(L to R) Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur on ‘Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,’ which is based on Marvel’s hit comic books, the Disney Branded Television series is slated to premiere in 2023 on Disney Channel and Disney+.
Young Marvel fans will soon get a new hero with the arrival of Disney Channel’s ‘Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.’ Based on the Marvel comic book of the same name, the animated series tells the adventures of Lunella Lafayette, aka Moon Girl, a 13-year-old genius who partners with a bright red Tyrannosaurus to fight crime on the streets of her New York neighborhood.
Moviefone recently joined a group of journalists in chatting with the show’s cast and crew, including executive producer (and the voice of Lunella’s recurring foe The Beyonder) Laurence Fishburne, executive producer Steve Loter, and actors Diamond White (the voice of Lunella) and Fred Tatasciore (Devil Dinosaur). Here’s what they told us about the show’s 17-episode first season, premiering February 10th on the Disney Channel and February 15th on Disney+.
Why Laurence Fishburne wanted to be part of the project.
Laurence Fishburne: As a lover of animation, as a lover of all the great Warner Bros. characters – like the ‘Super Friends,’ ‘Hong Kong Phooey’ – as someone who grew up on all that stuff— ‘The Flintstones,’ ‘Woody Woodpecker’ – the trajectory of my career as an artist has led me to this place. It just so happened that I got to meet Moon Girl at the right time and I got to meet Steve at the right time. And we’ve all gotten together and here we are in this place where we can bring ‘Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’ to an audience that’s hungry for it.
Moon Girl on ‘Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,’ which is based on Marvel’s hit comic books, the Disney Branded Television series is slated to premiere in 2023 on Disney Channel and Disney+.
Diamond White on voicing Lunella.
Diamond White: I grew up being African American and when I was seven, all I wanted was a character like this to come to life. So it’s cool to have someone of my skin tone and of my hair texture really be there. The representation means a lot to me.
I’ve experienced someone calling my hair frizzy or messy, and that’s why it was important for me to see the episode where Lunella gets her hair straightened, the perm episode. That touched my soul in a place where it was like, “Yeah, I’ve been through this.” Growing up Black, your hair becomes your enemy. So, it’s really cool to see that play out and that’s something that I’ve never seen on television before. I thank everyone on the team for allowing me to, like, bring my voice to that episode because I needed to see that. My younger self is just thriving right now, so thank you, guys.
About the show’s unique look.
Steve Loter: I think we wanted to make sure that we were doing something unique. ‘Spider-Verse’ was a huge inspiration for us. It really kinda blew the doors wide open to do superhero animation that looked really specialized and unique. Laurence and I connected early, and we kinda talked about the vision of the show and what it should look like. Laurence is a huge comic book fan, so we used that as a kind of springboard for the visual styling, particularly the line work on the characters and the overall look of the show.
LF: Yeah, we had a lot of conversations about backgrounds and about the environment, the color palette and all of these kinda textures. You guys talked about graffiti, for example, as one of the elements in our backgrounds and textures for New York and the Lower East Side. So it was all those things. Plus, we are people who really, really love animation, from the very beginning of our lives. So it’s just a joy for us to be creating this kind of show which, as Diamond said, is a show like we’ve never seen before.
(L to R) Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl on ‘Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,’ which is based on Marvel’s hit comic books, the Disney Branded Television series is slated to premiere in 2023 on Disney Channel and Disney+.
On the show’s first villain Aftershock.
SL: Aftershock is the first real formidable villain that Lunella faces as Moon Girl. We really did wanna encapsulate a lot about the mission statement of the series – the “one girl makes a difference” storyline is super important. So to have this character coming into the Lower East Side sapping it of its energy, it is a statement about gentrification. It’s a statement about losing community and neighborhood and connection. So it was really important for Aftershock to kinda be the conduit—no pun intended—for that kind of story. It’s the daughter of Electro, so that’s fun, too. Yeah, Aftershock definitely had to be our first villain.
The challenges of voicing Devil Dinosaur.
Fred Tatasciore: Difficult and funny, those are good words for it. It’s a beautiful artistic challenge, because I feel like I’m showing up with this broken saxophone instrument. We know the traditional sounds, what we think of dinosaurs – and the scariness. He’s a force of nature. But then we wanted to figure out the language of his heart and articulation with Lunella. So we had to really work together to find it, where that center lied. It ends up being very comical. We will start with a long sentence and then reduce it down to four sounds, you know? I’m of course aided with great animation and emojis to illustrate some points. It’s funny, and it’s really great when you get to the sweet parts, like “I love you,” “I’m worried about you.” Things like that. Things you wouldn’t think normally that something like that would speak. So it does get silly.
