What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/Filmography/Gum Girl: The Curse of the Franken-Gum-Wad (Film)

Gum Girl: The Curse of the Franken-Gum-Wad is a 2004 American direct-to-video live-action/animated film directed by Stephen Hillenburg, based on The Gumazing Gum Girl! comics. It stars Seth Green, Alicia Silverstone, Scott McNeil, Peter Boyle and Zahf Paroo, and voices of Kathleen Herles, Audrey Wasilewski, Kath Soucie, and Mila Kunis.
== Plot ==
The Gum Girl team are performing at a theme park called Stockton Movie Studios. While taking a break from their concert, the team get lost, and eventually get locked inside the park. They find their way to Franken-Gum-Wad's Castle, where a real Dr. Franken-Gum-Wad is working on her monster. The monster is brought to life, and the doctor sends it in pursuit of the team. In their escape, the monster retrieves Bubble Boy's dropped teddy bear. However, back in Stockton Movie Studios, the celebrations are interrupted by a masked man known as the Evil Masked Figure who steals two costumes using the Pterodactyl, Gum Girl and Bubble Boy are ridiculed by Ravi Rodriguez. Concluding an old enemy is the mastermind, the gang revisit old cases, dismissing the Pterodactyl, due to his death during a failed prison escape, they guess that Purple Knight and Pterodactyl's cell mate in prison, is the culprit.
Going to the mansion, Gum Girl, Bubble Boy, Ravi, Ninja-Rina, and Brainstormer fall through a trapdoor and into a cage targeting unwelcome callers, but escape with the aid of Gum Girl's cosmetics. Inside, the gang find a book that serves as an instruction manual on how to create monsters. Gum Girl and Bubble Boy find a note inviting Purple Knight to visit the Dragonland. They are attacked by the Purple Knight, but escape when Gum Girl fights him off while Ninja-Rina discovers its weak spot and disables it. Before fleeing, the rest of the gang had previously discovered through the book found in Knights' mansion that the key ingredient to creating the monsters was a substance called "randomonium", which can be found at the old silver mining town.
Gum Girl, Bubble Boy, and Ravi go to the museum accompanied by the curator Patrick Wisely, but discover that the rest of the costumes have been stolen. Franken-Gum-Wad turns the city against them. The gang go to the mines, finding Purple Knight's plans to turn it into an amusement park. As they confront Purple Knights, he states that he and Pterodactyl were cell mates who hated each other and that he has no connection to the museum robberies.
Gum Girl and Bubble Boy, after overhearing the rest of the gang criticizing their tendency to bumble every operation, and especially their most recent offense in failing to secure the Pterodactyl at the fair, resolve to better themselves and become real detectives. Following the lead from Purple Night's note, their first clue ever, they sneak into the Dragon's World wearing disguises to try and solve the mystery. After speaking to Purple Knight, they hear how he has mended his evil ways. Gum Girl causes a scene and her disguise falls off, and the two must escape through a trash chute. On their way out, they spot Miner uncharacteristically assaulting someone who appears to be a member of his staff, ordering him to find answers to who vandalized his museum. Escaping an awkward interaction with Miner, Gum Girl and Bubble Boy spot the Knight leaving the club and follow him.
The gang then find the Monster Hive where the costumes are brought to life as real monsters. Gum Girl and Bubble Boy play around with the machine's control panel, bringing several costumes to life, and the gang flees with the panel as the Evil Masked Figure terrorizes the city. Escaping to their old high school clubhouse, the gang realizes they can reverse the control panel's power by altering its wiring. The Diver emerges from the lake, forcing the gang to head back to the mines, encountering the various monsters along the way. Ninja-Rina sees Miner in the mines, finding a shrine dedicated to Pterodactyl built by Miner, but Miner proves his innocence by helping Ninja-Rina after a catwalk unexpectedly gives way under her.
The gang confront the Evil Masked Figure as the Sludge Monster captures all of them but Gum Girl, who uses a fire extinguisher to freeze the Goo Monster's body. He reactivates the control panel, transforming the costumes back to normal. The gang takes the Evil Masked Figure to the authorities, unmasking him as Heather. When asked why Heather did what she did, Ninja-Rina suddenly pulls and peels Heather's face off, revealing she is actually Taxi Celery in disguise; Taxi had survived the fall from the prison wall, and sought to get revenge on the sleuths by discrediting them. Bubble Boy finally found his Teddy Bear.
