Family Dog Meet Gizmo & The Gremlins

The Adventures of Family Dog and Gizmo (also known as Tim Burton, Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg Presents: Family Dog and Gizmo vs. Gerte LeStrange and Gremlins) is a 1992 American traditionally animated adventure comedy romantic fantasy family holiday film produced by Tim Burton, Brad Bird, Joe Dante, Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg's Amblimation studio, directed by Simon Wells, Phil Nibbelink, Chuck Jones, Robert Stevenhagen and Maurice Hunt and released by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment and Universal Pictures. It was released on November 25, 1992. However, the film was only a underperformance at the box office, earning $31 million at the box office, largely due to competition with the much more successful Aladdin. This makes it the second film to be produced by Amblimation (after the first film, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)). Despite its largely mixed received by critics, its strong sales on home video spawned a television series spinoff titled Family Dog and Gremlins which debuted on ABC Saturday Morning four years after the film debuted in theaters - though it was made without Spielberg's involvement - and uses the same Tim Burton and Brad Bird's character designs and most of the same voice cast.

Cast

 * Ethan Randall as Robin Binsford (Skip and Bev’s 11 year old nephew)
 * Thora Birch as Irene Rosa (Robin’s 11 year old girlfriend; Robin’s love interest)
 * Frederick Coffin as Skip Binsford (the father)
 * Bridget Fonda as Bev Binsford (the mother)
 * Cloris Leachman as Gerte LeStrange (the leader of Gremlins and Brain Gremlin, the secondary antagonist)
 * Patrick Stewart as Gerte LeStrange’s Brain Gremlin, the main antagonist
 * Scott Menville as Billy
 * Cassie Cole as Buffy
 * Jim Belushi as Martin Mahoney (Skip Binsford’s buddy)
 * Annie Golden as Trish Mahoney (Bev Binsford’s friend)
 * Howie Mandel as Gizmo, the deuteragonist and Magwoi.
 * Frank Welker voice effects of Family Dog (dog barking sound, the main protagonist; Robin's pet male dog); He is a male Bull Terrier, Irene's pet cat (cat meowing sounds), Pack of Wolves (the major antagonists; howling, snarling sound), Two Dogs (one of antagonists, barking and snarling sound)Mohawk/Stripe, Other Gremlins.
 * Frank Welker as Mohawk Gerte LeStrange, Gigantic Gremlin Monster-like Gerte LeStrange
 * Jodi Benson voice effects of Katie (dog barking sound, Irene’s pet female dog; tritagonist) She is a female Tan Chihuahua.
 * Danny Mann voice effects of Angel (dog barking and snarling sound, a territory antagonist' Gerte's pet guard poodle)
 * Mary Kay Bergman as New York Reticence.
 * Charlie Adler as New York Reticence / Old Lady
 * Ray Walston as Lord
 * Ed Asner as Santa Claus
 * Russi Taylor as News Reporter
 * Tress MacNeille as Viva / New York Reticence
 * Greg Burson as Police Officer and Bugs Bunny (Looney Tunes segments)
 * Bob Bergen as New York Reticence and Porky Pig (Looney Tunes segments)
 * Martin Short as Albert Binsford (Skip Binsford’s buddy)
 * Jack Angel, Daran Norris and Tom Kenny as News Reporter
 * Jeff Bergman as Daffy Duck (Looney Tunes segments)
 * Mark Dodson as Daffy Gremlin, Lenny, George, TV network announcer
 * Kirk Thatcher as Most of the Gremlins
 * Joe Dante as Beanie Gremlin, Witch Gremlin

Production credits
Story Adapted by Sherri Stoner, Chris Columbus and Paul Dini

Based on Characters by Amazing Stories' Family Dog by Brad Bird and Gremlins by Joe Dante and Chris Columbus

Story by Tim Burton, Brad Bird and Chris Columbus

Animators: Bill Kroyer, Chuck Jones, Mark Henn, Ed Gombert, Dale Baer, Chris Buck, Bibo Bergeron