‘Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’ premieres February 10th on the Disney Channel and February 15th on Disney+.
‘Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’ is based on Marvel’s hit comic books, the Disney Branded Television series is slated to premiere in 2023 on Disney Channel and Disney+.
The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Searcher Clade, a former explorer that discovered the rare substance used to power the land of Avalonia. His father, the famous explorer Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) went missing years ago, and Searcher now lives a simple life as a farmer with his wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union) and his son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White), who desperately wants to be an explorer like his grandfather.
But when Searcher discovers that something is destroying the power source, he and his family join an expedition with Avalonia President Callisto Mai (Lucy Liu) to journey to the Strange World, where they eventually reunite with the missing Jaeger.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union about their work on ‘Strange World,’ the story, their characters, and why you should see it in a theater!
(L to R) Voices of Lucy Liu, Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jaboukie Young-White, and Gabrielle Union in Disney’s ‘Strange World.’
You can read the full interview below with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Gyllenhaal, Union, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, co-writers and co-directors Don Hall and Qui Nguyen.
Moviefone: To begin with, what would you both say to moviegoers getting ready to sit down and watch ‘Strange World’ on the big screen?
Jake Gyllenhaal: How is the popcorn? What would I say? That feeling of being in a movie theater, there’s nothing like it. You finally got there, and this movie’s going to be so fun. That’s what I think.
Gabrielle Union: Oh, strap in. This is an action-adventure family movie that is fun for the whole family. It’s all about three different generations of the same family, giving themselves permission to take different paths through life, while at the same time each trying to center their own individual passions, hopes, and dreams, and coming to the realization that no matter what route you take, it’s perfect for you. We should all celebrate that.
But there is an amazing action adventure and a beautiful, wild, strange world that we are not going to tell you anything more about. Don’t forget to validate and get the extra butter.
MF: Jake, can you talk about the father/son themes of the movie and how Searcher comes to terms with both his relationship with his father Jaeger, and his son Ethan?
JG: Yeah, searcher is estranged from his father really, because his father is an adventurer, and he never wanted to be an adventurer, but his father was desperate for him to be that. He became a farmer instead. Searcher hopes that his son is a farmer too and discovers pretty early on that it’s not what his son wants to do.
(L to R) Voices of Lucy Liu, Jaboukie Young-White, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, and Gabrielle Union in Disney’s ‘Strange World.’
So, he’s left in the same position that he was with his father. He’s stuck between these two worlds. In a lot of ways, the movie’s not just about this strange world that they’re actually in, but also the strange world that each one of them separately is in.
They have to come together and join forces to be in the same world, to save the world that they’re in. I love that about the movie. That, to me, was also the thing that moved me so much about it. It gets me emotional when I think about it and did from the very first time I was pitched the story.
MF: Finally, Gabrielle, can you talk about how your character’s piloting skills help her husband and her son on their journey?
GU: Well, thank you for asking. A lot of who Meridian is, is how I live my life. How I love my family, how I fight for my family to live exactly as they would like to live, short of unwanted commentary. But I also had a life before I was a mother and a wife. I have skills, and I’ve got talents.
I don’t always get to show those and it’s similar with Meridian. She’s able to use all of the things that she learned and all of the things that she excelled at, before she was a wife and a mother, to perhaps aid/save her family and her community.
(L to R) Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union star in Disney’s ‘Strange World.’
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And in the case of at least the first (though possibly both), they will also boast the voice of ‘Get Out’, and ‘Nope’ actor Daniel Kaluuya, who plays Spider-Punk.
Kaluuya, of course, is already a veteran of the main MCU (to which Sony’s Spider-Verse movies don’t yet directly connect), having played W’Kabi in 2018’s ‘Black Panther’.
The new movies continue the adventures of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) as they combat threats from across the Spider-Verse.
Alongside the returning heroes, we’ll see more from Spider-Man 2099 (AKA Miguel O’Hara, voiced by Oscar Isaac) and meet the likes of Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman), played by Issa Rae.
Marvel Comics Spider-Punk. Photo courtesy of Marvel.com
Spider-Punk, AKA Hobart “Hobie” Brown, is a more recent Marvel Comics arrival, created by writer Dan Slott and artist Olivier Coipel in 2015 via ‘The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3’ #10.
