The Calvin and Hobbes Movie

The Calvin and Hobbes Movie is a 2039 3D animated film about the eponymous protagonists, Calvin and Hobbes. It features Calvin and Hobbes becoming friends and after Hobbes helps Calvin improve his life, they are forced to save the world from a deadly threat. The film is directed by Edgar Wright and has an ensemble cast that includes Roman Griffin Davis, Ben Stiller, Emma Fuhrmann, Elizabeth Olsen, Bradley Whitford, Maggie Smith, Alex Wolff and Sir Patrick Stewart. The film was a financial success, receiving mostly positive reviews from critics. It spawned two sequels, Calvin and Hobbes 2: Rosalyn Rising and Calvin and Hobbes: The Final Chapter.

Plot
Calvin is a first grader who does very badly at school do to his insomnia. Calvin is also frequently picked on by Moe, the class bully, and has a bad relationship with his parents because of his bad grades. Calvin often pretends to be a space hero named Spaceman Spiff in order to escape his lousy real-world life, and in one fantasy, he is shot down by an alien ship (hit with a ruler by his teacher for not paying attention).

Calvin is assigned to do a report on tigers, and he sets a snare trap to catch one. Hobbes gets caught in the snare, and he befriends Calvin. Calvin brings Hobbes to school, but everyone sees Hobbes as a stuffed tiger because of their limited imagination and Calvin fails the report. New student Susie Derkins joins the class, and Calvin shoots spitballs at her to hide his feelings for her.

Hobbes scares Moe into never bullying anyone again and cures Calvin of his insomnia by letting Calvin use Hobbes' tummy as a pillow. The next day is the last day of school, and Calvin fails the end-of-year test (doing well on the biology section) when he tries to have Hobbes tell him the answers via walkie-talkie. Hobbes pounces on Calvin when he comes home.

On the first day of summer, Calvin and Hobbes go on a wagon ride and Calvin ponders the effectiveness of the school system rather than steering, causing the wagon to crash. They then use the Transmogrifier to turn Calvin into a tiger and they have fun chasing frogs, but Calvin decides to change back into a human after his parents perceive him as such, having no imagination.

Calvin and Hobbes start G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy GirlS) to give them an excuse to bug Susie. They make the garage their headquarters and, guided by a complex map, sneak into Susie's yard, soaking her with a water balloon and attempting to steal her doll, Binky Betsy. However, Susie takes back her doll, and tells Calvin's mom about her son's antics, causing Calvin's mom to put an end to G.R.O.S.S. However, Calvin awards himself and Hobbes "bottle caps of valor" for "courage in the face of the enemy", and G.R.O.S.S. is secretly relocated to the treehouse.

Calvin's dad brings Calvin, Hobbes, and Calvin's mom on a camping trip. Calvin and Hobbes are initially excited, but their enthusiasm leaves them when it starts pouring. Calvin's dad takes Calvin and Hobbes on a hike, despite the rain, and Calvin gets stuck in "quickmud", mud created by the rain that goes extremely deep. Calvin is rescued by his dad, and then a raccoon bites him on the arm. Hobbes knocks it away, and Calvin returns to his tent. The next day, Calvin's dad takes Calvin to go fishing, despite the raccoon bite. Calvin gets stuck in quickmud on the way to the canoe and is rescued by his dad. Once they are out in the bay, Calvin enters another Spaceman Spiff fantasy, where his dad is a monstrous alien and they are both floating on a slab of rock in a pool of lava. Spiff blinds the alien by shooting it in the eyes with his frap-ray blaster (Calvin blinds his dad using the reflection of lightning on a bait can) and flies to shore using his jetpack (Calvin swims to shore and catches a cold). Calvin spends several days in his tent with Hobbes and gets pneumonia, but Calvin's dad refuses to take them home. Eventually, the ground their tents are on turns into quickmud, and they are forced to leave the island. Susie helps Calvin recover from the infected bite and his pneumonia, becoming his friend.

