Class of 3000

Theatrical release poster

***Class of 3000*** is a 2005 American animated buddy comedy-adventure film produced by Cartoon Network Studios and Tom Lynch Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was the fifth feature film from Cartoon Network, as well as Tom Lynch's first and only theatrical film. Directed by Thomas W. Lynch, the film stars André Benjamin, Kyle Massey (his feature film debut), Dakota Fanning, Will Smith, Octavia Spencer, Glenn Close, and Ron Livingston, alongside Crystal Scales, Janice Kawaye, Tom Kenny, Jennifer Hale, Phil LaMarr, Jeff Bennett, and Billy West. The film follows seven middle school students Lil' D, Tamika Jones, Kim Chin, Kam Chin, Philly Phil, Eddie Phillip James Lawrence III and Madison Spaghettini Papadopoulos, which they become modest friends, but they ends up by having encounter with musician man named Sunny Bridges. They go on a journey to stop the evil teacher, Mr. Steve from taking over the Westley School of Performing Arts.

*Class of 3000* was first released in United States on August 19, 2005, and was a critical and commercial success, earning acclaim from film critics and audiences and earning $354 million worldwide. The film's success has since helped spawn an expanded franchise including a holiday special, a short film, and a television series.

## Plot

In the film, seven middle school students Lil' D, Tamika Jones, Kim Chin, Kam Chin, Philly Phil, Eddie Phillip James Lawrence III and Madison Spaghettini Papadopoulos meet up and become modest friends. Shortly afterwards, they end up having to encounter a musician man named Sunny Bridges. They then go on a journey to stop the evil teacher, Mr. Steve from taking over the Westley School of Performing Arts.

## Cast

* Kyle Massey as Lil' D, a young boy who stumbles upon the bumbling leader of the Westley School students.
* André Benjamin as Sunny Bridges, the hometown hero of Lil' D, Sunny is a musical genius, Lil' D convinces him to become the new teacher at the Westley School.
* Jennifer Hale as Madison Spaghettini Papadopoulos, the 12 years old extremely optimistic child with a semi-Southern accent girl.
* Crystal Scales as Tamika Jones, the extremely stubborn girl.
* Tom Kenny as Edward "Eddie" Phillip James Lawrence III, the young richest boy.
* Phil LaMarr as Phillip "Philly" P. Phil, the brilliant and imaginative co-leader of the Westley School students, who has a passion for music and singing who later falls in love with Kim.
* Dakota Fanning as Kim Chin, the energetic, free-spirited girl.
* Janice Kawaye as Kam Chin, Kim's smartest but younger brother.
* Ron Livingston as Mr. Steve, the main antagonist of the film who hates singing, smiling, dancing & laughing.
* Jeff Bennett as Principal Luna, the principal at Westley School of Performing Arts.
* Glenn Close as Ms. Squattinchowder, the substitute lunch lady at Westley School of Performing Arts and Principal Luna's love interest.
* Octavia Spencer as Lil' D mother.
* Will Smith as Lil' D father.
* Billy West as Eddie's father.

### Additional voices

* Jim Cummings
* Carlos Alazraqui
* Bob Bergen
* Terri Douglas
* Michael Bell
* Rob Paulsen
* Grey DeLisle
* Paul Eiding
* Fred Tatasciore
* André Sogliuzzo
* Jack Angel
* Nika Futterman
* Billy West
* Cam Clarke
* John Kassir
* Patrick Pinney
* Kimberly Brooks
* Jim Ward
* Nicholas Guest
* Pat Fraley
* Gregg Berger
* Bill Farmer
* Bob Joles
* Frank Welker
* Jess Harnell
* Tress MacNeille
* Spencer Breslin
* David Kaye

## Production

### Development

Development of *Class of 3000* began in 1999 while working on *Caitlin's Way* and *Just Deal*. It was originally planned to be released in 2004, under the working title was *André and the Seven Kids*. The title was then changed to *Class of 3000.* Thomas W. Lynch began developing the film in mid 2001 and wrote the original screenplay with Lynne Naylor and Meghan McCarthy to pitch the story to Cartoon Network.