He’s described as a homeless teenager who becomes a hero to the oppressed citizens of New York in his dimensional universe.
On the villainous side, there is a deep cut from within Spidey’s rogues’ gallery.
Voiced by Jason Schwartzman, The Dot will feature a character design meant to call to mind an unfinished sketch, featuring blue construction lines that evoke a comic book artist’s rough drawing before the work goes to an inker. The design itself will evolve over the course of the film as the character changes and grows, taking on a more fearsome shape as he learns to better apply his own powers.
There will also be an appearance from more familiar The Vulture; though not the Michael Keaton character from ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and other live-action movies. Instead, this will be a different dimension’s version, voiced by Jorma Taccone.
Aside from the knowledge that our heroes will have to face off against those villains (and, likely some characters yet to be revealed), the story for both of the sequel movies remains largely a mystery. But given the continued presence of Lord and Miller in particular, we’re anticipating an inventive, funny, emotional and visually wild ride across the two films.
We’ll have to wait for ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ as it won’t land in theaters until June 2nd next year. And ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse’ is even further away, arriving on March 29th, 2024.
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) takes on The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’
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As previewed at this year’s D23 Expo, the next movie from Disney’s Feature Animation division is ‘Strange World’ which finds the studio in adventurous mood.
Directed by Don Hall, who made ‘Big Hero 6,’ and most recently co-directed ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’, ‘Strange World’ also features the co-writing/co-directing talents of his ‘Raya’ colleague Qui Nguyen.
Jake Gyllenhaal voices Searcher Clade, the son of a steadfast explorer (Dennis Quaid’s Jaeger, who vanished on a quest). The black sheep of his family, Searcher chose a very different path from the others. Coming from a long lineage of brave and daring explorers, Searcher instead decided to get his hands dirty differently: by becoming a farmer.
But here, Searcher needs to team up with his family (wife Meridian, played by Gabrielle Union, and son Ethan, voiced by Jaboukie Young-White) to help them complete an incredibly dangerous mission. As he steps out of his comfort zone, Searcher is amazed and intrigued by the unknown alien world that surrounds him.
The action-adventure journeys deep into an uncharted and treacherous land where fantastical creatures await them all, as their differences threaten to topple their latest — and by far — most crucial quest.
As revealed at D23 and now more widely by this trailer, Searcher is sent on the mission by President Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu), who knows that the mysterious world is the key to saving their own.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that they encounter Jaeger, who has adapted to live in the odd environment.
Hall has admitted that he drew from classic books and magazines for the movie’s style. “I loved reading the old issues of pulps growing up,” he said in a statement when the first images for the movie came out. “They were big adventures in which a group of explorers might discover a hidden world or ancient creatures. They’ve been a huge inspiration for ‘Strange World’.”
For Gyllenhaal’s part, he was excited to get into a voice booth for the first time, though he discovered that having to record his part from home during the pandemic was… less fun.
“I think all you really have, as an actor, outside of technical skills, is your imagination, so that was one thing. I did find it interesting,” Gyllenhaal told The Scotsman. “We had a camera that had to shoot us doing the action so the animators could mimic our facial expressions, so I had a difficult time holding that screen up and talking to it at the same time and it was so, so hot. I played the entire role on my knees, in basically a prayer position by a bed, with two pillows over both sides of my head and a very heavy blanket over them.”
Aside from those already listed, we do know that Alan Tudyk, who has lent his voice to every Disney animated movie since ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ is also present here, though we don’t yet know who he’s playing.
‘Strange World’ journeys to theaters on November 23.
If there’s one thing we know about DreamWorks Animation, it’s that the company is not one to let a successful franchise venture off into the sunset.
We’re not surprised, then, to see that the ‘Kung Fu Panda’ movie series will be coming back – but not until 2024.
So far, all we really know about the movie is the fact that it’ll be out on March 8th, 2024 as Universal and DWA stick a pin in that release date, which right now only has ‘A Quiet Place: Day One,’ and the new ‘Panda’ could well serve as family-friendly counterprogramming to the expansion of Paramount’s creature feature franchise.
No director or even a confirmation of the voice cast has been revealed about the latest ‘Kung Fu Panda’, but since the studio was confident enough to announce a release date, we can reasonably assume that production is underway, even if it’s still at an early stage. These movies, after all, usually take between three to five years to make.
We can reasonably predict that Jack Black will be back as Po, and since these job only involve turning up to a recording booth (or, in this pandemic world, setting yourself up in a closet or room of your home) a few times, the rest of the star cast are likely to be back alongside him.
