Paint World

Paint World is a 1999 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Universal Feature Animation and released by Universal Pictures. The second feature film from the studio, it was directed by Audel LaRoque from a screenplay by LaRoque, Irene Mecchi and Thomas Lennon and a story by LaRoque and Michael Wildshill, and stars the voices of Haley Joel Osment, Dan Aykroyd, Beverley Mitchell, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Arquette, Alan Cumming, David Gallagher, Rachel Dratch, Cheri Oteri, and Molly Shannon. Set in a world based on paint and colors, the film centers on a young boy named Deon Splatt (Osment), who uses an oversized paintbrush to defend the world's liveliness against Gerry Disgill (Hopper), a demented, colorblind elder and the owner of the B&W Squad who intends to desaturate the world in order to satisfy his "nostalgic taste".

Paint World was released on December 25, 1999 to positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, characters, music, and performances, although some compared it unfavorably to the animated musicals of the Disney Renaissance era. It was a success at the box office, earning over $182 million worldwide on its $48 million budget, making it the fifth highest-grossing animated film of 1999. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("What I'll Do for the World" by E.G. Daily), tied with "You'll Be in My Heart" from Disney's Tarzan. A television series based on the film aired from 2000 to 2001.

Plot
Taking place in a world made of paint and colors, Deon Splatt is an aspiring and idealistic young painter who lives in the town of Paletton, with his parents Linda and Richard and his older brother Zach. Deon dreams of adventure and wants more than what the little town can offer. As such, he is seen as an outsider by the townsfolk.

More coming soon!

Voice cast

 * Haley Joel Osment as Deon Splatt, a kind and creative 11-year-old painter (singing voice provided by E.G. Daily).
 * Dan Aykroyd as Tucker, a dim-witted humanoid creature created and painted by Deon.
 * Beverley Mitchell as Gracie GaColor, Deon's love interest.
 * Dennis Hopper as Gerry Disgill, the founder of the B&W Squad who is one of the few to be disillusioned with the modern multicolored world.
 * Patricia Arquette as Linda Splatt, Deon's mother.
 * Alan Cumming as Richard Splatt, Deon's father.
 * David Gallagher as Zach Splatt, Deon's older brother.
 * Rachel Dratch as Aunt Maggie, Deon's aunt.
 * Cheri Oteri as Mary
 * Molly Shannon as Maria
 * Audel LaRoque as Chuck
 * Gregg Berger as Steve
 * Gary Hall as Kenny
 * Irene Mecchi as Karen
 * Frank Welker as Splash, Deon's pet rainbow dog.

Additional voices

 * Jack Angel
 * Robert Bergen
 * Mary Kay Bergman
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Corey Burton
 * Robert Carpenter
 * Philip L. Clarke
 * Jim Cummings
 * Jennifer Darling
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Paul Eiding
 * Bill Farmer
 * Pat Fraley
 * Gary Hall
 * Audel LaRoque
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Danny Mann
 * Cynthia Marion
 * Mickie McGowan
 * Amy McNeill
 * Denise Pickering
 * Patrick Pinney
 * Phil Proctor
 * Brianne Siddall
 * Lillias White
 * Michael Wildshill

Singers

 * Beth Anderson
 * Laurie Anderson
 * Susan Boyd
 * Amick Byram
 * Hamilton Camp
 * Alvin Chea
 * Randy Crenshaw
 * Lorraine Feather
 * Nick Jameson
 * Edie Lehman
 * Andrea Robinson
 * Laurie Shillinger
 * Carmen Twillie
 * B.J. Ward
 * Cindy Wilson

Development
Paint World was originally conceived by Audel LaRoque in the late 1980s following the success of Disney's The Little Mermaid while working on Liche's Wish at Multimedia Animation in North Hollywood. He then came up with the story of the film, which was about a boy who attempts to save his world from losing its colors. During the production of Multimedia's Ghost Vision in 1994, LaRoque began working on the original treatment of Paint World, which was completely different from the final version of the film. In the draft, Deon Splatt was named Splat and was a human child raised by humanoid creatures known as "paintrolls". Later, as a young adult, Splatt finds out that the world is falling apart when it loses colors that were stolen by wicked monsters, so he teams up with his friends to stop the monsters. After their victory, Splat then became the leader of the paintrolls. Splat is the only main character in the original draft who made it to the final version as Deon Splatt. Some of the characters in the draft later became Deon's family and friends in the final film.