### Writing

The screenplay for *Class of 3000* was written by Lynch and Naylor, as well as future *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic* veteran McCarthy. In creating the many ideas in *Class of 3000*, Lynch and Naylor thought back to their childhoods, trying to think about "what a kid would do if he had the ability to achieve any kind of great education, and pursue his dream of becoming a jazz performer."

### Casting

Ross Bagley, Denzel Whitaker and Jeremy Suarez were all considered for the role of Lil' D before Disney Channel star Kyle Massey was cast for the film. This was Massey's biggest feature film role at the time, as previously he had mostly provided minor roles in television films and TV shows. The rest of the voices in the film were set as André Benjamin, Dakota Fanning, Will Smith, Octavia Spencer, Glenn Close, and Ron Livingston.

### Animation

Animation for the film took place from December 2003 to July 2004. Animation production work was divided among two studios around the world: Rough Draft Studios in Seoul, South Korea, and Yeson Animation Studios, also in Seoul, South Korea, both of whom previously worked on prior Cartoon Network animated projects. The storyboarding, characters, background layout, and animatic parts of production were done in America. The overseas studios completed the inbetweening, digital ink and paint, and rendered the animation to tape before being shipped back to the United States.

### Post-production

*Class of 3000* was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "some crude humor and mild language".

## Music

*Main article: Class of 3000: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Class of 3000: Original Motion Picture Score*
The film's soundtrack album was released on August 16, 2005 by Interscope Records, and features songs by André 3000 and Outkast. Other artists were also featured on the soundtrack, including Paul Simon, No Doubt, Teddy Riley, 702, Nick Carter, Eve, Smash Mouth, and Emma Roberts.

An album featuring the film's score by Harry Gregson-Williams was also released.

## Release

*Main article: Class of 3000/Release dates*
*Class of 3000* was released on August 19, 2005, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was originally set for July 9, 2004, but was pushed back to July 15, 2005, then August 5, 2005 to avoid competition with *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory*, and later August 19, 2005.

*Class of 3000* was preceded by *The Origins of Bloo*, a five-minute short film featuring the characters from *Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends*.

### Marketing

Upon its release, Burger King had a promotional tie-in with nine toys with a paid Kids' Meal order including Sunny Bridges, Lil' D, Tamika Jones, Kim Chin, Kam Chin, Philly Phil, Eddie Phillip James Lawrence III, Madison Spaghettini Papadopoulos and Mr. Steve. Ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins also promoted the film for its new Kim & Kam's chocolate ice cream that consists of Hershey's chocolate, hot fudge, crushed chocolate cookies, whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Cartoon Network promoted the film with several promotional spots, alongside the sweepstakes for the film's merchandise and the *Class of 3000* video game, which appeared on CartoonNetwork.com but later expired on August 22, 2005.

### Trailers

* The film's first teaser trailer was released on August 20, 2004, and was later shown in theaters in front of *The Ed, Edd n Eddy Movie*, *Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2*, *Shark Tale,* and *The Incredibles.*
* Another teaser trailer was released on November 10, 2004, and was later released with *The Polar Express*, *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, *Christmas with the Kranks*, *Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events*, *Fat Albert*, *Racing Stripes*, *Are We There Yet?*, *Pooh's Heffalump Movie* and *Mike, Lu & Og: Journey Back to Manhattan*.
* The first theatrical trailer was released on February 18, 2005 and was shown with *Son of the Mask, The Pacifier, Robots,* *Ice Princess* and *Mad Hot Ballroom.*
* The second and final theatrical trailer was released in May 27, 2005 and was shown before *Madagascar,* *The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl*, *Herbie: Fully Loaded*, *Fantastic Four*, *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory*, and *Sky High*.
* TV spots began to air between July and September of 2005.

### Video game

A video game based on the film was released on August 16, 2005 on PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X.

### Home media

*Class of 3000* was released on VHS and DVD on December 13, 2005. The Blu-ray disc for the film was released on June 10, 2014.

## Reception

### Box office

*Class of 3000* has grossed $248.4 million in the United States and Canada and $126.5 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $374.6 million. It is the eleven highest-grossing film of 2005, and the second highest-grossing animated film of 2005.

### Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 96 reviews, with an average score of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "*Class of 3000* make the world with fluid animation, great characters, a spectacular voice cast, and slick writing that will make some of today's animated movies look awesome." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Richard Schickel of Time Magazine praised the cast, and described them as having "elevated their vocal work to a craft that goes way beyond simple line readings". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a rare "A" grade and applauded the film's creative team for "upholding the bars of traditional animation". Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the directors for "rediscovering hand-drawn traditional animation" and for "a funny yet daring journey for the characters". McCarthy also stated that the movie "best awesome themes since *Toy Story* and tackled dark themes better than *The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle*, as least it sometimes better than its sequel." Anne Thompson of Variety praised the film for "being downright funny and adventurous". Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader gave the film four out of five stars, saying "The spirit of *Class of 3000* reveal its true source and revealing hand-drawn traditional animation. In other words, it's cheerfully random and spectacular."

The Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review claiming that "It is clever, ridiculous, and ageless." IGN gave the film a 8 out of 10 "Amazing" score, saying that "The amazing colorful action and adventure should delight children, but the smart and humorous script makes it definitely appealing to grown-ups."

## Television series

*Main article: Class of 3000*
On November 3, 2006, an animated television series based on the film and titled *Class of 3000* premiered on Cartoon Network. "Small Fire" replaced Kyle Massey in the role of Lil' D, and Janice Kawaye voiced the role of Kim, replacing Dakota Fanning. The series ran for two seasons, and ended on May 25, 2008.

## Cultural references

### Cameos

* In Lil' D's classroom, three plush toys on a toy shelf resembling I.M. Weasel, Courage from *Courage the Cowardly Dog* and Coco from *Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends*.
* One of the school students resembling Mac, an allusion to *Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends*.
* A picture of Edd from *Ed, Edd and Eddy* is seen on a newspaper that Madison was reading.

## Trivia

* This is the fifth Cartoon Network theatrical film.
* The seventh Warner Bros. animated film to be released in August, after *Twice Upon a Time*, *Rover Dangerfield*, *The Iron Giant*, *Osmosis Jones*, *Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light* and *The Ed, Edd n Eddy Movie.*
* The eighth Warner Bros. animated film of 2000s to be produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, after *Pokémon The Movie 2000*, *Pokémon 3: The Movie*, *The Powerpuff Girls Movie,* *Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Clifford's Really Big Movie*, *Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light*, *The Ed, Edd n Eddy Movie* and *Mike, Lu & Og: Journey Back to Manhattan*.
* This is the sixth Warner Bros. animated film of 2000s to be rated PG by the MPAA, after *Osmosis Jones*, *The Powerpuff Girls Movie*, *Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi*, *Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light*, *The Ed, Edd n Eddy Movie* and *Mike, Lu & Og: Journey Back to Manhattan*.
* The ninth Warner Bros. animated film to be rated PG by the MPAA, after *Twice Upon a Time*, *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*, *Space Jam, The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light*, *The Ed, Edd n Eddy Movie* and *Mike, Lu & Og: Journey Back to Manhattan*.
* The film was released on VHS and DVD on December 13, 2005, by Warner Home Video.
* In theaters, a *Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends* short entitled *The Origins of Bloo* was shown prior to the film.
* This is the third Cartoon Network theatrical film to have a box office success.
* Voice acting debuts of Octavia Spencer and Ron Livingston.
* This is the first Cartoon Network film to feature an African-American protagonist.
* The eighth Warner Bros. animated musical film, after *Gay Purr-ee*, *Rover Dangerfield*, *Thumbelina*, *A Troll in Central Park*, *Quest for Camelot*, *The King and I*, *Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi*, and *Mike, Lu & Og: Journey Back to Manhattan*.
* First and only voice acting appearance of Kyle Massey to have his high pitched not yet deepened voice. He went through puberty later the same year, in which this film was released.
* Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning previously co-starred in the 2003 Universal/DreamWorks film *The Cat in the Hat*.
* The film made $374 million dollars at the box office on a $75 million dollar budget.

## Transcripts

### Main

To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

### Trailers

To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.