Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville (2012 film)

Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville is a 2012 American animated jukebox musical adventure comedy-drama directed by Arnold Lowe and written by Kirk Malone. The film is the third theatrical Kuckoo Kat movie, following Ink Splatter (1994) and Spy, Spy Again (2005) and stars "Weird Al" Yankovic as the voice of the character, in his first leading role in a movie since UHF, alongside Amy Poehler, Charles Fleischer, Jason Alexander, Hank Azaria, Matt Frewer, Noël Wells (in her film debut), Eddie Deezen, Frank Welker, John Goodman, Kristin Chenoweth, Norm MacDonald, Jack Black, Bruce Willis, Jane Krakowski, Paul Reubens, and Woody Harrelson in other roles. The film focuses on Kuckoo and his friends venturing through different towns to get to a place called Whatzitville after an incident in their previous home of Toonopolis, while avoiding the wrath of VooVoo and his minions after he finds out Kuckoo is the last surviving "Chosen One". 
Production began in 2009 as the idea was conceived by screenwriter Kirk Malone. Originally, there were going to make the film another light-hearted comedy, but decided to create a jukebox musical comedy-drama with much more edgy elements, making this the first movie by Gryphon Animation to get a PG-13 rating. The film had its premiere on April 16, 2012 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and had its general release on April 23, 2012 with the Kuckoo Kat cartoon "Home Sweet Homewrecker", where it was released in the 2:39:1 aspect ratio. The film received critical acclaim for the story, animation, performances, score, musical numbers, humor, and emotional value. At the box office, it grossed $992.8 million worldwide against a $85 million budget, making this the highest-grossing animated film of 2012 and Gryphon Animation's highest-grossing film of all time.
==Plot==
Many centuries ago, a toon by the name of Kingsley Kat once defeated a devilish creature from destroying a small town. He was eventually known as the "Chosen One". Over the years, his descendants would then become "Chosen Ones" themselves, but as time passed, these heroes slowly disappeared.
Years later, in the town of Toonopolis, a badly hurt Kuckoo rushes into his house as he starts packing up real fast, to the curiosity of his friends. He then explains to them about an incident that happened earlier this morning that he caused. Earlier, the citizens of the town were holding a party for the town's 105th anniversary, and Kuckoo brought some fireworks to celebrate. However, the fireworks go off badly and ended up injuring the citizens and destroying the town. Eventually, the town catches up with Kuckoo and tries to bust open the front door. Kuckoo and his friends run into the garage and get into their car to escape. The car starts and Kuckoo drives through the garage door, and the mob of citizens chases them throughout the town ("Breaking Out"). Eventually, they get rid of the mob and escape from the town.
Kuckoo thinks that it's smooth sailing from now on, until they crash into a rock and total the car. Kuckoo then gets into a insane rant about him messing everything up and wonders where they will live now. A piece of paper flies into his face that turns out to be a map to a place called Whatzitville, where he and Smarty was born and raised before they moved away and met Kooky and Cuckoo in Toonopolis. After reminiscing the good memories he had at the town, he decides that they should live their together as their new home. The others agree and so, the four start their journey to Whatzitville on foot ("High Hopes").
Meanwhile, in the city of Heck, VooVoo, ruler of all things evil is about to unleash his evil plan to take over the world and become ruler of the universe. However, his assistant Smedley tells him that there is one little caveat in his plan: there is one last surviving "Chosen One". VooVoo wonders who it is, until Smedley shows him that it is Kuckoo, who turns out is related to Kingsley Kat, the original "Chosen One" who defeated the great Blazespark, VooVoo's father. Knowing that his plan will be ruined due to him, VooVoo decides to send two exiled minions of his, the spunky One-Eye and his highly skilled wife, LooLoo to find Kuckoo and his friends and kill them ("No More Mister Nice Guy").
