Underwater Circus

Underwater Circus is an animated comedy adventure fantasy film. The film is produced by nWave Pictures and Josh0108 Films, and distributed by Lionsgate.

Underwater Circus was released in theatres on December 31, 2021, and on Netflix 31 days after the theatrical release. It received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $38.1 million worldwide on a $25 million budget.

Synopsis
In an unknown area of the Atlantic Ocean, far from Atlantis, is the city of Aquatopia, home of the famous Underwater Circus. Ringo, the newest member of the Circus, wants to prove himself to be the best, and become the star of the Circus. With his mentor, Paul, Ringo sets out to discover what will make him the star of the show.

Plot
Eons ago, the city of Atlantis was bustling, but it was getting too big for people to live in, and the scale was getting close to the Abyss. To minimize the stress of the mermaids and mermen who lived in Atlantis. A new city was built around 25 miles from Atlantis, and it would be known as Aquatopia. In order to attract new visitors and people wanting to move out of Atlantis, the mayor; Neptune agreed to build a new entertainment area in Aquatopia, and called Gaspard, to be its leader. Soon, the Underwater Circus was born. The sudden emergence of pool toys being capsized of boats, ships and planes, gave Gaspard the idea to make some of them performers, and some of them residents of Aquatopia. These pool toys were given life through a magical transporter Poseidon had cast.

Years later, the Underwater Circus has been successful, and mermaids/merman and pool toys that have been given life have lived in peace. Every year, the Circus holds auditions for new performers, and a budding hula-hoop, named Ringo, was finally old enough to enter. It has been a lifelong dream for Ringo to be in the Circus, having grown up with many visits there. As Ringo packed his bags, his parents wished him good luck, as he jumped onto the Conch Bus to head to the audition grounds. On the way, Ringo and many of the other auditionees got a great view of the Aquatopia city, including many of the landmarks and buildings. Once arriving at the audition grounds, all of the auditionees went off and were introduced to the ringmaster; Gaspard. The auditionees got a tour of the circus, and then went off to prove their worth to the circus. After an hour of the auditionees showing their talents, it was time for Gaspard and Seldom to choose 4 potential performers to join the circus. It was decided that Burp, and his twin Gurp, Wake, Meole, and Ringo, had been chosen. Ringo could not believe it, he had been selected to join the Underwater Circus. As soon as he got home, Ringo's parents were ecstatic to hear the news.

A week has passed since Ringo was selected, and it was time for his first day proper at the circus. When Ringo and the other winners arrived, the manager; Seldom, told them that in order to make them stars, he would induct mentors to each of them. When it was Ringo's turn, Seldom introduced him to Paul, a merman who had been working there for a year. As the two met, Ringo would tell Paul his aspiration; to become the star of the circus. Paul and Seldom seemed quite surprised, as there has been nobody who has joined the circus with that dream. Paul has the idea of giving Ringo a tour to see if he gets any ideas. They first see Quarius, who is a marvel at the ropes. Ringo gives the ropes a try, but he ends up getting stuck. Loopy comes to the rescue, and shows off her ability to generate hoops. Ringo asks Loopy how she can do that, and Loopy goes into great detail, which loses the interest of Ringo. He instead checks out Meloe, who was looking after the sharks. Ringo ignores Meloe just to see one particular shark he has idolized; called Scarr. Ringo knew that most of the sharks in Aquatopia weren't vicious, but it soon started to worry Paul, so he asked Ringo to leave Scarr alone. Ringo and Paul then met Wake, who was busy lifting supplies around the circus grounds. Ringo was amazed at how a small ball could lift some heavy weights. Ringo then bumped into Joquei, or as he is referred to as DJ Beachball, in the middle of searching through records. Paul asked Joquei how he can operate a turntable without hands. Not even Joquei knows haw he can pull that off.

It was eventually time for Ringo to start getting ready for his first show, but he wasn't sure what he would do, so Paul showed Ringo the Cabinet of Circus Things. After looking, Ringo decided that he wanted to do some tightrope walking, given that he was thin enough to be allowed to do it, but Ringo assured to Paul that he would be great at it. A few days later, it was the first circus show since Ringo joined, and his parents had come to watch him. After performances from Quarius, Meloe, Kalyan and Silke, it was Ringo's turn. Ringo was a bit scared because he never told Paul that he would be good at it. As Ringo started to make his way down the tightrope, he noticed that he hadn't been given a wire to balance, and he would be able to hold it in his mouth. He stops halfway through the rope, and asks Loopy at the other side if he wasn't given a wire, but Loopy said that she can't generate anything other than a hoop. Ringo started to feel nervous, and eventually, he tried to run back to one side of the tightrope before he missed the platform and fell all the way down, and landed in Silke's silk art, ruining it in the process. The audience, Ringo's parents, Paul and Gaspard were shocked. Eventually, Ringo emerged from the pile of silk, and ran backstage. Paul follows him. Ringo was upset because he lied to everyone, saying that he wasn't good at tightrope walking, and he just wanted to impress the audience. Paul consoles Ringo, and assured Ringo that it was only his first performance, and that he should have told Paul that we was lying about how good he was at the tightrope.

