Upside Mystery

Upside Mystery is a 2007 American computer-animated fantasy detective film produced by Spyglass Entertainment and Starz Animation. It was directed by Vicky Jenson from a screenplay by Michael J. Wilson and stars the voices of John Travolta, Christian Slater, Michelle Rodriguez, Jennifer Saunders, Jack Nicholson, and Emma Thompson. The film tells the story of Hans Truman and Jason Truder, two detectives on a mission to thwart mastermind Becky Brutal's plan from affecting Los Vegas with the help of a secret spy agent named Stella Lee.

The film premiered at the Miami International Film Festival on August 11, 2007, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 17, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Despite receiving mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, grossing $382 million worldwide against a budget of $65 million, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It launched an expanded franchise including two sequels, Upside Mystery 2 in 2010 and Upside Mystery 3 in 2015, a television special titled An Upside Mystery Christmas airing on Fox in 2009, and an animated television series titled Upside Mystery: The Mischief Detectives airing on Fox Family from 2012 to 2015.

Plot
Mastermind Becky Brutal (Jennifer Saunders) has been hired with plans to affect the metropolis named Los Vegas on some fantastical scale. Detective Hans Truman (John Travolta) was assigned as a detective in Los Vegas on his mission with his partner Jason Truder (Christian Slater). As Truman and Truder reached the building, some of the servants held Truder hostage. After Truman successfully defeating the servants, Brutal suddenly attacks Truman and Truder, then tells them that Los Vegas will be terminated before escaping.

As a result of failing the mission to capture Brutal, the chairman of Los Vegas (Emma Thompson) orders Truman and Truder to be sent to Los Vegas Detective School. Both were met by mentor William Schubert (Jack Nicholson), who trains the detectives for their heroism. Truder tells Schubert that he and Truman are failures of being detectives. Schubert agreed to lead both of them to undergo training to become better detectives.

While being trained, Truman and Truder were given challenges to find a person that is missing. Truman uses his radar to give directions. They found out that one of the Los Vegas workers was drowning in the fountain, which caused Truman to save him. Meanwhile, Becky orders her guards to capture both Truman and Truder while preparing for her shockwaves. Both were chased around Los Vegas by Becky's guards but were saved by Stella Lee (Michelle Rodriguez), a secret spy agent from Los Vegas. All 3 went back to Detective School for their training success, leading Schubert to award Truman and Truder a medal for detective. Schubert tells both of them that the mastermind is trying to defect to Los Vegas with shockwaves.

Stella Lee goes on her own mission for her spy service, but Truman convinces her about what Brutal was trying to do, which she agrees to work with Truman and Truder. As all three worked together, Brutal's completed shockwave causes a power outage in Los Vegas with no electricity around. Brutal's guards captured Truman, Truder and Lee after the fantastical scale affected the entire metropolis and were taken to Brutal's lair.

While they were taken to her lair, Truman wants to know Brutal what she has done. She later reveals herself to be the true mastermind behind Los Vegas and affects it on her fantastical scale, as she states that "no visitors will have fun in the metropolis," before challenging Truman, Truder and Lee to the fight. Truman, Truder and Lee later overpowered Brutal, reporting the recorded concession to LVDD, before they arrived to arrest Brutal over her treachery.

After Brutal gets arrested, Los Vegas has become a tourist metropolis with Truman, Truder and Lee being honored by the chairman of Los Vegas.

Cast

 * John Travolta as Hans Truman, a shy but brave detective who was shocked by the fantastical scale.
 * Christian Slater as Jason Truder, Hans Truman's best friend and partner.
 * Michelle Rodriguez as Stella Lee, a secret spy agent and Hans Truman's love interest.
 * Jennifer Saunders as Becky Brutal, a mastermind who affects Los Vegas with some strange fantastical scale.
 * Jack Nicholson as William Schubert, Hans and Jason's mentor.
 * Emma Thompson as the chairman of Los Vegas.
 * Vicky Jenson as Los Vegas news anchor.

Additional voices

 * Tom Kenny
 * Tara Strong
 * Billy West

ADR Loop Group

 * Kirk Baily
 * Cam Clarke
 * David Cowgill
 * Eddie Frierson
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Wendy Hoffmann
 * Rif Hutton
 * Scott Menville
 * Edie Mirman
 * David Zyler

Development
In October 2003, while co-writing Shark Tale for DreamWorks Animation, Michael J. Wilson developed and pitched an idea where a detective found out that the city has been affected by some fantastical scale.

On November 12, 2004, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced that it had picked up the rights to a computer-animated movie titled Upside Mystery with Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum producing through Spyglass Entertainment. By 2005, Barber announced that Shrek and Shark Tale director Vicky Jenson had been hired to direct the film while also receiving a scheduled summer 2007 release date.

