Crystal

***Crystal*** is a 2008 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first installment in the *Crystal* franchise. Directed by Mike Minchin and co-directed by Phil Anderson, the film stars the voices of Avril Lavigne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christine Baranski, Wayne Brady, Ian McKellen, Sam Elliott, Ricky Gervais, and Whoopi Goldberg. The film follows the story of a lost and mysterious young girl with magical powers who really wishes to leave her own secluded tower to find a better and lively place. Against her mother's wishes, she accepts the aid of a young man to take her out into the world which she has never seen and falls in love with him along the way.

*Crystal* was first released in North America on November 26, 2008, and was a critical and commercial success, earning acclaim from film critics and audiences and earning $505 million worldwide. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score at the 81st Academy Awards, but lost to *WALL-E*. The success of *Crystal* launched a multimedia franchise and a series of three sequels, starting with *Crystal: Coming of Darkness* (2011). The film's success has also inspired other merchandise, including a video game and a television series.

## Plot

Long ago, a magical crystal in a dark cave later became a blue flower fully capable of magnificent powers. Soldiers from a nearby village take the flower to a secret palace, where a woman uses it to be cured from a illness she currently has. Shortly afterwards, the woman gives birth to Crystal, where she is born with the magical powers from the flower. However, the village is then attacked by a evil anthropomorphic dragon named Walsmoke, where the woman then sacrificed herself puts Crystal in a small basket in a large river, luring Walsmoke's forces away from her.

Later, the basket heads towards a kingdom, where Queen Lingla finds the basket, and raises Crystal as the princess of the kingdom. A old woman named Valerie then discovers Crystal's magical powers, where she abducts the baby and raises her as her own daughter in an isolated tower. On the eve of her 19th birthday, Crystal, finding numerous ways to keep herself entertained during the day while Valerie is away. However, she longs to someday explore the outside world and see how she got her powers when she was born. Crystal requests to leave her tower and explore the outside world, but Valerie refuses, claiming that the outside world is a dangerous place. Meanwhile, an peasant named Jake Turner, tries to catch an escaping pig from a farm, where the chase causes to destroy the kingdom's marketplace, causing him to get banished from the kingdom. Jake finds more trouble in the forest where he is chased by thieves before inadvertently discovering Crystal's tower. In the tower, Jake is suddenly knocked out by Crystal whom she uses a cooking pan to knock him out.

*More coming soon!*

## Cast

* Avril Lavigne as Crystal, a young woman with magical powers and is the lost princess of the kingdom.
	+ Fatima Serenity Minchin as young Crystal
* Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jake Turner, a young worker from the kingdom who finds Crystal and takes her to see the world.
* Christine Baranski as Valerie, Crystal's abusive and adopted mother who never lets her be free from her home.
* Wayne Brady as Stan, Crystal's talkative and wise-cracking pet raccoon.
* Ian McKellen as Walsmoke, an evil anthropomorphic dragon who is out for the destruction of the kingdom of Nuxvar.
* Megan Mullally as Queen Lingla, the queen of Nuxvar.
* Sam Elliott as Wareeka, the leader of the forest trolls who knows about Crystal's magic.
* Whoopi Goldberg as Bonia, a forest troll.
* Brad Garrett as Riganto, a strong thug who befriends Crystal.
* Ricky Gervais as Thriku, an giant treasure-hoarding iguana who lives in the Cave of Monsters.

### Additional Voices

* Matt Adler
* Steve Alterman
* Greg Baglia
* Maggie Baird
* Ranjani Brow
* June Christopher
* Richard Epcar
* Johnny Gidcomb
* Jeremy Glazer
* Mike Gomez
* Luisa Leschin
* Susan Leslie
* Hope Levy
* Scott Menville
* Randall Montgomery
* Heidi Brook Myers
* Paul Pape
* Devika Parikh
* Courtney Peldon
* Justin Shenkarow
* Jason Grant Smith
* Pepper Sweeney
* Dean Wein

## Music

The official soundtrack for the film was released on November 25, 2008 by Varèse Sarabande. The songs were written by Alan Menken and Marc Shaiman, while the score was written by Menken.

## Release

*Crystal* had its United States premiere on November 11, 2008, at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was theatrically released on November 26, 2008, in the United States. The film was digitally re-mastered into IMAX DMR and released to 170 North American IMAX theatres, and approximately 60 IMAX theatres outside North America.

### Marketing

* An exclusive 35-second teaser trailer was released on September 28, 2007 and was attached in front of theatrical releases of *Kate & Chris*, *M.I.S.S.I.O.N.*, *Bee Movie*, *Fred Claus, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Enchanted*, *Alvin and the Chipmunks, and The Spiderwick Chronicles.*
* Another teaser trailer was released on March 14, 2008, and was shown before *Horton Hears a Who!*, *Dusk and Dawn 2*, *Nim's Island*, *Beastz*, and *The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.*
* The first official theatrical trailer was released on June 6, 2008, and was shown before *Kung Fu Panda, WALL·E*, *Adam Feldman's Movie Magic*, *Journey to the Center of the Earth*, *Meet Dave*, *Space Chimps*, *Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rainbow Paradise,* and *Igor.*
* The second theatrical trailer was released on October 3, 2008, and was shown before *Beverly Hills Chihuahua*, *City of Ember*, *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa*, and *Bolt.*
* TV spots began to air in September to December 2008.

This film was planned on to be accompanied by a promotional campaign from Burger King. But it was scrapped following the death of Don LaFontaine, leading Fox to shift accompanying promotional campaigns to McDonald's.

### Home media

*Crystal* was released on DVD and Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in Canada and the United States on March 3, 2009. *Crystal* was released in the United Kingdom on DVD and Blu-ray on May 25, 2009. As of July 26, 2011, units sold for the DVD stand at more than 6.7 million copies and has grossed $143,443,566. *Crystal* was released on 4K Blu-ray on September 3, 2019.

## Reception

### Critical response

*Crystal* received critical acclaim upon its release. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 167 reviews from professional critics, with an overall rating average of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Boasting dazzling animation, a script with surprising dramatic depth, and thrilling magical sequences, fantastic songs, *Crystal* will perhaps find you off guard." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 76 based on 33 reviews from critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave Crystal was A on an A+ to F scale.

### Box office

*Crystal* earned $201,289,079 in North America, and $303,854,629 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $505,143,708.

In the United States, *Crystal* was released during the Thanksgiving weekend. The film played in 3,895 theaters and was also played in 100 IMAX theaters nationwide.

*Crystal* earned $10.6 million on its opening Wednesday, breaking the record for the largest pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday opening, a record previously held by Disney·Pixar's *Toy Story 2*, before being surpassed by Disney's *Tangled* in 2010. In its first weekend of release, it earned $46.4 million, finishing first at the box office. Over the traditional Wednesday–Sunday Thanksgiving holiday period, it tallied $72.9 million, again finishing in first. During its second weekend (post-Thanksgiving), *Crystal* declined 51% to $22.7 million, although it remained in first place at the box office. The film was overtaken by Fox's own *The Day the Earth Stood Still* in its third weekend, while grossing $19.3 million, finishing second. The film later closed on April 23, 2009.

## 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.

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