A day had passed since Ringo's first show, and he was really wanting to do better than his first misstep, so Paul had the idea to give Ringo ideas not by looking at the Cabinet of Circus Things, but by finding something Ringo would like to do by travelling through Central Aquatopia. Ringo tried many different things during the journey, such as trying plate spinning (he only got the plates to stay up for 10 seconds, and they came from a fancy restaurant), trick riding (on one of the Mollusk Travel carriages, Ringo caused the mollusk to crash into a lamppost, but both were luckily not hurt), contortion (Ringo visited a contortion class, and he was not allowed to join them because he was not a merman, so he tried to do it in front of the teacher, but soon realized it was impossible for him), juggling (Ringo tried throwing everything by heading the objects, even the dangerous stuff, but we was not wanting to juggle his own kind), fire breathing (Ringo opted to eat spicy food instead of using actual fire, but it backfired, and he burned several newspapers), and diabolo (Ringo tried to use it with his mouth, but he lost control of the cup, and ended up tying himself up with the string, from axle to cup). Once they were done, Ringo and Paul went to the Neptune's Park and sat on a bench. Ringo acknowledged that he didn't do well on any of the skills he tried, and that if he wanted to be the star, he would have to stick to something he would not be good and, and get ridiculed by the public. Paul reminded Ringo that in a couple of days, it would be his next show, so they must hurry up and find something he would excel at. Ringo noticed that there was a human pyramid of hula-hoops like he was, so he tried to join in, but every section was full, except for the top. Ringo rushed to the top, but because he jumped on the other heads, they feel hurt and disband their tower, leaving Ringo to fall to the ground. Paul knew that Ringo had tried almost everything, but he had done more harm than good, so Paul sat down and started to think. Eventually, he thought that Ringo hadn't tried working with another performer. Paul went over to Ringo and asked him if he was interested in pairing with a performer. Ringo liked the idea, and he went home. Ringo talked to his parents about his day, and if they had any ideas for him.

The next day, Ringo and Paul went to a café, and started brainstorming. Ringo tried a coffee, and he started to act hyper. He bounced out of the door, then around the place, and the commotion gave Paul an idea, if Ringo would partner with Meloe, and drink the coffee, he would perform a stunt where the sharks would perform alongside Ringo, even in his coffee mood. Paul told Ringo his idea, and Ringo, eventually loosing his coffee mood, agreed. Later that day, after practicing, it was time for Ringo's second performance. After a performance from Loopy, it was Ringo and Meloe's turn. Gaspard pointed out to the audience that Ringo would try out a new stunt he accidentally found earlier that day, and that Meloe had trained the sharks to do a routine. After Ringo and Meloe stepped onto the performing area, Gaspard gave Ringo a cup of coffee, and said that he couldn't wait to see his attitude come to play. The sharks circled Ringo, and he had drunk the coffee. Ringo started to act hyper, which worried some of the sharks. Ringo assured them that it was part of the performance. He bounced all the way up to the very top of the tent, and flew right out, ripping a part of the tent in the process. Once again, the audience, Ringo's parents, Paul and Gaspard were shocked. Ringo is then seen flying towards the edge of Aquatopia, and noticed he was getting close to The Abyss. Over at the circus, Scarr watched from the tear where Ringo was going to land, and then he feared that Ringo might land at the edge of The Abyss, so Scarr, using his fast swimming, dashed out of the circus as fast as he could and followed Ringo's trail in the air. Ringo's parents were nervous. Ringo landed on a minecart that had tracks leading around the perimeter of The Abyss. Ringo passed Dolemdum, who was sweeping algae from the ground, and noticed the runaway minecart going past him. He pulled a switch to change a line that goes away from a dead end, but it was too late, as Ringo was heading straight towards the bottomless pit. The mine cart, and Ringo were about to fall into The Abyss, before Scar came in to save Ringo. He pushed the mine cart back onto the track, and took Ringo back to the circus. As the two got back, the audience cheered for Scarr. Ringo felt embarrassed, and went backstage, where Paul was waiting. Ringo sat on a bench and started to cry; this was his second performance, and both were failed attempts. Paul remembered that several times, he had taken struggling performers to see The 3 Beasts of Aquatopia, who had knowledge on being a better performer. However, as Paul was going to share the idea, Ringo had already gone home. At Ringo's house, he had a talk with his parents, who were starting to feel like the circus was a bad choice for him.

