Kuckoo Kat: Spy, Spy Again (2005 film)

Kuckoo Kat: Spy, Spy Again is a 2005 American animated action spy comedy directed by Maxine Becker and written by Jeffery Armstrong. It is the second animated film that stars Kuckoo Kat, following Kuckoo Kat and the Ink Splatter (1994) and stars Charlie Adler, alongside Grey DeLisle, Seth Green, Patrick Stewart, Alicia Silverstone, Candi Milo, Tom Kenny, Cheech and Chong, David Spade, Mila Kunis and Kelsey Grammer in other roles. The film stars Adler as Kuckoo, who gets recruited to become a part of the secret spy agency, S.T.R.E.T.C.H, along with two new studio janitors, Susan Matthews (DeLisle) and Dylan Fletcher (Green) and are tasked with stopping the evil organization, S.Q.U.A.S.H, led by a has-been kids TV star, Squishy (Grammer), who plans to steal the Dizzy Diamond.
The film was originally going to be entirely computer-animated, but the studio decided to use digital ink-and-paint to animate it. The film was released on March 24, 2005 accompanied with the Kuckoo Kat short "Beauty and the Fleeced". Though it competed with some big names during its theatrical run, from animated films like Robots and Madagascar, to big-name blockbusters like Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and Batman Begins, it was a major success with the critics and the box-office. Critics praised it for its fun story, wacky animation, and amazing action, and at the box office, it grossed $580 million worldwide against a $70 million budget, making this Gryphon Animation's second highest-grossing film of all time.
==Plot==
At the Maverick Pictures studio lot, where humans and toons work together, Kuckoo works as a movie star, while two newcomers, Susan Matthews and her best friend Dylan Fletcher get hired to work as studio janitors. However, at the latest meeting, Kuckoo gets fired due to his wild antics at the studio and gets kicked out of the studio. At that same time, Susan and Dylan get fired after the two accidentally knock down the water tower. With nowhere else to go, Kuckoo decides to sneak inside the trunk of Dylan and Susan's car. After they drive back home for the day, they find Kuckoo in their trunk and after he begs, they decide to let him stay with them. Susan is reluctant at first, but eventually is cool with Kuckoo living with them. Meanwhile, a secret spy organization is trying to find new recruits to become unlikely spies, and eventually settle on Susan, Dylan, and Kuckoo.
The next day, Kuckoo, Susan and Dylan receive an envelope telling them to travel to the desert for a secret. When they get there, they find a spy organization called S.T.R.E.T.C.H, where they have been hired by head honcho, Sir Wilfred Elliot to become secret agents to stop a suspicious villain from taking over the world with a special jewel called the Dizzy Diamond. While Kuckoo and Dylan are excited, Susan is scared as she doesn't want anyone of them to get hurt. Dylan tells her that they'll be fine, and after that she eventually agrees. They set off in their brand new spy car to go to Lost Wages to get hints from someone. Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched by another spy organization, the evil S.Q.U.A.S.H, led by an unseen evil mastermind.
The trio arrive at Lost Wages, Nirvana to the world famous Gold Rush Casino, where they find superstar showgirl Vixen VaVoom. After performing, they sneak off to meet her backstage, where they find out she herself is a S.T.R.E.T.C.H agent, alongside her co-star, Kooky, which surprises Kuckoo. Vixen and Kooky hand Kuckoo a watch that features an electronic map to their next destinations. However, at that moment, two S.Q.U.A.S.H agents, the hyperactive hyena duo of Blake and Brooks arrive and pursue the trio around the casino. The agents engage in a car chase together until they come across a fork in the road where they split ways. Kuckoo, Susan and Dylan flee safely with the watch, while Blake and Brooks go the other way, making a dead end into a dynamite factory.
During the night, a meerkat named Morris and a mongoose named Martin try to steal the watch from Kuckoo, but he easily chases them and gets the watch back. Later in the afternoon, Kuckoo, Susan and Dylan continue traveling until the watch tells them to make a quick detour to an unknown location. Eventually, the trio arrives at a secret facility known as Area Fifty-Whatever led by a scientist known as Professor Frankenfurter with Smarty working there as well. At the facility, they find out more about the Dizzy Diamond, a diamond that can easily hypnotize people, which can be dangerous if put into the wrong hands. The trio are then sent to Tokyo to find more hints of where the Dizzy Diamond could be, while Kuckoo wonders who would want the diamond.
