Danny and the Brothers (film)

## *Danny and the Brothers*

***Danny and the Brothers*** is a 2007 CGI/live-action film, based on the popular musical group and animated series *Danny and the Brothers*. It was directed by Tim Hill, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and produced by RatPac Entertainment and Dan Jr. Productions.

The film has received unfavorable reviews from critics / websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes, but has proved to be a huge financial success, making over $215 million to date in North America alone and over $350 million to date in total worldwide receipts, while being made on a budget of just $60 million. Jason Lee and the film won his and its first award at the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Movie.

## Plot

Jeff Murphy meets Danny, Marlon, and Corey for the first time.

## Full Plot

The street that Danny, Marlon, and Corey live in is cafe and driven to Los Angeles to become a Christmas tree in the Sears Records office building. Here, Jeff Murphy is trying to have his song produced, but is brutally denied by the CEO of Sears Records and his longtime arch-rival, "best friend", and former college roommate Chad Crosswire. As a rejected Jeff leaves the office building, the Brothers quickly escape (after being scared by a barking German Shepherd at one point) by jumping into a basket, which Jeff is carrying.

Jeff unknowingly takes the Brothers home with him, where he throws it into the trash, which prompts a confused Corey to claim, "*Gross! Is this his house?,*" followed by Marlon stating, "*No. It's his garbage can.*" and Marlon replies, "*Oh.*"

While Jeff is quietly watching TV, the Brothers proceed to freely explore Jeff's kitchen and eat a portion of his food, but are discovered by Jeff in the process; this prompts a humorous game of hide-and-seek, with Jeff as the unwilling participant. However, the game is abruptly ended when an escaping Danny manages to drop and break a jar on Jeff's head and knock him unconscious.

When Jeff awakens, he is promptly greeted by Danny, Marlon, and Corey. Danny is initially shocked, but calms down long enough for the Brothers to formally introduce themselves. However, he still finds the notion of talking animals "*creepy*" and "*somewhat evil*." Quickly, Jeff betrays the Brothers by trapping and then tossing them outside in the rain.

However, in an attempt to win him over, the Brothers sing "Funkytown," much to Jeff's surprise. They succeed and a deal is struck, where the Brothers can live in his house, as long as they sing his songs. However, Jeff quickly finds himself annoyed by the Brothers as he isn't used to the erratic behavior that comes from their young age and, upon questioning, learns that their parents were hippies and abandoned them early in order to join a commune (if this is true or not is yet to be revealed).

The same night, after tucking the Brothers into bed, Jeff is unable to sleep. After hearing the Brothers snoring, he finally comes up with "The Brother Song" after thinking up some lyrics for the song.

The next morning, Jeff tries to show the Brothers to an incredulous Chad, assuring him they will be Sears record's next big hit. However, the Brothers experience stage fright, which prevents them for singing his song and ends up having Jeff ridiculed by Chad. Angry at the failure, Jeff drives to his other job (which he is late for) and the Brothers ask if they can go with him. Worried they will also mess up his day at work, Jeff refuses and takes them home. Upon arriving at his meeting with his boss Amy, Jeff discovers that the Brothers have written all over his presentation boards (one showing "*the size of Corey's bulls*", "*how smart Marlon thinks he is*", and "*why Danny stinks*"), and this gets him fired as a result. Jeff arrives home and yells at the Brothers for ruining his presentation boards and getting him fired, then Corey accidentally pushes a button on the voice messenger.

Later that night, Carly is invited to Jeff's house for dinner and the Brothers are forced to stay in another room. However, Danny, thinking Jeff needs his help to win Carlyover, unintentionally sabotages the date. Jeff tries to tell a frustrated Carly the reason for his strange behavior, but instead, he further alienates her by saying his "life was being sabotaged by talking Brothers". In her anger, Carly storms out, stating that Jeff never changed at all as Jeff becomes heartbroken. The Brothers feel guilty for Dannys unintentional sabotage. In order to make it up to Jeff, they quickly leave to Chad's house that night to show him that Jeff was right about their amazing talent.

Meanwhile, Jeff decides to return the Brothers to their original home and goes as far as writing the note before being overcome by his affection for them and decides against it. At Chad's house, upon seeing their performance, Chad welcomes the Brothers to Sears Records and proceeds to quickly circulate the song and make it a big hit in just a few hours, much to Jeff's surprise.

Soon, the Brothers' career skyrockets and by being managed and promoted by Chad, the Brothers continue to be wildly popular. Also, during this time, Jeff sews the Brothers their sweaters and the Brothers like them.

