Plants vs. Zombies (2016 film)

The Plants vs. Zombies Movie is a 2016 American computer-animated action-comedy film, based on PopCap Game's 2009 tower defense video game of the same name, co-produced by DreamWorks Animation and PopCap Animation, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was directed by Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Walt Dohrn, from a screenplay by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. It stars the voices of Dan Aykroyd, Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Faris, Ryan Reynolds, Tom Kenny, Steve Buscemi, Ed O'Neill, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jane Lynch, Owen Wilson, Josh Gad, Freddie Highmore, Kevin James, P!nk, Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Carrey, Alec Baldwin, Jason Lee, Bill Hader, J.K. Simmons, Ewan McGregor, Clancy Brown, Seth Rogen, Wayne Knight, Carlos Alazraqui, Alan Tudyk, Jack Black, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie, Danny McBride, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, Josh Brolin, Mike Myers, Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard, and it is narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart. The film follows a 42-year-old gardener named Crazy Dave who struggles to survive an attack from zombies and the evil Dr. Zomboss with the help of powerful mutant plants.

The film was theatrically released on July 15, 2016 by DreamWorks Animation. It was a commercial success, grossing over $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2016, and received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics.

Plot/Synopsis
Crazy Dave is a 42-year-old lonely but friendly and careful gardener who lives in the streets of Suburbia. When he discovers that the zombies are coming from Dr. Zomboss' fortress located in the Graveyard near his house, he needs help of powerful mutant plants of different types to attack them.

The plants attack the zombies day and night, in the frontyard, in the backyard where they throw a pool party and the roof, meeting new plants and new zombies they find. Also, Peashooter felt in love with Sunflower and she accepted him to be his girlfriend; and Snow Pea and Starfruit became friends when he first met him in the backyard during the cloudy night, when they together defeated their first Zombie Yeti.

In the roof of Crazy Dave's house, the plants are still attacking the zombies to protect Dave when he's watching television and doing his everyday activities. Later during the night, the plants faced Dr. Zomboss and his terribly giant creation: the Zombot! A giant robot zombie that can attack the plants by throwing RV's at them, creating fire and ice balls to crush them, spawning different zombies by picking them with his hand, squashing them with his foot when they are near him and spawning Bungee Zombies to steal plants, and the plants must attack and defeat it. At the climax of the film, the Zombot was completely destroyed and Dr. Zomboss was arrested by the law for causing a mass destruction in Suburbia the next day, and the plants along with Dave they start to dance with Sunflower singing Zombies on Your Lawn.

In the mid-credits scene, the polices took Dr. Zomboss to Jail and they told him that he was arrested for one month. He told to himself that he will get revenge with Crazy Dave once again with a new surprising catastrophe.

In the post-credits scene, one month later, the plants once again attacked the zombies with Zomboss released from Jail. One of these zombies was taking a special lunch. Crazy Dave found a Taco with Hot Sauce from this lunch and ate it. He, wanting to eat the taco again, wants to time-travel and calls Penny, a supercar that can time-travel to find this taco.

Cast

 * Dan Aykroyd as Crazetopher David "Crazy Dave" Blazing III, the main protagonist of the film. A crazy 42-year-old gardener who wears a saucepan for a helmet, and faces Dr. Zomboss and his zombie army with the help of living plants.
 * Max Charles voices a 8-year-old Crazy Dave.
 * Michael Cera voices a 21-year-old Crazy Dave.
 * Steve Buscemi as Dr. Edgar George Zomboss, a mad evil scientist zombie who has a really huge brain and is the leader of the Zombie Herd. He is the main antagonist of the film.
 * Greg Cipes voices a 21-year-old Dr. Zomboss.
 * Fred Willard as Crazetopher David "Crazy Dave Sr." Blazing II. He is Crazy Dave's father and Zoet's wife. He only appears in the 8-year-old Crazy Dave flashback at the beginning of the film.
 * Catherine O'Hara as Zoet Blazing. She is Crazy Dave's mother and Crazy Dave Sr.'s wife. She only appears in the 8-year-old Crazy Dave flashback at the beginning of the film.
 * Mike Myers as Michael "Mike" Weathers, a news reporter from SuburbNews.
 * Patrick Stewart as the Narrator

