Weird World (film)

Weird World is a 2013 British/American 3D computer-animation comedy-drama action-adventure film produced by Argosy Animation Studios and released by MTM Films. The film was directed and written by British animator and illustrator Reloaxa, in his film directional debut. The film tells a story of DJ and music producer George Jacqueline, citizen of Rainbow City and member of electronic group Zap Cloud, who teams up with human being Stephanie to help gather her super team The Extraordinary Eight back together, so they can save Weird World from a king snake with a very destructive weapon, while, at the same time, discovering more about himself and connections to former team leader Sadie. The film stars Reloaxa himself, as well as Martin Clunes, Charli XCX, Chris Tucker, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ewan McGregor, Robert De Niro, Ade Edmondson, Linda Cardellini, Tom Kenny, Will Arnett, Grey DeLisle, Tony Robinson, Jonny Greenwood and Prince Royce.

The pitch for the film came a few months after the premiere of the TV showcase series Reloaxa's Avid Animations, which has a common segment called "Weird Shorts", which the film was based on.

The film was met with universal acclaim with a rare 100% rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. The film's success spawned a just as successful franchise and it is now considered one of the greatest and most influential films ever made.

Film Summary
On a colourful planet full of weird looking people and creatures where "everyone has a destiny", George Jacqueline, a 28-year old DJ and citizen of Rainbow City, teams up with human being Stephanie to help gather her super team The Extraordinary Eight back together, so they can save Weird World from a king snake with a very destructive weapon, while, at the same time, discovering mysteries involving former leader Sadie and his own personal connections.

Voice Cast
BOLD: Indicates British cast members
 * Reloaxa as George Jacqueline/Bash/Zayden/Mickey/Don/Steve Sigafoos
 * Martin Clunes as King Axecutioner
 * Charli XCX as Stephanie
 * Chris Tucker as Craig
 * Kristin Scott Thomas as Eleanor Jacqueline
 * Ewan McGregor as Sponghuck
 * Robert De Niro as Tyler
 * Ade Edmondson as Scooter
 * Linda Cardellini as Josie/Alexanne
 * Tom Kenny as Axebot
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Mac/Harper
 * Grey DeLisle as Stella/Kylie/Hikouki
 * Will Arnett as Hank
 * Tony Robinson as Roger
 * Jonny Greenwood as Cole
 * Prince Royce as Brent
 * Sarah Chalke as Molly/Tina
 * Paul Rugg - Mitchell

Home media
The movie is also avaliable on CreaTV, as well as other media of the franchise

Critical reception
Upon release, Weird World received universal critical acclaim, being considered one of ArgosyMTM Group’s best films to date and it has appeared on lists of the greatest films of all time. The film was praised for it's originality, animation, story, humour, action and most of all, for it's characters and voice performances. The film was also lauded by the autistic community for it's portrayals of autism, in regards to the characters of George Jacqueline and Stephanie, who are both autistic, and also by the LGBT community for it's portrayal of LGBT rights, also in regards to Stephanie, who is openly lesbian and Eleanor Jacqueline/Sadie, who is (presumed) bisexual. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 234 reviews, with an average score of 9.3/10. The site's consensus states: "Memorable characters, stunning animation, poignant writing and all round brilliant concept all make Weird World destined to become an Argosy classic." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 91 based on 62 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim." In CinemaScore polls, cinema audiences gave Weird World an average score of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

Trivia

 * Weird World is notable for being an Argosy film targeted towards older kids and adults for the most part, mainly for it's darkness, violence (including signs of blood), mild language and references to sexual activities, smoking and alcohol. Reloaxa, the film's director has even stated/warned before it's release "For an animated film from a company known for its cute cat mascots, it's not entirely for the kids".
 * Because of this, almost every country it was shown gave it a PG rating and in the UK it was even nearly given a 12 rating. However, the UK did end up giving it a PG.
 * The words "damn", "hell", "God", "bloody", "crap", "tosser" and "Jesus Christ" are heard at least once each in the movie.
 * "Tosser" is only heard in the UK release, possibly because it's a British slang.
 * Because of this, the scene of Sponghuck saying "You tosser!" to Craig after he tosses his gun to try and open King Axecutioner's drawbridge, with George saying "Bad pun alert" after is only shown in the UK release.
 * Weird World is also notable for having numerous product placement cameos/mentions. The most notable ones are Automobilli Lamborghini S.p.A., Converse, Pepsi, Boddington's and Oreos, but other ones include:
 * Toys R Us
 * McDonald's
 * Apple
 * Starbucks
 * Gap
 * Subway
 * Phones4u
 * Mastercard
 * AXA
 * Radio Disney
 * eBay
 * Best Buy
 * DKNY
 * AT&T
 * Deutsche Telekom
 * American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
 * Google
 * Nike
 * Audi
 * BP plc.
 * Nestlé
 * Consumer News and Buisness Channel (CNBC)
 * Panasonic
 * Orange S.A.
 * Circle K
 * Because the Pepsi Blue was mentioned and later used as a running gag in the TV series, it was brought back for a limited time in the USA and for the first time in the UK, again for a limited time.
 * It isn't the first Disney animated film to contain product placement. Oliver and Company, the Wreck-It Ralph films and Zootopia have used product placement too.

Franchise
Due to it's popularity and huge success, the film spawned a just as successful franchise including an 8-year running TV series and three sequels - Weird World 2, Weird World 3 and The Weird World 4nale (which was split into two parts).