Meanwhile, after a campfire at night ("Lullaby"), Kuckoo, Kooky, Smarty, and Cuckoo head off to continue their journey to find Whatzitville, unaware that they are being followed by One-Eye and LooLoo. While on the way, they find a house across from a bayou. The four decide to go over to the house to see if anyone will let them live there. There, they find the owner, Ol' Brick Bobcat, who introduces them to the house and his children, Lil' Bailey Bobcat and Lil' Betty Bobcat. The two immediately fall in love with Kooky and Smarty and decide to get married to them. While Cuckoo easily lets them go, Kuckoo objects to it. Bailey and Betty tell him to buzz off and go get ready for the wedding. Kuckoo then disguises himself into a salesman and during the wedding, distracts the bobcats with a song and plants fireworks. He takes off with Kooky and Smarty and sets off the fireworks, which blow up the house and gets rid of the bobcats at first, as well as launch One-Eye and LooLoo (who were hiding in a tree) into the bayou, where they are chased off by crocodiles. The four felines swim down the bayou, until they hear the bobcats chasing after them. They engage in a chase from them and they lose track of the bobcats until they approach a waterfall. They all fall, but Kuckoo grabs onto a branch while Kooky, Smarty, and Cuckoo hold onto him. The branch quickly snaps and they fall into the water, but they survive. Without a new house, they continue their journey. One-Eye and LooLoo try to follow them using a paraglider, but the two get struck by lighting and fall to the ground in pain.
Continuing on their journey, they end up in the desert, where Kuckoo ends up going crazy and starts seeing hallucinations from heatstroke. Kooky snaps him out of it and by that time, they find an old-fashioned town by the name of "Ol' Huckleberry" and find out it's a town for cowboys. Kuckoo gives all of them Western aliases, such as "Kuckoo the Kid", "Wild Card Kooky", "Slingshot Smarty", and "Two-Gun Cuckoo". They enter the saloon and while scared at first, they get along with the residents, including the sheriff, Crafty Canasta, with Kooky entertaining the citizens with a song ("He Shouldn't-A, Oughtn't-A Swang on Me!"). The fun ends, however, when wanted cowboy criminal, Wild Bill Hiccup enters the town. Crafty Canasta cowardly appoints Kuckoo as the new sheriff as he faces off against Wild Bill Hiccup. Kuckoo, Kooky and Smarty face off against Hiccup by annoying him to the point of running out of town. However, One-Eye and LooLoo show up to challenge Kuckoo to a Western shootout. Kuckoo shoots one bullet at them, but misses the two and hits the water tower, which falls on them. They are victorious, but their victory is short-lived as the town chases them out due to the water tower containing the town's whole water supply.
After they finally make it out of the chase, Cuckoo ends up lashing out at Kuckoo, saying that if it wasn't for him, they would've all been living fine. Kuckoo, hurt by what he said, starts to cry as Smarty comforts him. Kooky lashes out at Cuckoo, saying that all Kuckoo wants to do is make him happy, but he can never appreciate it. Cuckoo tries to argue, but Kooky stops him and tells him to leave, which he does. Kooky tries to comfort Kuckoo by playing him her favorite song ("Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In"). It helps calm him down, and they share a kiss. Meanwhile, Cuckoo tries to start his own campfire to no avail. When he goes looking for food, he gets shocked and captured by One-Eye and LooLoo.
Later in the morning, Kuckoo wakes up, only to find Kooky and Smarty gone. However, he then gets knocked out and captured by One-Eye and LooLoo. They grab his body along with Kooky's, Smarty's and Cuckoo's and travel to Heck. After they get there, the four end up in a jail cell. Kuckoo wakes up and is confused about where he is. He eventually gets free and breaks out of the cell, going off to find an exit. Kooky wakes up and finds out that they're in the lair of VooVoo the Great. Her, alongside Smarty and Cuckoo try to escape, but they get caught by bodyguards. While Smarty and Cuckoo think that they're outnumbered, Kooky easily takes them all out and gets one of the bodyguards to tell them about VooVoo's evil plan to destroy Kuckoo. While looking for the exit, Kuckoo gets caught by One-Eye and LooLoo, where they throw him into a torture room. Kuckoo tries to convince LooLoo into becoming a hero, but she refuses ("I'm The Bad Guy"). The two try to kill him, but he defends himself through his new powers and starts a fight between the two. Though weak at first, he ends up finding out about his powers and uses them to beat One-Eye and LooLoo. Kooky, Smarty, and Cuckoo catch up with him and not only tell him about VooVoo's plan, but they also find out about the powers he has. They eventually find their answers about the powers from the spirit of Kingsley Kat, who tells Kuckoo that he is the new "Chosen One", just like his ancestor. He hopes that Kuckoo will continue to honor the legacy of the "Chosen Ones" and Kuckoo promises he will as the spirit disappears. 