What will Po face this time? That’s still a mystery, but it’ll be something to test his bravery and skill as ever.
The franchise, in terms of movies alone, has earned more than $1.8 billion since its launch in 2008.
Jack Black in 2008’s ‘Kung Fu Panda.’
‘Kung Fu Panda’, which was directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, kicked off the story of Po (Black), a wide-eyed panda who is mostly known for being lazy and having a huge appetite. He’s also a massive fan of martial artists and dreams of fighting alongside the legendary Furious Five.
No-one is more surprised than he, then, when he’s selected as the hero who can defend the Valley of Peace.
He’ll need everything he’s learned and the help of those formidable warriors for help when the scheming snow leopard warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escapes prison and wreaks havoc on the valley.
Since then, Po and the Five have been on various adventures across the three movies and their stories have also spread to TV.
Nickelodeon has ‘Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness’, which features a different voice cast, while Netflix’s ‘Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight’ boasts the talents of Black, James Hong (as Po’s adoptive goose father, Mr. Ping) and Rita Ora.
And they were just the tip of the iceberg, as Po and co. have been plastered over toys, video games, books and theme park attractions.
The movie stars Dwayne Johnson as Krypto, Superman’s (John Krasinski) dog. When a group of animals receive super powers, Lex Luthor’s (Marc Maron) guinea pig Lulu (Kate McKinnon) captures the Justice League and attacks Metropolis.
Now, Krypto must learn to work with his new friends, including a dog named Ace (Kevin Hart), a turtle called Merton McSnurtle (Natasha Lyonne), and Chip the squirrel (Diego Luna) in order to defeat Lulu and save Superman, Batman (Keanu Reeves) and the rest of the JLA.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with writer and director Jared Stern about his work on ‘DC’s League of Super-Pets,’ creating new origins and designs for the characters, the DC animal characters they did not use, working with Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, casting Keanu Reeves and Marc Maron, and why every dog is a superhero.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about creating new origin stories for Krypto and Ace the Bat-Hound in ‘DC League of Super-Pets?’
Jared Stern: We’re fans of the comics. We never wanted to do something that felt wrong. But we also wanted to do something that felt original and fresh for our universe. Krypto has a few different origin stories over the course of comics’ canon. There’s one that’s really cool where he was set up as almost a test subject to make sure that baby Superman’s escape pod worked. Then in a convoluted way, he ends up getting to Earth after Superboy has already grown a bit, which was too confusing, but it’s a very cool story.
So that one was just a little confusing but it’s so much more emotional in our movie, hopefully, and gives you the connection right away that these two are best friends forever. So, when something gets in the way of that for Krypto, it’s going to be a huge deal. So, that’s why we went with the origin story that we did there.
Then for Ace, there’s multiple origin stories for him too, but I liked the notion of telling a story about a shelter pet, a dog who’s been there for a long time. Puppies get adopted more quickly than adult dogs and just the notion of the veteran, the guy that takes care of the other pets at the shelter. They’re idiots, but they’re his idiots, like ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.’ So, that just seemed to work for our Ace, to give him a bit of a grizzled backstory, befitting someone who could become a Bat-Dog.
MF: For the animal characters, you used a combination of classic DC animal heroes, as well as some new ones. Can you talk about that choice, and did you consider any other DC animal characters like Captain Carrot, Gleek, or Detective Chimp that didn’t make it into the final cut?
JS: I mean, there’s so many to choose from. It’s pretty great. You just named a few, I could name a bunch of others that I love. I’ll just think of one that no one would ever think was in the movie. Let’s see who I love. Let’s say Bat-Cow. But there’s just so many. I love Detective Chimp. There’s the original Legion of Super-Pets, which people love. So, Beppo, that’s a good one to go with. Let’s go with that, Beppo (a monkey), Comet (a horse) and Streaky (a cat).
They’re awesome, but they’re all in the Superman family. We really wanted to do a thing that could perhaps be an origin story for all of the Justice League’s pets, so that was the driving force behind. We knew that they were going to be shelter animals and that they were going to end up hopefully being Justice League pets, so that was what shaped the choices that we made.
Then from there, we picked some of our favorites and molded new origin stories for them as well. So, Chip obviously is a little bit different than what you might have seen in the comics, but still awesome. We also have Merton McSnurtle, who’s a deep cut from “Funny Stuff,” but has appeared in various ways over the years.