Effects Animators: Mike Smith, Paul van Geyt, Glenn Chaika

Animation Production Designed: David W. Cutler

And the Creative Talents of Richard Hoppe, Barry Temple, Dave Suding, Jerry Rees, Retta Davidson, Tom Ferriter, Walt Stanchfield, Jane Baer, Sylvia Mattison, Douglas Krohn, Matthew O'Callaghan, Susan I. Craig, Jay Jackson, Terrey Hamada, Fujiko Miller, Toby Shelton

Art Direction: David W. Cutler

Layout: Michael Peraza, Jr., Sylvia Roemer, Gary M. Eggleston

Background: David W. Cutler, Tim Burton, Coleman, Brian Sebern, Kathleen Swain, Tia W. Kratter, Donald A. Towns

Production Manager: Edward Hansen, Cynthia Henrich-Woodbyrne

Editors: Nick Fletcher

Music Editors: Jack Wadsworth, Dennis Ricotta

Assistant Director: Timothy O'Donnell

Production Assistant: Tim Johnson

"Family Dog" themed by Danny Elfman and "Gremlins" themed by Jerry Goldsmith

Music Composed and Conducted by Danny Elfman and James Horner

Music Performed by London Symphony Orchestra

Executive Producers Chuck Jones, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy

Film screenplay by Brad Bird, Sherri Stoner and Paul Dini

Produced By Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, Bonne Radford and Robert Watts

Directed by Simon Wells, Phil Nibbelink, Robert Stevenhagen, Chuck Jones and Maurice Hunt

Production
Five years after the success of the original film at Amazing Stories episode, the animated full-length feature film based on the episode/short film was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton (who was involved in the story's production and character designs). The animation production was Universal Cartoon Studios, Amblimation and Warner Bros. Feature Animation and distributors Universal Cartoon Studios and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment for a U.S.A. and Canada domestic release.The production begins in August 1991 - April 1992 before animation full-length feature film were finally finished from the Kroyer Films, The Baer Animation Company and Amblimation animation house in U.K.. The film was released in November 25, 1992. In March 28, 1991, The animation production was wrapped and completed on the full-length feature film.

Music
The score for the film was composed and conducted by James Horner and Amazing Stories short film Family Dog and Joe Dante's Gremlins themed by Danny Elfman, Steve Bartek, John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. The music performed by The London Symphony Orchestra.

Reception
The film received generally mixed reviews from critics. Critical response aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 44% of critics gave positive reviews based on 159 reviews with an average score of 5.5/10.

ABC Series
a ABC series based on the episode was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton (who were involved in the original episodes by contributing to the story's production and character designs). It was written by Dennis Klein, Sherri Stoner and Paul Dini and animated by Nelvana, but notably lacking the involvement of the original writer and director, Brad Bird. Largely hyped due to the involvement of Spielberg, the series suffered various noted production delays that plagued the show. It did not get past its original network order of 13 episodes. 10 episodes were finished and sent back from the Wang Film Productions animation house in Taiwan but the producers were dissatisfied with the results, so they halted production on the final three episodes and outsourced the ten episodes to Nelvana for "fixes and completions". The series was scheduled to debut on June 25, 1993 (and it was heavily promoted during the February 1991 broadcast of the Grammy Awards), but the animation production was not completed in time for this premiere, so the series was ultimately pushed back until 1997. Martin Mull as the voice of Skip Binsford.

The series was part of a spate of attempts by major networks to develop prime time animated shows to compete with Fox's The Simpsons, alongside ABC's Capitol Critters and CBS's own Fish Police. Every program except for The Simpsons was canceled in its first season. When the show debuted, it was roundly panned for its crude scripts and cheap production values, both of drastically lesser quality than the episode which had spawned the series. Brad Bird did not participate in making the show because he did not believe the show's premise would work as a television show. The entire series was later released as a Laserdisc box-set, and various episodes of the show were released on VHS around the same time.