Beno (2016)

Beno is a 2016 American animated comedy-sci-fi film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. it was directed by Charlie Bean, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney, and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy. The film stars the voices of Jack Black, Makenzie Moss, Steve Martin, TBA, Eric Edelstein, Michelle Monaghan, and Jason Statham. 
The film plot is about a little young alien named Beno (Jack Black) who want's to be the baddest villain none on his planet but gets in trouble and chased over to earth to find help and meets and young girl to help him on his journey to warn the other alien agents about the Gorgons (Gorg's) Empire coming to invade earth.
== Synopsis ==
A small green and blue alien named Beno (Jack Black) who who raised to always believe his destiny was to be a villain/bad guy on the planet he lives on and when tries to prank the whole planets electricity he ends up sending a huge message to their biggest threat yet the Gorgons and he get's chase away by the other aliens and stranded on earth. There he meets a young strange and bizarre girl by the name Cora Miller (Makenzie Moss) that's in love with anything space and alien related and dreams of going into the unknown of astronomy. In the chaos in Galactic Federation the chief of the force Mrs. Madam Lucy (Michelle Monaghan) assigns 4 aliens to bring and arrest their own close friend and Captain Atlas (Steve Martin) from earth while to delete the message from the Gorg's. Can Beno and Tori be able to stop the Gorg's form invading earth.
== Plot ==
The film begins with a huge ship passing by with Beno's mother sending him off from his home planet and off to a planet from a far away galaxy Beno is a super-intelligent alien who, at only eight days old, is sent to Earth by his mother as his home planet is destroyed by a black hole. However, he lands in the Galactic Prison for the Criminally Gifted at Galactic City, thanks to him being so smart and always never getting along with other kids he interacts at the school he goes to, Beno is a neglected outcast, due to his destructive intellect, with his piranha-like sidekick Chum his only friend. Realizing that he is only gifted in causing trouble, and jealous of all of the attention and praise the hero's on his planet receives, Beno than becomes a supervillain to rival the people who ever picked on him and never got noticed by anyone on his planet, though he is thwarted on a regular basis, until than, Beno become a common wanted criminal across Galactic City and give himself the name "Beno the Bombastic" as his humble name. 
Beno than is shown in a highly occupied jail ceil where he is told by his officer in charge, Warden (TBA) that he'll always be a villain and will never change even he is in bars and is giving a gif by Justice Hero's and wear's is as a piece offering and when not notice he ends up turning into Beno himself and the police guards start attacking as well as tazing him to Beno jail sell, and when they realize it was a trick, Beno ends up making his move shapeshifting himself as Warden as his disguise making himself clear that he'll always be a villain and makes his way over to the top of the tower he gets up by his partner in crime Chum (Josh Brener) and flies off on their spacecraft. 
== Cast ==
* Jack Black as Beno
* Makenzie Moss as Cora Miller
* Tony Hale as Rebel
* Anne Hathaway as Stella
* Eric Edelstein as Carlos
* Michelle Monaghan as Commander Madam Lucy (Head Council)
* Jason Statham as General Shark Eye
* Steve Martin as Capitan Atlas (Allan Pluto)
* Matt Jones as Chives Blobert (General Assistant 1)
* Kevin McDonald as Apollo Steves (General Assistant 2)
* TBA as Officer Warden
* Natalie Portman as Sofie Miller (Cora's Mother)
* Edgar Ramirez as David Dietz (Cora's Step Father)
* Javier Bardem as Mr. Harry (Cora's Ballet Teacher)
* Laura Marano as Angelina Dietz (Cora's Older Step Sister)
* Julia Butters as Missy Dietz (Cora's Little Step Sister)
* Dean Scott Vazquez as Jacob Dietz (Cora's Little Step Brother)
* John Oliver as Professor Ian Hawkeye (Secret Agent Scientist)
* Pierre Coffin as Zai-Gorg (Anti Zorgon Dictator)
* Josh Brener as Chum (Beno's Pet and Partner)
== Production & Release ==
Beno was announced on August 21, 2012 and was set to be release on December 19, 2014. However, on September 20, 2013, the release date was delayed until July 8, 2016.