Then we created some new characters, like you said. Lulu is our own creation, the villain played by Kate McKinnon, a hairless guinea pig. We wanted a villain that was really actually pretty badass and capable but made sense in a movie where the pets are the ones saving the day. So, that’s where Lulu came from.
Then we have PB the pig. I love Wonder Woman’s pet Jumpa from the comics, but I couldn’t quite fathom there being a kangaroo in a local Metropolis animal shelter. So, that’s why we created PB the pig. But there’s a couple of nods to DC canon and Wonder Woman having a pig. There’s an early issue where she flies on a pig. Then there’s a famous ‘Justice League’ animated series episode where she gets turned into a pig by Circe.
MF: Can you talk about Dwayne Johnson’s involvement in this project, both as a producer and as the voice of Krypto, and what came first, casting Johnson or deciding to bring in his good friend Kevin Hart as the voice of Ace?
JS: It’s a good question. Dwayne’s involvement, I was thinking about from the very beginning. Sometimes you go to the studio and say, “With so-and-so, think this actor.” I swear to you when I pitched this movie I said, “Krypto the super dog. Think Dwayne Johnson.” Amazingly, we made it into reality. He said, yes, and he’s wonderful.
I think that is definitely when we started thinking about Kevin, because those two guys are so good together. But we didn’t want to just put them together just because it’s fun, because they have a good time, and that people love them together. That’s all true. But it only would’ve worked if we felt like Kevin was right as Ace the Bat-Hound.
We tested his voice out and listened to it. We noticed that he’s playing in a deeper register and he’s doing something very different. He’s still very funny in this. He’s still Kevin Hart, but he’s doing something really soulful and emotional. It’s a little bit of a lower voice for him, and I think it’s really fantastic. So, we didn’t want to just do it to do it. We did it because we felt like it would make for a really great story in our movie.
MF: As a DC fan, I thought you perfectly cast Keanu Reeves and Marc Maron as Batman and Lex Luthor, respectively. Can you talk about both of those casting choices?
JS: I’ll start with Maron, who I love. My co-director Sam Levine is an obsessive fan of the WTF Podcast. Sam is an animator and really smart about pairing voices. He just was like, “This is the voice.” He was absolutely right. He’s just such a great Lex Luther because he’s a guy who has everything and yet still can complain and be aggrieved. That’s our Lex. He’s a billionaire, but he’s just so frustrated that he can’t win.
Then for Keanu, our Batman is haunted. He’s a guy who’s seen a lot in his life. He’s still a badass Batman, but he’s a bit messed up. Most importantly, he’s the guy who just needs a pet. Keanu’s voice and what he did with it was really wonderful. I feel like he had a good time doing Batman and I’d love to make more Batman movies with Keanu Reeves any day.
MF: For the look of the Justice League, you went with a 1940’s inspired costume for Superman, Aquaman has his hook, and you chose Jessica Cruz from all the different Green Lanterns available. Can you talk about your design choices for the different Justice League members?
JS: I mean, it was a combination of a lot of stuff. We wanted to have a diverse lineup that looked like the whole world, so that could mean an Aquaman who’s from the South Pacific. That could mean a character like Aquaman who has a disability, a prosthetic limb. That could mean Jessica Cruz, and just trying to have a better gender balance between the characters. So, we just wanted it to look like the whole world without forcing it, without being preachy, just so that everyone could see themselves in the Justice League and the heroes.
Then in terms of the design, our character designers did a wonderful job. Even with the shapes of their body types, we wanted that to feel like the whole world. We just picked and chose from everywhere, all the stuff that we loved from the comics and then things that just felt right that were invented from our character designers.
So, there’s a little Christopher Reeve in our Superman, but there’s also a little bit of Max Fleischer in him as you noted. Our Cyborg is in some ways is a nod to the first Cyborg designs in the comics, but then he’s got his own little modern flare too. They all have a uniting gold element in them, which we felt connected to the golden age of DC and in our Metropolis.
MF: Finally, if you take the DC elements out of this movie, it’s really a film about a man that loves his dog, and vice versa. How did your own love for animals help inform you while developing and making this movie?
JS: Our producer Patty Hicks rescues and adopts German Shepherds. Everyone who worked on this, we’re all animal lovers and I think it comes through in the film. It’s a story about how much we love our pets and how much our pets love us. Every dog is a superhero because they love us unconditionally.
Though there has been talk for a long time about a third ‘Gremlins’ movie, it has never quite managed to materialize.
But there is movement – more targeted at the younger members of the family – on a new series that will act as a prequel to the first two movies.
‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai’ is an animated series coming to HBO Max and Cartoon Network next year.
This new show turns the clock back to 1920s Shanghai to explain how 10-year-old Sam Wing (who we meet when he’s much older as shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 movie) first crosses path with a certain young Mogwai.
Sam and Gizmo will embark on a journey through the Chinese countryside, encountering colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore.
As they attempt to return Gizmo to his family, and discover a legendary treasure, they’ll have to face a power-hungry industrialist and his ever-growing army of evil Gremlins.
(L to R) Zach Galligan, Sandra Oh, Randall Park, George Takei, and Bowen Yang have all been cast in HBO Max’s ‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.’
Tze Chun is running the show for this new series, and he brought fresh news of the voice cast to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for the panel, though, was word that Zach Galligan – who famously played Billy Peltzer, the lad whose life is turned upside down by Gizmo and the Gremlins in the 1984 original and its 1990 sequel, ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch’ – is also lending his voice to the new show, but as a new character.
“I can’t say too much but because it’s 1920s China, I’m not playing Billy because he wasn’t around,” Galligan said following his surprise appearance on the panel. “So I’m playing this cool character. It was really fun and amazing to work with a new group of creative people who are taking a fresh look at the franchise and are expanding the mythology—who knows what they’re going to add. Maybe they’ll add a new transformation or a new rule we don’t know about yet… I think Gremlins fans are going to eat it up.”
Dropping hints that there are plenty of Easter eggs for film fans to find, Galligan seemed enthused about the new show. “I’ve been doing this a long time; it takes a lot really to surprise me. I thought it was very creative and I thought they did some interesting, very smart things, which to me is more important to being surprised,” he later told TooFab. “I think when it comes down to entertainment, the most important thing is execution. It’s how well you’re gonna tell it. The animation, the visual look of it is great, the voices are great and when you put it together with a good story, you’re going to have a really entertaining show to watch.”
The panel also included a screening of the whole first episode, though that naturally wasn’t put online.
HBO Max has yet to announce the date for the new series.
HBO Max’s ‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai is scheduled for 2023.
Michael Cera as “Hank” and Samuel L. Jackson as “Jimbo” in ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Align, and Aniventure.
The movie stars Michael Cera (‘Superbad’) as Hank, a troubled dog who is trained to be a samurai by his mentor, a cat named Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson). Now, in order to protect a village of cats, Hank and Jimbo must battle with the evil Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais).
The result is an uninspired animated movie that tries to recreate the best moments from ‘Blazing Saddles’ but never makes the jokes its own and relies too heavily on the original source material without building on the actual characters and their journey.
The film begins by introducing us to a young Hank (Cera), whose life is saved by a Samurai cat named Jimbo (Jackson). Years later, when a warmongering cat named Ika Chu (Gervais) threatens to destroy the peaceful cat village where Jimbo lives, Hank arrives to help. Unsure of his own abilities, Hank trains with Jimbo in the ways of the samurai to defeat Ika Chu and save the village.
(L to R) Gabriel Iglesias as “Chuck” and Aasif Mandvi as “Ichiro” in ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Align, and Aniventure.
Since the animated movie is loosely based on ‘Blazing Saddles,’ the plot points are about the same, following an outcast samurai who saves a small town, instead of an outcast cowboy.
Michael Cera basically plays the Cleavon Little role, with Samuel L. Jackson playing the Gene Wilder surrogate. Ricky Gervais’s Ika Chu stands-in for Harvey Korman, while Mel Brooks himself makes a voice appearance, playing a similar role to his part in the original, as the ruler of Kakamucho and Ika Chu’s boss.
But even the involvement of Mr. Brooks is not enough to make this movie work. Although, I did appreciate that the filmmakers included all of ‘Blazing Saddles’ original writers in the credits including Brooks, Andrew Bergman and Richard Pryor, giving them the credit they deserve for the original work.
For those that don’t know, ‘Blazing Saddles’ is one of the funniest movies ever made and included a now famous sequence of fart jokes. So, adapting it to an animated film for kids actually makes sense, but besides the flatulent humor, a lot of the movie’s jokes and character development lands flat and doesn’t inspire interest from the audience.
Of the cast, Ricky Gervais is clearly having the most fun and is really funny, adding a lot of his own public persona to the role. He plays the character as an ego-maniacal, insecure, know-it-all, not unlike his David Brent character from ‘The Office.’ Gervais is also a well-known cat lover in real life, which adds to the humor of his character as well.