Cynthia Marion, then-head of Multimedia Animation, approved of the film's script, and pre-production for Paint World started soon after. The studio then looked for actors to be cast in the film. Scott Weinger, known for his role as the title character in Disney's Aladdin, was also being reportedly considered for the role of Splat. Marion's choices for the other characters included Jim Carrey, Bill Murray, and Kate Winslet.

In late 1995, while developing the project, Multimedia, Inc. was merged with Universal Studios' parent company MCA Inc., and LaRoque was allowed to transfer to the new Universal Feature Animation studio headed by Michael Wildshill in Universal City to direct Paint World. The staff brought The Lion King writer Irene Mecchi to help rewrite their 1994 script with additional input from Thomas Lennon and David Silverman.

Casting
Haley Joel Osment was hired to voice the title character in late 1996.

Animation
Coming soon!

Music
The film's original soundtrack was released by Reprise Records on November 30, 1999. The songs for the film were composed by LaRoque and lyricist Tim Rice, while the score was composed by John Debney.

The score for the film, composed by Debney, was released through Varèse Sarabande on December 21, 1999.

This is a list of musical numbers for the film:

Release
Paint World was originally slated for July 1999, but was pushed to December 1999 to give the production team more time to finish the film, with Gingo's Hatty in the Big City: The Movie taking over its original slot.

Marketing
The film was accompanied by a promotional campaign by Burger King.

Home media
Paint World was released on VHS and DVD on May 16, 2000. The DVD release included an audio commentary by Audel LaRoque and Michael Wildshill, a 28-minute making-of documentary, a gallery of concept art, storyboards, test footage, deleted scenes, and DVD-ROM features.

On June 8, 2004, a 2-disc "Special Edition" was released featuring the same special features from the original 2000 DVD as well as new ones including a sneak preview of the 2004 Universal animated film Computeropolis and a THX optimizer. The film was released for the first time on Blu-ray on May 25, 2010.

The film was later released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 8, 2018.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 79% approval rating with an average rating of 8/10 based on 167 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "Paint World 's offers colorful family fun, enriched by a high-spirited voice ensemble, a visionary plot, and plenty of gags throughout." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 61 out of 100 based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars and called it "a captivating animated musical whose artistic merit is on par with Disney's Aladdin and The Lion King." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "amazingly creative and outstanding with the heart and charm of other animated hits." Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film three out of four stars and said, "Having the familiar standards and charm of Ama and the Mysterious Crystal, as well as an interesting concept, Paint World is a coming-of-age for Universal Feature Animation." USA Today ' s Susan Wloszczyna said that Paint World "often entertains the family-friendly audience and keeps them joyful."

However, some critics disliked the film's similarities with the animated films of the Disney Renaissance. Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two and a half stars out of four and compared the film to The Little Mermaid, saying that it "feels like one of those shameless Disney rip-offs that have a story that sounds familiar to us." Andrew Sarris of the New York Observer criticized the film's characterization, and noted that the relationship between Deon and Gracie was akin to "Aladdin and Jasmine all over again." On the more negative side, Christy Lemire of Associated Press called Paint World "a poor man's Aladdin."

Box office
The film was released on December 25, 1999, and grossed $16,865,041 on its opening weekend, debuting at number one at the box office. By the end of its theatrical run, it had earned a worldwide gross of $182,184,659, becoming the third highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of 1999, behind The King of Heroes and Darkness Awakening as well as the fifth highest-grossing animated film of the year, behind The King of Heroes, Darkness Awakening, Tarzan, and Toy Story 2.

Video games
Paint World has spawned four video games:
 * Paint World was released in 1999 and in 2000 by Universal Interactive Studios for PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and Dreamcast.
 * Paint World: Activity Center, an educational game, was released in 1999 for Windows and Mac.
 * Paint World: Disgill Strikes Back was released in 2002 by Traveller's Tales for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.
 * Paint World: Deon's Huge Journey was released in 2003 by Universal Interactive for the Game Boy Advance.

Television series
Paint World is a short-lived American animated television series created by Universal Television Animation in 2000, based on Universal's animated feature film of the same name. The series aired on Gingo from September 23, 2000 to March 17, 2001, and continues the story of the 1999 film.

Other appearances
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.