The Dawson Duo Movie

***The Dawson Duo Movie*** is a 1997 American animated comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series *The Dawson Duo*. It was directed by the series' creator, Aldrin Copperfield, and written by him, Jake Carlson and David N. Weiss. The main cast from the series reprised their roles for the film, with Clancy Brown as a guest star. Co-produced by A.J.C. Entertainment and Nickelodeon Movies, it was the first theatrical feature film to be based on a Nicktoon, and also serves as the finale to the series.

The plot of the film takes place after the fourth and final season and the final episode of the series, *"Sayonara, School!"*, and revolves around Aaron, Everett, Emma and Jacob setting out to rescue the former two's father, Gregory, during a trip to New York City, when a mix-up with a similar-looking criminal results in him being incarcerated. Along the way, they must also catch the real convict and bring him back behind bars.

*The Dawson Duo Movie* was released by Paramount Pictures and premiered in the United States on August 15, 1997 to mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation, characters and humor, while some of the film's criticism was aimed at its story. It grossed over $130 million against its budget of $24 million.

## Plot

Picking up from the ending of the episode, *"Sayonara, School!"*, Blackberry Middle School closes for the summer, and Aaron, Everett, Emma and Jacob ponder on what to do to start off the long break. Aaron suggests staying home and reading comic books, Everett suggests going out for a hike, Emma suggests camping out and Jacob suggests skateboarding around town, all of which are passed aside as they don't seem exciting enough. Eventually, after some more thinking, the four kids eventually make up their minds and decide to hang out at Blackberry Mall, where they have some lunch in the food court, play some games at an arcade and go to a theater to watch some movies.

After leaving the mall, the kids promise to see each other again tomorrow and go back to their respective houses. As Aaron and Everett go to bed, the latter states that there couldn't be a better way to spend the rest of the summer before he and Aaron fall asleep.

The next morning, Gregory wakes his sons up and announces that they are going somewhere special as part of the summer vacation. When Aaron and Everett guess that they're going to the beach, Gregory instead informs them that they're going on a trip to New York City, which fills them with delight as they've never been outside of Blackberry Hills before. As Gregory prepares the essentials for the trip, Aaron and Everett invite Emma and Jacob to come with them after the latter two gain permission from their parents, and once they get in the car, Gregory drives off and out of Blackberry Hills, commencing the trip to New York.

Once they arrive, the kids survey the surroundings of New York and go to several places in the city with Gregory to have the time of their lives. Meanwhile, in a police station far away from the group, a convict by the name of Boris Norris, who bears a striking resemblance to Gregory, breaks out of prison and escapes the guards and police to resume his crime spree. At a nearby gas station, the group is purchasing goods from the station's convenience store when Gregory decides to go out for a while to refill his car, promising that he will be right back. However, while he's doing just that, Boris, who is being pursued by the police, arrives at the gas station and hides before Gregory can see him. When Gregory notices the two cops, Officer Adams and Diana, glaring at him, he politely greets them, but they mistake him for Boris after taking a glance at a wanted poster of the criminal and arrest him.

Just then, the kids finish their session at the convenience store and exit with some food, only to find Gregory's car alone with him nowhere in sight. Aaron and Everett assume that he's just taking a restroom break and decide to go to the restroom to be sure, only to find a woman instead, who freaks out at the sight of the two boys accidentally walking in on her. Curious as to where their father may be, Aaron and Everett go all around New York City with Emma and Jacob and search for any place that their father could be in, but with no luck. Upset that their father is gone, the twins soon discover a news broadcast coming from a television at the window of an electronics shop, mistakenly identifying Gregory as Boris and detailing his arrest moments ago. This leaves the kids shocked, especially Aaron and Everett, who are unable to believe that their father has gotten in trouble with the law.

Suddenly, Boris shows up, and once the kids notice him and make comparisons of him and a wanted poster next to the store's window, they deduce that it's the real criminal that got Gregory arrested and chase him down the streets, only to lose him after tiring out. Deciding that Boris is not their main concern right now and Gregory is, the kids make it their mission to rescue him and prove him innocent. They approach Officer Adams and Diana and question them about a certain convict named Boris Norris, to which they respond with "Yes". The kids then try to tell them that what they think is Boris is actually Aaron and Everett's father, Gregory, who has gotten arrested due to a misunderstanding. However, the officers don't believe them and send them off, so the kids decide to take matters into their own hands and prove that Boris is the real person worthy of imprisonment.

While the real Boris, whom the police are unaware is still on the loose, goes on with his crime spree around New York, Aaron, Everett, Emma and Jacob spy on him as he carries out his illegal deeds and, using a camera that was one of the many objects packed for the trip, take several pictures of him without his knowledge so that they can figure out what distinguishes him from Gregory. Returning to the gas station where Gregory was last seen prior to his arrest, the kids gather some pictures of him from the suitcase contained in the trunk of his car and arrange them on the ground to examine them closely. After inspecting the images of the two doppelgangers, the kids suddenly notice the most obvious differences between them; Boris has some strands of hair from his head, a bruise on his cheek and a missing tooth while Gregory does not.

