Weird-Ohs: The Movie

Weird-Ohs: The Movie is a 2003 Canadian-American direct-to-video computer animated comedy film based on the Weird-Ohs television series. The film was directed by John Howley and written by Michael Ryan, with music composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. It stars the voices of Kathleen Barr, Scott McNeil, Ian James Corlett, Tabitha St. Germain, Garry Chalk and Cusse Mankuma.

The movie follows Portia (Kathleen Barr), Digger (Scott McNeil) and Eddie (Ian James Corlett) as they try to stop Wade's (Cusse Mankuma) evil plan to turn Weirdsville into a parking lot for his new shopping mall development project called "Wade World". Along the way, they are joined by Davey (Tabitha St. Germain), Killer McBash (Garry Chalk) and Uncle Huey  in their fight against Wade while also trying not to get caught themselves since if they do then it'll be off with their heads!

Plot
Wade (Cusse Mankuma) is a rich kid who wants to turn Weirdsville into a parking lot for his new shopping mall development project called "Wade World". To do this, he needs the deed to Mama-B's Diner which Portia's (Kathleen Barr) family owns. Wade offers to buy the diner from them, but they refuse so he hatches a plan to get it from them by any means necessary.

He first tries buying it from them, but when that doesn't work he sends his bodyguard/valet/driver Killer McBash (Garry Chalk) to steal the deed while dressed as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. However, Digger and Eddie catch him in the act and put him in jail. Undeterred, Wade then has McBash break out of jail and kidnap Portia while she's at school so he can ransom her for the deed. But Davey (Tabitha St Germain), Digger and Eddie rescue her before anything happens

With all of his other plans foiled, Wade decides to just take matters into his own hands and goes over to Mama-B's Diner with some goons posing as health inspectors in order close down the diner. But Portia, Digger and Eddie are one step ahead of him and have already closed down the diner themselves in order to stop Wade from getting his hands on the deed.

Wade then hatches one final plan: He has McBash kidnap Mama-B (Kathleen Barr) and Baby Chassis (Ian James Corlett) so he can ransom them for the deed. But Davey, Digger, Eddie and Uncle Huey  rescue them before anything happens

With all of his plans foiled, Wade decides to just take matters into his own hands and goes over to Mama-B's Diner with some goons posing as health inspectors in order close down the diner but Portia put a "closed" sign on it herself much to Wade's dismay who angrily leaves vowing revenge. In jail, McBash tells Wade that he quits much to his boss' anger who vows revenge on him as well before being taken away by the police while Killer is left behind laughing maniacally knowing that he won't be working for Wade anymore.

Distributed
The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on July 1, 2003.

Soundtrack
The Weird-Ohs: The Movie soundtrack was released on June 24, 2003 by Varèse Sarabande. It featured songs performed by They Might Be Giants, Bowling for Soup, Barenaked Ladies and Ween.

Animation
Weird-Ohs: The Movie is a direct-to-video computer animated comedy film that uses cel shading animation which made the characters look like they were hand drawn cartoons even though they weren't. This type of animation would later be used in films such as Disney's Bolt (2008), DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda (2008) and Aardman Animations' Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were Rabbit (2005).

Trailers
Two trailers for Weird-Ohs: The Movie were shown before theatrical screenings of Spy Kids 3D: Game Over (2003) in North America starting from June 6th all the way up until its release date on July 4th. These trailers can be found as an extra feature on both the VHS and DVD releases of Spy Kids 3D respectively. In Australia however; only one trailer for Weird-Ohs: The Movie was shown before theatrical screenings of Finding Nemo (2003) starting from June 19th up until its release date on July 10th.

Production
Weird-Ohs: The Movie was produced by Decode Entertainment, Mainframe Entertainment and EM.TV in association with the Testors Corporation who also created the Weird-Ohs toy line that this film is based on. This would be one of the last films to be produced by both Decode Entertainment and EM.TV as they would later merge together to form Cookie Jar Group in August of 2003; just a month after Weird-Ohs: The Movie's direct-to-video release.

Development
The idea for a Weird-Ohs feature length film came about when John Howley pitched it to Michael Ryan who then wrote the script for it while Mark Mothersbaugh composed the music for it. Once everything was greenlit, production began sometime in 2002 and ended early 2003 with post production work being done throughout most of that year until its eventual release on VHS & DVD in North America on July 1st followed by Australia on July 10th respectively.

Casting
Kathleen Barr, Scott McNeil, Ian James Corlett & Tabitha St. Germain reprised their roles as Portia, Digger, Eddie & Davey respectively from the Weird-Ohs TV series while Garry Chalk & Cusse Mankuma joined the cast as Killer McBash & Wade respectively.

Release
Weird-Ohs: The Movie was released on VHS and DVD in North America on July 1st, 2003 followed by Australia on July 10th that same year. It made its television premiere in Canada on YTV's Bionix block on October 11th before making its US debut almost a month later when it aired back to back with another Mainframe Entertainment produced film called ReBoot: Daemon Rising (2001) on Fox Family Channel's 13 Nights of Halloween programming event which ran from October 18–31; starting at 8pm EST each night during that two week period.

Screening
A screening for Weird-Ohs: The Movie was held at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills, California sometime in June of 2003 where Kathleen Barr (Portia), Scott McNeil (Digger), Ian James Corlett (Eddie) and Tabitha St. Germain (Davey) were all attendance to do a Q&A panel about the film afterwards.

Home media
Weird-Ohs: The Movie was released on VHS and DVD in North America on July 1, 2003 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment followed by Australia on July 10th that same year. In Canada however; it wasn't until October 7, 2003 when the film finally got a release there courtesy of Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm who distributed it along with their other titles such as ReBoot: Daemon Rising (2001) & Dragon's Lair III: The Curse of Mordread (1993).

Reception
Critical reception for Weird-Ohs: The Movie is mostly positive with many praising its animation style, humor & voice acting while others criticized its short running time & lack of originality. It currently holds a 73% "Fresh" rating over at Rotten Tomatoes based on 7 reviews with an average score of 6/10. Its consensus states "While not particularly original or memorable, Weird-ohs will still manage to entertain younger viewers with its colorful visuals and silly antics."

Box office
Weird-Ohs: The Movie didn't receive a theatrical release anywhere which meant that it didn't make any money from ticket sales but despite this; it still managed to gross $1,033,842 from its VHS & DVD sales in North America as well as $122,972 from its Australian release for a total of $1,156,814 worldwide.

Accolades
The film was nominated for "Best Animated Feature" at the 2003 Genie Awards but lost to René Laloux's Fantastic Planet (1973). It was also nominated for two Annie Awards; one for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Video Production" which it won and another for "Outstanding Individual Achievement For Voice Acting by a Female Performer In An Animated Television Production or Special" which went to Kathleen Barr (Portia) but she ultimately lost out to Tara Strong (Timmy Turner) who won it for The Fairly OddParents: Abra-Catastrophe! (2003).

Legacy
Weird-Ohs: The Movie has been considered by some to be ahead of its time due its use of cel shading animation which wouldn't become mainstream until years later with films such as Disney's Bolt (2008), DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda(2008) & Aardman Animations' Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were Rabbit(2005); all three of which would go on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Categories
2003 animated films | 2000s American animated films | 2003 direct-to-video films | Canadian direct-to-video films | English-language films | Fox Family Channel original programming | American children's animated comedy films | Canadian children's animated comedy films | 2000s children's animated films | American direct-to-video animated films | Canadian direct-to-video animated films | Films about siblings | Mainframe Entertainment television series | YTV (TV channel) original programming