Arctic Dogs
Arctic Dogs (also known as Arctic Justice or Polar Squad in the UK) is a 2019 computer-animated comedy film co-written and directed by Aaron Woodley and co-directed by Dimos Vrysellas. The film stars the voices of Jeremy Renner, Heidi Klum, James Franco, John Cleese, Omar Sy, Michael Madsen, Laurie Holden, Anjelica Huston, and Alec Baldwin.
Arctic Dogs | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Aaron Woodley |
Produced by |
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Written by |
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Starring | |
Music by | David Buckley |
Edited by | Lesley Mackay Hunter |
Production company |
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Distributed by | Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States Canada India Italy Russia |
Language | English |
Budget | $50 million[2] |
Box office | $9.9 million[1][3] |
The film was released on November 1, 2019 by Entertainment Studios in Canada and the United States. It was a box-office bomb, grossing less than a fifth of its production budget of $50 million, and was overwhelmingly panned for its cliche writing, cheap-looking animation, acting, tone, humor, and unlikable characters.
Plot
Swifty the Arctic Fox (Jeremy Renner) works in the mailroom of the Arctic Blast Delivery Service, but he has much bigger dreams. He wishes to become a Top Dog, the Arctic's star husky couriers. To prove he can do it, he commandeers one of the sleds and delivers a mysterious package to a secret location. Once there, he stumbles onto a hidden fortress, overseen by the nefarious Otto Von Walrus (John Cleese). The blubbery evil genius commands an army of oddly polite puffin henchmen. Swifty discovers Otto Von Walrus' villainous plan to drill beneath the snow-packed surface to unleash masses of ancient gas to melt the Arctic and become the world's supreme ruler. To stop this sinister scheme, Swifty enlists the help of his friends: Polar bear P.B.(Alec Baldwin), a neurotic polar bear, Lemmy (James Franco), a scatterbrained albatross, Jade Fox (Heidi Klum), a brainy red fox engineer, Leopold (Omar Sy) and Bertha (also voiced by Heidi Klum), two conspiracy theorist otters and Magda (Anjelica Huston), his curmudgeonly caribou boss.
Voice cast
- Jeremy Renner as Swifty, an Arctic fox who is the main protagonist.[4]
- Alec Baldwin as PB, an introverted polar bear and Swifty's best friend.
- Heidi Klum as Jade, a tough-as-nails red fox mechanic and Swifty's love interest.
- Klum also voices Bertha, a German-accented conspiracy theorist otter.
- John Cleese as Doc Otto Van Walrus, a British-accented walrus and the main antagonist.
- Anjelica Huston as Magda, a formally short-tempered Russian-accented caribou and Swifty's boss.
- James Franco as Lemmy, a scatterbrained albatross.
- Omar Sy as Leopold, a French-accented conspiracy theorist otter.
- Michael Madsen as Duke, a siberian husky employed by Arctic Blast Delivery Service.
- Laurie Holden as Dakota, another husky employed by the Arctic Blast Delivery Service.
- Donny Falsetti as Dusty, another Husky employed by the Arctic Blast Delivery Service.
- Nina Senicar as Countdown Inka, the countdown voice of Otto's machine.
- Aaron Woodley as Puffins, an army of horned puffins that are Otto Van Walrus' henchmen. One said, "Alright guys, that's it! We're out of here!"
- Soraya Azzabi as Alma.
- Jason Deline as "Nasty" Naz Narwhal, a weather reporter who is possibly a narwhal.
Release
Arctic Dogs was released on November 1, 2019, in both Canada and the United States.[5] It was released on Netflix in 2020.
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, Arctic Dogs was released alongside Harriet, Terminator: Dark Fate and Motherless Brooklyn, and was projected to gross $5–10 million from 2,835 theaters in its opening weekend.[6] It made $700,000 on its first day, and ended up debuting to just $2.9 million ($47 million was lost), finishing 10th and marking the worst opening of all-time for a film playing in over 2,800 theaters.[7][8]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 13% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10.[9] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 28 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[10] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 64% and a 41% "definite recommend".[7]
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 4 February 2020 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. According to the-numbers.com,[11] it made $1,121,079 in total estimated domestic video sales, as of November 2020.
Accolades
In 2020, it received a Canadian Cinema Editors Awards nomination for Best Editing in Animation.[12]
Other media
Spin-off web series
A web series set after the events of the film titled Arctic Friends was released on September 15, 2020 on both Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, consisting of 8 collections of shorts.[13] Another spin-off series entitled Puffins is also in production, featuring the voice of Johnny Depp as Johnny Puff.[14][15]
References
- "Arctic Dogs (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- "Ambi Group And Barajoun Entertainment Ink Multi-Year, Multi-Picture Joint Venture- Berlin". Deadline Hollywood. 11 February 2016. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
- "Artic Dogs (2019)". The Numbers. IMDb. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- McNary, Dave (24 August 2016). "Jeremy Renner Joins 'Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad' as Lead Character". Variety.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- Common Sense Media
- Rubin, Rebecca (29 October 2019). "Box Office: 'Terminator: Dark Fate' to Take Down 'Harriet,' 'Motherless Brooklyn'". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- D'Alessandro, Anthony (3 November 2019). "'How 'Terminator: Dark Fate' Conked Out With $27M+ & Why 'The Irishman' Is Not A Missed Strategic Opportunity – Box Office". Deadline. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- "'Arctic Dogs' Bombs, Worst Opening Of All-Time In 2,800+ Theaters". Cartoon Brew. 3 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- "Arctic Dogs (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
- "Arctic Dogs Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Arctic-Dogs-(2019)#tab=summary
- "Nominees for the 10th Annual CCE Awards". Canadian Cinema Editors. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
- Milligan, Mercedes. "'Arctic Friends' Shorts Go Global, US Premiere Sept. 15". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
- Vivarelli, Nick. "Johnny Depp to Voice Lead in New Animated Series 'Puffins' From Iervolino Entertainment (EXCLUSIVE)5". Variety. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- Milligan, Mercedes. "First Look at Johnny Depp Character in 'Puffins' Takes Wing". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
External links
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