Pikmin (2009 film)

Pikmin: The Movie is a 2007 computer-animated comedy action nature film based on the video game series Pikmin. The film was directed by Steve Martino, and stars the ensemble voice cast of Chris Renaud, Grey DeLisle, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Seth Green, Phil Proctor, and Gregg Berger, with guest roles by Albert Brooks, Tom Hanks, and Green Day. The film follows Captain Olimar, whose irresponsibility gets the best of him when he pollutes the lake in Pikminville after the town has cleaned it up, causing the Environmental Protection Agency to imprison the town under a giant dome. After he and his friends narrowly manage to escape, they ultimately abandon Olimar for his selfishness, to which he works to redeem his folly by stopping Russ Cargill, the head of the EPA, from destroying not just Pikminville, but the entire world.

Although previous attempts to create a Pikmin film had been made, they all failed due to the lack of a script of appropriate length and production crew members. Eventually in 2004, producers Pierre Coffin, Chris Meledandri and Chris Renaud began development of the film and a writing team consisting of Coffin, Meledandri, Chris Wedge, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Mike Reiss, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti was assembled. They conceived numerous plot ideas, with Meledandri's being the one developed into a film. The script was rewritten over a hundred times, to which it continued after the animation begun in 2006. Consequently, hours of finished material was cut from the final release, including cameo roles from Erin Brockovich, Minnie Driver, Isla Fisher, Kelsey Grammer and Edward Norton, who were all guest stars on the show; Tom Hanks and the members of Green Day appeared in the final cut as their animated selves while Albert Brooks, a frequent guest performer on the series, provided the voice of the villain Cargill.

Tie-in promotions were made with several companies to promote the film's release, including McDonald's and 7-Eleven, the latter of which transformed selected stores into Ronald's Convenience Store. The film premiered at the Angelika Film Center in New York City on May 15 and was released theatrically six days later by Universal Pictures across the United States. Pikmin was both a critical and commercial success, grossing over $1.119 billion worldwide and becoming the second highest-grossing film of 2009, the highest-grossing traditionally animated film and the highest-grossing film based on a video game.

Plot
While performing on Lake Pikminville, the band Green Day perishes when the lake's pollution dissolves their barge, following an audience revolt after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong proposes an environmental discussion. At their memorial, Purple Pikminforesees the destruction of the town, but only Margo takes this seriously. Later that day, Olimar dares Alex to skateboard without a shirt to Burger King where he is arrested "in the name of American squeamishness". Alex considers their neighbor Katie a better friend after Olimar refuses to take responsibility for the incident, while Red Pikmin and his new friend named Colin convince the entire town to clean their lake.

Meanwhile, Olimar rescues a pig from Burger King and names him "Spider Hog". He stores the pig's feces (and some of his own) in a large silo, until Margo tells him to safely dispose of the waste. Olimar initially intends to take his silo to the waste management plant, but after Louie calls to tell him that ??? Donuts has been shut down due to health violations and is giving away free donuts, Olimar dumps the silo straight into the lake, severely polluting it. Moments later, a squirrel jumps into the lake and is mutated by the pollution. Katie and Alex, who bond after Olimar humiliates Alex, discover the creature before the EPA captures it. Russ Cargill presents five "unthinkable" options to U.S. President Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep the town's pollution contained. The slow-witted president picks an option without reading it, and Pikminville is encased in a gigantic glass dome. Later that night, the police discover Olimar's silo in the lake and accuse Olimar of being responsible for the dome. The townspeople, form an angry mob and advance on the Pikmin Club's home but they escape through a sinkhole, which then destroys their house and car. With the villains on their trail, the Pikmin Club flee to a motel. Olimar wins a truck at a carnival by riding a motorcycle inside a spherical steel cage, with Blue Pikmin's help, and drives the group to Alaska.

After three months of many escape attempts, Pikminville's residents finally make a small crack in the dome. Pointing out the damage, Russ Cargill manipulates Schwarzenegger into ordering the town's destruction. In Alaska, the Pikmin Club see an advert starring Tom Hanks for a new Grand Canyon on the site of Pikminville. Realizing that the town is in danger, Margo, Alex, and the pikmin want to go back to save it, but Olimar refuses to help its townspeople who tried to kill him and he would rather kill them in return. After failing to persuade him to return, they leave him behind. Later, Olimar receives a video recording message left by Margo that she taped over their wedding video. Having a change of heart, he goes searching for his group, but is stranded on a slab of ice and floats away. Meanwhile, Margo, Alex, and the pikmin are captured by the EPA after a conversation of theirs is overheard by the EPA. Elsewhere after a mysterious Inuit shaman woman saves Olimar from a polar bear, he has an epiphany and decides to return to Pikminville intending to save the town from destruction.

As Olimar finally arrives, a helicopter lowers a "small but powerful bomb" down a rope through a hole in the dome. While Olimar climbs to the top of the dome from the outside using superglue on his hands, the townspeople inside attempt to climb the rope to escape through the still-opened hole. However, Olimar slides down the rope and accidentally knocks them off along with the bomb, causing him to get berated by the townspeople again. After reuniting and reconciling with Alex, Olimar rides a motorcycle up the dome interior, similar to the earlier carnival attraction. Alex, riding with him, manages to hurl the bomb through the hole which detonates seconds later, shattering the dome into millions of shards and saving the town. Olimar and Alex are confronted by Russ Cargill, who intends to kill Olimar with a shotgun for foiling his plan, but Yellow Pikmin knocks him out with a large boulder.