At that moment, we see the trio are being watched by the evil organization of S.Q.U.A.S.H, led by Squishy, a has-been kids TV star. As he angrily chews out Blake, Brooks, Morris, and Martin for failing to get the watch. After questioning him why he needs the Dizzy Diamond, Squishy tells them his backstory on how he was the most popular TV star for kids. However, as more skilled competition came on the air and became more popular, Squishy's popularity got lower and lower, leading to his show getting cancelled. Squishy quickly changed to a life of evil, creating S.Q.U.A.S.H and starting his plan to steal the Dizzy Diamond to hypnotize people all over the world to watch his show and make him famous again.
Kuckoo, Susan, and Dylan arrive in Tokyo to find more hints about the exact location for the Dizzy Diamond. They find a haiku that describes the place where the diamond is and they figure out it's in Egypt. However, the haiku gets stolen by another S.Q.U.A.S.H agent, Tomiko Kazumi and her dragon, Takashi. Kuckoo fights them off in a climatic anime battle and gets the haiku back as the trio run off to their final destination.
The trio finally arrive at Egypt to get the Dizzy Diamond, but they find the path riddled with booby traps. After many different comical tries, the trio make it through and find the Dizzy Diamond. However, at that moment, Squishy arrives and takes the diamond. The trio then follow him all the way to S.Q.U.A.S.H, where they find out Sir Elliot, along with Vixen, Kooky, Dr. Frankenfurter, and Smarty have been captured and they split ways, with Susan and Dylan going to save the captured agents and Kuckoo going to destroy the diamond before it hypnotizes anyone.
Susan and Dylan arrive to save the agents, but are quickly stopped by Squishy, who transforms into a giant monster blob. They try to defeat him, but everything they do doesn't work until Susan grabs a hot water gun and shoots it at Squishy, which shrinks and liquifies him. The two capture Squishy in a jar and rescue the captured agents.
Meanwhile, Kuckoo sneaks his way through S.Q.U.A.S.H, making his way into a room where the Dizzy Diamond is hooked up to a ray gun. He goes up to try and destroy it, but is stopped by two skilled S.Q.U.A.S.H agents, Wilco and Octavia. Kuckoo engages in a battle with the two, with Wilco using the ray gun to try and shoot Kuckoo with the diamond's power. Kuckoo uses the glass on the watch to reflect the blast back into the ray gun, leading it to malfunction and explode, and the diamond gets destroyed in the process. The S.Q.U.A.S.H agents get arrested and Kuckoo, Susan, Dylan, and the rest of the S.T.R.E.T.C.H agents celebrate their victory at Lost Wages as Vixen sings a song.
In a post-credits scene, Cuckoo complains to the director, Maxine Becker and the screenwriters, Jeffrey Armstrong and Alyssa Schwartz for not putting him in anywhere in the film and pitches to them his own movie idea, to which they respond by questioning who he is.
==Cast==
*Charlie Adler as Kuckoo Kat
*Grey DeLisle as Susan Matthews
*Seth Green as Dylan Fletcher
*Patrick Stewart as Sir Wilfred Elliot
*Alicia Silverstone as Vixen VaVoom
*Kelsey Grammer as Squishy
*Candi Milo as Kooky Kat
*Tom Kenny as Smarty Kat
*Cheech Marin as Blake
*Tommy Chong as Brooks
*Nathan Lane as Martin
*Steve Whitmire as Morris
*Mel Brooks as Professor Frankenfurter
*Kathleen Barr as Tomiko Kazumi
*David Spade as Wilco
*Mila Kunis as Octavia
*Hank Azaria as Cuckoo (uncredited post-credit cameo)
*Maxine Becker as herself (uncredited post-credit cameo)
*Jeffrey Armstrong as himself (uncredited post-credit cameo)
*Alyssa Schwartz as herself (uncredited post-credit cameo)
==Production==
After the success of Ink Splatter, the crew at Gryphon Animation tried thinking of different concepts for another movie starring Kuckoo, including an adventure comedy that would've been a spoof on the Indiana Jones movies, one where Kuckoo and his friends would've traveled to Hollywood in the 1930s to become famous movie stars, or one that would be a true sequel to Ink Splatter.
Category:Gryphon Animation films
Category:Kuckoo Kat films
Category:2000s American animated films
Category:2000s spy comedy films
Category:2000s action comedy films
Category:2000s comedy films
Category:2005 films
Category:Films scored by James Newton Howard
Category:Films directed by Maxine Becker