Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie

Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie is a 2017 American animated adventure-comedy family film based on the Cartoon Network animated television series of the same name. The film is written and directed by series creator Genndy Tartakovsky and written by John McIntyre. The film takes place after the show's series finale and it is produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The film was theatrically released in movie theaters on July 14, 2017 in the United States and Canada, by Warner Bros. Pictures 20th Century Fox and Universal pictures. This makes it the first and only theatrical Dexter's Laboratory film to hit the big screen as Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip was just a made for T.V. movie.
The film stars the voices of Candi Milo, Kat Cressida, Kath Soucie, Jeff Bennett, Tom Kenny, Rob Paulsen, Eddie Deezen, Kimberly Brooks and Frank Welker reprising their roles from the series, with guest stars Hugh Laurie, James Adomian, Michael J. Fox, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Richard Kind as new characters.
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success, grossing over $195 million worldwide against a $48 million budget, making it the fourth highest-grossing hand-drawn animated film of 2017 and the highest-ever grossing film based on an animated television series. Featuring the new single "Here We Go" by will.i.am.
==Summary==
Dexter and Dee Dee are going on an adventure to save their parents from an evil mad scientist.
==Cast==
===Main Characters===
*Dexter (Candi Milo)
*Dee Dee (Kat Cressida)
*Mom (Kath Soucie)
*Dad (Jeff Bennett)
*Dr. McBoy (Tom Kenny)
*Spork (Rob Paulsen)
*Mandark (Eddie Deezen)
*Mee Mee (Kimberly Brooks)
*Lee Lee (Kath Soucie)
*Monkey (Frank Welker)
===Guest Stars===
*Professor Walker (Hugh Laurie)
*Davis (James Adomian), Walker's assistant.
*Jason (Michael J. Fox)
*Gloria (Courtney Thorne-Smith)
*Ralph (Richard Kind)
===Additional Voices===
*Taylor Swift
*Tina Fey
*David Cowgill
*Ty Burrell
*Adam Sandler
*June Christopher
*Katy Perry
*Cody Simpson
*Ben Stiller
*Mr. T
*Chris Rock
*Steve Carell
*Chance The Rapper
*BBK
*R.S.
*Ice Cube
*Pitbull (rapper)
==Rating==
Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie is Rated PG for Parental Guidance.
==Production==
===Announcement===
The production staff had considered a second film adaptation of Dexter's Laboratory since early in the series. Only this time, it would now be a feature-length theatrical movie. The voice cast was signed on to do the film in 2008, and work then began on the script.
The film was announced on September 12, 2011, with Cartoon Network Studios being involved with production. Work continued on the screenplay from 2013 onwards, taking place at Cartoon Network Studios (formerly Hanna-Barbera Cartoons) where Tartakovsky first pitched Dexter's Laboratory in the 1990s, before the series premiered in 1996. The writers spent six months discussing a plot, and each of them offered sketchy ideas. Rudish suggested Dexter and Deedee going on a big adventure, but with the help of their friends, to rescue their parents from an evil mad scientist. Tartakovsky really like this idea, as he felt that it was about time Dexter and Deedee went on a big screen adventure.
Having eventually decided on the basic outline of the plot for the film, the writers then separated it into seven sections. Tartakovsky, John McIntyre, Rudish, Don Shank and Lauren Faust wrote 25 pages each, and the group met one month later to merge the seven sections into one "very rough draft". The film's script was written in the same way as the television series: the writers sitting around a table, pitching ideas, and trying to make each other laugh. The script went through over 10 revisions, and at one point the film was a musical. However, the songs were continually being shortened and the idea was dropped. Ruegger described his desire to also make the film dramatically stronger than a TV episode, saying that he wanted to "give you something that you haven't seen before". On December 12, 2016, Warner Bros. officially scheduled the film for a Summer release of July 14, 2017. The film marks the sixth time a theatrical Cartoon Network film is produced by Warner Bros. Animation, instead of Warner Animation Group since the group's formation in 2013.
=== Development ===
Warner Bros. had already begun the process of starting development of movies with budgets of around $100 million. The intellectual property for these films was meant to be supplied by Warner Bros. Animation, Hanna-Barbera (Warner Bros. Animation's in-name only division), Cartoon Network and Turner Entertainment (also both Time-Warner divisions) among others and included The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Samurai Jack, Adventure Time, Cow and Chicken, and more, of course, Codename: Kids Next Door. Cartoon Network had been approaching the original crew from the television series to make a high-profile, animated theatrical feature-length film adaptation and had long wanted to partner with Warner Bros. Pictures to release a Dexter's Laboratory film given the network's extraordinary legacy in the world of animation, including some of the most enduring characters on cable television history.