Plants

 * Neil Patrick Harris as Peashooter, a green Bellsprout-like plant who shoots peas at zombies. He is the leader of the Plant Herd, Sunflower's love interest, Wall-nut's best friend and Repeater's younger brother.
 * Harris also voices Threepeater and Split Pea (right head).
 * Anna Faris as Sunflower, an careful plant who can produce suns. She is Peashooter's love interest and Marigold's best friend.
 * Laura Shigihara (archival recordings) as Sunflower's singing voice, which is heard in Zombies on Your Lawn during the first part of the end credits.
 * Faris also voices Twin Sunflower
 * Ryan Reynolds as Wall-Nut, an solid walnut who can block zombies when the other plants are attacking them. He is Peashooter's best friend and Tall-nut's younger brother.
 * Tom Kenny as Potato Mine, a root plant who explodes when he is in contact with other zombies after being hidden under the earth for a few seconds.
 * Sean William Scott and Josh Peck as Cherry Bomb, a cherry duo who can explode zombies into a 3x3 area. They serve as an instant use plant.
 * Bill Nighy as Chomper, a purple piranha-like plant who has a huge appetite for zombies.
 * Frank Welker provides Chomper's barks, burps and growls.
 * Simon Pegg as Snow Pea, a Peashooter plant who shoots frozen peas to slow zombies. He is Starfruit's best friend.
 * Owen Wilson as Repeater, a serious Peashooter plant who can shoot the double of peas. He is Peashooter's eldest brother.
 * Wilson also voices Split Pea (left face).
 * Josh Gad as Puff-shroom
 * Gad also voices Sea-shroom.
 * Freddie Highmore as Sun-shroom
 * Kevin James as Fume-shroom. He is the leader of the mushrooms, Doom-shroom's best friend, Ice-shroom's closer friend along with Hypno-shroom, Squash and Torchwood.
 * Pink (Alecia Moore) as Hypno-shroom. She is Doom-shroom's love interest and Fume-shroom's closer friend.
 * Harrison Ford as Ice-shroom, a veteran blue mushroom who can freeze all zombies. He is Fume-shroom's closer friend along with Squash and Torchwood.
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Doom-shroom, a massive black mushroom who can explode all zombies leaving craters. He is Fume-shroom's best friend, Jalapeño's closer friend, Hypno-shroom's love interest and serves as an instant use plant.
 * Alec Baldwin as Squash, a grumpy chayote plant that can squash zombies when they are next or near to him. He is Fume-shroom's closer friend along with Ice-shroom and Torchwood.
 * Jim Carrey as Jalapeño, an mexican jalapeno pepper who scorches an entire lane of zombies with a powerful burst of flames. He is Doom-shroom's closer friend and serves as an instant use plant.
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Spikeweed
 * Baker also voices Spikerock.
 * J.K. Simmons as Torchwood, a grumpy stump who can light regular peas that pass through him. He is Fume-shroom's closer friend along with Ice-shroom and Squash.
 * Ewan McGregor as Tall-nut, a taller version of Wall-nut who can block the zombies and also Pole Vaulters and Dolphin Riders. He is Wall-nut's eldest brother.
 * Jane Lynch as Cactus
 * Kari Wahlgren as Blover
 * Nick Frost as Starfruit, a carambola who attacks by projecting stars in five different directions whenever a zombie is in his line of fire. He is Snow Pea's best friend.
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Magnet-shroom, a magnet-shaped mushroom who can steal metallic objects from zombies.
 * Alazraqui also voices Plantern and Gold Magnet, Marigold's love interest.
 * Jason Lee as Cabbage-pult, a cabbage who can throw catapults at zombies.
 * Bill Hader as Kernel-pult. a corn cob who has a 75% chance to throw kernel corns at zombies and a 25% chance to throw butter at zombies to freeze them temporarily.
 * Hader also voices Scaredy-shroom.
 * Alan Tudyk as Coffee Bean, a coffee bean who can wake up mushrooms during the day.
 * Jack Black as Garlic, a garlic who diverts zombies into other lanes.
 * Leslie Mann as Umbrella Leaf, an umbrella-like plant who protects herself and up to eight plants surrounding her from Bungee Zombies and basketballs thrown by Catapult Zombie.
 * Alison Brie as Marigold, a daisy who can produce silver and gold coins. She is Sunflower's best friend and Gold Magnet's love interest.
 * Danny McBride as Melon-pult, a watermelon who can throw watermelons that can dead heavy damage at zombies.
 * McBride also voices Winter Melon.
 * Josh Brolin as Gatling Pea, a veteran Peashooter plant who can throw four peas at once.
 * Jonah Hill as Gloom-shroom
 * Grey DeLisle as Cattail
 * Billy Connolly as Cob Cannon, a veteran corn cob cannon that can launch big corn cobs at targeted areas that explodes into a 3x3 area like the Cherry Bomb.
 * Conrad Vernon as Imitater, a potato that can imite and turn into another plants.

