Paulie - wikipedia Paulie hide This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( February 2015 ) This article is incomplete. Please help to improve it, or discuss the issue on the talk page. ( December 2014 ) Paulie Theatrical release poster Directed by John Roberts Produced by Mark Gordon Gary Levinsohn Allyson Lyon Segan Written by Laurie Craig Starring Gena Rowlands Tony Shalhoub Cheech Marin Bruce Davison Jay Mohr Music by John Debney Cinematography Tony Pierce - Roberts Edited by Bruce Cannon Production company Mutual Film Company Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures Release date April 17, 1998 ( 1998 - 04 - 17 ) Running time 94 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $23 million Box office $26.9 million Paulie is a 1998 American adventure fantasy comedy film about a disobedient bird named Paulie, starring Tony Shalhoub, Gena Rowlands, Hallie Eisenberg, and Jay Mohr. Mohr performs both the voice of Paulie and the on - screen supporting role of Benny, a character who has a lot of dialogue with Paulie. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 5 Awards and nominations 6 References 7 External links Plot The film is a picaresque tale about an intelligent talking blue - crowned conure named Paulie, and his long quest to return to his owner. Misha Vilyenkov ( Tony Shalhoub ), a Russian immigrant and former teacher of literature, lives in America and works as a janitor at an animal testing lab. At the lab, Misha encounters Paulie and is shocked to see Paulie speaking fluent English. Subsequently, Paulie does not speak a word when Misha brings others to witness the talking bird. Misha woos Paulie to tell his story by offering him pieces of mango. Paulie tells Misha about his original owner, a little girl named Marie ( Hallie Eisenberg ) who suffers from a severe stutter. The story transitions to a flashback scene in which Paulie is a baby bird. As Marie learns to speak properly, so does Paulie, beginning with understanding the meaning of words and progressing to the construction of complex sentences. Marie 's father Warren ( Matt Craven ), a soldier, returns home from Vietnam and decides that Paulie is not helping Marie. The father 's resentment of the close bond between Paulie and Marie, and their shared progress in speech development, is evident. It becomes obvious that he wants Marie to forget Paulie, when the father brings her a cat. The cat and Paulie do not get along. Once again, Warren blames Paulie for Marie 's speaking problems and believes she has imagined Paulie 's ability to speak. Eventually after a dramatic event in which Marie falls off the roof in an attempt to teach Paulie to fly, Warren convinces Marie 's mother Lila ( Laura Harrington ) to send him away. Paulie is passed from one owner to another, eventually ending up in a pawn shop, where he spends his time insulting the customers. One day a shady customer named Benny ( Jay Mohr ) shows interest in buying Paulie, thinking he could profit from the bird 's ability to talk. Before he can act, however, a widowed artist named Ivy ( Gena Rowlands ) purchases him with the intent of reforming his rude personality. She befriends the bird and agrees to help him find Marie who has moved across the country to Los Angeles. They begin traveling using her mobile home but when Ivy loses her sight in the middle of their trip, Paulie decides to stay and take care of her. After Ivy dies, Paulie, having finally learned to fly, continues his journey. In East Los Angeles, Paulie joins a group of performing conures owned by migrant musician Ignacio ( Cheech Marin ), temporarily forgetting about Marie as he develops feelings for a female conure named Lupe. At one of his performances, Benny, having also moved to L.A. recognizes Paulie and attempts to purchase him from Ignacio. When Ignacio refuses his offer, Benny makes a phoney police call at one of his performances. As the police show up, Benny kidnaps Paulie amidst all the chaos and Ignacio is arrested and presumably deported. Under Benny 's influence, Paulie begins a life of crime. In a botched jewel theft, Paulie flies down through the chimney of a house, where he is trapped inside, then abandoned. Paulie is then brought to the institute, his current home, where employees and scientists are stunned by his intelligence. They subject him to testing, and promise that he will be reunited with Marie. When Paulie discovers that he has been lied to by way of his acquisition as institute property, he refuses to cooperate with any more tests, humiliating Dr. Reingold ( Bruce Davison ), the head of the institute, in front of his