Imagimals 2

Imagimals 2 is an American computer-animated comedy film produced by Universal Animation. It is the 20th film produced by the studio. The sequel to the 2017 film Imagimals, the film is directed by Geo G. and Ash Brannon, from a screenplay by Darren Lemke, and stars the voices of Rob Corddry, John Goodman, Kenan Thompson, Amy Poehler, Anthony Anderson, Allison Janney, and Elizabeth Banks reprising their roles from the first film. Joining the voice cast are Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Brooklynn Prince, James Corden, Bruce Dern, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Eden Sher, and Melissa McCarthy. In the film, Prack and Crushie try to teach their three new children Lily, Lulu, and Junior how to act like an imagimal as well as helping Prack's friend Busho get a little closer to home to see his long-lost family for the first time in years before a new predator named Hunter does.

Originally slated for a worldwide theatrical release by Universal Pictures, plans were changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Imagimals 2 was released theatrically in Canada on September 18, 2020, and digitally on Netflix in other territories on December 21, 2020, while it was theatrically released and on Peacock simultaneously in the United States on March 19, 2021. The film has grossed $52 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews, with most critics calling it a huge improvement over the original film.

Plot
Sometime after the events of the first film, Prack and Crushie and their three children—Lily, Lulu, and Junior—are living happily in Southland alongside the leader Busho and the other imagimals, but Busho is disappointed to see his adoptive son Moot lack some features like his adoptive father and begins to seek help to find his true own kind. He then quickly bonds with the kids whom Prack and Crushie taught how to act like an imagimal. Despite this, Prack sees Busho still disappointed, and Busho reveals that he was young, he was separated from his species' group, went on a long journey to find shelter and met a young Moot before taking him along for the ride and raising his own "son". Later, Busho believes that he should go on a trip to find his long-lost family and reluctantly lets the ecstatic kids go with him. He also enlists Moot, Sard, and some of the other imagimals to keep an eye on the kids.

Meanwhile, in a dark cave, a ruthless predator named Hunter plans to hunt every imagimal to preserve his own kind as the dominant species on the imagimal world. He recruits his comrade Stephanie, whom he makes her promise to not assassinate an imagimal beforehand, but she makes repeated unsuccessful attempts to do so anyway. Moot encounters Stephanie, immediately falls for her and follows her, being separated from Busho's group. Entering Stephanie's hideout, Moot nervously asks Stephanie out on a date, and she accepts since she sees this as another opportunity to kill him, but she fails to do so as Moot quickly reunites with Busho, the kids and the others who were looking for him after being missing.

The group is soon captured by masked imagimals who reveal themselves to be Busho's long-lost family. They are taken to the Green Grove where they meet the leader Peus and Busho's long-lost cousins Golo and Sammy, who all welcome the imagimals to their humble home. Peus seems unimpressed with Moot, but expresses gratitude to him over bringing Busho back home. Following a tour, Busho begins to grow accustomed to life in the Green Grove, much to the dismay of the others. Meanwhile, Hunter scolds Stephanie for letting Moot get away and decides to track down the imagimals on his own while Stephanie follows him.

Back at Southland, Prack, now under Busho's substitute as the leader of the Southland imagimals, inadvertently injures the imagimals and is crushed because of his failure, but Crushie advises him that instead of trying to be like Busho, he should try to be himself. The two go searching for Busho and the kids to make sure they are safe. During a celebration at the Green Grove, Moot decides to tell Busho what happened when he was gone but gets distracted seeing Stephanie under the bushes. Moot follows her, with Busho not far behind, and learns that Stephanie is working for Hunter, who plans to hunt down the Green Grove imagimals by setting up a trap. Upon overhearing Hunter say this, Moot comes back to alert the others about Hunter's plans. The Green Grove imagimals prepare an attack but instead of Hunter, Prack and Crushie appear and confront Busho and the others for putting their kids in grave danger, making Busho feel guilty and conflicted.