Zombies

 * Conrad Vernon as Basic Zombie, Flag Zombie, Conehead Zombie, Buckethead Zombie, Screen Door Zombie, Backup Dancer Zombie and Ducky Tube Zombie.
 * Vernon also provides the Zombot's robotic voice.
 * James Arnold Taylor as Pole Vaulter Zombie, an athletic zombie who runs with his pole jumps through plants except Tall-nut.
 * Taylor also voices Bobsled Team Zombie.
 * Ed O'Neill as Newspaper Zombie, an elder zombie who gets angry everytime he loses his newspaper.
 * Will Arnett as All-Star Zombie, a strong zombie that can run and crash into the plants killing them.
 * Will Ferrell as Disco Zombie, a dancing zombie whose favorite music is Disco music and spawns four of his backup dancer. Everytime he loses one of his backup dancers, he spawns a new one.
 * Christopher Knights as Snorkel Zombie
 * Chris Miller as Zomboni
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Dolphin Rider Zombie, another athletic zombie who runs with his dolphin into the water and jump through the plants except Tall-nut, like the Pole Vaulter.
 * Tom Kenny as Jack-In-The-Box Zombie
 * Kenny also voices Bungee Zombie.
 * Jeff Bennett as Balloon Zombie, a zombie who can fly with his balloon and can only be attacked by the Cactus when he is floating.
 * Wayne Knight as Digger Zombie, a fat zombie who digs underground through Crazy Dave's lawn with his axe reaching to the first column of the lawn.
 * Knight also voices Catapult Zombie, an obese zombie who throws basketballs at plants.
 * Seth Rogen as Pogo Zombie, a zombie who jumps with his pogo stick over multiple plants except Tall-nut.
 * Clancy Brown as Zombie Yeti, a silent yet curious zombified Yeti who leaves the lawn slowly after he reaches the sixth column.
 * John DiMaggio as Ladder Zombie, a zombie who carries a ladder as a shield and puts it into defensive plants.
 * Nicolas Cage as Gargantuar, a giant veteran zombie who can smash plants with his telephone and throw his Imp when he suffers the half of his health. He is Imp's best friend.
 * Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Imp, a small but intelligent child zombie who can sneak around plants and eat them. He is Gargantuar's best friend.

Release
The film was theatrically released in USA on July 15, 2016.

Marketing
The teaser trailer was showcased in the cinemas during the premiere of Minions on July 10, 2015. The first trailer was showcased during the premiere of The Good Dinosaur on November 25, 2015. The second trailer was showcased during the premiere of Kung Fu Panda 3 on January 29, 2016. The third trailer was premiered during the premiere of Zootopia on March 4, 2016. Seven individual TV spots for Crazy Dave, Peashooter, Sunflower, Dr. Zomboss, Wall-nut, Chomper, Cactus were released between May 20 and 27. The final trailer was published on June 17, 2016 during the premiere of Finding Dory.

Home media
The Plants vs. Zombies Movie was released on Digital HD on October 4, 2017, and on Blu-Ray and DVD on October 18, 2016, from the first day to July 2017 of the release it became the most sold DVD on the market. The Wal-Mart exclusive Blu-Ray + DVD Combo release has six individual plushies featuring Crazy Dave, Peashooter, Sunflower, Wall-nut, Marigold and Dr. Zomboss. Since April 2017, the film is available on Netflix, and it became the most watched film from April to December.