Creator Genndy Tartakovsky agreed to make a feature film version of the show with the promise it would be the first of a planned trilogy. During development stages of the film, he and his co-writer John McIntyre, alongside executive producers Sherry Gunther and Larry Huber and their producer Brian A. Miller intended to revisit some of the greatest films of the time, with Scarface and The Dark Knight having the core inspirations for the film.
=== Casting ===
The series' regular voice actors: Candi Milo, Kat Cressida, Kath Soucie and Jeff Bennett, as well as semi-regular performers Tom Kenny, Rob Paulsen, Eddie Deezen, Kimberly Brooks and Frank Welker, reprised their roles. On April 14, 2013, it was announced that Hugh Laurie joined the voice cast. By October 30, actor James Adomian was in a negotiation to join the cast. On February 17, 2014, Michael J. Fox and Courtney Thorne-Smith were confirmed additions to the cast. On April 14, James L. Venable stated through Twitter that he will compose the film's music score. On May 27, 2015, it was reported by Variety that Richard Kind had joined the cast.
=== Animation ===
The feature animation was handled by Rough Draft Studios in Glendale, California and Seoul, South Korea. The crew used the same processes from the original television series in the making of the film, most notably the 'skroutlines', which was a seamless blend of a more traditional screenplay with a more simple outline which resembled strong short stories and gave the storyboard artists such as Seth MacFarlane, Andy Bialk, Craig McCracken and Butch Hartman all the creative and aesthetic freedom neccessary. Tartakovsky and Savino themselves provided the film's animatics.
Famed comic book artists Greg Capullo, Stan Lee and Walt Simonson, and animation veterans Eric Goldberg, Ford Riley and Paul Germain also provided the film's storyboards. Matt Groening helped on the character designs and special effects work on the film. Another animation veteran Tim Allen also worked with Genndy Tartakovsky on the character designs of the film.
The bulk of the animation work was done on Wacom Cintiq tablets, which allowed drawings to be done directly on screen to facilitate production using programs Toonz, DigiCel FlipBook and Toon Boom Studio. Pencilled key animation sequences would be digitally inked-and-painted, enhanced and composited into backgrounds using Toon Boom Harmony. Additional pre-production work was done at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California where the series' pilot episode was produced. Animation was done at Rough Draft's facilities on both Glendale and Seoul, with clean-up work done at the main Glendale studio. Computer animation was done at Mercury Filmworks, Savage Frog!, Virtual Magic Animation and Munich Animation Film.
=== Sound and music ===
James L. Venable composed the soundtrack for the film with Steve Rucker and Thomas Chase serving as the soundtrack producers. In addition to using the original series' music work from Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker and Gary Lionelli on the film, he also composed themes for each Dexter's Lab operative. Dexter and Dee Dee's adventure score was the major focus and he also composed themes for Mom, Dad, Dr. McBoy, Spork, Mandark, Mee Mee and Lee Lee, and Monkey. The music score was recorded at Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage in Burbank and mixed at Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica. The score is orchestrated and conducted by David Newman.
The sound design work was done at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California and Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California.
==Soundtrack==
#Baby Got Back: Performed by Sir Mix-a-lot
#Man Don`t Care: Performed by JME feat. Giggs
#Here We Go: Performed by will.i.am
#Bang Bang: Performed by Jessie J feat. Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
#My House: Performed by Flo Rida
#I Gotta Feeling: Performed by The Black Eyed Peas
#POP: Preformed by NSYNC
#Where Them Girls At: Performed by David Guetta feat. Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj
#Good Time: Performed by Owl City feat. Carly Rae Jepsen
#Do It All: Performed by Carlos
#Roar: Performed by Katy Perry
#I Really Don't Care: Performed by Demi Lovato feat. Cher Lloyd
#Thunderstruck: Performed by Owl City feat. Sarah Russell
==Trivia==
*This is the first ever feature film of the series.
*This is the first animated Dexter's Laboratory movie to hit theaters. 
**This is also the first ever Dexter's Laboratory movie in general to hit theaters. The previous Dexter's Laboratory film (Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip) was just a television release.
*The movie is Rated PG.
*This is Cartoon Network's fifth original program to get a theatrical release, after "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" released 15 years prior, ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' released 9 years prior and "Tiny Toon Adventures: The Motion Picture" and ''Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: M.O.T.I.O.N.-P.I.C.T.U.R.E.'' both released a year before.
