''Goat Story - The Old Prague Legends'' ( cs, Kozí příběh - pověsti staré Prahy) is a 2008 Czech 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 ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

produced and directed by

Jan Tománek Jan Tománek (born 14 February 1978, Prague) is a Czech movie director, writer and artist. He is the creator of animated movies ''Goat Story – The Old Prague Legends'' and '' Goat Story with Cheese''. Nowadays he is mostly writing books. Biog ...

and written by Tománek with David Sláma. The first Czech-produced feature-length computer-animated film, it features animation by Art And Animation studios, and was released May 19, 2010 in the USA. The film features the voices of

Jiří Lábus Jiří Lábus (born 26 January 1950, in Prague) is a Czech actor. His brother is the Czech architect Ladislav Lábus. In 1973, he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and joined the theatre Studio Ypsilon, where he remains ...

Matěj Hádek Matěj Hádek (born 29 November 1975 in Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1 ...

, Mahulena Bočanová,

Michal Dlouhý Michal (; he, מיכל , gr, Μιχάλ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, ...

, Petr Pelzer,

Jan Přeučil Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

Viktor Preiss Viktor Preiss (born 13 March 1947 in Prague) is a Czech actor. He popularly known for his roles in ''Hospital at the End of the City'' or ''Give the Devil His Due''. He starred in dozens of Czech films and television programs, including the film ...

Miroslav Táborský Miroslav Táborský (born 9 November 1959 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech actor who has appeared on Czech television series, as well as in American movies. Táborský studied physics at the University of Hradec Králové, and then graduate ...

Karel Heřmánek Karel Heřmánek (born 17 October 1947, in Prague) is a Czech actor. He appeared in more than forty films between 1976 and 2008, including the role of Lucifer in 1984's ''S čerty nejsou žerty ''Give the Devil His Due'' () is a 1985 Czech fai ...

Petr Nárožný Petr Nárožný (born 14 April 1938)) is a Czech actor, television presenter, comedian, and entertainer. Life and career As a boy, Nárožný spent part of World War II in Germany, where he experienced Allied bombings. He graduated from the Fac ...

, Dalimil Klapka, Pavel Rímský,

Ota Jirák OTA or ota may stand for: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Off the Air'', an Adult Swim television series * Otakon, an annual anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland Electronics, science, and technology * Ochratoxin A (also termed OTA), a mycoto ...

, Filip Jevič and Justin Svoboda. Produced over the course of five years with a budget of $1.8 million, only about ten animators and 3D graphic designers created it. ''Goat Story'' was released in theatres on October 16, 2008 by Bontonfilm, and it won the main prize at the 2010 Buenos Aires International Children's Film Festival, and received nominations at other film festivals. A

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, ''

Goat Story 2 ''Goat Story 2'' (AKA - Goat story with Cheese) is a 2012 Czech 3D computer-animated comedy feature film ( cs, Kozí příběh se sýrem). Directed by Jan Tománek and produced by Art And Animation studio, it is a sequel to the 2008 film ''Goat S ...

'', was released in 2012.

Plot

The story takes place in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

during the reign of Charles IV, when the

Charles Bridge Charles Bridge ( cs, Karlův most ) is a medieval stone arch bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the early 15th century.; The ...

and Prague Astronomical Clock were still undergoing construction. A villager whose name is Jemmy arrives in the capital from the

countryside In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, ...

with his

Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

. A poor

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

named Matthew arrives Prague to study with . Jemmy and Goat stay in Prague to do work on the bridge. It is here that Jemmy sees Katie for the first time, and immediately falls in love with her. Katie is a city girl who supplies forged nails for the bridge's construction. Jemmy ends up causing the scaffolding on a side of the bridge to fall due to his carving of a statue of Katie from a support beam. He and his goat are banned by the workers. In the meantime, Master Hanuš looks for sculptors and carvers for the Astronomical Clock statues. He catches a glimpse of Jemmy, and is interested with his natural woodcarving talent. Matthew, being the target of ridicule by other students because of his poverty, studies with Master Hanuš, too. He has gained his teacher's trust, and oversees the plans of the Astronomical Clock. Since Matthew has nowhere to sleep, he finds the in Prague, already abandoned at the time. Thanks to his classmates' frequent ridicule, he succumbs to the lure and then picks up a grey

tolar Tolar (german: Thaler, links=no) or Jáchymovský tolar is the Czech language, Czech name for the silver coin minted in Kingdom of Bohemia from 1520 until 1672 in Jáchymov (German: ''Joachimsthal''). On obverse of the coin is depicted Saint Jo ...