Concluding that Boris is the more disheveled-looking of the two and thus is the real criminal, Aaron, Everett, Emma and Jacob set off to show the evidence to the police. Unfortunately, Boris' drives into the scene on his car and disembarks, stopping the kids dead in their tracks. Noticing the pictures of him taken by them, Boris immediately guesses that they are planning to show them to the police and prevents that from happening by abducting them, driving to his hideout and trapping them in the basement, then goes to sit back and relax.

Inside the basement, Aaron furiously yells at Boris, who can just faintly hear him, for everything that he's done before and after the mix-up with Gregory and voices his contempt for him, then saddens as he sits down in defeat, thinking that Gregory will remain in prison forever and thus will never see his sons again. As he gradually breaks down into tears, he is comforted by a sympathetic Everett and then Emma and Jacob, who assure him that there is still some hope and thus they can still find a way. After some encouragement from Emma to not give up, Aaron regains his confidence and proudly declares that they're going to save his dad without anything to stop them.

Just then, they hear Boris about to come down to the basement to check on them, so they quickly hide before he enters. As he surveys the area and wonders where the children are, Emma suddenly sneaks out of her hiding spot and knocks Boris out by smacking a cardboard box against his head. While he's unconscious, Emma signals to the other three to follow her as they escape the attic and the hideout. While they're standing outside of Boris' hideout, Everett praises Emma for her move back there, and Aaron suddenly wonders where the pictures of Boris are. Jacob reveals that he had them hidden underneath his baseball cap all along, but the kids suddenly hear Boris yelling at them from inside and quickly vamoose before he goes after them.

Returning to New York, the kids manage to make it to the police station where Gregory is contained in and show the pictures of Boris to Adams and Diana. Upon taking a close look at the photos, the officers are bewildered, wondering how Boris is still out there when what they think is him is still in a cell. Aaron and Everett explain that if Gregory were Boris, then he'd have some hair strands on his head, a bruised cheek and a missing tooth, but since he does not have those characteristics, then that means he is not Boris and thus is innocent this whole time. Realizing their mistake, Adams and Diana apologize to Gregory and release him, allowing him to finally reunite with his sons.

Moments after the group exits the police station, Boris finally shows up, much to their surprise. When Gregory asks who Boris is, what he's doing here and why he looks like him, the kids explain that he is a wanted criminal whose resemblance to Gregory is a pure coincidence and also tell him that he locked them in the basement of his hideout to prevent them from reporting his crimes to the police. Shocked and appalled at what the criminal just did, especially to his children, Gregory becomes furious at Boris, who tries to get away in his car, only to find that it's out of gas, so he runs away on foot instead as the group chases after him through the streets of New York City.

Eventually, the group chases Boris into the Flatiron Building and up a flight of stairs before cornering him in the 21st floor. As they approach the criminal with the intent of teaching him a lesson, Boris points out that he's armed and pulls out a gun, claiming that he's not afraid to use it. However, before he can shoot a single round, Boris accidentally steps backwards through an open window and falls off the building, presumably to his death, while the group peeks through the window as they witness his plunge to the ground. Just as Everett remarks that that's the last they will see of Boris, the criminal suddenly lands on a trampoline carried by two men and is sprung onto a nearby police car, damaging it in the process. Adams and Diana, who had just been trying to search for Boris earlier after releasing Gregory and witnessed the incident, recognize him through his unkempt features and rightfully arrest him.

After exiting the Flatiron Building, the Dawsons and the other kids are praised by Adams and Diana as they escort Boris into the police car and drive off to jail while he mutters his dislike for kids (referring to Aaron, Everett, Emma and Jacob). As Aaron and Everett hug Gregory, happy to have him back for good, the latter informs the kids that they still have some time left to bond with each other and continue their temporary stay in New York City before finally heading back home to Blackberry Hills.

## Voice cast

* Justin Shenkarow as Aaron Dawson
* Billy West as Everett Dawson
* Dan Castellaneta as Gregory Dawson
* Kath Soucie as Emma Miller
* Rob Paulsen as Jacob Clark and Claude Armstrong
* Clancy Brown as Boris Norris
* Alec Baldwin as Officer Adams
* Shelley Long as Officer Diana
* Mary Kay Bergman as Ms. Joyce
* Thom Adcox-Hernandez as Felix Franklin
* Debi Derryberry as Amelia Thompson
* Jaleel White as Cameron Watterson

## Production

The idea for a *The Dawson Duo* movie was conceived by Aldrin Copperfield and Jake Carlson while working on the fourth and final season of the series, and after a conversation with Nickelodeon executives, Nickelodeon agreed and production on the film began.

Instead of the cel animation used on the series, the film was made using digital ink and paint, and thus is the only *The Dawson Duo* media to do so.

## Media

### Home media

Paramount Home Video released the film on VHS in February 17, 1998 and on DVD in May 25, 2000.

### Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack album was released on March 12, 1997 by Interscope Records.

## Reception

### Box office

The movie was released on August 15, 1997 and made over $23.8 million on its opening weekend.

### Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, *The Dawson Duo Movie* holds an approval rating 65% based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "*The Dawson Duo Movie* is a jam-packed adventure guaranteed to please anyone who grew up with the lovable twin brothers." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 60 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".