Swapped

Swapped is a 2008 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Universal Animation Studios and released by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Larry Huber in his feature film directorial debut (with Jess Riol as co-director) from a screenplay by Brian Lynch and produced by Freddie Long, with Michael Wildshill and Audel LaRoque as executive producers. The film stars the voices of Sarah Vowell, Dave Foley, Caroline Dhavernas, Amanda Bynes, Leslie Mann, Steve Buscemi, Freddie Highmore, Martin Short, Loretta Devine, and Harland Williams. The plot is loosely based on the 1881 novel The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.

The film tells the story of a teenage girl named Suz Grady (Vowell) who orders the Swapper, a brain switching helmet invented by the National Swap Center (NSC), which she uses to swap bodies with animals and objects to ditch her human life. However, after encountering a group of people who have their bodies switched with animals, Suz must find a way to get their bodies back before someone else does.

Swapped was released in the United States on July 2, 2008, and was met with mixed critical reception but was a box office success, grossing $376 million worldwide on its $70 million budget. The film was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Plot
In the small town of Carterville, Suz Grady is a 15-year-old high school student who lives her boring life with her parents Alice and Patrick. She has dreams of escaping her everyday school life and spends time with her best friend Chloe Andersen. Meanwhile, businesswoman Malaria Nickerson runs the National Swap Center (NSC), a factory that has just launched a line of brain switching helmets called the Swapper, which allows people to swap bodies with animals and objects. With the help of her assistant and younger brother Rodney, Malaria acts as the leader, and orders the employees to work on the products frequently. After seeing a Swapper commercial on TV, Suz purchases one online.

One evening after work, while organizing the Swappers, Rodney accidentally switches bodies with a squirrel by using one of the Swappers in which the squirrel in Rodney's body somehow runs away while Rodney in the squirrel's body hides inside a box of foam peanuts with a Swapper which is shipped to Suz's house. Suz plays around with the Swapper by switching many animals and other things all day. Later that night, Suz discovers that the box that the Swapper Suz purchased was on seems to be moving and opens it, where she encounters Rodney, who begs her to let him reside with the other squirrel until she finds his human body so he can return to his normal body. Suz protests, but reluctantly lets Rodney stay in her home for a while.

Suz continues to have fun with the Swapper the next day. However, she accidentally switches bodies with her doll, which led to her parents to believe that she is sick. Suz and Rodney attempt to get her body back until they realize her parents take the doll in Suz's body to the hospital, where a doctor checks "her body" and believes that she is dead. After Suz's parents take the doll in her body home, Suz finally gets her body back. Soon, Norman, a former NSC member who has swapped bodies with a beaver, visits Suz and convinces her and Rodney to visit an abandoned warehouse housed by a group of people who have their bodies switched with animals known as the Swapped People, who all formerly worked for the NSC.

Suz and Rodney attend a support group meeting for the Swapped People. The two later spend some time with the Swapped People until they encounter Maria, a overweight girl who happens to be Suz's rival in her class who desires Suz's body to switch bodies with the Swapper so she can become beautiful again. Suz sympathizes with her plight and willingly trades her body for Rodney. As Maria leaves for her performance at the school's fair (where the NSC attend), Suz becomes saddened without her normal body and leaves Rodney and the Swapped People behind. However, the Swapped People decide to not let Suz give up, and Rodney encourages her to become a normal girl again. Suz then confesses that they were right, and joins Rodney and the Swapped People alongside Chloe to get her body back at the fair, where she meets Malaria on-person for the first time. Upon arriving there, Suz tells everyone that "swapping bodies is not always important, it's in your heart". As a result, Maria gives Suz her body back and apologizes for the letdown while Rodney finally gets his human body back when some of the NSC members found it.

Sometime later, Suz spends more time with her family and her friends, while Rodney and Malaria gives everyone for the Swapper for a limited time at the NSC.

