Nepola's Odyssey

Nepola's Odyssey is a 2011 American computer-animated fantasy adventure film produced by Universal Animation Studios. The eleventh feature film from the studio, it was directed by Geo G. from a screenplay by Gary Hall, Peter Baynham and Jordan Roberts, and a story by Geo, Hall, Audel LaRoque, Michael Wildshill, and Michael Veldman. The film stars the voices of Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Banks, Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen, Peter Dinklage, Julia Roberts, Zachary Gordon, and Chloë Grace Moretz. Taking place in ancient Greece, the film follows a young woman who embarks on a journey to find the mysterious realm of Greek gods, hoping they can help her become a powerful goddess.

Nepola's Odyssey premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 3, 2011, and was released in the United States on September 23, 2011 by Universal Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and earned a total of $445 million worldwide against its $85 million budget. The film was nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Rango. It launched an expanded franchise, with a sequel released in 2014 and a television series premiering on Universal Kids in 2017, the latter serving as a follow-up to the second film.

Plot
In Ancient Greece, a little girl named Nepola listens to her mother Astydameia tell a story of gods in Greek mythology. Years later, Nepola has grown into an aspiring young woman who is interested in gods and fantasizes about becoming one of them while also calling herself "the goddess of everything". Her obsession with gods often makes her an outcast in her village, and a constant embarrassment to Astydameia. One day, while helping Astydameia set up vases, Nepola befriends Deimos, a talkative rodent sent to recruit someone to join the mysterious realm of Greek gods, much to Nepola's desire. The two embark to the realm in which Nepola hopes the gods can help her become one of them.

Meanwhile, the evil snake-headed monster Medusa has a meeting with a group of godly monsters where she plots to take Nepola into her realm to make her one of them. She decides to pursue a mortal boy named Perseus so she can send him to find Nepola and take her to the realms. However, while finding Nepola, Perseus trips over a rock, causing him to fall onto a cliff. To his surprise, Nepola rescues him by pulling him up when Perseus managed to hang on to the edge of the cliff. The two begin to bond to each other, much to Deimos' jealously. As Perseus knows which way the Realm of Gods is, Nepola and Deimos decide to follow him.

Nepola, Deimos, and Perseus come across a temple, where the Hydra that Medusa sends lives under the temple in an eternal sleep. The three enter the temple, but Nepola senses a great danger of the Hydra in the temple, and suggest they keep quiet. However, Deimos causes a bunch of noise which awakes the Hydra, erupting from the temple one head at a time, in the process destroying the temple. Nepola, Deimos, and Perseus run out, and are left with the task of destroying the Hydra. After that, Medusa then later sends Cerberus in which Deimos should attract the Cerberus' attention as a means to let Nepola and Perseus get into the underworld unharmed.

After these and other incidents, Nepola and Perseus talk in a brief moment of peace - they share a word of peace, reflecting on their journey thus far, it is a point of no return at this point, they enter the underworld where they suddenly then reach the Realm of Gods. There, Medusa offers Nepola to become a goddess but secretly plans to take her into the realm to make Nepola one of them. Medusa also reveals that she is planning to turn Nepola evil so she can use her to destroy the innocent and conquer Greek, but Nepola refuses. However, as Nepola has no choice, she eventually accepts Medusa's offering and is given evil dark powers and Medusa later returns her, Perseus and Deimos to the mortal world. Distraught, Nepola is now being slowly consumed by the powers she has been given. Perseus starts to realize what he has done, and he along with Deimos attempt to get back to Nepola's village to defeat Medusa and her monsters once and for all. Nepola, now alone, starts to accept her fate before two gods emerge from the skies, revealing Zeus and Hera, who get rid of Nepola's old powers and grant her new ones which are much more powerful than Medusa's. As a result, Nepola decides to return to her village to stop Medusa.

Nepola finds that Medusa and her monsters have attacked the village and confronts her, where they start a battle with the help of Perseus, Deimos and the rest of the Greek gods. While Medusa tries to defeat Nepola, Medusa's abilities don't seem to affect Nepola one bit, resulting in Nepola managing to defeat her. After being defeated, Medusa's monsters turn against her, proceeding to turn her to stone using their own powers. The village is brought back to normal and everyone praises Nepola for what she did. Then, Zeus and Hera return from the skies where they tell Nepola is ready to become a goddess, and so she bids farewell to the village and joins Zeus and Hera alongside Perseus and Deimos, heading off into the skies through Mount Olympus where Nepola and the others enjoy their new lives with the gods.

Voice cast

 * Further information: List of Nepola's Odyssey characters


 * Sarah Jessica Parker as Nepola, an aspiring, kind, curious woman who wants to become a goddess.
 * Ava Acres as young Nepola
 * Elizabeth Banks as Medusa, a wicked, greedy, ruthless humanoid monster with snakes on her head.
 * Elijah Wood as Perseus, a mortal boy who follows Nepola along.
 * Seth Rogen as Deimos, Nepola's wise-cracking talking rodent friend.
 * Peter Dinklage as Zeus, the ruler of the Greek gods.
 * Julia Roberts as Hera, Zeus' wife and assistant.
 * Zachary Gordon and Chloë Grace Moretz as Eric and Lilas respectively, a pair of siblings who look up to Nepola.
 * Alex Borstein as Astydameia, Nepola's mother.
 * Jack McBrayer as Hades, the god of the underworld.
 * Gary Hall as Apollo
 * Kari Wahlgren as Pandora
 * Jim Cummings as the Cyclops
 * Ariel Winter as Little Girl
 * Michael Gough as Dionysus
 * Geo G. and Michael Wildshill as Phobos and Deimos
 * Cynthia Marion‎‎ as Female Villager
 * Frank Welker as Cerberus and Medusa's snakes

