Calvin and Hobbes:The Movie is a 2015 adventure comedy film directed by Kevin Smith from a screenplay he wrote with Jackson Kelley and Bill Watterson. Based on Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and distributed by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, the film is the second entry in the Calvinverse. It follows Calvin, the six year old protagonist, and his tiger friend Hobbes as they are forced to go to a summer camp and run away into the woods at the center of an alien invasion. Jackson Kelley and Taika Waititi lead the film's ensemble cast as the titular characters, while the supporting cast includes Thomas Barbusca, Elizabeth Banks, Bill Hader, Sophia Lillis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Danny McBride, Seth Rogen, and Bryan Cranston.
Cast[]
- Jackson Kelley as Calvin, the six year old protagonist with a wild imagination.
- Oscar Isaac as Spaceman Spiff
- Robert Pattinson as Tracer Bullet
- Taika Waititi as Hobbes, Calvin's best friend for all time
- Thomas Barbusca as Moe, Calvin's school bully
- Elizabeth Banks as Mom, Calvin's mother
- Bill Hader as Dad, Calvin's father
- Sophia Lillis as Susie Derkins, one of Calvin's classmates
- Bryan Cranston as Rupert, an alien dictator
- Seth Rogen as Earl, Rupert's assistant
- Simon Pegg as Galaxoid, an alien who mistakes Calvin for the Earth Potentate
- Nick Frost as Nebular, another alien who mistakes Calvin for the Earth Potentate
- Danny McBride as John Chill, the head counselor at Camp Pine.
Additionally, musicians Brendon Urie, Dave Grohl, Zack De La Rocha, Tyler Joseph, Maynard James Keenan, Win Butler, Anthony Kiedis, Alex Gaskarth, Patrick Stump, Tom DeLonge, Deryck Whibley, Damon Albarn, Adam Lazzara, Corey Taylor, Jesse Lacey, and Serj Tankian each make appearances as the members of Rupert's crew, while the strip's creator Bill Watterson makes a cameo appearance as another member of the crew. Tom Cruise and Mark Hoppus each make uncredited cameos as the mad scientist Dr. Brainstorm and his robot assistant Jack, respectively, while Sean Penn cameos as a Search and Rescue Officer.
Plot[]
On the last day of school, Calvin (Jackson Kelley) rockets off the bus after school. Calvin rushes to the door and gets pounced on by Hobbes (Taika Waititi). Calvin doesn't notice Moe (Thomas Barbusca) behind him,and throws insults at Moe behind his back. Moe says he'll let Calvin off the hook for a dollar instead of 25 cents. Calvin doesn't have the money, and pleads for Moe to let him live. Moe lets Calvin live on one condition, that he has to attend Camp Pine with him. His mom (Elizabeth Banks) has already signed him up, so Calvin can't get out of it.
Calvin shows major reluctance for the camp. The day of, Calvin gets up,and goes downstairs for breakfast the next morning. Dad (Bill Hader) is reading the paper and sees Calvin. Dad tries to cheer up Calvin, but fails miserably. After finishing his breakfast, Calvin goes to his room,and tries to get Hobbes to go with him. Hobbes runs to the top of Sneer Hill. Calvin convinces him to go by saying that he will bring all the tuna and salmon. Hobbes is by his side,and they get on the bus.
A few minutes later,Susie(Sophia Lillis) gets on the bus. Calvin then realizes everyone from his class goes to Camp Pine. He gets bored,and attempts to escape the bus via Spaceman Spiff fantasy. The bus arrives at Camp Pine. Everyone gets off except Calvin. He is forced by the bus driver to get off. The other kids are staring at a counselor cabin. Suddenly, John Chill (Danny McBride) bursts out of the cabin.
John explains the rules,and then the kids go into the counselors cabin,where Dave (Dave Grohl) is listening to music. John scolds Dave to assign the cabins, but Dave doesn't know what John is talking about. John assigns Dave to clean garbage around the lake. John assigns the cabins, with Calvin being in Moe's cabin. They both go into the cabin, where the other kids are unpacking their bags. After a disastrous day of camp activities, Hobbes thinks he notices something in the dark.
Calvin and Hobbes hold a G.R.O.S.S. meeting, and plan to bomb Susie with water balloons. The plan fails when Hobbes sees the creature again. When Hobbes tells Calvin, they decide to keep watch for a creature. When they do, they are scared off by the creature and they run into the woods. Calvin and Hobbes spend the night in the woods, and are attacked by a bear.
John and his assistant Earl (Seth Rogen) are revealed to be alien dictators, and John is revealed to be Rupert Chill (Bryan Cranston). They interrogate Galaxoid and Nebular (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) about Calvin's information. Meanwhile, Calvin and Hobbes discover an underground passage, and discover several odd things. This is actually a base of Rupert and Earl, and they attempt to kill Calvin and Hobbes.
When that fails, Rupert and Earl prepare to capture Calvin and Hobbes themselves. They are successful, and Calvin and Hobbes are brought up to their ship. Calvin and Hobbes are interrogated separately, but when Calvin is alone, he meets Galaxoid and Nebular and escapes. Hobbes escapes as well, and discovers the aliens' plan to kill the president.
