-rated computer animated film ever on the site. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.