Puppet Pals 2

***Puppet Pals 2*** is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation for 20th Century Fox. The film was directed by Phil Anderson and was co-directed by Rich Moore from a screenplay by Dan Fogelman, Phillip Melton, Drew Cohen, and Peter Ackerman. It is the sequel to 2006's *Puppet Pals*, and the second installment in the *Puppet Pals* film franchise, and is also the first entry in the series to be released in 3D.

*Puppet Pals 2* takes place following the events of the first film, with Nathan and Toby meeting Joanna's parents for the first time as they try to fit in with the community of Golden City, while one of Joanna's longtime friends, zealous Bianca Blue, plots to destroy Nathan and Joanna's new marriage. Problems arise, and their resolution occupies much of the remainder of the film.
Meanwhile on their new adventure, Nathan and Toby team up with a swashbuckling talking dog named Wayne to foil Bianca's plans.

Jesse McCartney, Anne Hathaway, Josh Peck, Seth Rogen, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Vowell, and Matthew Broderick reprised their respective roles from the first film. They are joined by new characters voiced by Jon Lovitz, Jonah Hill, Donna Murphy, John Cleese, and Minnie Driver. *Puppet Pals 2* held its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater, Westwood in Los Angeles on April 4, 2010, and was released in the United States on April 16, 2010, and was a critical and commercial success. It earned over $952.5 million worldwide on its $105 million budget, making it the second highest-grossing animated film of 2010, the fourth highest-grossing film of that year, and the sixteenth highest-grossing animated film of all time; it was the highest-grossing film from Fox Animation until *Alaina Gleen 2* surpassed it in 2013. It was followed by *Puppet Pals 3* in 2012.

## Plot

As newlyweds Nathan Ritter and Princess Joanna are on their honeymoon, Toby opens a day camp for children, where none of the kids take him seriously. After being teased and insulted by the rambunctious children, days pass and Nathan and Joanna finally return from their honeymoon to find they have been invited by Joanna's parents to a reunion to celebrate their marriage. Nathan refuses to go at first, but Joanna talks him into it, and along with Toby, they travel to the Golden City. The three meet Joanna's parents, King Floyd and Queen Lila, with Floyd particularly repulsed at Nathan Ritter, where Floyd was expecting Joanna to be married with Blake Blue.

At a family dinner, Nathan and Floyd get into a heated argument over how Nathan and Joanna will raise their family, and Joanna, disgusted at Nathan and Floyd's behavior, runs and locks herself away in her room that evening, where she meets her childhood friend, Bianca Blue, who is also surprised at Joanna's new husband.

*More coming soon!*

## Voice cast

*Main article: List of Puppet Pals characters*
* Jesse McCartney as Nathan Ritter, a pampered young man.
* Anne Hathaway as Princess Joanna, a beautiful young woman who is the princess of Tinywood.
* Josh Peck as Toby the Lizard, a magical and geeky lizard.
* Donna Murphy as Bianca Blue, an zealous and evil woman who wants to destroy Nathan and Joanna's marriage.
* Jon Lovitz as Wayne, a magical, swashbuckling, and talking dog.
* John Cleese as King Floyd, the king of Golden City and Joanna's father.
* Minnie Driver as Queen Lila, the queen of Golden City and Joanna's mother.
* Jonah Hill as Blake Blue
* Matthew Broderick as Captain Matt, the leader of the Puppet Pals.
* Seth Rogen as Jeremy Johnson, an overweight and lazy guy who is an acquaintance of the Puppet Pals.
* Sarah Vowell as Natalia Miller, a cheerful and kind teenage girl who is the youngest member of the Puppet Pals.
* Patton Oswalt as Steve Smiley, a magical talking yellow round creature who looks similar to a yellow smiling face.
* Chris Wedge (uncredited) as Slippy the Dog
* Tom Kenny as The Magic Ball
* Zachary Gordon, Ariel Winter, Madison Davenport, April Anderson, and Max Neuwirth as Camp Kids

### Additional Voices

* Steve Alterman
* Stephen Apostolina
* Kirk Baily
* Bob Bergen
* Mitch Carter
* June Christopher
* David Cowgill
* Holly Dorff
* Moosie Drier
* Rylee Fansler
* Jackie Gonneau
* Nicholas Guest
* Bridget Hoffman
* Stephen Hughes
* Rif Hutton
* Edie Mirman
* Paul Pape
* Devika Parikh
* Kate Petrie
* Lúa Ríos
* Michelle Ruff
* Kelly Stables
* Craig Stevenson
* Shane Sweet
* Fred Tatasciore
* Hudson Thames
* Claudette Wells
* Lynnanne Zager

## Release

The film was theatrically released on April 16, 2010, by 20th Century Fox.

*Puppet Pals 2* was originally scheduled for release on November 6, 2009. The film was then pushed back from its November 2009 release, to January 29, 2010; however, due to "production issues", it was pushed back again from January 29, 2010, to April 16, 2010. The film was remastered and released in the IMAX 3D format.

### Marketing

On June 29, 2009, a teaser trailer was released online, and was later attached to *Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs*, which went into theaters two days later. On November 22, 2009, the film's first full trailer was released in front of *Woo La La*, *The Princess and the Frog*, and *Avatar*. The second and final full trailer was released on February 10, 2010 and was attached into *Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief*.

A video game based on the film was released on April 13, 2010 for the Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PC and Nintendo DS.

### Home media

*Puppet Pals 2* was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 20, 2010, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was later released on Blu-ray 3D in April 2011.

## Reception

### Box office

*Puppet Pals 2* has grossed $219 million in North America and $733 million in other territories for its worldwide total of $952 million. It later became the highest-grossing animated film on July 30, 2010, surpassing the six-year-old record held by 2004's *Shrek 2* ($919 million), until Disney and Pixar's computer-animated sequel *Toy Story 3* surpassed it a month later, followed by *Frozen* in 2014.

#### North America

The film earned $38.6 million on its opening day (Friday, April 16, 2010) from 3,995 theaters, including $3 million at midnight shows from about 1,500 theaters, setting an opening day record for an animated film (surpassed by Toy Story 3 and later Minions). During its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $116.9 million (with 50% of the opening gross coming from 3D and IMAX showings), setting an opening weekend record for a film released in April (later surpassed by *Furious 7* in 2015) and for a Fox animated film (later surpassed by *Cool Spot* in 2018). Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 50 million tickets in the U.S.

### Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79%. The site's critical consensus reads, "Funny, colorful, and frenetic, *Puppet Pals 2* boasts enough surprising smarts and visual sparkle to make a sequel that really works, even though not being very fresh as the original." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 10, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film earned an "A" from audiences polled by CinemaScore, on an A+ to F scale.