The next day, Ringo went out of his house to see Paul in his Snail Rider, and told Ringo that they were going to see someone. Ringo asked Paul who they were seeing, and Paul said he would tell Ringo once they got there. Ringo claimed onto the snail, and zoomed off. Ringo was surprised that Paul knew how to use the Snail Rider for racing. They jumped off the road and into the Caves of Avaluna. They passed through many empty caves, before they settled at a cave that was beside a watchtower. Ringo and Paul went to see Pulchritude to gain entry into the specific cave. Pulchritude recognized Paul as a circus worker, and guessed that there was another performer that needed help from The 3 Beasts. Upon hearing that name, Ringo started to worry. He never knew there were big monsters outside Aquatopia, and he'd also thought they wouldn't help him, but instead eat him. As soon as Pulchritude opened the gates, Ringo and Paul walked towards the cave. Upon seeing some eyes, Ringo stopped and closed his eyes. As the beasts were emerging from the cave, Paul asked Ringo to open his eyes, and he did, seeing Maro, Krilan and Berbisa front and center. Ringo stood still for a few seconds, before he proclaimed that he was scared. Maro, Krilan and Berbisa introduced themselves. Paul told Ringo that they were friendly, but Ringo was still unsure.

Main Cast

 * Zach Aguilar as Ringo, who hopes to be the star of the Underwater Circus
 * Nick Cannon as Paul, a merman and Ringo's mentor
 * Bill Nighy as Gaspard, the ringmaster
 * Dino Andrade as Joquei (known by his stage name; DJ Beachball), the Circus' DJ
 * Nicolas Aqui as Quarius
 * Eric Bauza as Wake, who is strong enough to lift a mermaid/merman with only 1 hand
 * Kirk Thornton as Scarr, a shark
 * Rhett and Link as Burp & Gurp, a duo who are known for their high-octane stunts, and their namesake burps
 * Neal McDonough as Neptune, the mayor of Aquatopia
 * Sandy Fox as Ringo's Mom
 * also voices Silke, a crab that excels at aerial silk, and untying any tangles
 * Daniel Wolfe as Ringo's Dad
 * Millie Mup as Loopy, an eel with the ability to generate hoops for the performers to jump through
 * Christine Marie Cabanos as Meloe, with multiple hands, she is an expert at taming sharks and whales
 * also voices Pulchritude, who overlooks the 3 beasts and keeps them in their cave
 * George Babbit as Seldom, manager of the circus

Additional Voices

 * Jessica Gee-George as Kalyan, Paul's girlfriend and works at the circus
 * Colin McFarlane as Maro, a brown creature with wheels for feet, one of the 3 beasts who live outside Aquatopia
 * Haley Joel Osment as Krilan, a hunched creature without the ability to swim, one of the 3 beasts who live outside Aquatopia
 * also voices Squiddle, an octopus with the "misfortune" of being shot out of the cannon
 * Stephanie Young as Berbisa, a giant sea snake who can slide around on land or in the water, one of the 3 beasts who live outside Aquatopia
 * James Fredrick as Dolendum, who keeps the Abyss at bay

Production
Production started in May 2020, and wrapped up in September 2021. Production was mostly handled at nWave's Los Angeles office, while the Brussels office was working on Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness.

Release
Underwater Circus had its world premiere on December 14, 2021, and the film was released theatrically on December 31, 2021.

The film's theatrical release was preceded by DJ Epic's Monster World Tour, a short film based on the mobile game My Singing Monsters. The ending was edited to include credits and removed the last section (which included Rare Theremind travelling to Magical Sanctum, and meeting Xyster and Enchantling). Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZJ0p-aUZWQ

Ratings in other Countries

 * USA: PG (Mild Action/Peril, Rude Humor)
 * UK: U (Mild Slapstick, Very Mild Threat, Rude Humour)

Trailers
Trailers were released on August 6, 2021 and October 18, 2021 respectively.
 * The trailer released on August 6, 2021 was shown before PAW Patrol: The Movie and The Addams Family 2.
 * The trailer released on October 18, 2021 was shown before Ron's Gone Wrong, Encanto and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Box office
In the United States, Underwater Circus opened in over 2,800 theaters and was projected to gross around $3.5-8.5 million in its opening weekend. It debuted third in the domestic weekend, finishing between The King's Man and American Underdog.

As of January 3, 2022, Underwater Circus has grossed $13.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $24.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $38.1 million. Netflix acquiring streaming rights to Underwater Circus did overturn any losses the movie had made.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 44% approval rating based on 60 reviews (26 fresh, 34 rotten). The website's critics' consensus reads: "It might win the crowd with its strong morals, but Underwater Circus’ lack of a compelling story is what could make its performance unsatisfying."