Woo La La

Woo La La released in Japan as Amai X Kireina is a 2009 American 3D computer animated romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Universal Animation Studios. The 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 the voices of Matt Damon, Debra Messing, George Takei, Ian Mcshane, Ken Jeong, Brad Garrett, with Gong Li, and Hiroyuki Sanada. Taking place in Tokyo, the 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 named Warui Kobayashi.

Originally developed under the title Nippon, Woo La La was the 1 Universal Animation Studios film to be presented in 3D. The film had it world premiere at the 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 earned $532 million worldwide on a budget of $81 million. A TV Series Based On The 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 scarring childhood memories of the brutal execution of his parents, as a result of the new anti couple law submitted by collector Warui Kobayashi.

More coming soon!

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 the 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. The voice actor is the 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 the 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 younger, Warui suffered the loss of his lover and while suffering from grief, he grew jealous of other couples, thus leading 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 teenager.
 * Brad Garrett as Sumo Gumo, a Sumo wrestler who is 1 of Warui henchmen and Mio partner
 * Gong Li as Ying Yamada, the 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 for 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
The idea for a film about a Romeo and Juliet style love story set in Japan was proposed by Michael Wildshill during the production of Universal 2004 animated film Computer Opolis. At the time, Universal encouraged everyone 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 before pitching it to Universal. Universal officially announced the film, under the working title of Nippon, on August 1, 2003. Billy Frolick was contracted to write the script for the film with Kirkpatrick. In May 2005, Universal announced that the film was expected to see a 2008 release.

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

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

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

Release
Woo La La had its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on November 5, 2009, and was widely released into American theaters on November 25, 2009. The film theatrical release was accompanied by the short film The Sounds Of The 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, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 183 reviews with an average rating of 8 10. The site consensus states Woo La La offers a gorgeously animated, boldly melancholy romantic tale that blends Matt Damon and Debra Messing charming chemistry into the story peak at 1 man own fear of love. On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 100 out of 100 based on 46 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews. Audiences polled by Cinema Score gave the film an average grade of A+ on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
Woo La La grossed $215 million in the United States and Canada 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.