Voice cast

 * Sarah Vowell as Suzanne "Suz" Grady, a 15-year-old girl who dreams of escaping her average everyday high school life.
 * Dave Foley as Rodney Nickerson, a young man who accidentally swapped bodies with a squirrel and recruits Suz to get his human body back.
 * Jeremy Shada as Young Rodney
 * Caroline Dhavernas as Malaria Nickerson, Rodney's older sister and the leader and head of the National Swap Center (NSC).
 * Ariel Winter as Young Malaria
 * Amanda Bynes as Chloe Andersen, Suz's best friend.
 * Leslie Mann as Alice Grady, Suz's mother.
 * Steve Buscemi as Patrick Grady, Suz's father.
 * Freddie Highmore as Lee Webb, an emo boy who is Suz's neighbor.
 * Martin Short as Norman, a former member of the NSC who swapped bodies with a beaver and is the leader of the Swapped People.
 * Loretta Devine as Karen, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a black goose.
 * Harland Williams as Jimmy, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with his pet dog, Rex.
 * Nika Futterman as Suz's teacher.
 * Michael Yarmush as Johnny Long, one of Suz's friends.
 * Shantel VanSanten as Maria, a girl in Suz's class.
 * Larry Huber as Richard, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a turtle.
 * Amy McNeill as Kelly, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a rat.
 * Tom Kenny as Steve, one of the Swapped People and a pizza delivery boy who swapped bodies with a pig.
 * Pat Fraley as Phil, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with his pet goldfish.
 * William Jennings as Chuck, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a bug.
 * Laura Bailey as a NSC member.
 * Rob Huebel as NSC Manager
 * Brian Lynch as Doctor

Additional voices

 * Isabella Acres
 * Lori Alan
 * Emily Anderson
 * Jack Angel
 * Bob Bergen
 * John Cygan
 * Larry Huber
 * Erica Lindbeck
 * Freddie Long
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Danny Mann
 * Mona Marshall
 * Mickie McGowan
 * Samuel Mokugusn
 * Laraine Newman
 * Jan Rabson
 * Jess Riol
 * Grace Rolek
 * Steve Samono
 * Jeremy Shada
 * Zack Shada
 * Will Shadley
 * André Sogliuzzo
 * James Kevin Ward
 * Catie Wayne
 * April Winchell
 * Ariel Winter

Development
When Magina was in production in late 2002, Universal feature animation head Michael Wildshill had met with comic book writer Brian Lynch and gave him a copy of Mark Twain's novel The Prince and the Pauper, desiring to make an animated film based off on it. By the spring of 2003, Lynch devised a story treatment inspired by body swaps in fiction with a duo of protagonists who swap bodies through a helmet. Jim Anderson and Kirk Wise were originally the film's directors with a tentative release scheduled for a summer 2007 release. Originally, the story was conceived as a dramatic film and a "loose modern take" on The Prince and the Pauper, which had Suz Grady initially conceived as a spoiled girl who despises school and encounters another girl with a body-swapping helmet who came from an alternate universe where school never exists; Suz swaps places with the girl to escape her boring school life. In Lynch's treatment, the film was meant to end with Suz and the girl switching back to their original bodies and the former would reunite her family and friends in reality.

However, when Me & Mobo was in production, Wildshill decided that the project should be a departure from its serious approach, and desired for the film to be a more lighthearted comedy. Because of this, the film was put on hold due to several rewrites and Computeropolis 2 assumed the summer 2007 release date originally scheduled for Swapped. Anderson and Wise left the project in 2006 following disputes over the film's creative direction, and were replaced by Larry Huber, an animator known for his history as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Nickelodeon and also the co-creator of Nickelodeon's ChalkZone, and Jess Riol, a co-producer on Me & Mobo. Additionally, Steve Samono reportedly co-directed the film albeit uncredited.

Casting
In September 2006, Sarah Vowell, Dave Foley, Caroline Dhavernas, and Amanda Bynes had signed onto the film. American author and actress Vowell was asked to do the voice of Suz because of her voice work in Pixar's The Incredibles, as well as her involvement in the National Public Radio program This American Life.

Animation
Coming soon!

Soundtrack
In June 2007, Mark Mothersbaugh was revealed to be returning to Universal Animation to score Swapped. Interscope Records released the soundtrack on July 1, 2008.

Video game
A video game based on the film was released on June 24, 2008 for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable.

Release
Swapped was originally scheduled for a May 23, 2008 release, but Universal Pictures moved the release up to July 2, 2008, mainly due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. The film was accompanied by the short animated film Operation Bug featuring Bug from Zina Supermoon.

Marketing
The film was first revealed in its official teaser in front of the preceding Universal animated feature Computeropolis 2 in theaters.

Home media
Swapped was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 2, 2008. It was re-released on Blu-ray 3D on September 13, 2011, and then on a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on March 20, 2012, then individually on June 26, 2012. It was re-released again on Blu-ray on December 6, 2016, then on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 15, 2019.

Box office
Coming soon!

Critical response
Swapped received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 60% approval rating with an average rating of 6.0/10, based on 143 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Swapped isn't all too fresh and sometimes can't help but mock Freaky Friday, but its zany visuals and delightful characters are hard to resist." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 49 out of 100 based on 48 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

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

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