Alaina Gleen (film)

Alaina Gleen is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated fantasy comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation for 20th Century Fox. Based on the Fox Kids animated television series of the same name, it was the first installment in the studio's reboot franchise of the original series. It was written and directed by series creator Thalia Ward with co-direction by Jimmy Hayward from a screenplay by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, David Reynolds, Michael J. Wilson, and Lorne Cameron, and a story by Ward, Brad Cuddyer and Jared Brady, and stars an ensemble voice cast consisting of Kristen Bell, Bill Hader, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Jim Carrey, Maya Rudolph, Wanda Sykes, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Danny McBride, Kenan Thompson, Dwayne Johnson, T.J. Miller, and Nick Nolte. The film follows the origin story of how Alaina Gleen met her friends for the first time and reunites Max Hat in order to stop an evil professor named Hinkle Higgins and his plans for world domination and for capturing Max.

Fox had plans for a computer-animated film entitled Alaina Gleen: Next Dimensions before the release of The Alaina Gleen Movie in 2004. However, Next Dimensions was canceled shortly after the latter film's box office bomb, but the project was revived in early 2007, with Thalia Ward announcing that they wanted to create a film that would "transcend generations". The film was originally developed under the title Life of Alaina Gleen; in February 2008, it was confirmed that the film would be instead a reboot simply titled Alaina Gleen. In the hopes of attracting a larger audience with better-known actors, none of the cast from the original series reprised their roles in the film. Ward wanted the film to have a unique style, combining Fox Animation's computer animation pipeline with traditional hand-drawn techniques inspired by the original series' animation, requiring around 200 animators for the film. The music for the film was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and John Powell.

Alaina Gleen held its pink-carpet premiere at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on October 7, 2010 and was released in the United States on October 22, 2010, in 3D and IMAX 3D formats. It received acclaim from critics, who praised its animation, humor, visuals, writing, score, and vocal performances, and it has since attained a cult following, particularly among people that grew up with the original TV series. The film earned a total of $551 million worldwide against a budget of $103 million, making it the eleventh highest-grossing film of 2010, and won the 2011 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie (in which it tied with Despicable Me)  and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to Toy Story 3. It was later followed by two sequels: 2013's Alaina Gleen 2, and 2017's Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation.

Plot
An anthropomorphic hat named Max (Bill Hader) enters the cave of Timothy Tiger (Nick Nolte), a talking tiger who has a wagon full of food taken from a nearby gas station. Max accidentally wakes Timothy from his hibernation, and in a race to escape, causes the wagon to roll out onto the nearby highway, only to get run over by a truck. To avoid being eaten himself, Max promises Timothy that he will completely replace the stash within 2 weeks. Meanwhile, a teenage girl named Alaina Gleen (Kristen Bell), who lives in an outgoing and joyful city named Applewood that aside from the human citizens, is separated from a huge wall against an abandoned small town named Imaginary City which was made for imaginary friends and animals to live in after the mayor, Mary (Allison Janney), banned them from Applewood City years ago.

