Computeropolis 3

Computeropolis 3 is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Universal Animation Studios for Universal Pictures. It is the third installment in the Computeropolis franchise and the sequel to 2007's Computeropolis 2, and is also the first entry in the series to be released in 3D. The film was directed by Mike Moon (in his directorial debut) and Ash Brannon and written by Joe Stillman, Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky from a story by Stillman and Brannon. The film stars Jesse McCartney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Dan Fogler, Eddie Izzard, David Hyde Pierce, Jodi Benson, Jon Lovitz, and Jennifer Tilly reprising their respective roles from the previous films, with William Shatner returning as Frank from the first film, joined by Christopher Plummer, Jane Lynch, Danny McBride, and Will Forte. In the film, Peri, Nicky, Travis, and the rest of the gang face off against Jeff Bick, a ruthless nemesis of Peri who plans to melt the internal infrastructure of the Internet. Meanwhile, Vinna pays a visit to her long-lost family, who abandoned her to find a new life.

Computeropolis 3 held its world premiere in Los Angeles on November 21, 2010, and was released in the United States on December 10, 2010 in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D formats, making it the first film in the Computeropolis franchise not to be released in July. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, voice cast, humor, and soundtrack, but criticized its story and writing. However, the film was a box office success, earning $783 million worldwide on its $85 million budget, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2010. It was also nominated for the Best Animated Film at the 64th British Academy Film Awards. A sequel, titled Computeropolis: The Deep Web, was released in 2018, and another sequel, titled Computeropolis: Webcation, is set for release in 2021.

Plot
After completing their new successful mission with the Desktop Component League (DCL), Peri Dazz and Vinna Binz are preparing for their first anniversary after numerous dates in the city of Computeropolis while having feelings for each other. The next day, Vinna returns to the DCL headquarters where she meets a married couple, Amy and Hank, and their three children Rachel, Mark and Eli, who happen to be Vinna's long-lost family who are looking for her after abandoning her to have a better life. They quickly bond with Vinna and persuade her to come to her old home so she can spend more time with her family, much to the jealousy of Peri, his partner and best friend Nicky Kickzoo and the rest of the DCL. As a result, Vinna gets eventually separated from Peri with her family. Meanwhile, Jeff Bick, a mysterious internet hacker, plans to develop malware storms that wipe out the cyber city by tricking the citizens into "global internet warming" (G.I.W.) and replace it with a huge factory.

During a meeting in the DCL headquarters for another mission, a violent lightning strikes the place and the gang barely escape while everyone else in Computeropolis is forced to evacuate. Anthropomorphic rabbit Mr. Cotton, the city's local con artist, explains to Peri and the DCL that Bick was responsible for the lightning, much to the gang's confusion. He believes that the only way they could stop Bick from controlling G.I.W. and sending danger to the city is to find some support from Modem Square, a town near almost miles away from Computeropolis. He also hears that Bick is also planning to send a flood towards the city by breaking a dam unless they build an extremely large tower that may save them all. While the DCL are sent to Modem Square to find support, Mr. Cotton visits the Binz family's apartment and convinces Vinna to stop G.I.W. but she refuses to go with him and explains that she feels depressed without Peri. Starting to catch more feelings for Peri, Amy and Hank warn her the same fate awaits her when there are cybercrimes around the city, whereas she could get harmed. Vinna decides to stay, much to the delight of the others.

Meanwhile at Modem Square, Peri and the DCL witness Big Dusty, a talking gorilla gangster, stealing things from a shop and give a fully hectic chase, thus ensuing chaos around the town. However, their mission failed when they allow Big Dusty to escape after crashing into the woods, where they realize that they are lost. While attempting to fix their damaged DCL van after the chase, Nicky finds his old flying ship from Peri's computer game Frenzy, which could help the gang find a shortcut to stop G.I.W. from Bick. However, Bick oversees the ship and decides to send another violent lightning strike to kill the DCL, but they manage to escape successfully. Suddenly, the ship begins to run out of gas, which results in Peri and the gang to break free with parachutes.

Soon, they find Mr. Cotton, who eventually fixed the DCL's van, much to the others' surprise. While worrying about Vinna and only wanting to take advantage of Nicky and the rest of the DCL only just because of Vinna, Peri begins to worry that he is becoming like either King Trojan or Cyber-Boy, threatening Peri's friends in their quest for revenge. Nicky tells Peri that he lied to him about reuniting with Vinna again and that he and the other DCL members only took Peri because they wanted to keep him safe from G.I.W. Furious and hurt over Nicky's misdirection, Peri isolates himself to stop Bick with G.I.W. alone.

