Aster and the Accidental Magic (film)

"Things will go horribly right with some magic."

- Poster tagline

Aster and the Accidental Magic (also known as Aubépine in the French release) is a 2021 2D-animated fantasy adventure comedy film based on the book Aster and the Accidental Magic by Thom Pico and Karensac. The film was directed by Paul King in his first fully-animated film, with a screenplay from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, and Chris Terrio and a story by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and was produced by New Line Cinema and StudioCanal, with international distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Set sometime around the early 21st century, the film follows Aster, who has to move with her parents to the middle of nowhere, but discovers bizarre mysteries and goes on amazing adventures throughout. The film released on April 30, 2021 to positive reviews from critics, who praised the script, animation, and faithfulness to the book, as well as its humor, where compared to the original book, is much more hilarious and comical, but gave out some criticism to its minor similarities to other animated adventure films and its plot being separated in two parts.

Synopsis
"Quietness, birds, and nature are the things that 10-year-old Aster expects when her family moves to the middle of nowhere. All there is in her new home is just her (status: super-bored), her mom and dad (status: busy with science), her brother (status: has other plans), and also some... magic? Maybe the middle of nowhere could be a little bit more interesting to Aster than she thought it would be."

-Warner Bros. Pictures

Plot
The film starts off with a prologue of some of Aster (Haley Tju)'s early life with her narrating it to the audience. It then shows that she moves outside of the city she lives in, and into the woods where no one else lives in.

Part 1: The Scoundrel Genie
One day, Aster's brother Reed (Jack Dylan Grazer) leaves the house to catch a train out with his dad, Lewis (Charlie Day), driving him to the station, leaving her and her mom, Linda (Ellie Kemper), in the house. A news report shows that there will be a bird migration headed their way at a later date, but Linda is currently working on a machine that could potentially drive the migration out of their path. At a market in a village nearby a few hours later, Lewis is back from the station, and explains to Aster what the things she may encounter are more than just fossils. As soon as Aster leaves them, Linda and Lewis keep to themselves that they've moved to the woods permanently, but will keep it secret until the time is right. At night, Aster spots an old lady (Meryl Streep) with a herd of dogs walking near the house.

The next day, Aster is told to go outside, which she does so. There, she meets the old lady from last night, who gives one of her dogs, named Buzz, as her companion. The next day again, they meet with a tricker spirit (Alan Tudyk) who is a wish genie, offering 3 wishes to Aster. Her first wish is to be able to speak to Buzz, which is granted, giving Buzz the ability to speak, but the cost is that Aster only speaks to everyone, including her parents, via barking.

TBA.

Voice cast

 * Haley Tju as Aster, the main protagonist
 * Jack Dylan Grazer as Reed, Aster's brother
 * Meryl Streep as Granny, Aster's old shepherdess
 * Rob Delaney as Jean, Aster's old friend
 * JB Blanc as Gary, Aster's friend
 * Charlie Day as Lewis, Aster's father
 * Jordan Peele as The King of Autumn, a fox
 * Ellie Kemper as Linda, Aster's mother
 * Ariel Winter as the King of Winter, a mountain
 * Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Corey, Aster's second friend
 * Vince Vaughn as Hull, the first chestnut knight
 * Rachel House as Leaf, the second chestnut knight
 * Marion Cotillard as Burr, the third chestnut knight
 * Frank Welker as the vocal effects of Buzz, Aster's dog
 * Alan Tudyk as The Trickster Rapscallion, a tricker spirit
 * Carlos Alazraqui, Troy Baker, Ava Acres, Tara Strong, David Burrows, Darragh Byrne, Paul King, Matthew Mercer, Bryce Papenbrook, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Tom Kenny, Steve Blum, Chris Terrio, Debra Wilson, Sarah Chalke, Adam Katz, Michael and Cary Huang, Kenzie Bryant, Niall Burns, Kevin Michael Richardson, Scott Menville, Josh Appelbaum, Thom Pico, André Nemec, Karensac, Becky Sloan, Alastair Duncan, Seth Green, Cindy Robinson, John DiMaggio, Eric Bauza, Luke Pearson, Greg Cipes, Sam Register, Carter Burwell, Grey Griffin, Kath Soucie, Jeff Bergman, Jeff Bennett, Elsie Lovelock and Brad Garrett as the additional voices

Development
The idea of the film came months after the original French release of Aster and the Accidental Magic in April 2018, where an executive of New Line Cinema approached both Thom Pico and Karensac for an animated feature film based on the book, to which they accepted. The film was announced in December 2018, with both Dan Lin and Roy Lee serving as producers and StudioCanal also producing the film.

In June 2019, it was confirmed that the film would be adapting not one, but two stories of the book series. Paul King was announced as director, and he already directed films with StudioCanal, but this film marked his first fully-animated film, as well as his first with Warner Bros. Pictures. Jared Stern went to uncredited story writer alongside Adam Sztykiel and Simon Farnaby.

