Puppet Pals 3

***Puppet Pals 3*** is a 2013 American computer-animated comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation for 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Ryan Marshall (in his directional debut) from a screenplay by Brad Garland and Joe Stillman and a story by Jim Chapman, Marshall, and Tom Ropelewski. It is the third installment in the *Puppet Pals* franchise, following 2010's *Puppet Pals 2.* Jesse McCartney, Anne Hathaway, Josh Peck, Seth Rogen, Patton Oswalt, Matthew Broderick, Jon Lovitz, Jonah Hill, John Cleese, Minnie Driver, and Sarah Vowell reprised their respective roles, joined by Evan Rachel Wood, Zooey Deschanel, Paul Rudd, Eric Idle, Jessica Biel, Anna Kendrick, Zac Efron, David Cross, John Malkovich, and Wanda Sykes.

The film follows Blake Blue (Jonah Hill), who is plotting to overthrow Nathan Ritter (Jesse McCartney) and Princess Joanna (Anne Hathaway), who have inherited the throne of Golden City following King Floyd's death. However, Nathan attempts to convince Joanna's underachieving, 16-year-old cousin Edwin (Zac Efron) to become king instead. Meanwhile, Nathan discovers a terrifying secret about his childhood past, and discovers a new enemy (John Malkovich) who has a powerful weapon that he plans to conquer both Tinywood and Golden City with it and has something to do with Nathan's troubled past.

*Puppet Pals 3* held its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater, Westwood in Los Angeles on January 26, 2013, and was released in the United States on February 8 in RealD 3D. It received mixed to negative reviews from critics, but was a box office success, earning $744 million worldwide on its $116 million budget. It was followed by *Puppet Pals Forever* on September 21, 2018.

## Voice cast

*Main article: List of Puppet Pals characters*
* Jesse McCartney as Nathan Ritter, a pampered man.
* Anne Hathaway as Princess Joanna, a beautiful woman who is the princess of Tinywood.
* Josh Peck as Toby, a magical and geeky lizard.
* Zac Efron as Edwin, Joanna's underachieving 16-year-old cousin.
* Jon Lovitz as Wayne, a swashbuckling talking dog.
* Jonah Hill as Blake Blue
* John Malkovich as Mel Mystic
* David Cross as R.O.S.S., Mel's robot sidekick.
* Patton Oswalt as Steve Smiley, a magical talking yellow round creature who looks similar to a yellow smiling face.
* Matthew Broderick as Captain Matt, the leader of the Puppet Pals.
* Minnie Driver as Queen Lila, the queen of Golden City and Joanna's mother.
* Evan Rachel Wood as Princess Dawn, one of Joanna's friends.
* Wanda Sykes as Princess Jade, one of Joanna's friends who later betrays her and the princesses for Blake Blue.
* Anna Kendrick as Princess Mila, one of Joanna's friends.
* Jessica Biel as Princess Audrey, one of Joanna's friends.
* Eric Idle as Marvin, a wizard responsible for creating the magical talking animals in Floiltopia.
* Zooey Deschanel as Carly, a lizard who resides in Floiltopia and falls in love for Toby.
* Paul Rudd as Dirk, a yoga-loving sheep and the spiritual leader of Floiltopia.
* Julianne Hough and Ester Dean as Blossom and Katie, a pair of singing unicorns who reside in Floiltopia.
* Kenan Thompson as Todd, a fearless rabbit and a resident of Floiltopia.
* Sarah Vowell as Natalia Miller, a cheerful and kind teenage girl who is the youngest member of the Puppet Pals.
* John Cleese as King Floyd, the king of Golden City and Joanna's father.
* Seth Rogen as Jeremy Johnson, an overweight and lazy guy who is one of the members of the Puppet Pals.
* John Goodman as Mayor Adam, the mayor of Tinywood.
* Danny McBride as Joel, the bodyguard of Blake Blue.
* Jeff Garlin as Gareth
* Alex Borstein as Melinda
* Chuck Guttman as Captain Thornhill
* Chris Wedge (uncredited) as Slippy the Dog
* April Stewart (uncredited) as Sapphire the Dog
* Sandra Bullock (uncredited) as Rosie Storm in a cameo via flashback
* Brian Drummond as Guard No. 1
* Brian T. Delaney as Ship Captain

### Additional Voices

* Steve Alterman
* Rajia Baroudi
* Susan Boyajian
* Ranjani Brow
* Edita Brychta
* William Calvert
* Elisa Gabrielli
* Wendy Hoffmann
* Karen Huie
* Sean Kenin
* Ashley Lambert
* Marcella Lentz-Pope
* Heidi Brook Myers
* Jacqueline Piñol
* Moira Quirk
* Alix Wilton Regan
* Darren Richardson
* Cindy Robinson
* Michelle Ruff
* Stephanie Sheh
* Matthew Wolf

## Soundtrack

Main article: Puppet Pals 3/Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by John Powell, and its soundtrack was released on February 5, 2013 by Epic Records.

## Release

### Theatrical

*Puppet Pals 3* premiered at the Regency Village Theater on January 26, 2013. The American release followed on February 8, 2013. It was originally scheduled to be released on July 13, 2012, but the release date was later assigned to Ice Age: Continental Drift, which was then pushed back to December 14, 2012 but then release date was later pushed back to February. The film was later released in IMAX 3D in other territories on February 22, 2013.

The film is accompanied by a *The Simpsons* short film *The Longest Daycare* featuring Maggie Simpson, which accompanied *Ice Age: Continental Drift* back in July 2012.

### Marketing

The first teaser trailer was released on March 1, 2012, and was later attached into *The Lorax* and *Little Lily* in theaters. An exclusive sneak peek (presented by Jesse McCartney and Anne Hathaway) was also released during the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards on March 31. The film's full trailer was released on June 17, 2012, and was attached into *Brave* five days later. Its final trailer was released on November 1, 2012 and was later attached to *Wreck-It Ralph*, and *Rise of the Guardians*.

### Video game

A video game based on the film was released on February 12, 2013 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS.

### Home media

*Puppet Pals 3* was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 11, 2013. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version was released on September 4, 2018.

### Television broadcasting

*Puppet Pals 3* had its network television premiere on FX on Saturday, February 14, 2015 at 7:30pm. TBS also aired it on Saturday, February 13, 2016. TNT aired this movie on March 6, 2016.

## Reception

### Critical reception

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 44% based on 195 reviews; the average rating is 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "*Puppet Pals 3* may boast the franchise's usual comedy, but an unfortunate tendency to throw in used jokes and cliches with contrived plot points makes it completely forgettable." On Metacritic, it received a score of 51 out of 100, based on 75 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

### Box office

*To be added*

**Television:** *Puppet Pals: The Series* • *Joanna: Princess of Tinywood*

**Upcoming:** *The Pixelators: Supercharged* (2023)