The Pound Puppies Go to Africa

The Pound Puppies Go to Africa is a 2004 American animated action-adventure comedy-drama film that serves as a continuation/spin-off of the 1986-1987 Hanna-Barbera television series Pound Puppies (itself being based on the popular toy line originally created by Tonka). The film was written and directed by Jacob S. Lee. In the film, the Pound Puppies travel to Africa to rescue a lonely puppy who has been kidnapped by a group of thieves who are planning to steal a priceless diamond. Meanwhile, the 11 year-old Holly, who is fed up with her aunt Katrina Stoneheart’s cruel and unfair actions, tries to talk some sense into her.

The film stars the voices of John Goodman, Sean Hayes, Jeff Daniels, Melissa Fahn and Britt McKillip. It also features the regular television cast, including Dan Gilvezan, Ruth Buzzi, Nancy Cartwright, B.J. Ward, Robert Morse, Pat Carroll and Adrienne Alexander.

Development of a film adaptation of the Pound Puppies television series began in June 1999 when Universal Pictures, executive producer Steven Spielberg and director-writer Lee acquired the rights to the characters. New characters and subplots were developed a year later and the film began production in August 2002. It wrapped up in October 2003. Various tie-in merchandise for the film was sponsored by McDonald’s, GameBoy Advance, Verizon, Xbox, Mattel, Hasbro, PlayStation, Dell and many others.

Produced by Amblin Entertainment and Hanna-Barbera Productions, it was released theatrically by Universal Pictures on July 23rd, 2004. Despite being a box office disappointment, grossing only $28 million domestically against a $35 million production budget, the film received positive reviews from critics and fans of the original series, praising the story, characters and faithfulness to the cartoon, considering it to be far better than 1988’s Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw.