Rise of the Powerpuff Girls

Rise of the Powerpuff Girls is a 2018 American 2D Flash animated superhero comedy film based on the Cartoon Network animated reboot series of the same name. The film is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios with animation provided by Bardel Entertainment. It is a sequel to the 2002 film The Powerpuff Girls Movie. The film is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Tuck Tucker. The events of the film take place during the third season of The Powerpuff Girls. This makes it the first theatrical Powerpuff Girls Reboot film to hit the big screen. In theaters, a Craig of the Creek short entitled Wilderness Cove was shown prior to the film.

The film features Amanda Leighton, Kristen Li, Natalie Palamides, Tom Kane, Haley Mancini, Jennifer Hale, Tom Kenny, Roger L. Jackson and Jim Cummings reprising their roles from the reboot series, as well as Rob Paulsen reprising his roles from the original series, featuring guest stars Ryan Potter, Denzel Whitaker and Max Charles as new characters. It was theatrically released in theaters on November 9, 2018 in the United States and Canada, by Warner Bros.

The movie received very positive reviews from critics and was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $65 million worldwide against a $21 million budget, with critics praising its voice performances, soundtrack, humor, and heart-warming messages.

Plot
The Powerpuff Girls, and the rest of the Townsville citizens are back in theaters. The Powerpuff Girls are still in high school and they are still fighting old villains and new villains and saving the day.

One day, The Powerpuff Girls meet the DJDuff Boys and together, they start becoming best friends and fighting crime, when suddenly, new villains named Breach Pearson and Brute Pearson, try to conquer Townsville, with the help of Breach's men. So now, it's up to the Powerpuff Girls and the DJDuff Boys to fight the Pearsons and Breach's men and save the city of Townsville.

Cast

 * Amanda Leighton as Blossom
 * Kristen Li as Bubbles
 * Natalie Palamides as Buttercup
 * Ryan Potter as Zahn Martin
 * Denzel Whitaker as Cool Destiny
 * Max Charles as Justice
 * Jason Davis as Breach Pearson
 * Zac Efron as Brute Pearson
 * Tom Kenny as The Mayor of Townsville, Narrator
 * Haley Mancini as Princess Morbucks
 * Jennifer Hale as Ms. Keane
 * Tom Kane as Professor Utonium
 * Rob Paulsen as Brick, Boomer
 * Roger L. Jackson as Mojo Jojo, Butch
 * Jim Cummings as Fuzzy Lumpkins
 * Chris Pine as Breach's Men
 * Ashton Kutcher as Breach's Men, Andrew Anderson
 * Rooney Mara as Jade
 * Nicolas Cage as Crystal
 * Hugh Jackman as Freedom
 * Dan Castellaneta as Elderly
 * Jonah Hill as Laser Guy
 * Jessica DiCicco as Powerbloods
 * Justin Theroux as Deathslaver
 * Cassandra Morris as Teal Powerpuff

Rating
Rise of the Powerpuff Girls is Rated PG for Parental Guidance.

Production
On January 1, 2018, Warner Bros. announced the film and its release date of November 9, 2018, with most of the show's cast members from the 1998 series and the 2016 series reprising their roles. A month later, the film's title and teaser poster debuted, and it was announced that Ryan Potter, Denzel Whitaker and Max Charles had joined the cast. The film marks the twentieth time a theatrical Cartoon Network film is produced by Warner Bros. Animation, instead of Warner Animation Group since the group's formation in 2013.

On July 9, 2018, it was announced that actors Jason Davis and Zac Efron were part of the cast, as Breach and Brute Pearson, respectively, with Chris Pine revealed as one of Breach's men the same day. Ashton Kutcher was announced to voice one of Breach's men in the film.

Animation
The feature animation was handled by Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, British Columbia. The crew used the same processes from the original television series in the making of the film, most notably the 'skroutlines', which was a seamless blend of a more traditional screenplay with a more simple outline which resembled strong short stories and gave the storyboard artists such as Andy Cung, Sofia Alexander, and Jaydeep Hasrajani all the creative and aesthetic freedom neccessary. Jennings and Boyle themselves provided the film's animatics.

Famed comic book artists George Pérez, Todd McFarlane, and Mark Bagley and animation veterans Robert Alvarez, Tony Anselmo, Wim Bien and Georges Abolin also provided the film's storyboards. Michel Gagné helped on the character designs and special effects work on the film. He also mentioned that the film was being animated using Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Flash rather than the usual Toonz animation software used in the television series. Another animation veteran Joe Pitt also worked with Nick Jennings and Bob Boyle on the character designs of the film. According to producer and art director Nick Jennings, they still wanted to keep to the look and feel of the television show, in which the use of Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Flash enabled them to add "simple yet impactful changes" to the designs for the big screen.

The bulk of the animation work was done on Wacom Cintiq tablets, which allowed drawings to be done directly on screen to facilitate production using programs Adobe Flash and Toon Boom Studio. Pencilled key animation sequences would be digitally inked-and-painted, enhanced and composited into backgrounds using Toon Boom Harmony. The character animation was done by going through the clean-up animation department using Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Flash, and it was scanned directly into Photoshop. The artwork was then enhanced to affect the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects. The backgrounds were painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop. Additional pre-production work was done at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California where the series' pilot episode was produced. Animation and clean-up work was done at Bardel's facilities on Vancouver, British Columbia. The final animation was also provided by Renegade Animation in Glendale, California, Inspidea in Malaysia, Asia, Snipple Animation in Manila, Philippines, Big Jump Entertainment in Ottawa, Canada and Titmouse in Los Angeles, California.

Sound and music
John Powell composed the soundtrack for the film with Andy Sturmer and Rich Dickerson serving as the soundtrack producers. In addition to using the original series' music work from Michael A. Reagan on the film, he also composed themes for the Powerpuff Girls and the DJDuff Boys. The Powerpuff Girls' action score was the major focus and he also composed themes for the citizens of Townsville, the DJDuff Boys, and the rest of the new characters. The music score was recorded and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in London, England. The score is conducted by Henry Jackman. The score is performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra.

The sound design work was done at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California and Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California.

Genre
Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Marketing
The teaser trailer was released on May 9, 2018, posted on the Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Pictures YouTube channels. A second teaser trailer was released on September 4, 2018. McDonalds released Happy Meal toys to promote the film. WaterTower Music and Cartoon Network Records released the film's soundtrack. On October 8, 2018, promotional tie-ins on Cartoon Network consist of bumpers with the Powerpuff Girls and the DJDuff Boys in a movie theater announcing the film. In addition, they host the entire line-up, in intermissions between commercial break.

Theatrical run
The movie was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on November 9, 2018, by Warner Bros., on the same year as Cartoon Network's previous film Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Movie. The film was presented in a 16:9 format, rather than Warner Animation Group's standard 2.39:1 format on its previous titles. The film's theatrical release was preceded by Wilderness Cove, a short film based on Cartoon Network's animated television series Craig of the Creek.

Home media
The film was released on Digital on January 15 and Blu-Ray and DVD on February 5, 2019. It contains the deleted scenes, a Craig of the Creek short film Wilderness Cove, the 18-minute featurette, the behind-the-scenes look at Rise of the Powerpuff Girls, featuring interviews with most of the principal cast and crew, animatics and the audio commentaries, as well as a bonus episode "Oh, Daisy!", an episode from Season 3.

Box office/Commercial reception
Rise of the Powerpuff Girls was released in theaters on November 9, 2018. With heavy competition with The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Venom, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, Halloween, Johnny English Strikes Again, Bohemian Rhapsody, and other films, but a lot of marketing and promotion, the film grossed $65.3 million worldwide against a budget of $21 million.

Critical response
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 82% approval rating based on the 100 reviews and its average rating is 6.9/10 on IMDb, despite negative reviews of the television series. The critical consensus reads, "This is a big cinematic superhero movie the whole family and every children can enjoy, and in the end, it's got some positive messages". Metacritic, assigns the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore gives the film a "A-" on its A+ to F scale.