Critical response
Critical response aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 86% based on 230 reviews. The website's consensus reads "The Plants vs. Zombies Movie is a fun-filled action movie which makes fun at the zombie apocalypse and truly stays faithful to its source material better than The Angry Birds Movie. Packed with beautiful computer animation, funny and charming characters and a great choice of voice actors. Eldest kids and grown-ups will enjoy it!". Metacritic gives the film scored a 86/100. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequel
A sequel titled The Plants vs. Zombies 2 Movie: Travel Through Time was released to theaters on June 28, 2019 by DreamWorks Animation and PopCap Animation, and was distributed by Universal Pictures. The major part of the cast is going to reprise their respective roles and there are newcoming voice actors for the film's cast.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was released on July 12, 2016 and was composed by Hans Zimmer.

Original Soundtrack

 * 1) Crazy Dave (Main titles)
 * 2) Story of Crazy Dave and Dr. Zomboss
 * 3) Starting a New Life in the New House/Tragic Moment
 * 4) Grasswalk
 * 5) Loonboon
 * 6) A Huge Wave of Zombies is Approaching
 * 7) Ultimate Battle
 * 8) Moongrains
 * 9) Watery Graves
 * 10) Rigor Mormist
 * 11) Graze the Roof
 * 12) Dr. Zomboss is Approaching
 * 13) Final Battle
 * 14) Suburbia is Now in Peace, Harmony and Zombie-Free... for Now
 * 15) A New Adventure Begins

Music

 * 1) Thriller - Michael Jackson
 * 2) Bad - Michael Jackson
 * 3) I'm in Love with a Monster - Fifth Harmony
 * 4) Zombies on Your Lawn - Laura Shigihara