Kuckoo gets ready to face off VooVoo, with everyone following him. He enters VooVoo's room and starts his battle with him. Kooky, Smarty, and Cuckoo help him out on the battle but they quickly get defeated. Kuckoo, now being the only one strong enough to defeat VooVoo, continues the battle, until he decides to defeat him by using the most unexpected tactic: tossing mints into the lava around him. The mints start to make the lair rumble and Kuckoo, Kooky, Smarty, and Cuckoo escape by using a rocket. The lair explodes and the rocket ends up landing and the four end up in Whatzitville, enthusiastic that they finally made it thanks to Kuckoo.
Six weeks later, Kuckoo and his friends have finally settled into their house, when they get an unexpected visit. It turns out to be Kuckoo and Smarty's parents, Katty Kitty and Lucky T. Cat. Kuckoo and Smarty embrace a hug with them and introduce them to their new house, as well as Kooky and Cuckoo.
In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that VooVoo, Smedley, One-Eye, LooLoo, and the bodyguards survived the explosion, as he vows revenge.
==Cast== 
*"Weird Al" Yankovic as Kuckoo Kat
*Amy Poehler as Kooky Kat
*Charles Fleischer as Smarty Kat
*Jason Alexander as Cuckoo Cat
*Hank Azaria as VooVoo the Great
*Matt Frewer as Orville "One-Eye" Doyle
*Noël Wells as LooLoo Lipinski
*Eddie Deezen as Smedley Stickly
*Frank Welker as Sweetiekins
*John Goodman as Ol' Brick Bobcat
*Kristin Chenoweth as Lil' Betty Bobcat
*Norm MacDonald as Lil' Bailey Bobcat
*Jack Black as Crafty Canasta
*Bruce Willis as Wild Bill Hiccup
*Jane Krakowski as Katty Kitty
*Paul Reubens as Lucky T. Cat
*Woody Harrelson as Kingsley Kat
*Diedrich Bader as Bodyguard #1
*Brad Garrett as Bodyguard #2
*Patrick Warburton as Bodyguard #3
==Production==
===Development===
Ideas for a third Kuckoo Kat movie came up after Kuckoo Kat: Spy, Spy Again was a critical and commercial success in theaters, including one that would've been a science fiction comedy where Kuckoo and his friends would fight against evil aliens and another that would've been a Wizard of Oz parody. However, the one idea that got approved was one that was inspired by classic adventure films like Indiana Jones and The Lord of the Rings. The idea of a science fiction comedy would come out as The Intergalactic Idiots, while the Wizard of Oz parody would come out as the television special The Wonderful Wizard of Paws. The film was originally titled Kuckoo Kat: The Chosen One, which was rejected for being "too generic". They wanted to call the film Kuckoo Kat: All Hell Breaks Loose, but it was replaced with Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville. However, the film would end up being called Kuckoo Kat: All Hell Breaks Loose internationally. The film was formally announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2009, with Arnold Lowe set to direct and Kirk Malone to write.
Production on the film wrapped on February 16, 2012.
===Casting ===
The film's cast was announced to have Amy Poehler as Kooky, Charles Fleischer as Smarty, Jason Alexander as Cuckoo, and "Weird Al" Yankovic as Kuckoo, who joined the film to voice Kuckoo after he had fun voicing Emperor Oddball in The Intergalactic Idiots. As for the voices of the main villains, Tim Curry and Brad Dourif were originally set to voice VooVoo, but the studio chose Hank Azaria, because they wanted VooVoo to have a more raspy voice. As for One-Eye, Billy West was originally set to voice him, but he was replaced by Matt Frewer. Jennifer Tilly was set to voice LooLoo, but they decided to choose Noël Wells after an audition she did for the film, making this her film debut. Eddie Deezen, Frank Welker, John Goodman, Kristin Chenoweth, Norm MacDonald, Jack Black, Bruce Willis, Jane Krakowski, Paul Reubens, Woody Harrelson, Diedrich Bader, Brad Garrett, and Patrick Warburton were announced to be added into the cast for the film.
===Music===
Main article: Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville (2012 film)/Soundtrack
Originally, they wanted Alan Silvestri to compose the film, but since he was busy composing the score for The Avengers, they got Danny Elfman, his second collaboration with Gryphon Animation after 2003's Houseghosts. It was also decided that the film would be a jukebox musical. These songs included "Breaking Out", "High Hopes", "No More Mister Nice Guy", "Lullaby", "He Shouldn't-A, Oughtn't-A Swang on Me!" and "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In" as well as an original song, "I'm The Bad Guy".
===Rating===
Originally, it was going to be rated PG, but the film ended up getting a PG-13 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America for "intense sequences of cartoon violence and action, brief strong language, and some suggestive humor".
