''Spies in Disguise'' is a 2019 American
computer-animated spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
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 by
Blue Sky Studios and distributed by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. Loosely inspired by the 2009 animated short ''Pigeon: Impossible'' by Lucas Martell, the film is directed by
Troy Quane
Nick Bruno and Troy Quane are an American film directing team best known for their work with Blue Sky Studios, including ''Spies in Disguise'' (2019) and '' Nimona'' (2023).
Career
Quane began his career at Walt Disney Studios as a storyb ...
and
Nick Bruno
Nick Joseph Bruno (born June 4, 1951) has been the president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe, also known as ULM, since November 8, 2010. He was appointed by the Baton Rouge-based University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. Brun ...
from a screenplay by
Brad Copeland
Brad Copeland is an American television writer, producer and film director, best known for his work on the Fox TV series ''Arrested Development''.
Television career
He has written for the television programs ''Arrested Development'', ''My Nam ...
and Lloyd Taylor, and a story by Cindy Davis. It stars the voices of
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...
and
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
, alongside
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress.
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...
,
Ben Mendelsohn
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn (born 3 April 1969) is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia for his breakout role in ''The Year My Voice Broke'' (1987) and since then he has had roles in films such as '' Animal Kingdom'' (2010) ...
,
Reba McEntire,
Rachel Brosnahan
Rachel Elizabeth Brosnahan (born July 12, 1990) is an American actress. She stars as aspiring stand-up comedian Miriam "Midge" Maisel in the Amazon Prime Video period comedy series ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' (2017–present), for which she w ...
,
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the science fiction seri ...
,
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station 99 Jamz, a ...
, and
Masi Oka
is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist who became widely known for starring in NBC's ''Heroes'' as Hiro Nakamura and in CBS's ''Hawaii Five-0'' as Doctor Max Bergman.
Early life
Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka. Hi ...
in supporting roles. The plot follows a secret agent who is transformed into a pigeon by an intelligent young scientist; the two must then work together to stop a revenge-seeking cybernetic terrorist, and return the agent to his human form.
The film premiered at the
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as the ...
on December 4, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 25, 2019. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, music, humor, and vocal performances (particularly Smith and Holland). However, the film was a
box office disappointment
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, grossing $171.6 million worldwide against a $100 million budget.
It was the final film produced by Blue Sky Studios, as well as the only animated film from
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
and Blue Sky after the
acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney
The acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney was announced on December 14, 2017, and was completed on March 20, 2019. Among other key assets, the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company included the 20th Century Fox film and ...
and the last animated film to use the 20th Century Fox name.
Plot
Lance Sterling, a cocky secret agent of H.T.U.V. (Honor, Trust, Unity and Valor), is sent to recover an attack drone from Japanese arms dealer Katsu Kimura in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. As soon as the buyer, cybernetically enhanced terrorist Killian, arrives, Sterling breaks in against the orders of H.T.U.V. director Joy Jenkins, defeats Kimura and his gang, and manages to escape with the briefcase containing the drone. Sterling returns to the H.T.U.V. headquarters to confront Walter Beckett, a socially inept
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
graduate and outcast young scientist, for equipping nonlethal weapons into his suit. Walter tries to convince Sterling that there is a more peaceful way to save the world but Sterling fires him before he can explain his latest invention: "biodynamic concealment".
Sterling discovers the briefcase to be empty and is confronted by Marcy Kappel, an
internal affairs agent, who reveals footage of Sterling – actually Killian in a holographic disguise – leaving with the drone, labeling him as a traitor. Sterling escapes the H.T.U.V. and decides to track down Walter to help him disappear. Meanwhile, Killian breaks into the H.T.U.V. covert weapons facility.
While searching Walter's home for his invention, Sterling ingests the concoction and transforms into a pigeon by undergoing "
chromothripsis
Chromothripsis is a mutational process by which up to thousands of clustered chromosomal rearrangements occur in a single event in localised and confined genomic regions in one or a few chromosomes, and is known to be involved in both cancer and ...
". Before Walter and Sterling can decide what to do next, Marcy and other H.T.U.V. agents chase the duo through the city, but the duo escape in Sterling's spy car. The two track down Kimura at a resort in
Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen, known colloquially as 'Playa', is a resort city located along the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is part of the municipality of Solidaridad. As of 2020, the city's population was just over 300,000 peopl ...