scientific peers by acting like an ordinary parrot. As a result, his wings are clipped, and he is eventually imprisoned in the basement when he starts biting the researchers. Moved by Paulie 's story, Misha decides to give up his menial job to release Paulie and take him to Marie. After escaping from the institute and taking a bus to her address, they find her, now a full grown, beautiful young woman ( Trini Alvarado ) unrecognizable to Paulie, who believed Marie was her little friend. After a moment of confusion, Paulie and Marie are happily reunited as Marie sings Paulie 's favorite song and he remembers her. The film ends with the three characters happily entering the house. Cast Jay Mohr as the voice of Paulie, a blue - crowned conure Also Benny, a small - time thief Tony Shalhoub as Misha, a recent US immigrant from Russia Gena Rowlands as Ivy, a widowed artist Hallie Eisenberg as Marie Alweather, a young girl who stutters Trini Alvarado as Adult Marie Cheech Marin as Ignacio, an entertainer Bruce Davison as Dr. Reingold, a biological research Scientist Buddy Hackett as Artie, owner of a pawn shop Matt Craven as Warren Alweather, Marie 's father Bill Cobbs as Virgil, a janitor at the animal science facility Tia Texada as Ruby and the voice of Lupe, a Jandaya parakeet Laura Harrington as Lila Alweather, Marie 's mother Jerry Winsett as Mr. Tauper Production This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( December 2014 ) Directed by John Roberts and written by Laurie Craig, the film 's production budget was $23 million. Reception This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( December 2014 ) The movie Paulie scored a 62 % `` Fresh '' rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It was distributed in 24 countries and 10 different languages between 1998 and 1999. Box office receipts grossed $5,369,800 on the opening weekend, and $26,875,268 total. It was released in 1,812 North American theaters. Awards and nominations Award Result ALMA Award Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film - Cheech Marin Nomination ALMA Award Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film - Trini Alvarado Nomination BAFTA Children 's Award Best Children 's Feature Film Won Bronze Gryphon Early Screens - John Roberts Won Young Artist Award Best family feature - Comedy Nomination Young Artist Award Best performance in a feature film - Young Actress aged ten or under - Hallie Kate Eisenberg Nomination Young Artist Award Best performance by a young actress in a comedy film - Hallie Kate Eisenberg Nomination References Jump up ^ `` Box Office Mojo ''. IMDB.com. 2015. Retrieved 2015 - 04 - 23. Jump up ^ `` Paulie ( 1998 ) ''. imdb.com. imdb.com. 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015. ^ Jump up to : `` PAULIE ''. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 11. Jump up ^ `` Paulie ( 1998 ) ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster, Inc. 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015. Jump up ^ `` Angels Stays Aloft in Top Spot ''. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012 - 07 - 08. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : Paulie Paulie on IMDb Paulie at Rotten Tomatoes Paulie at Box Office Mojo A bird 's review of the movie Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paulie&oldid=847932192 '' Categories : 1998 films English - language films 1990s adventure films 1990s buddy films 1990s comedy films 1990s fantasy films American adventure comedy films American buddy films American children 's adventure films American children 's comedy films American children 's fantasy films American fantasy - comedy films American films DreamWorks Pictures films Fictional parrots Films scored by John Debney Films about birds Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Films set in 1978 Films set in 1998 Films set in Los Angeles Films set in New Jersey Mutual Film Company films Talking animals in fiction Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from February 2015 All articles needing additional references Articles to be expanded from December 2014 Articles with multiple maintenance issues All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2015 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Български Dansk Deutsch Español Français Galego Íslenska Italiano Magyar Bahasa Melayu Nederlands Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska 中文 13 more Edit links This page was last edited on 28 June 2018, at 19 : 24 ( UTC ). 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Question: who does the voice of paulie the bird
Answer: Jay Mohr