*The original cast reprised their roles in the movie.
*Before the movie, a short film called "Game Night" based on Cartoon Network's animated television series My Gym Partner's a Monkey was played.
*The movie was animated by Rough Draft Studios.
*This is Warner Bros.' second animated film to be produced at 1.85:1 after The Ant Bully (2006).
*After being closed for 7 years, Virtual Magic Animation re-opened its doors to help finish production on the film, after being bought from the bank by Andrea Romero, meaning she owns it now, and then the studio continued to help make more Cartoon Network theatrical films.
*This is the eighth theatrical Warner Bros. film to rely solely on hand-drawn animation mixed with CGI animation instead of Flash animation.
*The is the third theatrical Cartoon Network film to be a fully 2D-animated film, after "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" released 15 years prior and ''Regular Show: The Movie released 2 years prior, but is done in hand-drawn animation mixed with CGI animation.
*In total, the film took 9 years to complete. This is because Warner Bros. greenlit the project back in 2004 but in the years up until release, they had to get the voice cast to sign deals, which they didn't do up until 2008.
*This is the fourth Cartoon Network theatrical film to super seriously not bomb in theaters, after "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi" released 14 years prior, ''Camp Lazlo The Movie released 9 years prior and Regular Show: The Movie'' released 2 years prior.
==Music Video==
*Here We Go: By will.i.am (From Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie)
==Mini-Movies==
*Don't Touch My Stuffs
*Cleaning Day
*Dexter's New Invention
*Family Game Night
==Crazy Credits==
*The characters will put up credit words during the credits.
==Logo Variantions==
===Warner Bros. Pictures===
In the film and the trailers, it appears with the Time Warner byline.
===Warner Bros. Animation===
It appears with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig making their cameo appearances in the opening animated sequence.
===Cartoon Network===
An entirely new logo is used with all of the current and upcoming characters from Cartoon Network in the movie theater.
==Short Film==
*My Gym Partner's a Monkey in Game Night, Written and Directed by Timothy Cahill
===Cast===
*Adam Lyon (Nika Futterman)
*Jake Spidermonkey (Tom Kenny)
*Windsor Gorilla (Rick Gomez)
*Slips Python (Rick Gomez)
*Lupe Toucan (Grey Griffin)
*Ingrid Giraffe (Grey Griffin)
===Soundtrack===
*Welcome to the Jungle: By Guns N' Roses
==Release==
===Theatrical release===
The movie was released in the United States and Canada on July 14, 2017, by Warner Bros., on the same year as Cartoon Network's previous film Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Movie. The film was presented in a 1.85:1 format, rather than Warner Animation Group's standard 2.39:1 format on its previous titles. The film's theatrical release was preceded by Game Night, a short film based on Cartoon Network's animated television series Steven Universe.
===Home media===
The film was released on Digital on September 26 and Blu-Ray and DVD on October 17, 2017. It contains the deleted scenes, a Steven Universe short film Game Night, the 18-minute featurette, the behind-the-scenes look at Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie, featuring interviews with most of the principal cast and crew, animatics, 4 Mini-Movies, the pilot episode, the audio commentaries and a sneak peek of Courage the Cowardly Dog: The Movie.
==Reception==
===Critical response===
'Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie' received mixed to positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an average rating of 4.1/5. It also earned a 8/10 on IMDb.
==Transcripts==
===Main Transcript===
:Main article: Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie/Transcript
===Trailer transcripts===
:Main article: Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie/Trailer transcripts
==Credits==
*Written and Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
*Written by: John McIntyre
*Produced by: Brian A. Miller
*Executive Producers: Genndy Tartakovsky, Sherry Gunther and Larry Huber
*Screenplay by: Paul Rudish, Don Shank, Lauren Faust
*Story by: Donna Castricone, Amy Keating Rogers
*Based on Dexter's Laboratory by: Genndy Tartakovsky
*Starring: Candi Milo, Kat Cressida, Kath Soucie, Jeff Bennett, Tom Kenny, Rob Paulsen, Eddie Deezen, Kimberly Brooks, Kath Soucie, Frank Welker, with Hugh Laurie, James Adomian, Michael J. Fox, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Richard Kind
*Music by: James L. Venable
*Cinematography: Craig McCracken, Charlie Bean
*Edited by: Rob Desales
*A Cartoon Network Presentation
*A Genndy Tartakovsky Film
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