''Animal Crackers'' is a 2017 3D

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

comedy-

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed by

Scott Christian Sava ''The Dreamland Chronicles'' is an all-ages fantasy webcomic and comic book series created by Scott Christian Sava with 3D computer graphics. Plot summary ''The Dreamland Chronicles'' is about a college student, Alex, who returns to a realm of dr ...

and

Tony Bancroft Tony Bancroft (born July 31, 1967) is an American animator and film director who frequently collaborates with Disney. He is the founder and owner of the faith-driven animation company Toonacious Family Entertainment. Tony currently serves as th ...

, and written by Sava and

Dean Lorey Dean Lorey (born November 17, 1967) is an American writer and producer whose projects include films such as ''Major Payne'' and '' Animal Crackers'', and television series which include ''My Wife and Kids'', ''Arrested Development'', ''The Crazy O ...

, based on the animal-shaped cookie and loosely based on the graphic novel by Sava. The film stars the voices of

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards. ...

John Krasinski John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nine ...

, Danny DeVito,

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

, Patrick Warburton, Raven-Symoné, Harvey Fierstein,

Wallace Shawn Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, playwright, and essayist. His film roles include Wally Shawn (a fictionalized version of himself) in '' My Dinner with Andre'' (1981), Vizzini in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), ...

, Gilbert Gottfried, Tara Strong, James Arnold Taylor, Kevin Grevioux, and introducing Lydia Rose Taylor in her film debut. It tells the story of a family who comes across a box of magical animal crackers that turns anyone that consumes into the animal the cracker represents which comes in handy in saving the circus that the family was associated with. The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 12, 2017. It was released in China on July 21, 2018. It was initially set to be released in the United States but faced multiple delays due to being picked up by various distributors, who faced financial difficulties. It was officially released on Netflix on July 24, 2020 and received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

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 fortune teller 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 woman, but her affections are solely for Bob. When the pair announce their plans to marry in 1964, Horatio becomes furious and delivers an ultimatum to his brother to choose either him or Talia. Bob marries Talia and Esmerelda gives them a mysterious box as a wedding gift, which allows them to open a new circus. Buffalo Bob's Rootin' Tootin' Animal Circus, known for animals performing amazing and seemingly impossible feats. Years later, Bob's nephew Owen marries his childhood friend Zoe at the circus where they had first met as kids. Following the 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. His co-worker Binkley is trying to create a new type of dog biscuit which keeps getting ruined by Mr. Woodley's personal assistant Brock. A few years later, Horatio, whose luck has taken a serious downturn since his fight and split with Bob, sneaks into Bob and Talia's dressing rooms, 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. Huntington and his henchmen Mario Zucchini, Samson, Stabby, and El Diablo start a fight, causing the Huntingtons to leave. Before they leave, circus pets Old Blue and Zena give the Huntingtons the mysterious box, they later discover it holds

animal cracker An animal cracker is a particular type of cracker, baked in the shape of an animal, usually an animal either at a zoo or a circus, such as a lion, a tiger, a bear, or an elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet, but ...

cookies. Owen eats one and turns into a hamster. The Huntingtons return to the circus to figure out how this happened. They learn from the

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

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. Frustrated that Zoe quit her job, Mr. Woodley begins to consider Brock 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

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...

. To catch up with him, Owen turns into a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

, but Brock gets captured by Mario Zucchini, who also steals cookie pieces. Upon returning home, Owen soon discovers he has lost the human cookie and will remain an animal forever. He attempts to adapt to life as a different animal, but has little success. Binkley discovers the animal crackers and aggressively persuades Mr. Woodley to attend the circus. At one performance, Horatio appears and offers Owen's gorilla form his human cookie (which Mario had also unknowingly stolen) in exchange for the circus. Owen refuses, thinking that remaining an animal will at least keep his family together, but he is forced into the deal by Horatio's hybridized henchmen as they help Horatio force-feed him the human cookie. The circus performers then come across the scene and a fight breaks out, with some of them assuming animal forms to fight. As his henchmen are defeated, Horatio eats some crackers and turns into a chimera. He then 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 uses Bullet Man in his rhinoceros form to shoot down Horatio as he, Horatio and Bob land in the net while Mackenzie turns into a

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

to save Talia. Afterwards, Owen, Zoe, and Mackenzie, and the circus performers work together to subdue Horatio. As Horatio vows to have his revenge, Owen turns him into a hamster as Bullet Man quotes "

In Memoriam A.H.H. The poem "In Memoriam A.H.H." (1850) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is an elegy for his Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died of cerebral haemorrhage at the age of twenty-two years, in Vienna in 1833. As a sustained exercise in tetrametri ...

" from

Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

. As the circus performers, Zoe, and Mackenzie regain their human forms, Chesterfield gleefully tells the caged henchmen that their human cookies are broken as a side-effect of eating the broken pieces and it will take him awhile to figure out whose parts go to whom. Mario subsequently tells Chesterfield to take his time, with the others in agreement. Horatio demands to be released from his hamster cage to no avail as he starts running on a hamster wheel. Having witnessed the performance and Brock still being in drill form, Mr. Woodley reevaluates his views on both Owen and the circus. With Binkley, he decides to create a new circus souvenir using her failed experiments. By the next show, they have made animal crackers that cause the eater's skin to temporarily take on the color and patterns of the animal whose cracker they eat. Owen consumes a new

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

animal cracker that just appeared in the box and takes the stage in his new animal form.

Cast

as Owen Huntington, MacKenzie's father, Zoe's husband, Talia’s step-nephew, Horatio and Buffalo Bob's nephew and the circus owner. ** Brendan Sava portrays young Owen. *

as Zoe Huntington, MacKenzie's mother, Owen's wife, Talia’s stepniece-in-law, Horatio and Buffalo Bob's niece-in-law. ** Noelle Ellison Thomason portrays young Zoe. * Danny DeVito as Chesterfield, the circus's funniest clown who had gotten fat from the foods that he ate. *

as Horatio P. Huntington, Buffalo Bob's older brother, Owen's uncle, Zoe's uncle-in-law, and Mackenzie's great uncle who was envious of his brother's success. He hates it when Zucchini calls him his "henchman" and keeps correcting him because he is his master, not his henchman. Horatio's Chimera form has the head of a lion, the horns of a ram, the body of an alligator, the wings of a bat, the tail of a snake, an unspecified reptilian arms, and four unspecified reptilian limbs. *

as Bulletman, the human cannonball in a bullet-shaped helmet who only says his name until the end of the movie. * Patrick Warburton as Brock, a big strong personal assistant of Mr. Woodley who likes to pick on Owen and Binkley. * Raven-Symoné as Binkley, Zoe's childhood friend and Owen's co-worker who works to make the type of dog biscuit to impress Mr. Woodley. *

as Mr. Woodley, Zoe's father, Mackenzie's grandpa, and Owen's father-in-law who runs a dog biscuit factory. He originally didn't like that Owen was Zoe's husband and kept calling Owen a "deadly man", but later accepted it later in the film. * Harvey Fierstein as Esmeralda, a gypsy fortune teller who is Talia's aunt and is the one who gave Bob the magical animal crackers that she got from Tibet. * Gilbert Gottfried as Mario Zucchini, a midget motorcycle rider who thinks Horatio is his minion, which is actually the other way around as Horatio keeps correcting him. When Mario ate the broken pieces of the animal crackers, he sported the head and paws of a snowshoe hare and the shell and back legs of a tortoise while maintaining his hair, jacket, and pants. * Tara Strong as Talia, Esmeralda's niece, Buffalo Bob's girlfriend, later wife, Owen's step-aunt, Zoe's step-aunt-in-law and Mackenzie's great step-aunt who is trapped in the form of a cat named Zena. She speaks with a soft Italian accent. * James Arnold Taylor as Buffalo Bob, Talia's husband, Horatio's younger brother and Owen's uncle/former owner of the circus, Zoe's uncle-in-law and Mackenzie's great uncle who is trapped in the form of a bloodhound named Old Blue. * Kevin Grevioux as Samson, a strongman with a beard and no hair who is one of Horatio's henchmen. When Samson ate the broken pieces of the animal crackers, he sported the head of a Texas Longhorn and the arms of a gorilla while maintaining his torso and legs giving him an appearance that is similar to the

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "pa ...