Her mother, Sally (Maya Rudolph), then gives Alaina a new invention that transforms everyday things into apples, to celebrate the centennial of the city of Applewood. Alaina then decides to power the machine by hooking it up to a nearby power plant. When Alaina turns the machine on, she found out that Jason Baxter (Zac Efron), who messed it up while she was gone and it ends up rocketing through the city along with Jason and Alaina, destroying Apple Park, (a theme park conceived by Mayor Mary to increase tourism) before ultimately shooting up into the sky. After Alaina got blamed by Jason for destroying the park, the townspeople then get angry and frustrated at her, causing her to leave to her home in tears. During her childhood, she was mocked for her pink hair, and to this day, she still has no friends. That night, Max Hat then goes into an abandoned baseball field and plays by himself, using his powers to assume the roles of all the players. He manages to make a perfect play and rejoices, but when sees that no one is there to cheer him on, he realizes he is truly alone forever. In his despair, he tries to work off the pain by running desperately around the field, until he drops one of the Imagination Crystals with the energy emitting from it generates a massive electromagnetic pulse that knocks out power across the entire state of Colorado. News of the event soon reaches a scientific and mad genius named Professor Hinkle Higgins (Jim Carrey) to discover the cause. After Higgins and his partner, Kevin (T.J. Miller) take charge of the military detachment stationed at the field, Higgins' flying, high-tech drones head into the forest along with the military troops searching the forest. Max rushes back to his cave to collect his valuables and prepares to leave Earth forever, but just before he can use the crystals, the troops and drones draw close to his cave and Max flees to avoid them, sentimentally bidding goodbye to his cave and heads towards Applewood City to find his old friend, Alaina. Inside Alaina's garage, Max prepares to use his crystal, but just before he can, Alaina goes inside the garage only to get something and sees him. Both of them scream in terror at the sight of each other, and Alaina hits Max with a baseball bat, knocking him out cold. Alaina examines Max and remembers him, as he was her imaginary friend when she was younger. Max awakens and climbs out of a birdcage, and as the two finally reunite after many years, a boat docks on Applewood shore, damaging Max's only home. The city is greeted by Higgins and his henchmen, who falsely claim to be peaceful explorers bringing offerings of friendship. Later that night, the city throws a celebration for the Higgins' arrival. Higgins' crew ingratiate themselves with the townspeople by introducing them to numerous innovations and inventions, notably a huge catapult. Alaina and Max become suspicious and sneak into Higgins' ship along with Jason. When he returns, they are booed out of the party and told to leave Higgins' crew alone while a cowboy show ensues at the party as the three leave.

Higgins' crew later start to get comfortable in Applewood City, with all the other townspeople (except Alaina) taking pleasure in their stay. Alaina then recruits Jason and Max to help her spy on Higgins and his crew. They then decide to search for Eddie Elephant (Andy Samberg), a legendary talking elephant said to only be a myth, but also the protector of the city. They then take a long journey to find Eddie, and later realize that they climbed the wrong mountain, where they find a girl named Lucy Jones (Taylor Swift), who is in a field fighting against a forest monster. Alaina tries to save Lucy, but only to fail and gets eaten alive by the monster. Lucy then kicks the monster out of the field, with the creature spitting Alaina out. Lucy then introduces herself to the gang and invites Alaina, Jason and Max to her house to spend the night there. After dinner at Lucy's house, as the four get ready for bed, Max runs around the bedroom enjoying himself with various activities with Alaina asking him about this other world to which he must go when he leaves Earth. Max then recalls his childhood days living on a beautiful island with palm trees and waterfalls. He recalls exploring joyously across the island every single day, relishing life, and making full open use of his imaginary powers despite being told to keep them a secret. A young Max rushes home to his treehouse where his surrogate mother, Owlclaw is resting, and playfully bumps into her to wake her up. Owlclaw tells Max that he might have been noticed because of his coveted powers, and as Max affectionately presents a rose to her, they later end up in a huge earthquake across the island. As Owlclaw puts Max in a safe cave, she is later killed by a falling rock, leaving Max heartbroken and alone. He ponders having a life on Earth and soon falls asleep with Alaina tucking him in. Higgins, meanwhile, analyzes the piece of the Imagination Crystal and the energy it contains whilst amusing himself by dancing, until he is startled half to death by the sudden appearance of Kevin, who has come to offer a cup of coffee. At that moment, the machine finishes analyzing the crystal, revealing it to contain unlimited energy, which Higgins believes can enable his machines to reach their full potential. The next day, Alaina, Jason, Lucy, and Max take another long journey up the real mountain, and finally find Eddie, but it turns out that he is overweight, self-absorbed, leads the life of a slacker, and instead of helping the people of Applewood, Eddie just indulges in his prized possessions and his own theme song. Alaina then discovers Higgins' planting dynamite around the city and rushes back to the city with Lucy, Jason, and Max while the other townspeople, are distracted by a rave party. Lucy and Jason rush into the party to warn everyone but they are kidnapped by Higgins' henchmen, while Alaina and Max run to the ship, where Higgins activates the dynamite, destroying the city.

