Esqua

Esqua is a 2020 American computer-animated coming-of-age comedy adventure film produced by Illumination. It is directed by Michael Wildshill and co-directed by Colin Stimpson (in the latter's feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by himself, Erica Rivinoja, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, and stars the voices of Awkwafina, Charlie Sheen, Larenz Tate, Alicia Vikander, Robin Wright, Steve Coogan, and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film follows a unlikely young girl, along with her pet bird-like creature, who happens to find a strange aquatic ski cap that not only it can somehow talk, but also can make magic like morphing, so the girl seeks to prove her worth to her true love with the cap, but she becomes suspicious that the cap comes from a dangerous origin.

Esqua premiered in Los Angeles on March 3, 2020, and was released in a limited amount of theaters on March 20, 2020 by Universal Pictures. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it was also released on video on demand on the same day. Upon release, the film was critically acclaimed, with praise for its animation, characters, voice acting, writing, humor, musical score, and visuals; some film critics consider Esqua to be the best Illumination film since Despicable Me (2010). It also became successful by topping the digital renting charts, which led to Universal looking forward into doing more simultaneous theatrical and video-on-demand releases. This is also Cynthia Marion's final film before her death.

Plot
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Voice cast

 * Awkwafina as Esqua Chavez, an idealistic, but mostly accident-prone, teenage girl who always wants to be on her own freedom. Her name is a portmanteau of "esquí" (which means "ski" in Spanish) and "aqua".
 * Capri Oliver as a younger Esqua.
 * Charlie Sheen as Sky, a magical talkative ski cap that Esqua encounters.
 * Larenz Tate as Daniel Park, Esqua's crush.
 * Alicia Vikander as Kim, Esqua's best friend.
 * Robin Wright as Madison Chavez, Esqua's mother.
 * Steve Coogan as Evan Chavez, Esqua's father.
 * Michelle Pfeiffer as Sonya, a mysterious woman responsible for the origins of Sky.
 * Cynthia Marion as Annie
 * Michael Beattie as Foreman Fred
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Puffy, Esqua's pet bird-like creature.

Additional voices

 * Isabella Acres
 * Ashley Bell
 * Steve Blum
 * June Christopher
 * Wendy Cutler
 * Brian T. Delaney
 * Bruno Dequier
 * Claire Dodgson
 * Terri Douglas
 * Jake Eberle
 * Dave Fennoy
 * Jeff Fischer
 * Grey Griffin
 * John Kassir
 * Josh Keaton
 * Logan Kishi
 * Kelly Lake
 * Joanna Leeds
 * Cynthia Marion
 * Scott Menville
 * Piotr Michael
 * Max Mittelman
 * Andrew Morgado
 * Heidi Brook Myers
 * Laraine Newman
 * Chris Renaud
 * Maddix Robinson
 * Ken Schretzmann
 * Keith Silverstein
 * Colin Stimpson
 * Tara Strong
 * Shane Sweet
 * Robert Taylor
 * Kirk Thornton
 * Cory Walls
 * Tom Walters
 * Michael Wildshill
 * Scott Whyte

Development
In July 2015, Michael Wildshill revealed that the would be directing and writing an original animated film for Illumination, marking his first solo directorial feature film since Universal Animation's Woo La La in 2009 as well as being his first directorial project for Illumination. Wildshill said that, while work on the project has already begun by then, it was still in very early stages of development. He also later explained that the reason for pitching his film to Illumination rather than its sister studio Universal Animation is their films mostly received a mixed critical reception which did not achieve the same level as Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios as well as most Universal Animation films including Paradoria due to "mediocre storylines, unfunny jokes and overused pop culture gags" according to Wildshill and they haven't made a critically acclaimed film since Despicable Me (2010). Wildshill said that this Illumination film would be better and the best one since the first Despicable Me, due to the internet backlash against Illumination.

In January 2016, the film was officially confirmed under the working title Aquatic, along with its plot and first release date of 2018. Erica Rivinoja, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio were announced as co-writers. According to Wildshill, Illumination's CEO Chris Meledandri was "entirely proud" of the film's concept when Wildshill pitched it to him. Wildshill also said that it would "co-exist" with the Universal Animation films including Ama and the Mysterious Crystal and Woo La La. In July 2018, Colin Stimpson was announced as co-director of the film. In April 2019, the title of the film was changed from Aquatic to Esqua.

Casting
In April 2019, Awkwafina, Charlie Sheen, Larenz Tate, Alicia Vikander, Robin Wright, Steve Coogan, and Michelle Pfeiffer were announced as starring in the film.

Music
On November 10, 2019, it was announced that John Debney, who previously scored multiple Universal Animation films, would compose the film's score. Also, it was announced that rapper Lil Nas X made a song for the film on January 9, 2020 and was released the next day which was titled “F9mily”.

Animation and design
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Release
Esqua was originally scheduled for theatrical release on July 13, 2018 by Universal Pictures, but in August 2016, the film was pushed back to July 3, 2019. In January 2017, the film was taken off the release schedule, and the new release date was yet to be announced. In April 2019, the release date was pushed to February 28, 2020. By August 2019, it was moved back once again, this time to March 20, 2020 when the February 28, 2020 date was assigned to The Invisible Man.  A Universal Animation short film titled Virtual Vinna, starring Vinna Binz of Computeropolis, appeared before the feature film. The film was supposed to be released in China on March 27, 2020, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese release was pushed back to September 2, 2020. Universal premiered the film at Los Angeles on March 3, 2020.

On March 17, Universal announced that the film would be released simultaneously in theaters and for digital rental on March 20 in the United States and Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other films distributed by the studio, such as The Invisible Man, The Hunt and Trolls World Tour were also released digitally before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run.

As the pandemic receded, the film was released in three Santikos Theatres locations in San Antonio, Texas on May 1, 2020. In Russia the film was made available in IMAX cinemas. In Austria and the Netherlands, it was released in both 4DX and Dolby Cinema.

Marketing
Test footage was screened on April 4, 2019 at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. On June 3, 2019, three stills from the film were revealed. The next day, the film's teaser poster was released, and the teaser trailer debuted on June 5, 2019, which was shown with The Secret Life of Pets 2. The second trailer (and official trailer) of the film was released on October 9, 2019 with The Addams Family. The third and final trailer was released on January 1, 2020.

Home media
Esqua was released digitally on May 26, 2020, followed by its home media release on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 9 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. In addition to Virtual Vinna, the releases also include two new mini-movies titled Puffy and the Egg and Minion Vacation.

Box office
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VOD sales
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Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 130 reviews, with an average rating of 9.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With beautiful and colorful animation and talented screenwriting, Esqua is brilliantly an entertaining family flick that should satisfy younger audiences in a way." The film is Illumination's highest-rated film on the Rotten Tomatoes website. At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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

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