The townspeople finally praise Olimar as a hero and forgive him. He rides into the sunset with Margo and the Pikmin, whereupon the townspeople restore Pikminville to normal. As a symbol of their gratitude, the townspeople help the Pikmin Club rebuild their house that was destroyed by the sinkhole. There was a happy ending for everyone including Olimar, Margo, Alex, the Pikmin, and even Dark Pikmin, and the heroic group wins medals of honor. And so, the Pikmin Club and Pikminville lived happily ever after.

The scrolling credits began with 2 songs such as the Pikmin theme song and Mission Impossible theme song playing during the credits. In the post-credits scene, the Pikmin Club stating their opinions about this movie, and Alex says what sequel will come out.

Cast
Main article: List of Pikmin characters


 * Chris Renaud as Captain Olimar / Roger Stevens / Sea Captain / President Arnold Schwarzenegger / Phil Johnston / Additional voices
 * Grey DeLisle as Margo Gru / Carlee Kinney / Medicine Woman / Additional voices
 * Nancy Cartwright as Alex Delmer / Daniel Ableman / Jimmy Madison / Nathan and Zachary Stewartson / Mike
 * Dan Castellaneta as Red Pikmin / Purple Pikmin / Rock Pikmin / Sideshow Jake / EPA Official / Darky / Charlie / Stage Manager / Mr. Williams / Jeff Hanneman / Nate Phillips / Additional voices
 * Seth Green as Blue Pikmin
 * Phil Proctor as Yellow Pikmin / Additional voices
 * Gregg Berger as Dark Pikmin
 * Albert Brooks as Russ Cargill
 * Michael Beattie as Tattoo
 * Ed Nelson as Mr. Wayne
 * Cathy Caviandi as Edith Gru
 * Tara Strong as Agnes Gru / Additional voices
 * Hank Azaria as Sammy Albertson / Ronald Hopkins / Winged Pikmin
 * Jim Cummings as Derrick / Additional voices
 * Brian T. Delaney as Dragon / Additional voices
 * Arnold Ward as Maxwell Markson
 * Rob Paulsen as Louie / Additional voices
 * Tom Kenny as Crazy Clown / Piggy / Additional voices
 * Chris Meledandri as Principal Michael / Additional voices
 * Steve Freeman as Christian Hartman
 * Harry Shearer as Reverend Peterson / Dr. Lightman
 * Billy West as Hugh Madison / Bulbmin / Wasp Man / Gas Station Clerk / Westley / Additional voices
 * Tony Rickman as Mushroom Pikmin
 * Tress MacNeille as Sally Michaelson / Additional voices
 * Pierre Coffin as Francis / Dome Depot Announcer / EPA Officer / Additional voices
 * Jennifer Saunders as Katie Ishmael
 * Jess Harnell as Alph / Male EPA Worker / Additional voices
 * Candi Milo as Mrs. Peterson
 * Jennifer Hale as Rachel Lynn / Additional voices
 * Amanda Wilcox as Miss Artisan
 * Russi Taylor as Ulises
 * Green Day as Themselves
 * Tim Curry as Mr. Oaks
 * Tom Hanks as Himself
 * Frank Welker as Carrot Pikmin / Additional voices
 * Terry McGurrin as the Narrator

Development
Pikmin: The Movie was a long-planned production, since Universal Studios had been approaching series creator Chris Meledandri to do a film on the show but he refused for more than a year. Developmental stages began for the film midway through the series' third season production in November 1991. The production staff had considered a film adaptation of Pikmin since early in the series. Meledandri felt a feature length film would allow them to increase the show's scale and animate sequences too complex for a TV series. There were attempts to adapt the fourth season episode "I'm Lava'n It" into a film, but difficulties were encountered in expanding the episode to feature-length.

A computer-animated adaption of Pikmin was announced in January 2003 headed by Chris Meledandri. In April 2003, Meledandri announced he was working on the script, and the film was planned to be released in May 15, 2009 instead of its date of December 11, 2009 to avoid competition with Avatar. The producers were initially worried that creating a film would have a negative effect on the series, as they did not have enough crew to focus their attention on both projects. As the series progressed, additional writers and animators were hired so that both the show and the film could be produced at the same time.

Animation
While animation production for the film began in January 2006, the film was animated abroad at Rough Draft Studios in South Korea and Los Angeles. Meledandri rejected making either a live-action or a CGI film, calling the film's animation "deliberately imperfect" and "a tribute to the art of hand-drawn animation". The hand-drawn animation was made by Rough Draft Studios in both Los Angeles, California and Seoul, South Korea, and was outsourced to Sunwoo Entertainment and Hanho Heung-Up Co. Ltd both in South Korea, Wang Film Productions in Taiwan, and TMS Entertainment in Japan.