The next morning, everyone in the city saw the ruins of their homes and buildings and expressed remorse to Alaina for not listening to her in the first place. Under his leadership, they organize an imaginary army and infiltrate Higgins' lair. Working together under the cover of darkness, the gang later find Lucy and Jason in prison and rescued them, setting off tons of boobytraps. After leaving the lair, a high-speed chase ensues between Higgins and the team in a truck driven by Spy Squirrel (Dwayne Johnson) while an angered Timothy Tiger (which was already past 2 weeks after Max's mistake to him) pursues the getaway truck. The gang later got away from the two villains and landed on top of a floating tower, but unfortunately, they are surrounded by Higgins' flying drones and Higgins himself appears in his own flying craft to meet them. Higgins readies his drones to blow the team away, but Alaina messes with the gravity manipulation system and causes the whole tower base to tilt upside down, allowing the team to escape. However, Higgins is able to press a button that charges his vehicle with energy from the crystal, and achieves supersonic speed. He fires a blast which only Max narrowly avoids, and causes a big explosion which knocks the gang and Higgins himself into momentary delirium. Max awakes to find Alaina, Lucy, and Jason falling from the tower. He grabs one of the crystals falling with him and throws it, opening a portal beneath them that transports the three back to Higgins' lair. Eddie Elephant arrives to help Alaina's group have a change of heart after witnessing their efforts. While the town of Applewood fight against Higgins' crew, Alaina and Higgins both fight, resulting in a huge boulder dropping them down to the bottom of the lair where Higgins' crew keep their stash of explosives. Alaina then distracts Higgins after he taunts her because of her normal pink hair, having Alaina pull a box of TNT that makes Higgins slip and fall toward her, while Max and the imaginary friends try to avoid Timothy and Mayor Mary. Jason and Lucy get the idea to give Eddie a super-energy drink, which puts him into overdrive. Exceeding the speed of light, Eddie pushes a red button at the bottom of the lair that activates the explosives. The giant pot falls down from the top of the lair where it protects Alaina, leaving Higgins, Mary, and Timothy to get blown up as the explosives go off, causing the whole lair to be destroyed where Lucy, Jason, Eddie, Max and the rest of the imaginary friends luckily escape and everyone is able to return safely to Applewood.

Alaina later reunites with the city of Applewood and her friends after the explosion and Sally finally shows her appreciation for her daughter. Mayor Mary and Timothy are taken into custody by the police and a wilderness preservation group, respectively, while Higgins escapes after taking advantage of Mary's attempt at fighting a police officer and resisting arrest, only to fall down a cliff and into a river while Alaina and Jason celebrate with a kiss.

Voice cast

 * Kristen Bell as Alaina Gleen
 * April Anderson as Young Alaina Gleen (uncredited)
 * Bill Hader as Max Hat
 * Max Neuwirth as an young Max Hat
 * Zac Efron as Jason Baxter
 * Taylor Swift as Lucy Jones
 * Jim Carrey as Professor Hinkle Higgins
 * Andy Samberg as Eddie Elephant
 * Maya Rudolph as Sally Gleen
 * Wanda Sykes as Betty Gleen
 * Allison Janney as Mayor Mary
 * Danny McBride as Roger Rumpkins
 * Kenan Thompson as Officer Bernie
 * Dwayne Johnson as Spy Squirrel
 * Nick Nolte as Timothy Tiger
 * T.J. Miller as Kevin
 * Nolan North as Bruce Bird, Tom
 * Leslie Mann as Ellie Bird
 * Elsie Fisher as Zoey Bird
 * Cody Ward as Alex Bird
 * Zachary Gordon as Benny Bird
 * Brad Cuddyer as Josh (uncredited)
 * Katie Lowes as Eva Jackson
 * Will Forte as Phillip the Foreman, Brad the Cool Guy
 * John DiMaggio as Frank, Police Officer #1
 * Thalia Ward as Michelle, Old Lady, Owlclaw
 * Nathan Lane as Jack
 * Fred Tatasciore as John
 * Harland Williams as Chef, Tim, Mime
 * Maurice LaMarche as Police Officer #2
 * Daran Norris as Teacher
 * Jess Harnell as Hug Guy, Gene, Police Officer #3
 * Matt Hill as Mike