Soon, Hunter shows up and destroys the Green Grove, capturing almost every imagimal (including Prack, Crushie, their kids, and Moot) during the process. As the imagimals are taken, Busho, Peus, Golo, Sammy and some of the remaining imagimals leave to save the others, but are encountered and attacked by siren imagimals. They eventually make an escape, but realize that the siren imagimals get lonely when anyone walks away from them or no one is around so they decide to let the sirens follow them. Busho and his family arrive at Hunter's cave and defeat Hunter's minions while they free the rest of the imagimals. During the battle, a regretful Stephanie experiences a change of heart after realizing that wiping out all of the innocent imagimals is heartless and, thus, will make peace vanish in their world permanently, confessing her love for Moot. The vengeful Hunter refuses to accept the peace and tries to kill Stephanie and the imagimals, but Sard knocks him off into the abyss below. This in turn causes the siren imagimals to devour Hunter.

With their enemies gone, Prack, Crushie, their kids and the other Southland imagimals prepare to return back home at Southland, but quickly realizing how the experience has changed them, Busho and Moot happily decide to stay in the Green Grove with their new family and friends under the Southland imagimals' blessing, though still agreeing to visit Southland for some time. Afterwards, Prack becomes the new leader of Southland while Busho becomes the protector of the Green Grove. Sometime later, the Southland imagimals invite Busho and his family as well as the siren imagimals to join in their celebration feast, while Moot and Stephanie become a couple.

Voice cast

 * Rob Corddry as Prack, a green imagimal who is Crushie's mate.
 * John Goodman as Busho, a green-spotted imagimal with a huge red nose who is the former leader of the Southland imagimals and now becomes a part of his birth home, the Green Grove.
 * Dakota Fanning as Lily, Prack and Crushie's kind, friendly daughter and the oldest of Prack and Crushie's children.
 * Brooklynn Prince as Lulu, Prack and Crushie's youngest daughter.
 * Jeremy Ray Taylor as Junior, Prack and Crushie's mischievous, younger, and only son.
 * James Corden as Peus, an imagimal who is one of the leading members of Busho's long-lost family from the Green Grove.
 * Kenan Thompson as Moot, a small, blue imagimal from Southland who is Busho's adoptive son.
 * Amy Poehler as Crushie, a pink female imagimal who is Prack's mate.
 * Bruce Dern as Hunter, a dark, ruthless predator who wants to capture every imagimal he planned to eat.
 * Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as Golo and Sammy, a pair of imagimals who are Busho's long-lost cousins from the Green Grove.
 * Anthony Anderson as Sard, a hefty brown imagimal who is Busho's assistant.
 * Kate McKinnon as Sally, Prack's mother.
 * Dan Fogler as Frank, Prack's father.
 * Allison Janney as Lokami, a bird-like imagimal who guides Prack.
 * Elizabeth Banks as Peggy, a seductive imagimal whom Sard has a major crush on her.
 * Eden Sher as Stephanie, a kind, young humanoid-like imagimal who is Moot's love interest and Hunter's former servant.
 * Melissa McCarthy as Nini, an imagimal who is the mother of several young imagimals.
 * Geo G. as The Great Voko, an eagle-like creature.
 * Ash Brannon as Squirt, a member of the Green Grove.
 * Mark Hamill as:
 * Gerald, a caterpillar-like imagimal.
 * Shoomaka the Zombie, an elderly elf-like imagimal.
 * John DiMaggio as Wrestling Nate, a cricket-like muscle imagimal. DiMaggio previously voiced Ernest in the first film.
 * Raymond S. Persi as Hank
 * Samantha Cohen as JoJo
 * Lilly Rodgers as Ash
 * Sophia Hall as Trixie

Additional Voices

 * Steve Alterman
 * Greg Berg
 * William Calvert
 * Robert Clotworthy
 * John Cohen
 * David Cowgill
 * Timothy Cross
 * Terri Douglas
 * Richard Fenn
 * Jennifer Crystal Foley
 * Spencer Ganus
 * Jessica Gee-George
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Jennifer Hale
 * Carter Hastings
 * Eric Jennings
 * William Jennings
 * Joe Kelly
 * Matt Yang King
 * Roy Kobayashi
 * Wendee Lee
 * Hope Levy
 * Greg Marshall
 * Caitlin McKenna
 * Scott Menville
 * Edie Mirman
 * Dan Molina
 * Alicyn Packard
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Patrick Seitz
 * Lloyd Sherr
 * Dennis Singletary
 * Warren Sroka
 * Randy Travelers
 * Audrey Wasilewski
 * Annie Grace Wells
 * Joe Whyte
 * Lisa Wilhoit
 * Debra Wilson
 * Matthew Wood
 * Lynnanne Zager