Casting
Haley Tju was the first to join the cast as the voice of Aster in July 2019. Sally Hawkins, Amanda Seyfried, Keke Palmer, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Kai Zen were originally considered for her voice role in the film. Jack Dylan Grazer and Betty White went to voiced cast in undisclosed roles in August 2019. However, White was eventually replaced by Meryl Streep before White's death in December 2021. Rob Delaney, JB Blanc, Charlie Day, and Jordan Peele eventually joined the cast in September 2019. Ellie Kemper and Ariel Winter had both auditioned for the voice roles in undisclosed characters in October 2019. Kelvin Harrison Jr. was revealed that he was joined the cast in November 2019. Vince Vaughn, Rachel House, and Marion Cotillard was revealed that they would each voice the Chestnut Knights in December 2019.

Animation
Animation began in January 2020 and finished in May 2020 at Rough Draft Studios, with its sister studio Rough Draft Korea and Mercury Filmworks also additionally animating the film.

Music
Mark Mothersbaugh was originally going to compose the film's score in January 2021. However, Mothersbaugh revealed that he eventually left the project due to the scheduling conflicts, and was replaced by Carter Burwell with Dario Marianelli to conducting the score. The score album was released in May 2021 by WaterTower Music. Twenty One Pilots performed an original song for the film titled, "The New Heights"; the song reached number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Other songs featured in the film are "High Hopes" by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic!_at_the_Disco Panic! at the Disco], "My Hometown" by Uncle Kracker, and "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida.

Marketing & release
Aster and the Accidental Magic premiered in Paris, France on April 6, 2021, the release date of the first Aster book, before being released on April 30 in the United States in both theatres and HBO Max, and then on May 5, 2021 in the rest of France. It was originally scheduled to release on January 15, 2021, but was removed from the film schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, the film was given a release date of May 7, 2021, before moving up a week to April 30, 2021 a week later.

Promotional partners
Warner Bros. Pictures spent over $70 million for promotional advertising, with some partners including Pepsi, Lay's, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Inc. Visa], The Home Depot, HSBC, Yoplait, and Walmart. Roblox went to collaborate with Warner Bros. and StudioCanal in the online game Zombie Attack to feature a gun skin to use in the crates to win, while KFC went to distribute special meals based on the characters from the film.

Home media
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released the film on digital on June 8, 2021, and then on DVD and Blu-Ray on July 6, 2021. A special edition titled the "Out-of-Town Edition" was released on the same day, containing both the DVD and Blu-Ray discs, as well as a promo code for the digital format on Movies Anywhere. The Blu-Ray disc contains behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, bloopers, audio commentary, an alternative ending, and two short-animated films titled Aster's Wet Trouble and The Story of the Chestnut Knights.

For streaming platform releases other than HBO Max, Netflix released the film on their platform in September 2021, while Amazon Prime Video released it on their platform in January 2022. The film made its official network television premiere on Cartoon Network during the Sunday-block ACME Night on February 13, 2022. In January 2022, it was announced that was release streaming exclusively on Hulu and release on February 24, 2022. HBO and his sister broadcast HBO Family was attached to release exclusively aired on March 7, 2022, while A2Z was attached to broadcast through known as A2Z Zinema in the programming block weekday "Zinema sa Umaga", is released on March 18, 2022. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD will be released on May 15, 2022, while Blu-ray and DVD release by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in the UK on May 26, 2022.

Video Game
As a promotional tie-in, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced a video game developed by Avalanche Software based on the film to be released on May 21, three weeks after the film's US theatrical release.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $20 million on its opening weekend, and continued to gross up to $135 million. In other territories, it grossed $145 million.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 72% based on 255 reviews, with an average score of 6.59/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Being an average 2D-animated film, Aster and the Accidental Magic however makes a new difference to other adventure films besides itself." On Metacritic, it weighed an average Metascore of 65 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews", while audiences on CinemaScore gave it a "B+" on an "A+ to F" scale. PostTrak surveyed that 88% of the audience gave the film a positive review, with 67% saying they recommend it.

Peter Travers of ABC News gave the film a 3 out of 5 stars, commenting: "This Aster character is a complete clone of one of the most excellent adventurers of them all, but it was good for her to have a movie of her own, because it is still, at least, entertaining." The Independent gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying: "Aster and the Accidental Magic is a one of a kind for a girl who's that young. The animation gives off one of the best feelings of wilderness nostalgia."

Sequel
New Line Cinema had gained the film rights to the Aster book series and had already begun developing a script to the sequel based on Aster and the Mixed-Up Magic during distribution of this film. King, who directed the first film, being a sequel of the film was possible, said that "I am glad that Aster sequel is being discussion of the news report when I hope this sequel is going to announced to be development."