, Mexico. There, they learn of Killian's whereabouts in
Venice, Italy before Marcy and the H.T.U.V. can capture them again.
Arriving in Venice, Walter is confronted by the H.T.U.V., who are unaware of Sterling's condition. Revealing that she knows about Wendy, Walter's mother who was a police officer who died on duty, Marcy tries to convince him to help turn Sterling in, but Walter refuses. Suddenly, a drone distracts the H.T.U.V. and allows Walter and Sterling to escape. The two discover the drone carrying the H.T.U.V. agent database, and Walter manages to retrieve it. However, Killian shows up, takes the database, and prepares to kill Walter. With help from hundreds of pigeons in the surrounding area, they distract Killian and flee. Disguised as Sterling once more, Killian escapes the H.T.U.V., shaking Marcy's suspicions of Sterling upon her seeing him with a robot hand.
Whilst underwater in a submarine, Walter reveals he planted a tracking device on Killian and locates him at the weapons facility. Walter manages to perfect the antidote and successfully turns Sterling human again. Reaching Killian's hideout, Sterling is concerned about Walter's safety and sends him away in the submarine. Once inside, Sterling confronts Killian, but is knocked out and captured as Killian reveals he has mass-produced hundreds of drones to target everyone at the agency using the database as revenge for killing his crew in a past mission led by Sterling. Noticing Walter returning in the submarine, Killian destroys it; unbeknownst to them, Walter survives with the help of one of his inventions, the inflatable hug.
Once Walter frees Sterling, the two escape and contacts Marcy for support as the drones approach H.T.U.V. headquarters in
Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
Walter attempts to hack into Killian's bionic arm but when Killian realizes this, he tries to flee via air with a drone, but Walter catches up. Walter risks his life by trapping Killian in the inflatable hug and deactivates the villain's arm as Walter himself falls, but Sterling, who has turned himself back into a pigeon, successfully flies for the first time and carries him to safety with help from other pigeons, while Killian is found and arrested.
Despite saving the world, Sterling – back in his human form – and Walter are fired for disobedience. However, they are quickly rehired by the H.T.U.V. as the agency could learn from Walter's more peaceful ways of handling villainy.
Voice cast
*
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...
as Lance Sterling, "the world's most awesome spy", who is transformed into a pigeon by Walter
*
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
as Walter Beckett, a socially inept scientific genius who graduated from
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
at age 15 and designs gadgets. He turns Sterling into a pigeon with a new invention of his, but must now help him return to his human form
** Jarrett Bruno as young Walter, voiced in the opening scene
*
Ben Mendelsohn
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn (born 3 April 1969) is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia for his breakout role in ''The Year My Voice Broke'' (1987) and since then he has had roles in films such as '' Animal Kingdom'' (2010) ...
as Killian, a powerful technology-based terrorist mastermind with a left bionic arm that controls an array of weaponized drones that threatens the world
*
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress.
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...
as Marcy Kappel, a security forces agent of internal affairs in pursuit of Lance Sterling, who she believes is a traitor
*
Reba McEntire as Joy Jenkins, the director of H.T.U.V. and Sterling's superior
*
Rachel Brosnahan
Rachel Elizabeth Brosnahan (born July 12, 1990) is an American actress. She stars as aspiring stand-up comedian Miriam "Midge" Maisel in the Amazon Prime Video period comedy series ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' (2017–present), for which she w ...
as Wendy Beckett, a police officer, and Walter's mother who got killed on duty when her son was younger
*
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the science fiction seri ...
as Eyes, an H.T.U.V. specialist in spectral analysis and quantum optical thermography who is paired with Ears
*
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station 99 Jamz, a ...
as Ears, an H.T.U.V. specialist in communications and ultrasonics who is paired with Eyes
*
Masi Oka
is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist who became widely known for starring in NBC's ''Heroes'' as Hiro Nakamura and in CBS's ''Hawaii Five-0'' as Doctor Max Bergman.
Early life
Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka. Hi ...
as Katsu Kimura, a Japanese arms dealer and an associate to Killian
*
Carla Jimenez
Carla Jimenez (born May 14, 1974 in Westwood, Los Angeles, California) is an American television and film actress.