Casting
In September 2005, it was announced that Broken Arrow stars John Travolta and Christian Slater have joined the cast alongside Michelle Rodriguez and Jennifer Saunders with the latter voicing the villain. On September 15, 2006, Jack Nicholson and Emma Thompson have joined the voice cast.

Bill Murray was initially offered the role of Hans Truman, but he turned it down. Other actors were also considered, including George Clooney, Keanu Reeves, Bruce Willis, and Tom Cruise before director Vicky Jenson ultimately cast John Travolta as Hans Truman after seeing him in The Punisher and Be Cool.

Cameron Diaz was producers' first choice for Stella Lee, but she declined because she felt it was too similar to her role as Fiona in DreamWorks' Shrek (which it was also directed by Jenson). The role was then given to Michelle Rodriguez because they thought she sounds fitting for the character.

Animation
Starz Animation (originally known as IDT Entertainment) was announced to be animating the film on February 8, 2006.

Music
Hans Zimmer, who previously scored Vicky Jenson's co-directed Shark Tale, was originally hired to score the film, but his score was rejected and was replaced with a new score by Marco Beltrami. Zimmer was later set to score another 2007 animated film The Simpsons Movie instead. According to Vicky Jenson, she considered Zimmer's composition to be almost a similarity and the decision to replace him with Beltrami was made afterwards. However, Zimmer later received a "Special Thanks" credit.

Marketing
MGM released a teaser trailer and poster on June 8, 2006 and was attached into Cars and later Everyone's Hero in theaters. On December 14, 2006, another teaser poster was released, followed by the film's second teaser trailer the following day and was attached into The Princess and the Pied Piper in theaters. On March 26, 2007, a first full trailer and the theatrical release poster were released and was attached into Meet the Robinsons. On June 20, 2007, a final trailer was released and attached into Ratatouille. Tie-ins with Sprint Corporation and Burger King were made to promote the film.

When released in theaters, the film was accompanied by The Pink Panther short film License to Pink.

Video game
A video game based on the film was released for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PC on August 7, 2007. It was also the final game published by MGM Interactive before it gets folded.

Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 27, 2007, by MGM Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was also released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on August 15, 2017 for its 10th anniversary.

Box office
Upside Mystery opened number 1 at its opening weekend, grossing $49.3 million at the box office from 3,683 theaters. The film then stayed #1 in its second weekend with $24.5 million, dropping 50.3%.

Upside Mystery grossed $132.1 million in North America and $250.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $382.3 million, becoming the seventh highest-grossing animated film of 2007, behind The Miniatures 2, Kate & Chris, The Simpsons Movie, Ratatouille, Shrek the Third, and Computeropolis 2.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 143 reviews, with an average rating of 6.01/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Upside Mystery delivers thrilling moments for a detective movie, but somehow the story gets convoluted." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades
More to be added

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

Trailer transcripts
To see the transcripts for the trailers of the film, click here.

Sequels
A sequel titled Upside Mystery 2 was released on August 27, 2010 with production beginning in 2008. It was directed by Open Season director Jill Culton, written by Mark Burton and David Koepp, and produced by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum. Travolta, Slater, and Rodriguez reprised their roles alongside newcomers Pierce Brosnan, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, and Judi Dench. Vicky Jenson returns as executive producer only as she was scheduled to direct her live-action directorial feature Post Grad.

A third installment titled Upside Mystery 3 was released on September 4, 2015. It was directed by The Prince of Egypt and Brave co-director Brenda Chapman, written by Josh Klausner, Steve Bencich, and Ron J. Friedman and produced by Roger Birnbaum and Vicky Jenson. Travolta, Slater, Rodriguez and Dench also reprise their roles alongside newcomers Christina Ricci, Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt.

Television special
A 30-minute Christmas television special, An Upside Mystery Christmas, premiered on Fox on November 27, 2009. The story takes place between Upside Mystery and Upside Mystery 2. In this special, Hans Truman is starting a Christmas party for his friends Jason Truder and Stella Lee. However, he figures out that all of their presents were stolen. Now Truman, Truder, and Lee has to find out who stole their presents. The television special was co-written and directed by Peggy Holmes (who serves as head of story for the first film) with Mark Burton, Steve Bencich, and Ron J. Friedman also writing the script.

Television series
On March 24, 2011, it was announced that Fox Family has acquired broadcast rights based on the film series, which was scheduled to begin on November 13, 2012. Vicky Jenson, Gary Barber, and Roger Birnbaum returned to executive produce the TV show while the main characters would be recast (except Judi Dench). The TV series ended on April 14, 2015 after 4 seasons.