Additional voices

 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Steve Alterman
 * Stephen Apostolina
 * Kirk Baily
 * Bob Bergen
 * Dave Boat
 * Mitch Carter
 * June Christopher
 * David Cowgill
 * Makenna Cowgill
 * Wendy Cutler
 * John Cygan
 * Jennifer Crystal Foley
 * Eddie Frierson
 * Johnny Gidcomb
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Kerry Gutierrez
 * Jennifer Hale
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Lex Lang
 * Anne Lockhart
 * Mona Marshall
 * Scott Menville
 * Laraine Newman
 * Paul Pape
 * Al Rodrigo
 * Michael Sorich
 * April Stewart
 * Pepper Sweeney
 * Marcelo Tubert
 * Lynnanne Zager

Production
In 2003, 20th Century Fox announced plans for another Alaina Gleen feature film, with the intention of it being animated in CGI at its Blue Sky Studios department rather than using traditional animation. Writers Peter Ackerman and Michael J. Wilson were hired by Fox to write the script for the film; and eventually, Ackerman and Wilson wanted the film to feature a "more experienced" Alaina Gleen, which the film's title would later be Next Dimensions.

After the release of The Alaina Gleen Movie in 2004, however, Fox canceled production on Alaina Gleen: Next Dimensions due to the former bombing at the box office. After the cancellation of Next Dimensions, Alaina Gleen creator Thalia Ward regarding the future of the series on a CNN interview in October 2005, he said, "I don't have anything official to announce, but I can speak as an individual, I love Alaina Gleen and Max Hat, and I love those other guys and gals I created. And I would love to find a way to bring them back if we could." Chris Wedge, founder of Fox's Blue Sky Studios, has said that he would love to see a revival of the original Alaina Gleen television series or even a full-blown theatrical reboot.

In July 2006, after the success of Puppet Pals, Fox revealed through an IGN interview that they would possibly revive the series of Alaina Gleen. Thalia Ward, Michael J. Wilson, Brad Cuddyer and Jared Brady visited the house where Ward first pitched Alaina Gleen, and came up with the story for the film over a week in January 2007; Wilson and Ward then wrote a treatment which followed the origin story of how Alaina and her friends met and reunited Max Hat from her childhood to stop a menacing professor named Hinkle Higgins from capturing Max and use him to take over the world. A computer-animated film under the title simply as Alaina Gleen, was confirmed by Fox Animation on October 11, 2007, which was two weeks after Fox's book-to-film adaptation of Kate & Chris was released to theaters. Thalia Ward was announced as director, with Ward, Wilson, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, David Reynolds, and Lorne Cameron writing the film's screenplay. Eventually, Lori Forte was pitched in to assist with the production. The film's original release date on November 5, 2010, was also announced. It was also announced that the original voice cast from the TV series will be entirely replaced by better-known actors due to the hopes of attracting a larger audience. In December 2009, Alaina Gleen was pushed back from November 5, 2010, to October 22, 2010. That same month, Kristen Bell was announced to play the voice of Alaina Gleen, taking the place of Alaina's original voice actress Catherine Cavadini; in addition to Bell, Bill Hader, Zac Efron, Mandy Moore, Jim Carrey, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Wanda Sykes, Kenan Thompson, and Nick Nolte have also joined the cast. In February 2010, Kristen Bell later expressed that she described herself as a "girly fan" of the original Alaina Gleen series when she was younger, and said that it was an honor for her to be part of this "new generation".

On March 30, 2010, it was announced that Mandy Moore (who was originally going to voice Lucy Jones) had left the film over creative differences about how her character should come to life. By the time of her departure, Moore's character had already been fully voiced and animated. Taylor Swift, who had already been considered before Moore, stepped in to voice Lucy. Due to the finished animation, Swift had to match her timing exactly to the character's mouth movement. Initially, during her five-day recording, she tried to imitate Moore's voice, but found it impossible. She ended up only using Moore as an inspiration, and resolved to go with her own interpretation of the character. In May 2010, Dwayne Johnson and T.J. Miller joined the cast. Alaina Gleen officially wrapped production on September 18, 2010.

Music
Alaina Gleen: Music from the Motion Picture is a soundtrack to the film of the same name, composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and John Powell, and released on October 15, 2010 by Interscope Records, a week before the movie's theatrical release.