Gallery

 * Main article: Rise of the Powerpuff Girls/Gallery

Trivia

 * This is the first ever feature film of the series.
 * This is the first animated Powerpuff Girls Reboot movie to hit theaters.
 * The movie is in IMAX and Rated PG.
 * This is the next theatrical film based on a Cartoon Network series, after "The Powerpuff Girls Movie   released 16 years prior, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" released 10 years prior, "Regular Show: The Movie" released 3 years prior, "Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: M.O.T.I.O.N.-P.I.C.T.U.R.E." released 2 years prior, "Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Movie" and "The Lego Ninjago Movie" both released a year before and "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" and "The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie''" both released this year.
 * Although, Teen Titans Go! and Ninjago are only aired by CN, and they’re made by Warner Bros.
 * This is the second Cartoon Network movie to have an IMAX release.
 * This was one of the successful films of 2018.
 * The film was in normal 3D, Real D 3D, IMAX 3D, Digital 3D, & XD 3D.
 * The original cast reprised their roles in the movie.
 * This is the next theatrical 2D animated movie in 20 years after Quest for Camelot (1998), 19 years after The Iron Giant (1999), 2 years after Tiny Toon Adventures: The Motion Picture (2016), a year after Chowder: The Movie (2017) and this year after Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Movie (2018).
 * This marks as Warner Bros.' next 2D animated theatrical film. Warner Bros. had its original feature animation division, which produced 2D animated films.
 * Before the movie, a short film called "Wilderness Cove" based on Cartoon Network's animated television series Craig of the Creek was played.
 * Unlike the show itself being traditionally animated, the characters from the show and the new characters from the movie are animated in 2D Flash animation by Bardel Entertainment using Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Flash. Additionally, shortly after the movie premiered, it was confirmed that the series would switch over to being animated using Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Flash.
 * This is the Warner Bros.' eleventh theatrically released traditionally animated film, after  Clifford's Really Big Movie  14 years prior.
 * This is the fifth theatrical Warner Bros. film to rely solely on Flash animation instead of hand-drawn animation, or CGI animation. In fact, there was no CGI animation at all, as everything was done in 2D.
 * This is Warner Animation Group's eleventh traditionally animated film.
 * This is the first Powerpuff Girls movie to be a box office success because it's a colorful, poppy kids movie.
 * Zac Efron's second theatrically released animated film after The Lorax (2012).
 * This is Ashton Kutcher 's third animated film, after  Open Season  released 12 years prior and "Camp Lazlo The Movie" released 10 years prior.
 * The film was animated by Bardel Entertainment.
 * This is Tom Kane's seventh Warner Bros. theatrical animated film based on an animated TV series, after "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" released 16 years prior,  Star Wars: The Clone Wars  released 10 years prior,  Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: M.O.T.I.O.N.-P.I.C.T.U.R.E.  and  The Animaniacs Movie  both released 2 years prior and  WordGirl: The Movie  and  Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Movie   both released this year.
 * This is Jason Davis' first theatrical animated film since "Recess: School's Out" released 17 years prior.
 * Unlike The Ant Bully (2006) and Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018), this film was made in the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio.
 * This is Jason Davis' final film performance during his lifetime, before he died on February 16, 2020 at the age of 35.
 * This is Denzel Whitaker's first Warner Bros. animated film since "The Ant Bully" released 12 years prior.
 * This is Justin Theroux's second Warner Bros. animated film, after "The Lego Ninjago Movie" released a year before.
 * This is Nicolas Cage's second Warner Bros. animated film, after "The Ant Bully" released 12 years prior and "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" released this year.

Main Transcript

 * Main article: Rise of the Powerpuff Girls/Transcript

Trailer Transcripts

 * Main article: Rise of the Powerpuff Girls/Trailer transcripts

Credits

 * Main article: Rise of the Powerpuff Girls/Credits