Super Hedgehog

Super Hedgehog is a 2003 American animated action comedy superhero adventure film produced by Victor Hugo Pictures Animation for Victor Hugo Pictures. It was directed by Chris McKay, Mark Dindal, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, with story by Francis Glebas and screenplay by Lauren Faust, Peter Ackerman, Bob Barlen, Roger S. H. Schulman, and Don Rhymer. The film features the voices of Jim Carrey, Lucy Liu, Owen Wilson, Kellie Martin, Jason Statham, Salma Hayek, Thora Birch, Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep. The film's plot takes place in San Francisco, John Farmiga, a hedgehog, discovers his heritage and aids the Justice Hero in order to stop Roger Meskiman from taking over San Francisco.
Super Hedgehog premiered in Kodak Theatre on June 20, 2003, and was released in the United States on August 1, 2003 by Victor Hugo Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics, grossing over $615 million worldwide over its $112 million budget and receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Finding Nemo. It launched a expanded franchise, with a television series premiering in 2005 until 2008 and a direct-to-video sequel released in 2008.
== Plot ==
In an alternate universe, the Justice Hero—Heart Sapphire (Lucy Liu), Kelly Brown (Kellie Martin), and Squish (Owen Wilson)— is a brutal force that maintains order on Earth. The lack of accountability for the hero is challenged following the suspicious deaths of three hero: Doc Savage; Jim Corrigan; and American Crusader, along with Spider-Man. When suspicion falls on the Justice Hero, President Nora Fries asks that they cooperate with the government's investigation. Kelly Brown speaks to James Adams to learn what the government knows while Squish invites Butterfly Jerusalem to the Tower of the Hero, where he tells him of his goals to help humanity, and reveals how little he knows about Hoth or his heritage.
Meanwhile, Fred (Jim Carrey) and his friends see the return of Zach back from a long trip he took. Zach tells them they aren't real hero if they use only superpowers to fight and discusses with Fred that his element is green. Zach mentions an Ultimate Weapon during their talk, giving Zach the hope of defeating Roger Meskiman once and for all, despite being forbidden to use the weapon. The next day, Roger Meskiman attacks San Francisco with his giant mech and defeats Fred. As Roger Meskiman declares his rule over San Francisco, Fred returns with the Ultimate Superpowers and fires it only to reveal it's a laser pointer that attracts a giant CGI koala named Tom. Roger Meskiman points the laser to make the koala destroy the other mechs before Fred breaks it. As Roger Meskiman celebrates his victory, Fred take the cape off and tells Roger Meskiman that he wishes he weren't his father, leaving Roger Meskiman confused.
Ten years later, Fred confronts a group of Justice Hero led by Heart Sapphire, who are her Superpower is too flight, superhuman strength, invulnerability to bullets, and electromagnetic pulse generation. Super Hedgehog arrives soon after, and bystanders blame him for Dana's death. Councilman Kevin Pasko tells the media that Super Hedgehog is a menace (despite Commissioner Abe's protests). Attending a party at Walker Manor, Pasko teases Fred for allowing Marilu to leave him.
The hero ship then start its mission, and Heart Sapphire hides a cassette tape player to fool the crew into believing Fred is sound asleep. As Diane (Roger Boss) vandalizes the ship by altering the course and dropping a crazy magnet into the warp drive, causing the ship to spin out of control (but then regrets it because he's also on board the ship and he's thus doomed himself), Heart Sapphire angers Fred when she tells him to let the hero ship go, and he determines he is not speaking to Heart Sapphire. Security alerts are sent out, and Super Hedgehog and the gang eventually catch Diane and throw her in the ship's jail cell. However, this doesn't happen without taking Heart Sapphire a fire extinguisher and placing it under Kelly Brown's body, and she takes a wild ride on it. When the extinguisher crashes, she tells the crew he's taking over command because "something's happened to Roger Meskiman".
As Roger Meskiman prepares his weapon, the Justice Hero, who escaped the explosion of the Hero Ship, teleports into the San Francisco and tells everyone he has discovered Roger Meskiman' plan. Kelly Brown frees himself and seizes the opportunity to drop the forcefield. With Fred fighting Roger Meskiman, Kelly Brown faces Bloody Larry, and Squish takes on the Brick Men, who quickly merge into a single, more powerful entity. Kelly Brown uses her sword's boom tube to send Bloody Larry to the sun, while Squish destroys the Father Boxes inside the Brick Men to keep them from 'Booming' before taking them underground and melting them inside molten rock. The Hero destroys the bomb (at the cost of Squish's size escape craft) and, after being defeated by Fred, a remorseful Roger Meskiman commits suicide by disintegrating himself with nanites.