Career
She has had roles in series such as ''Lincoln Heights (TV series), Lincoln Heights'', ''My Name Is Earl'' and ''Little Br ...
as Geraldine, a security agent at H.T.U.V.
Olly Murs
Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television presenter. He was runner-up on the sixth series of '' The X Factor'' in 2009 and was subsequently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom ...
makes an uncredited vocal cameo as a Junior Agent, while
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, R ...
voices an Agency Control Room Technician. The voice of Lance’s car, an
Audi RSQ e-tron, is provided by
Kimberly Brooks
Kimberly D. Brooks (née Lawson) is an American voice actress who works in the voice-over, film, video games, and theatre industry. She has voiced in video games since the mid-1990s. She has played Ashley Williams in the ''Mass Effect'' serie ...
.
South Korean voice actors So Youn and
Jang Min-hyuk provided the voices of Soo-min and Joon respectively, the protagonists in a
South Korean television drama Walter is a fan of in the film. Jang also voiced Lance Sterling in the Korean dub of the film.
Production
On October 9, 2017, it was announced that development was underway on a film based on the animated short ''Pigeon: Impossible'' (2009), with
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...
and
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
set to voice the lead characters.
In October 2018, new additions to the voice cast included
Ben Mendelsohn
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn (born 3 April 1969) is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia for his breakout role in ''The Year My Voice Broke'' (1987) and since then he has had roles in films such as '' Animal Kingdom'' (2010) ...
,
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the science fiction seri ...
,
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress.
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...
,
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station 99 Jamz, a ...
and
Masi Oka
is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist who became widely known for starring in NBC's ''Heroes'' as Hiro Nakamura and in CBS's ''Hawaii Five-0'' as Doctor Max Bergman.
Early life
Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka. Hi ...
. In July 2019,
Reba McEntire and
Rachel Brosnahan
Rachel Elizabeth Brosnahan (born July 12, 1990) is an American actress. She stars as aspiring stand-up comedian Miriam "Midge" Maisel in the Amazon Prime Video period comedy series ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' (2017–present), for which she w ...
joined the cast,
and in September 2019,
Carla Jimenez
Carla Jimenez (born May 14, 1974 in Westwood, Los Angeles, California) is an American television and film actress.
Career
She has had roles in series such as ''Lincoln Heights (TV series), Lincoln Heights'', ''My Name Is Earl'' and ''Little Br ...
was added as well.
The film is the directorial debut of
Nick Bruno
Nick Joseph Bruno (born June 4, 1951) has been the president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe, also known as ULM, since November 8, 2010. He was appointed by the Baton Rouge-based University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. Brun ...
, and the second for
Troy Quane
Nick Bruno and Troy Quane are an American film directing team best known for their work with Blue Sky Studios, including ''Spies in Disguise'' (2019) and '' Nimona'' (2023).
Career
Quane began his career at Walt Disney Studios as a storyb ...
, after having directed the short film ''
The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol'' (2011).
The film was dedicated to the memory of Joe Kwong, who worked at
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
and Blue Sky Studios before his death.
Music
Score
On June 12, 2018, it was reported that
Theodore Shapiro was set to compose the film's score.
The film's score album was released by
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...
and
Fox Music
Fox Music was the music division label of 20th Century Fox. It encompassed music publishing and licensing businesses, dealing primarily with television and film soundtracks. It was located in Century City, California.
During CEO Robert Kraft's ...
on December 27, 2019.
EP soundtrack
On June 11, 2019, it was announced that
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, R ...
would be the film's executive music producer.
Head of
Fox Music
Fox Music was the music division label of 20th Century Fox. It encompassed music publishing and licensing businesses, dealing primarily with television and film soundtracks. It was located in Century City, California.
During CEO Robert Kraft's ...
Danielle Diego expressed excitement at working with Ronson, stating that "his unique blend of vintage soul and funk exceptionally captures the soul of
hefilm."