Additional voices

 * Chris Abazzi
 * Isabella Acres
 * Alexander Bates
 * Ava Benavente
 * Ivan Bilancio
 * Ranjani Brow
 * William Calvert
 * Cam Clarke
 * June Christopher
 * Cooper Cowgill
 * David Cowgill
 * Makenna Cowgill
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Holly Dorff
 * Eddie Frierson
 * Don Fullilove
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Emily Hahn
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Wendy Hoffman
 * Richard Horvitz
 * Matthew Ford Holt
 * Rif Hutton
 * William Jennings
 * Cynthia Marion‎‎
 * Mona Marshall
 * Amy McNeill
 * Scott Menville
 * Edie Mirman
 * Jonathan Nichols
 * Paul Pape
 * Peter Renaday
 * Kevin Michael Richardson
 * Warren Sroka
 * Claira Nicole Titman
 * Marcelo Tubert
 * Michael Wildshill
 * Skye Wildshill
 * Dave Zyler

Production
Nepola's Odyssey had been in development since late 2003, following work on Zina and the Vivid Crew, when Geo G. first developed the film's concept. The idea for the film came from Geo's childhood, when he made up his own gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. When production on Zina and the Vivid Crew finished, Geo pitched the idea to Michael Wildshill, who decided to have the film produced through the Universal Feature Animation division by which Geo signed on. Geo, Wildshill, Audel LaRoque, Gary Hall, and Steve Samono visited the house where Geo first pitched his animated series Gabriel Garza, and came up with the story for the film over a weekend in 2006; LaRoque then wrote a treatment. The following year, the production team traveled to Greece and Turkey to research classic Greek mythology to help create the look of the film.

The film was officially announced by Universal Animation Studios on February 1, 2008. Geo was announced as director, with Hall, Peter Baynham, and Jordan Roberts writing the film's screenplay. Eventually, DreamWorks Animation's Teresa Cheng was pitched in to assist with production. Geo, who had been working with the writers and story development artists on the film since mid-2007, said he felt pressure to avoid creating "the first dud" for Universal.

In September 2009, Sarah Jessica Parker, known for her role in Sex and the City, was announced to voice lead character, with Elizabeth Banks, Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen, Peter Dinklage, Julia Roberts, Zachary Gordon, and Chloë Grace Moretz also in the voice cast.

Release
Nepola's Odyssey premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 3, 2011. In the United States, it had been scheduled to be released on December 22, 2010, but in April 2009, Computeropolis 3 took its December slot, delaying the film's release date to July 8, 2011. By December 2010, it was rescheduled two months later to September 23, 2011 to avoid competition with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Marketing
The film's teaser trailer was released on December 1, 2010, and was attached into Computeropolis 3 a week later. The film's official trailer was released on March 29, 2011, and was attached into Hop three weeks later, followed by the final trailer on July 13, 2011 which was attached into Winnie the Pooh in theaters.

Universal teamed up with several major companies to promote the film, including McDonald's, who included eight toys in their Happy Meals featuring the main characters, and Airheads, who made limited-edition flavors "the Greek Flavor" and "Nepola's Strawberry Taste".

Home media
Nepola's Odyssey was released in the United States and Canada on DVD and Blu-ray on January 17, 2012, with a standalone single-disc DVD release being released on that same day. The release included the traditionally animated short film Zeus on the Loose.

The film was re-issued on Blu-ray on December 9, 2014. It includes a movie ticket to its sequel Nepola's Odyssey II. It was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 21, 2017.

Video game
A video game based on the film was published by THQ and released on September 20, 2011 for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Box office
Nepola's Odyssey grossed $161.7 million in North America and $283.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $445.3 million.

In North America, the film opened alongside Moneyball, Dolphin Tale, Abduction, and Killer Elite and grossed $45.9 million in its opening weekend from 4,148 theaters.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 162 reviews with an average rating of 6.2/10, with the consensus stating "Emotionally effective, visually stunning, and wholly witty, Nepola's Odyssey rides a familiar concept to a grand effect that will satisfy both children and adults." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has an average score of 66 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Sequel
A sequel titled Nepola's Odyssey II was released on December 12, 2014. It was directed again by Geo G., written by Geo, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja and Brian Lynch, and produced by Teresa Cheng and John Cohen. Sarah Jessica Parker, Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen, Peter Dinklage, Julia Roberts, Zachary Gordon, Chloë Grace Moretz, Alex Borstein, and Jack McBrayer reprised their roles, joined by new cast members including Max Charles, Isla Fisher, David Tennant, Jake T. Austin, Rob Corddry, Chris Parnell, Bobby Moynihan, and Kenan Thompson, with Kristen Schaal replacing Kari Wahlgren as Pandora. In the sequel, Nepola, Perseus, and their new son Mestor go visit Nepola's childhood friend, the goddess of the rainbow Iris, along with her family. But the reunion quickly takes a bizarre turn when Nepola's rival Pandora comes in, with emerging plans to unleash her cursed box with her miseries to get rid of Nepola.

Media
In September 2011, a manga version of Nepola's Odyssey was made by Hiromi Yamafuji and distributed in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Rival magazine in Japan; the manga was published in English by Tokyopop.

Television specials
Coming soon!

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

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