"90 Minutes of Big-Screen Watery-ness" - the film's tagline.
Whale Story: A Best Guys Movie is a 2014 American 2D-animated film based on the Nickelodeon animated series, The Best Guys, created by EliNinja. The film was directed by EliNinja and stars Billy West and John DiMaggio as Marx and Phil and guest stars Mike Judge as the voice of Luke the Whale. The plot of the film involves Marx and Phil one a camping trip to the woods and getting set out to sea due to a storm. The two later find a sick whale named Luke and try to get him back to his family before he dies.
Mostly receiving good reviews from critics and fans of the series, the film was a box office success, grossing more than $235,720,465, just as producer and director EliNinja hoped it would.
The film was released in theaters on July 5th, 2014 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada and was given a PG-13 rating. The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in November 2014 and made it's TV debut on the Nicktoons cable channel in January 2015.
Plot[]
Marx (Billy West) and Phil (John DiMaggio) plan a camping trip to the Paruski Woods, "where bears maul eachother and ostricthes wait to die", according to a tagline of it on a poster. Marx says that it wouldn't be a good idea to go there, since he heard that one time, a kid tried to pet a goat their and almost died. Phil then says that the goat is in their room and will kill them if they don't go. Marx then turns his head to the goat and trembles in fear, with Phil taking his hand and flying out through the window, finding his and Marx's way to Paruski Woods.
During their way to Paruski Woods, Marx and Phil meet many famous film and TV stars, such as Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Chris Hardwick, Steve Miller (of Steve Miller Band), Dan Castellaneta, and others too. They later finally find their way to Paruski Woods, and (unfortunately) meet some dangerous animals and creatures. Luckily, Chair Boy (Tom Kenny) comes out of Phil's backpack and eats many of the vicious creatures that appear when Marx and Phil arrive at Paruski Woods, but he then flies back to his house. Marx and Phil then find their camping spot. Marx and Phil have lots of fun after they find their camping spot and build their tent, telling eachother "scary" stories before they get some rest.
Whilst Marx and Phil are sleeping, a couple of flashes of lightning and huge drops of rain appear from the sky and a large wave washes their tent to the middle of a giant lake. The two wake up after the storm finishes in the morning and find out that their tent feels a bit "watery". Marx and Phil then take a look outside of the tent and find out that they are in the middle of a large lake, far from their original camping spot. The two seemed devastated at first, but they then realize that they get to go for some swims whenever they want. The two have lots of water fights and some fun, but they then hear a depressed whale moan and go directly to where it's comes from.
The two then meet a dying lake whale named Luke (Mike Judge) who must get back to his family under the lake but far away before he dies. Marx isn't too sure if they would find his family in time before they get some rest, but Phil says that they should help anybody no matter what. Marx then shrugs, still disagreeing with the idea of saving Luke, but Phil threatens him with the goat that almost killed a kid who tried to pet him. Marx then agrees, and he and Phil try to find their way to Luke's family, but have to wear astronaut helmets to go underwater.
The two and Luke later find their way to where Luke's family lived, only to find out that his family had moved to another lake that is far away from Paruski Woods. Luke then sheds a few tears, although the tears are faint due to him and the two being underwater. Marx and Phil take more than 3 days to find Luke's family, being almost halfway to them, but since Luke is almost dead by then, the two aren't so sure that they would find Luke's family in time.
The two and Luke finally find Luke's family, but since it took too long, Luke just sighs and unexpectedly passes away. Marx and Phil then sob uncontrollably for a few minutes, but Luke's Dad, Bob (Trey Parker, who appeared earlier in the film) has the right antidote for Luke's illness, and Luke is brought back to life, better than ever. Bob and his wife, Laura (Candi Milo) then thank Marx and Phil for bringing their son back to them, and reward them with a picture of Atlantis, which explodes 10 seconds after it is received by Marx, obliterating Luke and his family and sending Marx and Phil back to South Dakota.
When Marx and Phil arrive home, Lo (Grey DeLisle) wakes up, asking where Marx and Phil were for the past 4 days (although she was asleep the whole time due to her narcolepsy), Phil then says that they just went camping and runs to Marx's room, afraid that Lo would kill them if they told her that they went to Paruski Woods. Marx then explains that they went to Paruski Woods and helped a sick whale find his family so that he can be saved, even though the whale and his family were obliterated because of a picture of Atlantis that exploded and sent him and Phil back to South Dakota. Lo almosts slaps Marx for dissapearing like that, but Marx says that it was Phil's idea, having Lo chase Phil around the house for taking Marx so far away without telling her, ending the film.
Production & Animation[]
The film was produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pitcures, with the help of other animation studios such as Toon City (which made the animation for the film a bit more fluid than the animation for the series it self), Titmouse, Inc., and a bunch of other studios from the US and Canada.
Reception[]
Box Office[]
The film, which was distributed by Paramount Pictures, had earned more than $235 million worldwide, making it a huge box office success
The film had opened in more than 4,500 movie theaters in North America in 2015, grossing more than $3 million in various theaters in the United States and Canada.
Critical Reception[]
Many critics and fans of the Nickelodeon animated series had praised the film for it's music (produced by various musical artists who had participated in the film) and it's somewhat more serious and less comedic tone than that of the TV series. Various websites, such as Variety and the New York Times website, had explained how much of a success the film was, and critics on the web gave the film a 8.9/10, calling it a very successful masterpiece.
Nominations & Awards[]
The film had been nominated for various Academy, Annie and BAFTA awards, and had won various Annie Awards through 2014/2015 for character development and storyboard production of the film.
Television Broadcasts[]
The film had made it's television debut on Nickelodeon's sister channel, Nicktoons on January 19th, 2015. The film had also been broadcasts on various other Viacom networks such as Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central and had also been aired on other non-Viacom-owned networks such as the Cartoon Network (owned by Turner Broadcasting), FXX (owned by FX Networks), and others.