(L to R) Ricky Gervais as “Ika Chu” and George Takei as “Ohga” in ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Align, and Aniventure.
Michael Cera has mastered his persona of playing a youthful, innocent, and naïve young man, which works well with the character of Hank. Cera’s performance certainly makes Hank lovable, but unfortunately the screenplay doesn’t allow enough time for the character to grow and mature.
His relationship with Jimbo is the most interesting, but again, the two characters are not given enough to do. The training sequences steal from ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda,’ and don’t feel fresh or new. Samuel L. Jackson was great casting for Jimbo, but I would have liked the character to have a more pivotal role.
‘Star Trek’ legend George Takei is always a welcomed addition to any project, and hearing his voice in this movie was a nice surprise. Takei plays Ika Chu’s henchman Ohga, and has great chemistry playing off of Gervais. While his role is somewhat limited too, the filmmakers did find time to have him say his signature line, “Oh, my.”
Director Rob Minkoff is no stranger to animation having directed one of the greatest animated films of all-time, ‘The Lion King.’ But ‘Paws of Fury’ lacks any of the gravitas or character development of his past work, and even the animation itself leaves little to be desired.
In the end, ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ is both a disappointment to ‘Blazing Saddles’ fans hoping for one last great movie from the mind of Mel Brooks, and also a disappointment to parents hoping to find a fun animated movie to take their kids to this summer.
(L to R) Kylie Kuioka as “Emiko” and Michelle Yeoh as “Yuki” in ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Align, and Aniventure.
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ receives 1.5 out of 5 stars.
Directed by Rob Minkoff (‘The Lion King’), the movie focuses on Hank (Michael Cera), a down-on-his-luck dog who is trained to be a samurai by his mentor, a cat named Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson). Now, Hank and Jimbo must protect a village of cats from the evil Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais) who wants to wage war on them.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Cera about his work on Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank,’ meeting Mel Brooks, whether he is a dog or cat person, and working with Samuel L. Jackson and director Rob Minkoff.
Michael Cera plays Hank in Paramount’s ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank.’
You can read our full interview with Michael Cera below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Cera, George Takei, Aasif Mandvi, Cathy Shim, Kylie Kuioka, and director Rob Minkoff.
Moviefone: To begin with, what was your reaction when you heard they were making an animated movie loosely based on Mel Brooks’ classic ‘Blazing Saddles?’
Michael Cera: It sounded great to me, and the whole team just sounded great. I felt like it was a very lucky thing to be a part of.
MF: Did you get a chance to meet Mel Brooks?
MC: Not on this project. I have not overlapped with him at all, but I did get to meet him in his office several years ago. It must have been 10 years ago now on the Culver City lot in Los Angeles.
I just went over and paid him a visit in his office, and we got to sit with him for a half an hour and chat. That was just an amazing thing for me. He was so sweet, and it was a great half hour of my life.
MF: In your own words, how would you describe Hank and how did you find the voice for the character?
MC: He’s a dog that has a very strong sense of his destiny and his dream, and he’s fully committed to that. His heart is completely behind that, and he’s willing to go through whatever hardship is thrown his way to achieve it. I like that about him. I think that’s an admirable quality about the character.
Finding the voice, I think came from just understanding the character slowly and kind of working with the creative team on bringing him to life. It just kind of comes through osmosis, through trying things, I guess.
Michael Cera as “Hank” and Samuel L. Jackson as “Jimbo” in ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Align, and Aniventure.
MF: Can you talk about Hank’s friendship with Jimbo, who is played by Samuel L. Jackson?
MC: Well, Jimbo is the reason that Hank wants to be a Samurai, even though he doesn’t realize that when he meets him because Jimbo came to Hank’s rescue when he was a little puppy.
So, there’s sort of a troubled relationship between them because Jimbo’s this inspiring figure to Hank who’s turned into such a shell of his former self. But Hank revives the old fire in him and kind of help each other in that way.
MF: Can you talk about the recording process and working with director Rob Minkoff?
MC: Working with Rob was amazing. Rob is an incredible guy, he’s got an incredible career and he even came up under (legendary animator) Chuck Jones. We were talking about Chuck Jones last time I saw him.
So, he’s just kind of from this world of legendary animators. Having a guy like that to collaborate with is exciting because they just know this space so well, and the fundamentals of it and of character and of bringing all the emotions forward. So, it was great. It was very educational and very fun.
MF: Finally, are you a dog or cat person?