Calvin and Hobbes reunite, and Hobbes alerts Calvin of the plan. Dave tells Rupert and Earl they escaped and got an alien named Tyrone (Corey Taylor) to quit. Rupert sends Zack (Zack de la Rocha) and Chris (Jesse Lacey) to capture Calvin and Hobbes, but that fails. Rupert and Earl prepare to torture Calvin, but in the process get another alien to quit.
Earl decides to take Calvin and Hobbes to a torture room, but they hijack the car, and escape, landing in the woods. The aliens are sent after Calvin and Hobbes, who accidentally go back in time. They attempt to get back to Camp in the time machine, and are successful. Once home, Rupert and Earl corner Calvin and Hobbes and threaten to kill them. Calvin defeats them with his new invention. After the ordeal, Calvin and Hobbes fall asleep.
In a post credits scene, a mad scientist named Dr. Brainstorm (Tom Cruise) builds a robot slave named Jack (Mark Hoppus), but Jack disobeys him.
Transcript[]
Calvin and Hobbes:The Movie Transcript
Production[]
Bill Watterson changed his mind on not making a Calvin and Hobbes Movie and teamed up with Kevin Smith and Jackson Kelley to cowrite the script. It was announced the three would create a series of Calvin and Hobbes movies that set up a bigger universe, similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On March 13, 2011, Smith was signed on to direct and produce, while Scott Mosier would co-produce, with Watterson as executive producer. Many people thought that Smith's direction would not fit with Calvin and Hobbes, but Watterson stated, "Kevin is a wonderful person to be around, and he is a good person to bring Calvin and Hobbes to life. 20th Century Fox, Universal, and Paramount all wanted the film. Paramount ended up with the film rights, announcing there would be a TV series based on the show.
Jackson Kelley finished the script in six months while listening to rock music, getting the inspiration to have the soundtrack be classic songs. Hugo Weaving was originally announced to do the voice of Rupert, using his voice of Megatron from the Transformers movies, but backed out due to creative differences. Bryan Cranston was cast. When the whole cast was announced, filming began in Denver. In June 2014, the first trailer was announced with news that the Calvin and Hobbes world will feature a bunch of new characters, like Rupert Chill, his sidekick Earl, and more. It was revealed by Jackson Kelley that people were worried about the film being a live-action/CGI hybrid. He said "The internet was getting a bit reluctant, because they were worried that it would be another Alvin and the Chipmunks or The Smurfs. While I love Alvin and the Chipmunks, it's one of my favorite films, I wanted to differentiate that from it as much as possible. It won't have any terrible jokes or adult humor, and it won't be a jukebox musical."
Some of the voices of the aliens, such as Deryck Whibley, Damon Albarn, Maynard James Keenan, Win Butler, Adam Lazzara, Patrick Stump, Tom DeLonge, and Alex Gaskarth contributed to the soundtrack in the film. Kelley asked them to watch the film and try to contribute a song.
TV Series[]
- Main article: Calvin and Hobbes the Series
A pitch for another Calvin and Hobbes series went to Nickelodeon, which Paramount owns, making this the third film from Nickelodeon Movies to get a TV series, after Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Barnyard. The series ran for five seasons, with the entire cast reprising their roles.
Soundtrack[]
At the request of Jackson Kelley, the soundtrack was all classic songs. The artists featured include Sum 41, Blur, Black Sabbath, Green Day, Radiohead, Linkin Park, Coldplay, My Chemical Romance, Arcade Fire, Taking Back Sunday, Blue Oyster Cult, Fall Out Boy, blink-182, Paramore, All Time Low, and Cage the Elephant.
| Name | Artist | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| Fat Lip | Sum 41 | Opening Credits/Calvin's theme |
| Parklife | Blur | Hobbes' theme |
| Paranoid | Black Sabbath | Rupert and Earl's theme |
| American Idiot | Green Day | Earl's crew's theme |
| Forty Six and 2 | TOOL | Camp Activities |
| Numb | Linkin Park | The Aliens Attacking |
| Square One | Coldplay | Lost in the Mountains |
| Area 52 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Attacked in the Underground Passageway |
| Godzilla | Blue Oyster Cult | Attacked by the aliens |
| Neighborhood #2 (Laika) | Arcade Fire | Escaping the Cells |
| Error: Operator | Taking Back Sunday | Escaping the ship |
| Death Valley | Fall Out Boy | Return to Camp Pine |
| Aliens Exist | blink-182 | Closing credits |
| Playing God | Paramore | Closing credits |
| Something's Gotta Give | All Time Low | Closing credits |
| Some Days | The Maine | Closing credits |
Reception[]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Calvin and Hobbes:The Movie a rating of 89% saying "Calvin and Hobbes were good in the comic strips, but we've wanted to see them on the big screen for a long time. The plot delivers and the cast is phenomenal, resulting in an amazing adaptation."
Sequel[]
A sequel, Calvin and Hobbes II:Lost at Sea, is in development. Jackson Kelley and Taika Waititi will reprise their roles as Calvin and Hobbes, with Smith directing and Kelley writing the script.