After restoring San Francisco, taking Roger Meskiman to Prison and establishing Fred a new Superpower where they can more powerful, Super Hedgehog makes his love life with Heart Sapphire as Fred public with a marriage proposal.
== Voice cast ==
* Jim Carrey as Fred, a 15-year-old teenage Hedgehog, who become to be Superhedgehog
* Lucy Liu as Heart Sapphire, a Leader of the Justice Hero.
* Kellie Martin as Kelly Brown, She has the ability to shrink to the size of an insect while retaining full-sized strength.
* Owen Wilson as Squish, He is a Squish Hero that can square in side
* Jason Statham as Roger Meksiman, a villain who can ruled the San Francisco
* Salma Hayek as Louise, a friend of Fred, She has Superhuman strength, reflexes, speed, stamina, durability, and enhanced sensory systems including night vision
* Thora Birch as Dragonflyness, She can teleport herself and up to three others by opening a portal into the another dimension and travelling through it.
* Angelina Jolie as Mayday, Fred's mother
* Meryl Streep as Melina, She has illusion casting, which allows her to blend into her background, effectively becoming invisible. It also allows her to adapt to rapidly changing backgrounds without betraying the illusion. She can camouflage both herself and someone in close proximity to her.
* Trevor Devall as Bloody Larry, He possesses two separate superhuman abilities which she most often uses in tandem for a unique result. Her powers are both presumably the result of a cranial implant given to her by Roger Mesksiman.
* Robin Williams as Brick Men, He has the ability to exhale nerve toxins. She also has superhuman strength and agility, the degree of which is 435%.
* William Shatner as Zach, a friend of Fred
* Dennis Hopper as Charlie, a cat which is Fred's Grandpa.
* Rick Moranis as Lake, a small Himalayan Dinosaur residing in San Francisco
* Andrea Martin as Pauley, a butterfly and She is Fred's mother
* Martin Short as Bruno, He possess a genius-level intellect, with an IQ of 262
** Short also voices of one of the reptiles
* Anna Faris as Kath, a bird who is Fred's love interest.
* Isla Fisher as Andrea, She capture or kill hostile agents, saboteurs, bandits, and other criminal elements. 
* Ellen Greene as Mindy, a heroine who tries to become becomes a Pink Lantern but fails
* Flatman of Great Lakes Avengers, appears in a voice cameo, amongst additional voices
=== Additional voices ===
* Carlos Alazraqui
* Paul Eiding
* Rob Paulsen
* James Patrick Stuart
* Bob Bergen 
* Keith Ferguson
* David Herman
* Bill Farmer
* Katie Leigh
* Nika Futterman
* Brian Cummings
* Eliza Schneider
* Kevin Michael Richardson
* Susan Blu
* Candi Milo
* Daran Norris
* Nicholas Guest
* Clancy Brown
* Jack Riley
* Kath Soucie
* Frank Welker
* Laraine Newman
* Garry Chalk
* Patrick Pinney
* Jim Ward
* Tom Kane
* Dan Castellaneta
== Production ==
=== Development ===
Bram Moolenaar and Eddie Guzelian started working on the film in 1997, when Moolenaar came up with the idea. In May 1999, Variety reported that Francis Glebas would direct on an animated action comedy film based on the original idea by Moolenaar and Guzelian. It was once expected to be released in 2002 under the title Justice Hero.
In November 2001, Victor Hugo Pictures Animation revealed the film's new title to be Super Hedgehog, which would be produced by Merriwether Williams, with Allison Abbate, Scott Rudin, and Ted Elliott writing the film's screenplay. In July 2002, it was announced that Chris McKay and Mark Dindal would join Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as director.
=== Casting ===
In January 2001, it was announced that actor, writer, singer, musician and production manager Danny Mann was cast as the lead role, which would have been the sixteen animated feature film role and the twenty-four motion picture performance following Looney Tunes: Back in Action. However, on July 11, 2002, Mann was too busy voicing on Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure, Finding Nemo and Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and the new actor was yet to be announced. By October 2002, it was later announced that Jim Carrey would replace the Danny Mann. The rest of the cast was announced in March 2003.