MC: I really couldn’t say because I really love all cats and dogs, and I’ve had great experiences all around with them. So, I wouldn’t exclude any from my life.
Michael Cera plays Hank in Paramount’s ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank.’
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Directed by Angus MacLane (‘Finding Dory’), the new movie is a representation of the in-world blockbuster film that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy Andy played with in the ‘Toy Story’ franchise, and stars Chris Evans (‘Avengers: Infinity War’) as the voice of Buzz Lightyear.
In addition to Evans, the voice cast also includes Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Dale Soules, and Taika Waititi. The result is a fun movie that doesn’t recapture the magic of the ‘Toy Story’ franchise but is still an entertaining animated adventure.
The film begins by introducing us to Buzz Lightyear (Evans), a Space Ranger exploring a new planet with his commanding officer Alisha Hawthorne (Aduba). When danger strikes, Buzz does his best to save his spaceship full of civilians and escape the planet but they are ultimately marooned. Blaming himself, Buzz and Alisha work with the survivors to build a new civilization on the strange planet and rebuild their spacecraft so they can go home.
However, when Buzz tests the new ship he realizes that every time he attempts to leave the planet, he is thrusted into the future by four years. Refusing to fail, Buzz attempts to leave again dozens of times, until eventually, Alisha grows old and dies. After Buzz’s latest attempt, he realizes the planet has been invaded by the evil Emperor Zurg (Brolin). Now, Buzz must team-up with Alisha’s granddaughter Izzy (Palmer), Mo Morrison (Waititi), Darby Steel (Soules), and a robotic cat named Sox (Sohn) and learn to work together in order to defeat Zurg and free the planet forever.
As a standalone Pixar animated adventure, ‘Lightyear’ completely soars, but is undermined by the filmmakers’ choice to shoehorn it into the ‘Toy Story’ franchise. The film opens with a title card that explains ‘Lightyear’ is the in-world movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy, which Andy played with in the original ‘Toy Story’ movies. The idea that this movie is Andy’s ‘Star Wars’ or even ‘Independence Day’ is laughable, and it’s hard to see how young Andy would fall in love with this movie.
Another question that arises from making ‘Lightyear’ the movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy is why doesn’t the character in the “movie” sound like the toy? Typically, when a voice-activated toy is release from a movie, that toy has the voice of the actor that played him in the movie. So, why isn’t Tim Allen the voice of the real Buzz Lightyear? Also, since ‘Lightyear’ is the movie the toy is based on, it means Chris Evans wasn’t actually playing Buzz, he was really playing an actor playing the title character. Best not to think about that one too much.
That being said, whoever Evans is actually playing, he does a great job of making the role his own, while honoring what Tim Allen did before him. It’s also clever casting because there are a lot of similarities between Buzz and Evans’ signature character, Steve Rogers/Captain America. Both characters are government heroes, lost in time, just trying to get home to their loved ones. There is also a comparison to be made to his “Old Man Steve” character from ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ but to talk too much about that would give away spoilers.
An overall issue I’ve had with Pixar in the past is that they come up with great concepts, and then abandon them halfway through to introduce a cute character that will sell a lot of merchandise. ‘Soul’ is a great example of that, with a truly original concept, but then introducing an adorable cat halfway through. So, I was skeptical when Sox (voiced by Peter Sohn) was introduced about 30min into ‘Lightyear.’ However, I’m happy to say that Sox really works and is a great addition to the story. Yes, it’s another example of Pixar adding a cute animal to its cast, but it doesn’t feel out of place at all and the character definitely steals every scene he’s in.
Rounding out the supporting cast are some really lovely performances from Uzo Aduba and Keke Palmer, as Commander Alisha and her granddaughter Izzy, respectively, who are really the emotional core of the movie. Taika Waititi and Dale Soules are also scene stealers with their wonderful characters of Mo and Darby, who bring the funny with their off-the-wall performances.
James Brolin is fine as the voice of Emperor Zurg, but it’s the characters final reveal that bothers me. Again, to say too much would lead to spoilers, but let’s just say that I saw the film’s big twist coming from a million lightyears away. It’s an interesting idea, but I feel like we’ve seen that twist before and it doesn’t lead to the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ moment that was probably intended. The reveal also puts the integrity of the movie’s lead character in jeopardy.
Don’t get me wrong, ‘Lightyear’ is a really fun and exciting adventure movie, with beautiful animation and a cast of really interesting characters, but in the end, suffers from its desire to remind you its set in the ‘Toy Story’ universe.