Release
Alaina Gleen was originally scheduled for release on November 5, 2010, but was moved to avoid competition with DreamWorks Animation's Megamind. On October 7, 2010, the film had its world premiere at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood with the cast and filmmakers as attendees and a pink carpet instead of the traditional red, and was released widely in theaters two weeks later on October 22. The film was released in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2010. The film's theatrical release was accompanied by the short film The Mushies: Operation Xmas. 20th Century Fox announced that Alaina Gleen would be their first film to feature theatrical 7.1 surround sound. Plus, even the Blu-ray version would feature original 7.1 audio, unlike other films which were remixed into 7.1 for Blu-ray.

The film was digitally re-mastered into IMAX 3D, and released to 195 North American IMAX theatres, and approximately 80 IMAX theatres outside North America.

Marketing
A huge amount of merchandise was made for Alaina Gleen, such as toys, clothes, and figurines. The film's marketing budget was an estimated $200 million, which along with its production budget was around $305 million, which Fox teamed up with several major companies to promote the film, including Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Oreo, and Airheads, who made limited-edition flavors "Max Hat's Banana Flavor" and "Alaina's Blueberry Flavor" JetBlue Airways held a series of online sweepstakes to win a trip to the film's Hollywood premiere. They also included a channel dedicated to Alaina Gleen on their planes' in-flight entertainment system.
 * The film's teaser trailer was released on March 25, 2010 and was attached into How to Train Your Dragon, Puppet Pals 2, Iron Man 2, Shrek Forever After, Marmaduke, and The Karate Kid. 
 * The official trailer was released on June 14, 2010 and was attached into Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender, Despicable Me, Ramona and Beezus, and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
 * The final trailer was released on August 24, 2010 and was attached into Upside Mystery 2, Alpha and Omega, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and Secretariat.

Video game
A video game based on the film was developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ and was released on October 26, 2010 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC, and Mac.

Home media
Alaina Gleen was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 4, 2011. The film debuted at the top of the home media sales chart for the week ending on March 13, 2011, with 10.15 million copies sold. A 3D version of the Blu-ray was released in North America on May 20, 2011. On March 29, 2011, a 3D DVD was released as a two-disc set, with the first disc being the TrioScopics 3D (green-magenta anaglyph) version and the second disc being the 2D version. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version was released on July 11, 2017.

Alaina Gleen: The 4-D Experience
Alaina Gleen: The 4-D Experience is a 16-minute 4D film shown at various 4D theatres over the world. It retells the condensed story of the film, with the help of 3D projection and sensory effects, including moving seats, wind, mist, snow and scents.

Critical response
Based on 211 reviews, the film holds an 89% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus stating "Alaina Gleen offers a colorful gateway into the world of its classic characters, hearty laughs, and a sweetly and slicker nostalgic 3-D CG animation and polished writing that gives fans faithfulness to the original 90s cartoon." On Metacritic, it has a score of 86 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by Cinemascore gave Alaina Gleen a grade of "A" on a scale from A+ to F scale.

Box office
Alaina Gleen grossed $265.2 million in North America and $285.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $551.1 million. Worldwide, and is the highest-grossing film based on an animated television series at the time surpassing Fox's own The Simpsons Movie ($527 million). It was the highest-grossing film directed by a woman until being surpassed by Kung Fu Panda 2 the next year.

The film opened on Friday, October 22, 2010, alongside Paranormal Activity 2 and Hereafter and was projected to gross $40–45 million or as high as $50 million from 3,926 theaters in its opening weekend. Alaina Gleen was the top-selling film for the weekend, and grossed $16.9 million on its opening day. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $67.2 million (with 55% of the opening gross coming from 3D and IMAX screenings), finishing first at the box office and marked the third biggest Fox animated opening of all time, behind Puppet Pals and Puppet Pals 2, and was also the highest-grossing opening weekend for an animated film released in October, beating the $47 million debut of Shark Tale. It dropped 31% in its second weekend, against Saw: The Final Chapter, and since it was Halloween weekend, the film grossed a total of $38.3 million over the weekend, topping the box office once again. In its third weekend, the film held well with a small drop to $29.9 million and finishing third behind newcomers Due Date and Megamind. The film later closed on March 3, 2011, a day before the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Accolades
Alaina Gleen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 3, as well as being nominated for Best Original Score. It also received nominations for Best Sound Mixing (Randy Thom, Tom Myers, Gary Rydstrom, Gary Rizzo and Doc Kane), and Best Sound Editing at the 83rd Academy Awards, both losing to Inception.

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

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