Calvin and Susie both have to redo first grade, because of Calvin's awful grades and Susie arriving so late in the year. It snows and they make monstrous snowmen, who they dub "snow goons". That night, Calvin and Hobbes notice what appears to be a meteor over the forest. They go to investigate and discover it was, in fact, a UFO that two aliens named Galaxoid and Nebular used to reach Earth. The aliens tell Calvin and Hobbes they want to conquer Earth because it is "prime real estate", and when Calvin states he won't let them conquer the Earth, Galaxoid and Nebular use the UFO to bring the snow goons to life.

The snow goons attack the town, and Calvin and Hobbes are chased by one. Susie rescues them in her toboggan and they send the snow goon off a cliff. Calvin, Hobbes, and Susie decide to use the Transmogrifier as a weapon by rigging it up to the school satellite dish so they can shoot a Transmogrification bolt at the UFO and turn it into a bug, enabling them to step on it, returning the snow goons to their inanimate state. Calvin, Hobbes, and Susie take the Transmogrifier over to the school and hold off the snow goons using snowballs and the school sprinkler system, managing to climb onto the roof, but Galaxoid and Nebular extend tripod-like legs from their UFO to attack the heroes and stop them from finishing the Transmogrification ray. Hobbes attacks the UFO to buy Calvin and Susie time, and is injured by the UFO's force shield. Calvin finishes rigging the Transmogrifier to the satellite dish, but the force shield blocks the bolt and is destroyed in the process.

Calvin uses the Transmogrifier to transform into Spaceman Spiff and, after shooting the UFO a couple times with his frap-ray blaster, he completely destroys it and kills Galaxoid and Nebular with a grenade-like demise-o-bomb. The snow goons are returned to being snowmen, and Calvin Transmogrifies the toboggan into Spiff's ship and uses it to erase the memories of everyone in town so the army won't try to use the Transmogrifier as a weapon. Hobbes recovers from his injuries, and Calvin and Susie discuss how imagination saved the town. Susie gives Calvin a kiss on the cheek as the sun sets.

Cast

 * Roman Griffin Davis as Calvin/Spaceman Spiff
 * Ben Stiller as Hobbes
 * Emma Fuhrmann as Susie
 * Elizabeth Olsen as Calvin's mom
 * Bradley Whitford as Calvin's dad
 * Maggie Smith as Miss Wormwood
 * Alex Wolff as Moe
 * Sir Patrick Stewart as Galaxoid and Nebular

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 87% approval rating based on 294 reviews and a positive rating of 8.72/10. Metacritic surveyed 49 reviews and assigned it a score of 91 out of a hundred, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Movie critic Peter Debruge stated that "the film shows us some great Calvin and Hobbes moments and then adds something new". Ann Hornaday gave the movie four out of four stars, stating that "it was clever, funny, and inventive, with something for everyone, and beautiful imagery". Bill Watterson stated "I can't believe I didn't do this before".

On the contrary, Peter Travers criticized the film, saying "It took something that some people might have liked in the 1980s and turned it into a movie with no heart and characters more flat than the comic section of idiotic newspapers". This angered fans of the movie and led to Rolling Stone and People rejecting his reviews and writings. Popcorn with Peter Travers was taken off all channels and canceled after that.

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was contributed to by Arcade Fire, who wrote an original song for the film and used several songs from their discography, a trait that would later be used in the sequel.

All music written by Arcade Fire.
 * 1) Imagination - Main theme
 * 2) Rebellion (Lies) - opening/Calvin's theme
 * 3) Month of May - Wagon ride
 * 4) Creature Comfort - G.R.O.S.S. mission
 * 5) Intervention - Transmogrifier
 * 6) Une Annee Sans Lumiere - Camping
 * 7) Wake Up - Escape from the snow goons
 * 8) We Exist - Final battle
 * 9) Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Closing credits