Crystal

Crystal is a 2008 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation. It was written and directed by Mike Minchin and co-directed by Phil Anderson, and written by Phillip Melton, Drew Cohen, and David Lindsay-Abaire from a story by Minchin and Cohen. The film stars the voices of Selena Gomez, Jesse Eisenberg, Christine Baranski, Jonah Hill, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jeff Garcia, Sam Elliott, John Cleese, Emily Blunt, Whoopi Goldberg, and Dakota Fanning. The film follows the story of a lost and mysterious young girl with magical powers who really wishes to leave her own secluded tower to find a better and lively place. Against her mother's wishes, she accepts the aid of an young man to take her out into the world which she has never seen and falls in love with him along the way.

Crystal was first released in North America on November 26, 2008, and was a critical and commercial success, earning acclaim from film critics and audiences and earning $505 million worldwide. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score at the 81st Academy Awards, but lost to WALL-E, respectively. A sequel, Crystal: Coming of Darkness, was released on November 4, 2011, with Mike Minchin writing and directing by himself. Much like its predecessor, the sequel was also universally acclaimed and became a box office success. A second sequel, Crystal: The Lost Realms, was released on May 29, 2015. The film's success has also inspired other merchandise, including a video game and a television series.

Plot
Coming soon!

Cast

 * Selena Gomez as Crystal, a young woman with magical powers and is the lost princess of the kingdom.
 * April Anderson as young Crystal
 * Jesse Eisenberg as Jake Turner, a young worker from the kingdom who finds Crystal and takes her to see the world.
 * Christine Baranski as Valerie, Crystal's abusive and adopted mother who never lets her to be free from her home.
 * Jonah Hill as Stan, Crystal's talking and wise-cracking pet squirrel

Additional Voices

 * Matt Adler
 * Steve Alterman
 * Greg Baglia
 * Maggie Baird
 * June Christopher
 * Richard Epcar
 * Johnny Gidcomb
 * Jeremy Glazer
 * Mike Gomez
 * Luisa Leschin
 * Susan Leslie
 * Hope Levy
 * Scott Menville
 * Randall Montgomery
 * Heidi Brook Myers
 * Paul Pape
 * Devika Parikh
 * Courtney Peldon
 * Justin Shenkarow
 * Jason Grant Smith
 * Pepper Sweeney
 * Dean Wein

Production
Coming soon!

Music
The official soundtrack for the film was released on November 25, 2008 by Varèse Sarabande. The songs were written by Alan Menken and Marc Shaiman, while the score was written by Menken.

Release
Crystal had its United States premiere on November 11, 2008, at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was theatrically released on November 26, 2008, in the United States. The film was digitally re-mastered into IMAX DMR and released to 170 North American IMAX theatres, and approximately 60 IMAX theatres outside North America.

Marketing

 * The official teaser was released on February 14, 2008, and was shown before The Spiderwick Chronicles, Horton Hears a Who!, Nim's Island, Iron Man, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
 * The first official theatrical trailer was released on June 6, 2008, and was shown before Kung Fu Panda, WALL·E, Swapped, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Meet Dave, Space Chimps, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
 * The second theatrical trailer was released on October 3, 2008, and was shown before Beverly Hills Chihuahua, City of Ember, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and Bolt.
 * TV spots began to air in November 2008.

Home media
Crystal was released on DVD and Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in Canada and the United States on April 17, 2009. Crystal was released in the United Kingdom on DVD and Blu-ray on May 26, 2009. As of July 26, 2011, units sold for the DVD stand at more than 6.7 million copies and has grossed $143,443,566. Crystal was released on 4K Blu-Ray on September 3, 2019.

Critical response
Crystal received critical acclaim upon its release. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 88% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 167 reviews from professional critics, with an overall rating average of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Boasting dazzling animation, a script with surprising dramatic depth, and thrilling magical sequences, fantastic songs, Crystal will perhaps find you off guard." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 74 based on 33 reviews from critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave Crystal was A on an A+ to F scale.