Trivia

 * DreamWorks Animation 2010-2018 logo variant: The logo plays as usual, although there are no clouds after the boy throws them out with the hook, in a similar to Megamind's DWA logo variant. After the logo is formed, it grows green leaves on the whole logo except the moon, and the camera pans down to start the movie. A shortened version of "Crazy Dave" the main theme of Plants vs. Zombies composed by Hans Zimmer plays during the logo.
 * This film was originally going to be a live action movie with CGI elements and made by Illumination, but it was cancelled due to the negative reception of Hop.
 * The production for the cancelled live action movie has been going on since October 2010, one year and five months after the game was released to USA stores and three months after Despicable Me was released to USA theaters, but it was cancelled on April 4, 2011, three days after Hop was released to USA theaters. The production for the final version has been going on since 2014 and ended closer to the beginning of 2016.
 * The writing of the script for the final movie has been going on since 2014 and ended closer to the middle of 2015
 * The film's working title was simply "Plants vs. Zombies". In April 2015, the title was changed to "The Plants vs. Zombies Movie".
 * On March 2013, it was announced that Plants vs. Zombies was originally scheduled for general release on March 20, 2015, but it was rescheduled to July 31 of the same year due to DreamWorks' satisfaction with the successful release of The Croods (2013). Later on May 2014, the film was rescheduled to March 4, 2016 due to the negative reception of Rio 2 (2014). In January 2015, the film was rescheduled again to June 22, 2016 to avoid competition with Disney's Zootopia (2016). Finally in June of the same year, during the premiere of Pixar's Inside Out (2015) and one month before the release of the Teaser Trailer, the film was rescheduled to July 15, 2016 to avoid competition with Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).
 * Jack Black, Kevin James, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Peter Stormare and Bill Murray were all considered for the role of Crazy Dave before Dan Aykroyd was chosen to voice the character. Larry the Cable Guy was going to portray him in the cancelled live action version.
 * Harvey Flaxcaster, Crazy Dave's best friend since childhood, was originally going to appear in the live action movie and was played by Brad Pitt. But after the live action movie's production was cancelled, the character was scrapped from the movie.
 * Sparks, a talking white Wire Fox Terrier dog, was originally going to appear in the live action movie and was voiced by Jeff Bennett. But after the live action movie's production was cancelled, the character was scrapped from the movie.
 * As shown in a early opening montage for the film, there was going to be a black crow named The Crow Narrator, he served as the original narrator for the film and was voiced by Jeremy Irons. Later, this character was scrapped and a off-screen narrator voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart was offered instead.
 * Tobey Maguire was originally cast as the voice of Peashooter.
 * Back in 2010, Laura Shigihara was originally going to compose the score music for the movie and she auditioned for the role of Sunflower, but she left development team after the acquisition of PopCap Games by Electronic Arts and Hans Zimmer composed the score music for the movie. Selena Gomez was originally cast as the voice of Sunflower.
 * William Shatner was considered for the role of Chomper.
 * James Marsden was considered for the role of Repeater.
 * Patrick Warburton was considered for the role of All-Star Zombie.
 * Ian McKellen was considered for the role of Ice-shroom.
 * Ian McShane was considered for the role of Doom-shroom.
 * Dustin Hoffman was considered for the role of Squash.
 * Kiefer Sutherland was considered for the role of Torchwood.
 * Demi Lovato was originally cast as the voice of Marigold.
 * Back in 2010, Michael Clarke Duncan was originally cast as the voice of Cob Cannon, but he died two years later on September 3, 2012. Aditionally, James Earl Jones was considered for the role of Cob Cannon.
 * Alec Baldwin was originally cast for the role of Gargantuar.
 * The late Robin Williams was going to portray Dr. Zomboss in the cancelled live action film.
 * Lily Pad, Pumpkin and Flower Pot are the only plants that do not speak a single word during the film.
 * Grave Buster, Spikeweed and Spikerock are the only plants that can only speak and express making noises during the film, and those sounds were voiced by Frank Welker (who voiced Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones). The noises of these plants weren't dubbed in different language dubs, instead keeping the original audio from them.
 * Hypno-shroom and Blover are supposed to be male in the games and the franchise, but here are female.
 * Torchwood is the third animated character from a 2016 animated film to be voiced by J.K. Simmons, the first two being Kai from Kung Fu Panda 3 and Mayor Lionheart from Zootopia.
 * The respective names of Crazy Dave's parents "Zoet Blazing" and "Dave Blazing Sr." weren't mentioned in the film, instead being refered to as "Mom" and "Dad" by a 8-year-old Crazy Dave Blazing.
 * Snow Pea and Starfruit are best friends thanks to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's comedic voice performances.
 * Dan Aykroyd and Anna Faris previously co-starred in Yogi Bear (2010) as Yogi Bear and Rachel, respectively.
 * Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Neil Patrick Harris previously co-starred in the two Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009-2013) as the voices of Flint Lockwood, Sam Sparks and Steve the monkey, respectively.
 * Sean William Scott and Josh Peck previously co-starred in the Ice Age sequels (2006-2016) as the voices of Crash and Eddie, respectively.
 * Kevin James and Steve Buscemi previously co-starred in the Hotel Transylvania franchise (2012-2022).
 * Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Hader previously co-starred in Turbo (2013) as the voices of Theo/Turbo, Whiplash and Guy Gagné, respectively.
 * Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee previously co-starred in The Incredibles (2004) as the voices of Lucius Best/Frozone and Buddy Pine/Incrediboy/Syndrome, respectively.
 * Steve Buscemi and Jason Lee previously co-starred in Monster House (2006) as the voices of Horace Nebbercracker and Bones, respectively.
 * Tom Kenny and Clancy Brown previously co-starred in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise (1999-present).
 * Seth Rogen and Will Arnett previously co-starred in Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) as the voices of B.O.B. and the Missing Link, respectively.
 * Simon Pegg and Nick Frost previously co-starred in The Adventures of Tintin (2012) as the voices of the detectives Thompson and Thomson, respectively.
 * Josh Gad, Danny McBride and Bill Hader previously co-starred in The Angry Birds Movie (2016), which came out one month before than this film, as the voices of Chuck, Bomb and Leonard, respectively.
 * Nicolas Cage, Bill Nighy, Will Arnett and Steve Buscemi previously co-starred in G-Force (2009) as Speckles, Leonard Saber, Kip Killian and Bucky, respectively.
 * Nicolas Cage and Ryan Reynolds previously co-starred in The Croods (2013) as the voices of Grug Crood and Guy, respectively.