Renaud first became involved with the project in 2012, while he was still working on Despicable Me 2. At that time, Illumination's CEO Chris Meledandri pitched him an idea on a film about an alien getting sent to earth from an alien race. Although Renaud found the premise interesting, he and his team did not know what form the story would take, with them at one point considering making it a murder mystery, before deciding to make something "that was a bit more relatable". Additional characters were created by author Simon Rich while main character design and production design is provided by Eric Guillon.
The team used Jean-Jacques Sempé as an influence in designing the environment and attention was specifically paid to keep the designs "very vertically oriented". In keeping with the tradition of old WB cartoons,. The home of the "star wars vibe" was created to "hint at the darker side" of the universe" without, hopefully, getting too heavy", as well as to explore "this whole mythology in galaxy of the world that's unseen", while still maintaining the star wars theme. The animation was created entirely in France by Illumination Mac Guff.
During the end credits Fonzo, Felix, Carlos, and Phoebe start auditioning for their own separate spin off and end up ruining the whole set.
The first trailer for international release was uploaded on Illumination Entertainment's YouTube channel on June 17, 2015. This was followed by a Christmas-themed festive special for the winter season which was uploaded on November 25, 2015 and an Easter-themed special on March 21, 2016. The behind-the scenes featurette involved the production staff and crew of Beno discussing the premise of the film and their experience of its production phase. The second trailer was uploaded onto Illumination's YouTube channel on January 28, 2016 and the third trailer on April 11, 2016. The theatrical release of the film is accompanied by an animated mini-movie based on the Despicable Me universe and titled Mower Minions. The film will receive a home video release in December 6, 2016 after the summer theatrical-exclusive run, with the other two mini-movies, Phoebe & Carlos Television.
== Trivia ==
* Jack Black wanted to uses a specific voice for Beno instead of using his normal voice but the studio said to just use his regular voice to make the performance feel easier and make it much more of a loaner Beno is to everyone.
* Beno was the first animated original film Illumination made beside Despicable Me.
* Most of the film was inspired by films like E.T, the 2009 film Monsters vs Alien's
* Michelle Monaghan always wanted to do voice over for an animation film and had a lot fun with her role in Beno.
* Both Beno (2016) and Sing (2016) were both in production at the same time. 
== Gallery ==
File:Steve Martin as Captain Atlas.jpg
== Soundtrack ==
On November 20, 2015, John Williams was revealed to be composing the film's score. He was told to give the film a "star wars" ascetic theme to the soundtrack and have Williams compose the climax a star trek theme to give the film a much more suspenseful third act. 
The soundtrack for the movie was composed by John Williams who also composed several other films including the Home Alone films, the Star Wars films, the Indiana Jones films and even E.T.
Soundtrack 
No.	Title 	Length	Composed
1. 	"Opening" 	2:13 	John Williams
2. 	"Face of Evil/Green Little Boy" 	2:30 	John Williams
3. 	"Bad to the Bone/ The Baddest of Them All"	4:30 	George Thorogood and the Destroyers
John Williams
4. 	"Jailbreak from Prison" 	1:30 	John Williams
5. 	"Gorgons Backstory" 	2:20 	John Williams
6. 	"The Meeting" 	3:20 	John Williams
7. 	"Hall of Heros" 	2:30 	John Williams
8. 	"To Earth and Beyond" 	3:25 	John Williams
9. 	"Cora/The Weirdling" 	1:30 	John Williams
Songs used in the film include:
* "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers
* "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy
== Reception ==
Beno received mostly positive reviews. The critical review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie it a 74]]84%, saying, "Fast-paced, funny, and blessed with a talented voice cast, <Beno offers a beautifully animated, cheerfully undemanding Sci-Fi family-friendly diversion." It grossed $875.5 million worldwide and was named the highest-scoring animated film of 2016.
== Sequel ==
Main article for: Beno 2
A sequel, with director returning Charlie Bean, producers Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, and writer Brian Lynch returning and the return of the original cast is scheduled to be released on August 7, 2021.