In the Dragon's World, the gang celebrates their victory. Before the concert begins, Franken-Gum-Wad is thwarted by Pterodactyl, which leads to an explosion. After the smoke clears, Bubble Boy introduces Pterodactyl to the public, promising that Pterodactyl will bring no harm if treated kindly.
In the mid-credits scene, Franken-Gum-Wad failed to make a new monster.
In the post-credits scene, Gum Girl breaks the fourth wall playing the Game Boy Advance game based on this film.
== Cast ==
=== Characters ===
* Kathleen Herles as Gabby Gomez/Gum Girl and Franken-Gum-Wad
* Audrey Wasilewski as Rico Gomez/Bubble Boy
** Nazanin Afshin-Jam as Rebecca Gomez/Bubble Girl, a genderswapped Bubble Boy
* Kath Soucie as Natalie Gooch/Brainstormer
** J.P. Manoux as Dr. Brainstorm
* Mila Kunis as Ninja-Rina
* Seth Green as Patrick Wisely
* Alicia Silverstone as Heather
* Peter Boyle as Lawrence Lion
* Zahf Paroo as Ned
* Scott McNeil as Evil Masked Figure
* Dee Bradley Baker as Pterodactyl, the Zombie, and the Red-eyed Cyclop Skeleton
* Bob Papenbrook as Purple Knight
* James Bamford as the Diver
* Billy West as Taxi Celery
* C. Ernst Harth as the Miner
* Wally Wingert as the Green-eyed Cyclop Skeleton
* Terrence Stone as Voltage Monster
* Michael J. Sorich as the Cotton Candy Monster and the Sludge Monster
=== Cameos ===
* Pat O'Brien
* Neil Fanning as The Tasmanian Devil
* Ruben Studdard
* Kester Moorhouse
* Big Brovaz
Gum Girl's parents and Ninja-Rina's mother made a cameo in the flashback.
== Production ==
In April 2003, filming for this film began.
== Reception ==
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 22% based on 117 reviews and an average rating of 4.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Only the very young will get the most out of this silly trifle." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, an improvement over the previous film's "B+"
The film won the Razzie Award.
== Home Media Release ==
DreamWorks Home Entertainment released the film on DVD and VHS on September 14, 2004, in both full-screen and widescreen editions. The DVD included deleted scenes from the film's production and other special features, such as two music videos, a "making of" and trailers. On November 9, 2010, the DreamWorks animation released this film and The Curse of the Ninja Wolf as a double feature DVD.
It was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 30, 2013.
== Video Games ==
Two video games following the plot of the film were released in 2004 to coincide with the film's release; a 3D adventure on the PC and a 2D platformer on the GBA game. In both games, one ending could only be seen by entering a code displayed at the end of the film.
== Soundtrack ==
A soundtrack was released on March 23, 2004 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.
# "Don't Wanna Think About You" by Simple Plan (Simple Plan had also performed the titular theme song)
# The Gumazing Gum Girl theme song
# "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals
# "Boom Shack-A-Lak" by Apache Indian
# "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" by Big Brovaz
# "The Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim
# "Wooly Bully" by Bad Manners
# "Shining Star" by Ruben Studdard
# "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger
# "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited
# "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry
# "Here We Go" by Bowling for Soup
# "Love Shack" by The B-52's
# "Friends Forever" by Puffy AmiYumi
# "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi
=== Film score ===
# Opening titles
# Stockton Movie Studios
# Entering Franken-Gum-Wad
# The Evil Masked Figure
# The Pterodactyl Chase
# The Mansion Trap
# Inside the Mansion
# The Purple Knight
# Randomonium
# Meeting Patrick Wisely
# Knights at the Museum
# The Dragon's World
# Escape to the Miner
# The Monster Hive
# Drink Some Potions
# The Diver
# Encountering Monsters Along the Way
# The Sludge Monster
# Unmasking an Evil Figure
# Franken-Gum-Wad Defeated
# The Happy, But Spooky and Bubbly Gummy Ending
== Taglines ==
* Monsters are Unleashed!
* They came. They saw. They ran.
* Goo the Fright Thing!
* Look Who's Gumming on DVD and Video?
* Got Monsters?
== Trivia ==
Category:2004 Films
Category:The Gumazing Gum Girl