Christmas quickly comes and in his excitement, Corey calls Jeff "*Daddy,*" which prompts a nervous Jeff to dissuade the notion of him being their father, which hurts the Brothers.

After showing them their presents (which are savings bonds), Chad arrives and proceeds to shower the Brothers with many toys and an invitation to a Christmas night party.

During the party, Jeff reconciles with Carly, who apologizes for leaving the dinner and not believing him. Chad also tries to convince Jeff to let him work with the Brothers, but he refuses. In spite, an angry Chad proceeds to plant false lies to the Brothers about Jeff.

The following day, Jeff arrives home to find the Brothers being once again showered by various gifts from Sears Records and Jeff asks the Brothers where did they get all of this stuff. Irritated by their behavior, Jeff quickly converses with the Brothers, telling them that even with their new-found stardom, they do not have the right to be selfish and greedy and do what they want. Equally irritated by Jeff, the Brothers quickly point out that Chad said they should always be happy while Danny asks if he thinks of them as his kids or balls, much to Jeff's confusion (who doesn't know about the untrue things that Chad has told the Brothers). Finally, at the height of his anger, Jeff tells them to go live with "Uncle Chad" if they like him so much and not to think he is currently looking out for their best interests, which hurt and surprise the Brothers.

That same night, Corey tries to apologize to Jeff and asking if he is still mad at them, but discovers that he is sleeping. Corey manages to see the letter that Jeff wrote and shows it to Danny and Marlon. Not knowing that Jeff has already decided against returning them home, the Brothers interpret that Jeff wants them gone, and heartbroken, they contact Chad to see if they could live with him from now on.

At first, life with Chad is grand for the Brothers as he supplies them with many toys and allows them to do whatever they want in a rule-free environment. However, things begin to turn when Chad starts to overwork them to the point of exhaustion and also reworks their image. Jeff contacts Chad to see how the boys are doing, but is purposely blocked out by Chad, who fears that upon knowing that Jeff misses them, the Brothers will want to return to him and abandon Chad.

As the coast-to-coast tour ends, Chad brings the Brothers back to Los Angeles in order to perform their kickoff performance for their highly anticipated world tour. However, due to their exhaustion, the Brothers' voices have given out and as a result, they cannot perform their song. Not wanting to postpone the tour and give-out refunds, Chad decides to have the Brothers lip sync the song. Marlon considers this cheating, but is convinced by Danny that they have no choice.

Meanwhile, Jeff learns that Chad still plans to proceed with the world tour, despite the Brothers' exhaustion. Angered, he proceeds to the theater to get his boys back, though is blocked by security. He is able to sneak in, with the help of Carly (who claims that he is her assistant). He then proceeds to the performance area, but is once again caught by security, who have been ordered by Chad to keep Jeff away from the Brothers. However, as he is being escorted away, Jeff manages to yell Danny's name loud enough that he hears. Upon seeing Dave, the three quickly realize that Chad has lied to them and proceeds to reveal they are lip syncing and begin to run amok. After a brief chase (with the Brothers teasing the security guards), Chad manages to capture the Brothers and quickly whisks them away, despite pleas from Jeff to let them free.

As Chad is being chauffeured toward the airport, Jeff quickly takes chase. As he furiously pursues Chad, the Brothers reveal themselves to Jeff in his car.

Surprised to see them, Jeff questions them on their escape, to which Marlon replies that breaking out of a cat cage wasn't difficult in the first place and the Brothers reconcile with Jeff. On the other hand, Chad (who was unaware of the Brothers' escape) discovers that the Brothers have escaped and he proceeds to yell a long "*NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!*" in defeat.

A few days later, Carly once again visits Jeff house for dinner. However, the dinner once again proceeds disastrously when Danny accidentally spills champagne, which shorts out the electricity, and prompts an irritated Jeff to yell Danny's name while Danny replies, "*Okay!*".

Chad is also shown trying to get three clueless squirrels to sing and, of course, fails at doing so. He eventually breaks down and sobs at his failure.

## Box Office

The film closed in the United States on June 5, 2008. It was a huge box office success, with a final domestic earning of $217,326,974 and a worldwide earning of $144,009,659 for a grand total of $361,336,633, making it the second highest grossing Danny and the Brothers film.

## Cast

### Live-action

* Bob Odenkirk as David Murphy
* Jack Black as Chad Crosswire
* Amanda Bynes as Carly Anderson
* Sarah Silverman as Gloria
* Kevin Symons as Ted
* Veronica Alicino as Amy
* AdrChade Lenox as Vet

### Voices

* Patton Oswalt as Danny Murphy and Marlon Murphy
* Anthony Miller as Corey Murphy