== Soundtrack ==
: Main article: Super Hedgehog/Soundtrack
The film's score was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. Matthew Bright and Eric Idle wrote the songs for the film. The score was released on July 25, 2003.
== Release ==
Super Hedgehog was originally scheduled for a June 20, 2003 release. However, in February 2001, Victor Hugo Pictures announced that Night of the Living Fleas would be released on that date, and Super Hedgehog would instead be released on June 27, 2003. In July 2002, Victor Hugo Pictures pushed back the release date to August 6, 2003. In March 2003, the film was moved up by five days to August 1, 2003 to avoid competition with Freaky Friday.
=== Marketing ===
The film was accompanied by a promotional campaign by McDonalds.
=== Trailers ===
* The official teaser was released on July 12, 2002, and was shown before Dream World, Stuart Little 2, The Country Bears, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, and Spirited Away.
* The first theatrical trailer was released on September 27, 2002, and was shown before Me & Mobo, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Pokémon 4Ever, and Tuck Everlasting.
* The second theatrical trailer was released on October 18, 2002, and was shown in front of films such as The Enchanted Castle, The Santa Clause 2, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Treasure Planet.
* The third theatrical trailer was released on December 20, 2002, and was shown before The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Kangaroo Jack, The Jungle Book 2, Agent Cody Banks, and Magina.
* The fourth theatrical trailer was released on March 21, 2003, and was shown before Piglet's Big Movie, Holes, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Daddy Day Care, and Pokémon Heroes.
* The fifth theatrical trailer was released on May 30, 2003, and was shown before Finding Nemo, Rugrats Go Wild, Night of the Living Fleas, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.
* TV spots began to air between June and July 2003.
=== Video game ===
A video game based on the film was published by Activision and Bivendi Herbertio Games and released on July 21, 2003, for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows.
=== Home media ===
Super Hedgehog was released on VHS and DVD on November 18, 2003. It was re-released on DVD on May 13, 2009. The film was released on Blu-ray in Germany on May 12, 2015, in Australia on May 13 and in the United States and Canada on July 14, 2015. The film also on Blu-ray, Blu-Ray 3D and DVD on June 14, 2016. It includes a movie ticket to Choco Banana Cream Piez.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Super Hedgehog grossed $632.5 million in the United States and Canada and $742.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $859.4 million, against a production budget of $112 million. The Hollywood Reporter calculated the net profit of the film to be $344.8 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the fourth most profitable release of 2003.
In the United States and Canada, Super Hedgehog was released alongside the releases of American Wedding, And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen, Gigli and the limited release of Secret Lives of Dentists, and was projected to gross $75–95 million from 4,742 theaters in its opening weekend. On its first day, the film grossed $23.4 million (including $2.5 million made from Thursday night previews). It went on to open to $73.2 million, finishing first at box office. In its second weekend, the film dropped by 73% to $53 million, and fell to No. 2 behind The Princess Blade but beat fellow western film Open Range.
=== Critical reception ===
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 252 reviews with an average rating of 9.3/10, with its critical consensus reading, "Bolstered by a trippy art style, a collection of melodious numbers, and a batch of moments that build up fluently, Super Hedgehog is an example of the modern Superanimal genre at one of its best." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 84 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
=== Accolades ===
Award 	Category 	Recipient	Result
Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Animated Movie	 	
== Franchise ==
=== Television series ===
: Main article: Super Hedgehog: The Series
In September 2004, Victor Hugo Pictures Television Animation announced that there will be an animated series entitled Super Hedgehog: The Series, which premiered on network Nickelodeon on May 29, 2005 until June 20, 2008.
=== Sequel ===
: Main article: Super Hedgehog II
In November 2003, Universal announced that they were planning a sequel for Super Hedgehog. The sequel, titled Super Hedgehog II, was released direct-to-video in 2008, with Richard Kind replacing Carrey as the voice of Fred/Super Hedgehog.
== Transcripts ==
=== Main ===
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.
=== Trailers ===
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.
Category:Films
Category:Victor Hugo Pictures films
Category:2000s
Category:2000s films
Category:2003
Category:2003 films
Category:Super Hedgehog
Category:Victor Hugo Pictures animated films
Category:Victor Hugo Pictures Animation animated films
Category:PG-Rated films
Category:Victor Hugo Pictures animated features canon