. * Lydia Rose Taylor as Mackenzie Huntington, Owen and Zoe's daughter, Mr. Woodley's granddaughter, Talia's great step-niece, Buffalo Bob and Horatio's great niece. *

as Stabby (uncredited in the Netflix release), a

knife thrower Knife throwing is an art, sport, combat skill, or variously an entertainment technique, involving an artist skilled in the art of throwing knives, the weapons thrown, and a target. In some stage performances, the knife thrower ties an assistant ...

and one of Horatio's henchmen. When Stabby ate the broken pieces of the animal crackers, he sported the head, stomach, and tail of a

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

and the torso and paws of a Bengal tiger while maintaining his hair, goatee, and boots. * Anthony Sava as El Diablo, a fire breather in a devil-like outfit and one of Horatio's henchmen. When El Diablo ate the broken pieces of the animal crackers, he sported the head of a frog and the wings of a bat in place of his arms while maintaining his outfit. * Donna Lynne Sava as Petunia (uncredited in the Netflix release), a fat lady that Mario would be aroused by. * Alyssa Trama as Gretchen, a former

bearded lady A bearded lady (or bearded woman) is a female with a naturally occurring beard normally due to the condition known as hirsutism or hypertrichosis. Hypertrichosis causes people of either sex to develop excess hair over their entire body (including ...

who underwent electrolysis that Bob and Talia paid for. * Noelle Ellis Thomas as Girl in Crowd (uncredited in the Netflix release) * Logan Sava as Kid in Crowd (uncredited in the Netflix release) * Kim Sava as Mom in Crowd Additional voices by Cam Clarke, Lara Cody, Debi Derryberry, Jessica Gee, Grant George, Max Koch, Brianne Siddall, and Jennie Yee

Production

Development and writing

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, Scott Christian Sava wrote a comic book 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 and two months later the Weinstein brothers made an offer to buy the rights to ''Animal Crackers''. Sava co-directed the movie with

and co-wrote the screenplay with

. 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. ''

Despicable Me ''Despicable Me'' is a computer-animated media franchise centering on Gru, a reformed super-villain (who later becomes a father, husband, and secret agent), and his yellow-colored Minions. It is produced by Illumination and distributed by ...

'' character designer, Carter Goodrich, was hired in October 2014.

Pre-production

The voice cast was completed by casting director Jamie Thomason who also serves as the voice director. 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, James Arnold Taylor as Buffalo Bob, Tara Strong as Talia, Harvey Fierstein as Esmerelda the Fortune Teller, Gilbert Gottfried as Mario Zucchini, and Raven-Symoné as Binkley. On November 6, 2014, Blue Dream Studios announced

, Danny DeVito, and

as lead voice cast. On February 3, 2015,

and Kaley Cuoco joined the cast as Owen and Zoe Huntington, respectively. On March 30, 2015,

replaced Cuoco due to a scheduling conflict. "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. 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. On May 22, 2015, it was revealed that

had been cast as Mr. Woodley, Zoe's (Blunt) father.

Animation

The film's animation is created on Autodesk Maya, and rendered on

Arnold Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Uni ...

, in an effort to save costs, it was produced in Blue Dream Studios Spain an 5,000-square foot house Valencia that the director Sava founded In early 2014, more than 120 animators worked on the film.

Filming

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.

Music

The film's original score was composed by Bear McCreary, and its soundtrack includes original songs by Toad the Wet Sprocket,

Huey Lewis and the News Huey Lewis and the News are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Adult Contempora ...

, Howard Jones, and Michael Bublé.

Soundtrack

Score

All tracks written and composed by Bear McCreary.

Release

Theatrical

The film had its world premiere in competition at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 12, 2017. 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. 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 the film was set for a release date of August 10, 2018. The deal with Entertainment Studios was dropped in June 2018. Eventually, the distribution rights were bought by Netflix and the film was released on July 24, 2020 on the platform. It was the second-most streamed film on its opening weekend.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website 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." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* on Netflix * * * {{Authority control 2010s adventure comedy films 2010s children's comedy films 2010s fantasy comedy films 2017 computer-animated films 2017 films American 3D films American adventure comedy films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated comedy films American children's animated fantasy films American computer-animated films American fantasy adventure films American fantasy comedy films Animated adventure films Animated films about animals China Film Group Corporation films Chinese computer-animated films Chinese animated films Chinese 3D films Circus films Films about shapeshifting Films directed by Tony Bancroft Films set in 1962 Films set in Tennessee Spanish 3D films Spanish adventure comedy films Spanish animated fantasy films Spanish children's films Spanish fantasy films English-language Chinese films English-language Spanish films 2017 comedy films Films scored by Bear McCreary 2010s English-language films 2010s American films