On November 22, 2019, an original song for the film entitled "Then There Were Two", performed by Ronson and
Anderson .Paak, was released. Two days later, an
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. album titled ''Mark Ronson Presents the Music of Spies in Disguise'' was announced, featuring five new songs written for the film as well as
Rob Base
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock were an American hip hop duo from Harlem, New York City. Rob Base is the stage name of Robert Ginyard (b. 1967) and DJ E-Z Rock was Rodney "Skip" Bryce (1967–2014). They are best known for the 1988 hit " It Takes Two", ...
&
DJ E-Z Rock's "
It Takes Two".
The EP was released digitally on December 13, 2019, by
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
.
Track listing
Release
The film was originally scheduled for release on January 18, 2019, by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
.
The film was delayed to April 19, 2019, and then to September 13, 2019. On May 10, the film was delayed once more, to December 25, 2019.
The film had its world premiere at the
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as the ...
in Hollywood, on December 4, 2019.
Home media
''Spies in Disguise'' was released in
Ultra HD Blu-ray
Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Bl ...
,
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 kind ...
,
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 ...
and by
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on March 10, 2020.
Reception
Box office
''Spies in Disguise'' grossed $66.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $104.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $171.6 million.
In the United States and Canada, the film was released on Wednesday, December 25, alongside ''
Little Women'', ''
1917'', and ''
Just Mercy
''Just Mercy'' is a 2019 American biographical legal drama film co-written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson, Jamie Foxx as Walter McMillian, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, a ...
'' as well as the wide expansion of ''
Uncut Gems
''Uncut Gems'' is a 2019 American crime thriller film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein. The film stars Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel and Eric Bogos ...
'', and was projected to gross $19–23 million from 3,502 theatres over its five-day opening weekend. The film made $4.8 million on Christmas Day and $4.1 million on its second day. It went on to make $13.2 million during its opening weekend, for a total of $22.1 million over the five-day Christmas period, finishing fifth.
In its second weekend the film made $10.1 million, finishing sixth. In its third weekend, it grossed $5.1 million, dropping 50.9% from the previous weekend and finishing at 10th place. The film's budget is undisclosed. IndieWire estimated that it may have been $100 million or more, based on previous Blue Sky films.
Critical response
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "A cheerfully undemanding animated adventure that's elevated by its voice cast, ''Spies in Disguise'' is funny, fast-paced, and family-friendly enough to satisfy."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gave the film a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by
PostTrak
PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios.
History
The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a film ...
gave it an average 3.5 out of 5 stars.
[
]Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...
of ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave the film three out of five stars, calling it an "entertaining family adventure", and praising the vocal work of Smith and Holland.
Kwak Yeon-soo, a reporter at ''The Korea Times
''The Korea Times'' is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the '' Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language daily; both are owned by Dongwha Enterprise, a wood-based manufacture ...
'', wrote that the film failed to convey its message because of its "lackluster narrative". Kwak also pointed out that the film tried to attract audiences there by putting references to the South Korean popular culture
The contemporary culture of South Korea developed from the traditional culture of Korea which was prevalent in the early Korean nomadic tribes. By maintaining thousands of years of ancient Korean culture, with influence from ancient Chinese cult ...
, and that it ended up exemplifying Walter Beckett's "weird" personality.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
{{Blue Sky Studios
2019 films
2019 3D films
2019 comedy films
2019 computer-animated films
2019 directorial debut films
2019 action comedy films
2010s adventure comedy films
2010s American animated films
2010s children's adventure films
2010s children's comedy films
2010s children's animated films
2010s English-language films
2010s satirical films
2010s spy comedy films
2010s teen comedy films
20th Century Fox films
20th Century Fox animated films
20th Century Fox Animation films
3D animated films
African-American animated films
American 3D films
American computer-animated films
American children's animated action films
American children's animated adventure films
American children's animated comedy films
American action comedy films
American adventure comedy films
American spy comedy films
American satirical films
American teen comedy films
Blue Sky Studios films
Chernin Entertainment films
Features based on short films
Cyborg films
Fiction about government
Films about scientists
Films about shapeshifting
Films about technology
Films about terrorism
Films directed by Nick Bruno
Films directed by Troy Quane
Animated films set in Italy
Animated films set in Japan
Films set in Mexico
Films set in Venice
Animated films set in the United States
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Japan in non-Japanese culture
Films scored by Theodore Shapiro
Films with screenplays by Brad Copeland