The DCL (minus Peri) finds the Binz family's apartment where they take Vinna and the rest of her family to Computeropolis, now in ruins after various disasters by G.I.W. Upon arriving there, they find Mayor Fredrick Moss, who tells them that the construction of the tower Mr. Cotton mentioned earlier is finished, which lead them to board the tower along with the other citizens of Computeropolis. Meanwhile in the woods, Peri becomes lonely without his friends and begins to have a nightmare with his past enemies King Trojan and Cyber-Boy, saying that he cannot save his friends. As Peri wakes up, Mr. Cotton arrives and encourages Peri to fix the mess. Gaining self-confidence, Peri has an epiphany that he must save the city in order to save himself. As Peri and Mr. Cotton travel to Computeropolis, Bick and Big Dusty destroy the dam, which begins the flood towards not only the city, but also Modem Square (where its citizens were evacuated earlier) that the duo is in, but Nicky rescues them on top of a floating log and takes them to the tower from the city, where Peri finally reunites with Vinna.

However, Bick arrives and attempts to kill everyone with a reset machine out-of-anger, while he and Peri engage in a long battle on the log. Peri rolls the log around, resulting in Bick being knocked out. Peri and the gang try to break the machine so they can survive, but after several failed attempts, Peri eventually throws the machine onto the river where it launches on the sky, causing an explosion that restores the sky and weather, diverting the flood and saving the citizens in the city, where they celebrate their victory. At the same time, Bick is attacked by Mr. Cotton and a reformed Big Dusty and gets arrested for his crimes, and Mr. Cotton and Dusty become friends. Soon, Peri and Vinna held their anniversary party they had planned a few days ago along with the rest of their friends including Mr. Cotton and Dusty.

Voice cast

 * Jesse McCartney as Peri Dazz, a teenage boy and the co-leader of the Desktop Component League (DCL). He is also Vinna's boyfriend.
 * Max Neuwirth as a younger Peri.
 * David Spade as Nicky Kickzoo, a video game character whom Peri created and is also his best friend and one of the members of the DCL.
 * Sarah Silverman as Vinna Binz, a teenage girl and one of the members of the DCL. She is also Peri's girlfriend and the oldest child of Amy and Hank.
 * Christopher Plummer as Jeff Bick, a ruthless hacker who attempts to wipe out Computeropolis with "global internet warming" (G.I.W.) and replace it with a factory.
 * Jane Lynch as Amy Binz, Hank's wife and Vinna's mother.
 * Danny McBride as Hank Binz, Amy's husband and Vinna's father.
 * Dan Fogler as Travis, one of Peri's friends.
 * Will Forte as Mr. Cotton, an anthropomorphic rabbit and a con artist. He is now best friends with Big Dusty.
 * Eddie Izzard as Fredrick Moss, the mayor of Computeropolis.
 * David Hyde Pierce as Manager Marc, the leading founding member of the DCL.
 * Jodi Benson as Commander Cindy, one of the members of the DCL and Marc's administrative assistant and mate.
 * Jon Lovitz as:
 * Notepad Ned, one of the members of the DCL and Paula's fiancé.
 * Paul, an internet officer in Computeropolis.
 * Jennifer Tilly as Painting Paula, one of the members of the DCL and Ned's love interest.
 * Dakota Fanning as Rachel Binz, Vinna's sister.
 * Will Shadley as Mark Binz, one of Vinna's brothers and the youngest child of Amy and Hank.
 * Freddie Highmore as Eli Binz, one of Vinna's brothers.
 * Brad Garrett as Big Dusty, a former zoo gorilla hired by Bick to track down Peri and the DCL. He is now best friends with Mr. Cotton.
 * Sofía Vergara as Tina, a lab employee who staffs a radar station in Computeropolis.
 * Nathan Lane as Otis, Tina's lab partner.
 * Kari Wahlgren as Carol, the computer voice of Computeropolis.
 * William Shatner as Frank, an internet officer in Computeropolis.
 * Kelsey Grammer as King Trojan from the first film, appearing in Peri's nightmare scene.
 * Tress MacNeille as Heather Dazz, Peri's mother.
 * Jeff Bennett as Earl Dazz, Peri's father.
 * Mike Moon as Joe
 * Ash Brannon as Alex
 * Michael Wildshill as Ponk
 * John Carnochan as Tuck

Additional voices

 * Lori Alan
 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Shane Baumel
 * Bob Bergen
 * Ash Brannon
 * John Cygan
 * Bill Farmer
 * Don Fullilove
 * Teresa Ganzel
 * Gary Hall
 * Jess Harnell
 * Daniel Kaz
 * Audel LaRoque
 * Austin Lux
 * Danny Mann
 * Cynthia Marion‎‎
 * Mona Marshall
 * Mike Moon
 * Laraine Newman
 * Jan Rabson
 * Grace Rolek
 * Jeremy Shada
 * Jim Ward
 * Catie Wayne
 * Colette Whitaker
 * Michael Wildshill

Development
Following the success of Computeropolis 2, a third Computeropolis movie was announced in July 2007 by Universal Feature Animation CEO Michael Wildshill: "Computeropolis is at least three: maybe more, but we know there are at least three chapters to that story." In October 2007, Universal Pictures revealed that the third film had been set for release on July 9, 2010.

