Ecco the Dolphin

 Ecco the Dolphin  is an 2011 American animated comedy film based off of the Ecco the Dolphin video game franchise created by Sega. Being the fourth film in the Sega Cinematic Universe, it was directed by Tim Burton with a screenplay and story by Mike Bike and produced by at the time 20th Century Fox president Peter Liguori and former Sega of America president Tom Kalinske. It stars Tom Kenny as Ecco, a dolphin who travels through the ocean in an journey to search for his missing pod. The film also stars Dick Van Dyke as the Big Blue and Vin Diesel as Asterite. It was made on a budget of $100 million.

An Ecco the Dolphin film was announced in December 2008 in celebration of the success of Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie. Tim Burton was announced to direct and official production began in January 2009, being produced alongside Shenmue and Super Monkey Ball by Sega Movies. Hans Zimmer was bought onto the film as the composer as with the Sonic movie, with Tom Holkenberg (Junkie XL) originally considered. In 2010, the film was announced to be given a "G" rating.

The film was released on May 18, 2011 and received mixed reviews from critics, but more positive reception from audiences. Critics praised the animation and story but criticized the plot and "filler." It grossed $241 million at the box office, making it a moderate success.

Plot
The game opens with Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin, as he and his pod are swimming in their home bay. A podmate challenges Ecco to a game to see how high he can jump into the air. When he is in the air, a giant waterspout forms and sucks up all marine life in the bay except Ecco, leaving him alone in the bay. Ecco becomes sad and depressed because of this and decides to leave the bay. Upon leaving the bay, Ecco swims around meeting other marine life including other dolphins who tell them they have felt the storm and the entire ocean is in chaos. An orca that Ecco encounters tells him to travel to the Arctic to meet the "Big Blue", an ancient blue whale revered by marine life for his age and wisdom, who might be able to help Ecco on his journey. Ecco then embarks on a journey to find the Big Blue, meeting several others along the way..

After arriving in the Arctic after a long journey through the ocean, Ecco finds the Big Blue, who says that the storms occur every 500 years. Though the Big Blue doesn't know what causes the storms, he suggests that Ecco should seek the Asterite, the oldest life form on Earth. Acting on this advice, Ecco leaves the Arctic and travels to a deep-sea cavern, where he finds the Asterite. To his dismay, though the Asterite would otherwise have the power to aid Ecco, it currently can't, as some orbs from its body were lost a long time ago. The Asterite tells Ecco to go to the sunken ruins of the city of Atlantis, where he can use the time machine left behind by the Atlanteans to retrieve the orbs.

Ecco, after going through lots of chaos and mayhem, almost gives up, but not until a old fish comes to him with assistance. The fish is then eaten by a shark, but Ecco is able to kill the shark (offscreen thankfully). He then travels to the sunken city of Atlantis, where he discovers an ancient library filled with Glyphs, giant crystals filled with information. From the library, Ecco learns about the source of the storms: an alien race known as the Vortex lost the ability to produce food on their planet. According to the texts, when the planets align once every 500 years, the Vortex use their technology to harvest from the waters of Earth. The Atlanteans fought a long war with the Vortex, which only ended when the Vortex fired a beam at Atlantis, sending the city into the depths of the ocean. Learning this, Ecco activates the time machine and travels 55 million years into Earth's past. While Ecco is in the past he learns an ancient song to communicate with a Pterandon. Ecco locates the Asterite in the past but is immediately attacked by it. Forced into battle, he manages to dislodge a globe from it. This opens a time portal and he is sent back into the present. After receiving the globe, the Asterite grants him the power to turn his sonar into a deadly weapon against the Vortex, as well as the abilities to breathe underwater and to slowly regenerate lost health.

The Asterite instructs him to use the time machine to travel back in time to the hour of the harvest. This time he manages to be sucked into the waterspout with his pod. Ecco is sent flying through outer space to a giant tube-like machine. Making his way through the construct Ecco arrives on the planet Vortex engaging the aliens in combat. He makes his way to the Vortex Queen and engages her in a fight. When the Queen is defeated, she spits out Ecco's pod, and the dolphins make their collective escape back to Earth. Everybody, including the Vortex Queen, wave goodbye to Ecco, as he goes back to his herd in the dolphin bay which is now restored. It is also revealed at the post credits scene that the old fish, now named Grendor, is alive.

Voice cast



 * Tom Kenny as Ecco the Dolphin: A bottlenosed dolphin who goes through great lengths to go and rescue his pod.
 * Kenny also voices the orca that guides Ecco to the Big Blue.
 * Dick Van Dyke as the Big Blue: An ancient blue whale hated by marine life for his age and lives in the Arctic.
 * Jennifer Saunders as Vortex Queen: The queen of the Vortex that Ecco travels to and even has a battle with.
 * Mike Myers as the Asterite: The oldest lifeform on Earth who lives at the bottom of the ocean and is very lonely.
 * Billy West as Grendor the Old Fish: A fish that gives Ecco advice on never giving up before getting eaten.
 * Bruce Willis as Stephen the Shark: A shark that chases down Ecco and even eats Grendor.
 * Ray Romano as the Vortex King: the leader of the old Vortex race who was the husband of the Vortex Queen bur died.
 * Tara Strong as Slavey Tara: The slave, minion, butler, and servant of the Vortex Queen who is released by Ecco when she is defeated.

Development
Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie was the first film in the Sega Cinematic Universe. On a budget of $207 million, Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie grossed $644 million, deeming it a major box office success. Peter Liguori saw the success of this film, and soon after declared many more films based off Sega's properties and IPs. The first film announced was Shenmue, and then Super Monkey Ball as well as a sequel to the Sonic movie. One of these movies announced was also a film adaptation of Ecco the Dolphin, a video game franchise also made by Sega. All of these films were to be produced by Sega Movies, a film divison of Sega Enterprises. Tim Burton, who had seen a screening of Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie and expressed his love for it, had been interested in directing one of these films. Burton wanted to direct the Shenmue film but it was given to James Gunn. Then Burton had went to the Sonic movie sequel, but had been replaced by Brad Bird, Joel Coen, and Kyle Balda (the former being the main director and the two latter being the co-directors). Burton then went to the Ecco the Dolphin film.

Co-producer Tom Kalinske saw many of Burton's films with Johnny Depp and had absolutely been obsessed with them. In January 2009, it was announced production on the Ecco the Dolphin movie had started with Burton announced as director and Liguori and Kalinske as producers. Burton hired a longtime friend of his Mike Bike to write the film's screenplay. Bike played the original Ecco the Dolphin game on the Sega/Mega CD to get a glimpse of the story despite barley having any dialouge. Writing the film took one month for Bike from writing the first draft of the film topresenting the script to 20th Century Fox and Sega executives. He finished the screenplay in April 2009. More production of Ecco the Dolphin went underway including the animation of the film. News on the Ecco the Dolphin film had become obscure as Sega kept production a secret until in mid-2010 where the film would get a "G" rating. This "G" rating led to many dishonors from fans. Most had been angry by the choice, but Kalinske responded to the backlash saying that they wanted to introduce a new generation to Sega and their IPs, hence the reason for the "G" rating.