==Release==
Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville first premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on April 16, 2012. It would eventually come out in the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium on April 20, 2012, and would have its wide theatrical release in the United States three days later on April 23, 2012. The theatrical release was accompanied with the Kuckoo Kat short "Home Sweet Homewrecker", which followed Kuckoo staying as an annoying houseguest to a mean lady. The short would eventually go on to get nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short and won the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject, beating out Disney's Paperman.
===Home media===
The movie would eventually be released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on August 21, 2012, and would eventually get released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on December 25, 2018 alongside all of Gryphon Animation's other films. The special features are as follows:
*The short film "Home Sweet Homewrecker"
*The Creation of The Chosen One, a making-of featurette
*An audio commentary with director Arnold Lowe, executive producer Monique Pratt, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and Amy Poehler
*Storyboard tests
*Original voice tests for Tim Curry as VooVoo, Billy West as One-Eye, and Jennifer Tilly as LooLoo
*Noel Wells voice audition for LooLoo
*Deleted scenes
*Isolated score track
*The Kuckoo Kat's Cartoon Calamity episode "Pasadena Bonehead and the Temple of Certain Death"
*The Adventures of Kuckoo Kat episode "Star Bores"
==Reception==
===Critical response===
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 95% based on reviews by 143 critics, with an average rating of 7.85/10. The site's consensus states, "Filled to the brim with animated insanity, Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville is Gryphon Animation's attempt at a darker story, and it pays off well." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A" on its A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote "Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville may seem uneven at times, but it still contains a gripping story, energetic animation, and is a great mix of hilarious stupidity and genuinely sad drama that makes it an absolute must-watch for the year."
Michael Philips of the Chicago Tribune gave it 4 out of 4 stars, writing that, "It's a pleasant surprise for teens and adults that this movie is not full of pure sappiness. The zany cartoon style evokes a ton of energy in a clever way and delivers funny characters and gags for all ages. But most importantly, the movie takes on the subject of four friends in peril that are out to find a home and save the world, and that gives it a heart of gold."
Conversely, Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter wrote a mixed review stating that, "While the movie does have nice animation, a great score by Danny Elfman, and compelling characters, the story feels way too uneven and falls too flat at times, making the movie feel sluggish and overall, makes it a mixed bag."
===Box office===
Kuckoo Kat: The Search for Whatzitville grossed about $237,249,366 in the United States and Canada, and $755,597,696 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $992,847,062, against a $85 million budget, making it the highest-grossing animated film of 2012 and the 5th highest-grossing film of 2012.
===Awards and nominations===
Awards 	Category 	Recipients 	Results
Academy Awards 	 	 	
Academy Awards 	Best Animated Feature 	Brian Grazer and Monique Pratt	Nominated
Academy Awards 	Best Original Score 	Danny Elfman 	Nominated
Academy Awards 	Best Original Song 	"I'm The Bad Guy" 	Nominated
Annie Awards 	Best Animated Feature 	Brian Grazer and Monique Pratt	Won
Annie Awards 	Directing in an Animated Feature Production 	Arnold Lowe 	Nominated
Annie Awards 	Writing in an Animated Feature Production 	Kirk Malone 	Nominated
Annie Awards 	Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production	"Weird Al" Yankovic 	Won
Annie Awards 	Music in an Animated Feature Production 	Danny Elfman 	Nominated
Critics Choice Awards	Best Animated Feature 	Arnold Lowe and Monique Pratt 	Won
Golden Globe Awards 	Best Original Score 	Danny Elfman 	Won
Golden Globe Awards 	Best Original Song 	"I'm The Bad Guy" 	Won
== Sequel ==
When asked if a sequel was coming out, Monique Pratt stated in a interview, "We are going to do a follow-up to The Search for Whatzitville, but it's not going to be theatrical, we'll do it as a television special instead." A follow-up, The Return of VooVoo, premiered as a special full-length episode of Kuckoo Kat's Wacky Cartoon Cabaret and first aired on August 11, 2014 on the channel Toonix. The special got positive reviews from critics, stating that it was a worthy follow-up to the movie.
Category:2012 animated films
Category:American animated films
Category:Gryphon Animation
Category:American animated adventure films
Category:American animated comedy films
Category:American animated comedy-drama films
Category:American animated drama films
Category:Kuckoo Kat films
Category:Imagine Entertainment
Category:Imagine Entertainment films
Category:Films scored by Danny Elfman
Category:American animated musical comedy films
Category:American animated musical drama films
Category:American animated musical comedy-drama films