Unlike the first two films, the film was not directed by Audel LaRoque due to his occupation with Quest (2012). LaRoque was still involved as an executive producer, and was giving advice approximately every four months on the state of the film. In January 2008, it was announced that the third film would be instead directed by Mike Moon, one of the developers and the co-producer for the first three seasons of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, with Ash Brannon, a story artist on the first two films as well as the director of the short The Sounds of the Ocean, joining as co-director a year later.

Joe Stillman, previously known for co-writing Universal's The Princess and the Pied Piper (2006) as well as DreamWorks' Shrek (2001) and TriStar's Planet 51 (2009), was asked by Universal to write the script for the third film, while Monsters vs. Aliens screenwriters Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky came to do rewrites on the original screenplay by Stillman. According to Stillman, who came up with an idea for the third film, Computeropolis 3 is said to be a homage, and a parody of, disaster films such as Twister, Independence Day, Deep Impact, Armageddon, The Core and The Day After Tomorrow, as the film's plot suggests. "When you see our heroes escape from the doomsday internet thing," said Stillman, "they're trying to find a way to stop the global warming online. I first had an idea of the characters escaping from the doomsday chaos when the movie was in early development back in the day, so we've decided to make this story up of how Peri and his gang try to find someone who is rapidly controlling the internet."

Music
The film's score was composed by John Debney, and its soundtrack was released on December 7, 2010 by Interscope Records. It was the only film in the series not to be co-composed by Heitor Pereira, who did not return for the third film due to him being busy at work on Despicable Me. Jesse McCartney, the voice of Peri Dazz, recorded a song titled "Techno Babble" for the film's end credits.

Theatrical
Computeropolis 3 premiered at the Mann Village Theater in Los Angeles, California on November 21, 2010. The American release followed on December 10, 2010. It was originally scheduled to be released on July 9, 2010, but the release date was later assigned to Despicable Me. The film was also converted to the IMAX format.

In Japan, the film was meant to be released in Japanese theaters on March 26, 2011, but due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami a week before, the Japanese theatrical release date was cancelled. However, in January 2012, Universal Pictures Japan announced that Computeropolis 3 would instead receive a Japanese straight-to-DVD release on February 1, 2012.

Marketing
The first teaser trailer was released in front of Woo La La in theaters on November 25, 2009. The second teaser was released on March 9, 2010, and was later attached into Diary of a Wimpy Kid, How to Train Your Dragon, The Ace of All Trades Movie: Too Hot For Theaters! and Puppet Pals 2. An exclusive sneak peek (presented by Jesse McCartney) was also released during the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards on March 27. The film's full trailer was released on July 5, 2010, and was attached into Despicable Me four days later. Its final trailer was released on October 14, 2010, and was later attached to Alaina Gleen, Megamind and Tangled.

Home media
Computeropolis 3 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 22, 2011. A 3D version of the Blu-ray was released in North America on May 3, 2011. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version was released on May 8, 2018.

Television broadcasting
Computeropolis 3 had its network television premiere on ABC Family on Saturday June 23, 2012 at 8:00pm. It then aired on Gingo on November 25, 2012. Cartoon Network also aired this movie on December 8 of that year. Disney Channel aired this on March 1, 2013. TBS also aired it on Saturday, June 1, 2013. TNT aired this movie on September 8, 2013.

Box office
Computeropolis 3 grossed $254.5 million in the United States, and $529.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $783.9 million.

Critical reception
Computeropolis 3 has received a mostly mixed response from critics and fans alike. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 43% based on 174 reviews; the average rating is 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "The action and humor are spot-on as usual, but Computeropolis 3 's unfortunate resort to disaster film cliches and contrived plot points suggests that the franchise has been corrupted." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, gave the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, down from the first two films' "A".

Video game
A video game tie-in was released on December 7, 2010, for Xbox 360, Windows, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and mobile devices. It was developed by Papaya Studio and published by D3 Publisher.

Comic book
A comic book based on the film titled Computeropolis Prequel: Time Before Time was released on December 6, 2010 by Ape Entertainment.

Sequels
The fourth film, Computeropolis: The Deep Web, was released in 3D on June 1, 2018. It was directed by Audel LaRoque, making it the first film in the series to be directed by LaRoque since Computeropolis 2. The film takes place a few years after the events of the third film, with Peri being 17 years old. Peri and his friends take a journey to the bootleg world known as the Deep Web led by Rulio, a bootleg knockoff mixture of Elmo and Mario, before Peri prepares to leave for college. During their adventure, Peri and the gang encounter many strange commodities of the Deep Web, such as toy and nursery rhyme channels for children. However, after rescuing a teenage girl named Zola from a mean-spirited group called the Darkers, they soon discover Rulio is responsible for making these bootlegs and plans to put a bootleg virus that could destroy Peri's computer, so they must stop him before it's too late.

The fifth film, Computeropolis: Webcation, is scheduled for release in 3D on July 9, 2021.

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

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