Development
On April 5, 2017, Universal Animation announced that a sequel to its 2017 film Imagimals was in development, with Rob Corddry, John Goodman, and Kenan Thompson reprising their roles as Prack, Busho, and Moot, respectively. Producer John Cohen and writer Darren Lemke returned for the sequel, while Universal Animation CEO Michael Wildshill reprised his position as executive producer like most of his Universal animated films. Geo G. would also return to direct the sequel, despite having stepped down as director in order to work more on other projects.

In July 2019, Ash Brannon was announced as the film's co-director. Additionally, it was also announced that most of the cast from the first film will reprise their roles in the sequel, joined by James Corden, Melissa McCarthy, Bruce Dern, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Ray Taylor, and Brooklynn Prince.

It was suggested by Geo that Brannon had more creative control over this film than its predecessor and that at times he was difficult to work with.

Animation
Portions of production were done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music
Mark Mothersbaugh, who scored the first film, returned to score the sequel.

Theatrical and streaming
Imagimals 2 was originally set for a worldwide theatrical release on March 5, 2021 by Universal Pictures. It was then pushed back to May 21, 2021, before being delayed nearly a year earlier to November 20, 2020. It was moved four more times: to November 6, 2020, February 5, 2021 (as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), February 12, 2021, and finally March 19, 2021.

On August 19, 2020, Universal Pictures Canada announced the film would be released in Canadian theaters on September 18, 2020. In September 2020, Netflix acquired international distribution rights to the film, excluding the United States, Canada, and China. On December 10, 2020, Universal announced that the film will be simultaneously released in theatres and on Peacock on the same day it will release in American theaters. The film was released internationally on Netflix on December 21, 2020.

The film's US theatrical release was preceded by Cookie's Tale, a Paradoria short film. The short was also released on Peacock on the same day.

Marketing
The first trailer was released on March 11, 2020. Its first full trailer was released on June 13, 2020. The final trailer was released on November 9, 2020. Prack appeared floating on the 94th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote the upcoming movie.

Home media
Imagimals 2 was released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on Digital HD on May 25, 2021 and is scheduled to be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 8, 2021. In addition to Cookie's Tale, all the releases include a new animated short film, titled Rough Play.

Box office
As of April 2, 2021, Imagimals 2 grossed $36.2 million in the United States and Canada and $16.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $52.3 million.

In the film's debut Canadian weekend, it grossed $9,174,685 from 500 theaters. Since Canada's grosses are factored into American totals, Imagimals 2 finished first at the box office, and one of the highest weekend totals for a film since the start of the pandemic. IndieWire estimated that had the film had a traditional North American theatrical release it would have opened to $110-115 million, including a $15 million total from Canada.

In the United States, Imagimals 2 was released alongside Silk Road, and was projected to gross around $10–11 million from 2,000 theaters in its opening weekend. It went on to debut to $7.1 million, making it the third animated title to top the box office weekend during the COVID-19 pandemic after The Croods: A New Age and Swan Dream Pool: The Magic Trails (both distributed by Universal), but 85% less than its predecessor's opening weekend ($82.5 million). The opening weekend audiences were 49% female and 42% under the age of 17, while 36% was Hispanic, 29% Caucasian, 25% African American, and 13% Asian. In its second weekend, the film made $4.9 million in its second weekend and $5 million in its third, remaining atop the box office.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 11 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "While its story may fall apart at a few times, Imagimals 2 outstandingly helps redeem its 2017 flawed predecessor by welcoming its new branch of characters and a even more funnier humor than before and retaining the witty and wacky animation and charm." According to Metacritic, which assigned the film a weighted average score of 60 out of 100 based on 16 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale (the same score earned by its predecessor), while PostTrak gave the film a 4 out of 5 stars and 76% "definite recommend" from parents and kids under 12.

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

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