Woo La La

Woo La La is a 2009 American 3D computer animated romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Universal Animation Studios. Film was directed by Michael Wildshill from a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick and Billy Frolick and a story by Wildshill, Kirkpatrick, and John Cohen, and stars voices of Matt Damon, Debra Messing, George Takei, Ian Mcshane, Ken Jeong, Brad Garrett, with Gong Li, and Hiroyuki Sanada. Taking place in Tokyo, film follows young Japanese couple Amai Yamada and Kireina Miyazaki, who try to get away from legendary creatures created by a greedy couple hating collector name Warui Kobayashi.

Originally developed under title Nippon, Woo La La was 1 Universal Animation Studios film to be presented in 3D. Film had it world premiere at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on November 5, 2009, and was released widely by Universal Pictures on November 25, 2009. It received positive reviews from critics and earn $532 million worldwide on a budget of $81 million. A TV Series Based On Film aired on Gingo from October 2011 to April 2013.

Plot
Amai Yamada is a well meaning but emotionally distressed man who lives with his adoptive mother Ying Yamada and pet raccoon dog Mr Fazu in a small apartment room in Tokyo. He is consumed by fear of giving himself in to any women due to childhood memories of brutal execution of his parents, as a result of new anti couple law submitted by collector Warui Kobayashi.

Voice cast

 * Matt Damon as Amai Yamada, a shy but kind and pampered young man living in an apartment in Tokyo. His name Amai literally means sweet. He was an orphan after death of his parents, and was reluctant to go out with any women in fear of getting both of them harmed after his childhood trauma.
 * Jonathan Wildshill as Amai as a child. Voice actor is director son.
 * Josh Hutcherson as Amai as a teenager.
 * Debra Messing as Kireina Miyazaki, an innocent, kind, trustworthy, overprotective, and pretty woman who tries to assist her boyfriend Amai in escaping anti couple law. Her name Kireina literally means beautiful.
 * George Takei as Warui Kobayashi, a haughty, ruthless, and greedy collector who dislikes couples, especially Amai and Kireina. He brings legendary creatures to life to track down any couples that come to his attention. When he was young, Warui suffered loss of his lover and while suffering from grief, he grew jealous of other couples, lead to a hatred for them. His name Warui literally means bad.
 * Ian Mcshane as Chani, an oni like creature who is the leader of a team of hench onis. He is 1 of Warui henchmen.
 * Ken Jeong as Mio, 1 of Warui henchmen. Being Warui henchman is Mario 1 job, despite him being only a teen.
 * Brad Garrett as Sumo Gumo, a Sumo wrestler who is 1 of Warui henchmen and Mio partner
 * Gong Li as Ying Yamada, adoptive mother of Amai
 * Hiroyuki Sanada as Kabuto
 * Julia Kato as Amai biological mother
 * Ken Takemoto as Amai biological father
 * Gedde Watanabe as Sushi Chef
 * Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa as Cho
 * Frank Welker provided vocal effects as Amai pet Japanese raccoon dog Mr Fazu.

Additional voices

 * Lori Alan
 * John Cygan
 * Makoto Endo
 * Don Fullilove
 * Teresa Ganzel
 * Takayuki Goto
 * Gary Hall
 * Jess Harnell
 * Darren T Holmes
 * Julia Kato
 * Karey Kirkpatrick
 * Jimmy Leung
 * Danny Mann
 * Mickie Mcgowan
 * Yumi Mizui
 * Laraine Newman
 * Colleen O Shaughnessey
 * Hiroshi Ohno
 * Jan Rabson
 * Junichi Uematsu
 * Tom F Warner
 * Catie Wayne
 * Michael Wildshill

Production
Idea for a film about a Romeo and Juliet style love story set in Japan was proposed by Michael Wildshill during production of Universal 2004 animated film Computer Opolis. At time, Universal encouraged every 1 at It Feature Animation Division to come up with ideas for more 3D computer animated features. Wildshill, Universal Feature Animation president John Cohen, and Karey Kirkpatrick developed Wildshill concept into a story. Officially announced film, under work title of Nippon, on August 1, 2003. Billy Frolick was contracted to write script for film with Kirkpatrick. In 2005, Universal announced that film was expected to see a 2008 release.

In 2006, Universal scheduled film, now title Woo La La, for fall 2009 release, with Matt Damon and Debra Messing starring as lead roles. According to Wildshill, new title was a pun on ooh la la, which means an exclamation of surprise, and woo, which means to try to gain love of a woman. Wildshill commented, we tried to make film name a less fun. Title would make a little more sense since this movie we work on is about 2 Japanese people fall in love. Japanese release of film was title Amai X Kireina.

3D CGI animation for most of scenes from movie was done in house by Universal in Universal City, California, while 2D hand drawn animation for anime sequences was done overseas by Production IG in Japan and Saerom Animation in South Korea. Sequences that Production IG and Saerom did are open which is shown after open logos but before open titles, dream sequences, Amai flashback sequences, Kireina flashback sequences, and end sequence with credits created by Prologue Films and Scarlet Letters.

Music
Score for Woo La La was composed by Hans Zimmer. Soundtrack was released on November 24, 2009 by Varese Sarabande. Originally, Wildshill wanted Michael Giacchino to compose music, but he was too busy composing for other feature length projects, such as Star Trek (2009), Up (2009), and Land Of Lost (2009) all 3 of which were released in 2009.

Release
Woo La La had it world premiere at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on November 5, 2009, and was widely released into American theaters on November 25, 2009. Film theatrical release was accompanied by short film Sounds Of Ocean.

Marketing
Coming soon!

Home media
Woo La La was released on DVD and Blu ray on March 2, 2010.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, film has an approval rating of 100% based on 183 reviews with an average rating of 8 10. Site consensus states Woo La La offers a gorgeously animated, boldly melancholy romantic tale that blends Damon and Messing charming chemistry into story peak at 1 man own fear of love. On Metacritic, film holds a score of 100 out of 100 based on 46 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews. Audiences polled by Cinemascore gave film an average grade of A+ on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
Woo La La grossed $215 million in US and UK and $317.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $532.4 million.

Reception in Japan
Coming soon!

Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.