in Faust's house to pay for his classmates' drinks and fit in with his peers. However, they deceive him and destroy the plans to the Astronomical Clock while they are unguarded. The unsuspecting Matthew gives the ruined plans back to Master Hanuš. The Prague

councilors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

discover the damaged plans, and demand punishment of the problem. Matthew is placed in a pillory for one day. Because he never knows what he did wrong, he plans to take revenge on Master Hanuš. When Master Hanuš and Jemmy complete the Astronomical Clock, they get no respect or recognition. The

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

ask Master Hanuš to make an astronomical clock in their city, too. Matthew glimpses this discussion, who meanwhile signed his contract with Satan. He writes a letter to Prague councilors explaining to them that Hanuš is a traitor. The mayor entrusts the executioner of Mydlář to cut out Hanuš's eyes. Hanuš wants to take revenge for this violence, and ruins his own astronomical clock by sabotaging the gears. Jemmy, as his assistant, is commissioned to fix the astronomical clock under Katie's threat being executed if he fails to do so in time. Jemmy fixes the astronomical clock at the last minute but arrives at the gallows too late, and Katie has been hanged already. Jemmy is at a church praying to God to give Katie back to him. It is at that moment that Katie comes into the church. Later, it is revealed that Jemmy's goat disguised herself as Katie, and was

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

in her place. As the goat falls from the gallows, it is revealed that she had an iron tube in her throat the whole time, and it meant her neck was never snapped and survived the hanging.

Voice cast

as Goat *

/ Mike Buffo (English version) as Jemmy * Mahulena Bočanová / Jo-Anne Krupa (English version) as Katie *

as Matthew * Petr Pelzer as Master Hanuš *

as Purkmistr *

as Konšel *

as Priest Ignác *

as Devil / Leader *

as Beggar * Dalimil Klapka as Beggar * Pavel Rímský as Beggar *

as Taverner * Filip Jevič as Student * Justin Svoboda as Student *

Luba Goy Luba Goy ( uk, Люба Ґой; born November 8, 1945) is a Canadian actress, comedian and one of the stars of ''Royal Canadian Air Farce''. Life and career Goy was born in Haltern, Germany, to Ukrainian parents and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Ca ...

as Cořum (English version)

Production

Movie production started in 2003 at

's family Art And Animation studio.

along with David Sláma co-wrote the script for the film. The film budget was just $1.8 million for release in 2008. Czech actors were:

, Mahulena Bočanová,

, Petr Pelzer,

, Dalimil Klapka, Pavel Rímský,

, Filip Jevič and Justin Svoboda. David Solař wrote the music for the film. Development, animation, lighting, color and storyboarding of the film was done in

Prague, Czech Republic Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oc ...

. The Czech distributor was Bontonfilm. Mike Buffo and Jo-Anne Krupa joined the cast on 9 July to supply the voices Jemmy and Katy in the English version which was produced by Karl Hirsh in 2008. The US sales agent was

Phase 4 Films Phase 4 Films was a Canadian film distribution company based in Toronto. It had two branches in the United States: Los Angeles, California and Fort Mill, South Carolina. Its subsidiary kaboom! Entertainment markets children's entertainment. Histo ...

, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but all of the rights are now owned by Art And Animation studio.

Release

''Goat Story'' received a theatrical release on 16 October 2008 by Bontonfilm.

Marketing

The film appeared on the cover of the March 2008 edition of American publication ''

Animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

''.

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

on 10 April 2009 by Bontonfilm. In 2015, the producers uploaded both ''Goat Story'' and its sequel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $1.3 million in the Czech Republic. With admission 350.000 just in the Czech Republic it became the most successful Czech animated film of all time.

Awards

Sequel

A sequel, ''

'' was released in 2012.

References

External links

Official English website

Official Czech website

AAA Studio's YouTube channel

Goat Story
on

for free * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, id=kozi-pribeh, title=Goat Story 2008 films 2008 computer-animated films Animated films based on fairy tales Czech animated comedy films Czech animated fantasy films Animated films set in Europe Animated films set in the 14th century Films about goats