Plants vs. Zombies (2016 film)

The Plants vs. Zombies Movie is a 2016 American computer-animated action-comedy film, based on PopCap Game's 2009 tower defense video game of the same name, co-produced by DreamWorks Animation and PopCap Animation, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was directed by Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Walt Dohrn, from a screenplay by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. The film features an ensemble cast starring the voices of Dan Aykroyd, Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Faris, Ryan Reynolds, Tom Kenny, Steve Buscemi, Ed O'Neill, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Jane Lynch, Nick Frost, Owen Wilson, Josh Gad, Freddie Highmore, Ewan McGregor, Alecia Moore (Pink), Harrison Ford, Idris Elba, Jim Carrey, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Lee, Bill Hader, J.K. Simmons, Hugh Jackman, Clancy Brown, Seth Rogen, Wayne Knight, Carlos Alazraqui, Alan Tudyk, Dan Fogler, Jack Black, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie, Ben Affleck, Nick Offerman, Alec Baldwin, Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll, Daniel Craig, Mike Myers, Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard, and it is narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart. The film follows a 42-year-old gardener named Crazy Dave who struggles to survive an attack from zombies and the evil Dr. Zomboss with the help of powerful mutant plants.

The film was theatrically released on July 15, 2016 by DreamWorks Animation. It was a commercial success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2016, and received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics.

Plot/Synopsis
Crazy Dave is a 42-year-old lonely but friendly and careful gardener who lives in the streets of Suburbia. When he discovers that the zombies are coming from Dr. Zomboss' fortress located in the Graveyard near his house, he needs help of powerful mutant plants of different types to attack them. The plants attack the zombies day and night, in the frontyard, in the backyard where they throw a pool party and the roof, meeting new plants and new zombies they find.

In the roof of Crazy Dave's house, the plants are still attacking the zombies to protect Dave when he's watching television and doing his everyday activities. Later during the night, the plants faced Dr. Zomboss and his terribly giant creation: the Zombot! A giant robot zombie that can attack the plants by throwing RV's at them, creating fire and ice balls to crush them, spawning different zombies by picking them with his hand, squashing them with his foot when they are near him and spawning Bungee Zombies to steal plants, and the plants must attack and defeat it. At the climax of the film, the Zombot was completely destroyed and Dr. Zomboss was arrested by the law for causing a mass destruction in Suburbia the next day, and the plants along with Dave they start to dance with Sunflower singing Zombies on Your Lawn.

In the mid-credits scene, the polices took Dr. Zomboss to Jail and then he was arrested for four years. He told himself he will get revenge with Crazy Dave once again with a new surprising catastrophe.

In the post-credits scene, four years later, the plants once again attacked the zombies with Zomboss released from Jail. One of these zombies was taking a special lunch. Crazy Dave found a Taco with Hot Sauce from this lunch and ate it. He, wanting to eat the taco again, wants to time-travel and calls Penny, a supercar that can time-travel to find this taco.

Cast

 * Dan Aykroyd as Crazetopher David "Crazy Dave" Blazing III, the main protagonist of the film. A crazy 42-year-old gardener who wears a saucepan for a helmet, and faces Dr. Zomboss and his zombie army with the help of living plants. He used to speak only in weird grumbles and gibberish, but here speaks normally with words and has a distracted but very kind behavior.
 * Max Charles voices a 8-year-old Crazy Dave.
 * Michael Cera voices a 21-year-old Crazy Dave.
 * Steve Buscemi as Dr. Edgar George Zomboss, a mad evil scientist zombie who has a really huge brain and is the leader of the Zombie Herd. He is the main antagonist of the film.
 * Greg Cipes voices a 21-year-old Dr. Zomboss.
 * Fred Willard as Crazetopher David "Crazy Dave Sr." Blazing II. He is Crazy Dave's father and Zoet's wife. He only appears in the 8-year-old Crazy Dave flashback at the beginning of the film.
 * Catherine O'Hara as Zoet Blazing. She is Crazy Dave's mother and Crazy Dave Sr.'s wife. She only appears in the 8-year-old Crazy Dave flashback at the beginning of the film.
 * Mike Myers as Michael "Mike" Weathers, a news reporter from SuburbNews.
 * Patrick Stewart as the Narrator

Plants

 * Neil Patrick Harris as Peashooter, a green Bellsprout-like plant who shoots peas at zombies. He is the leader of the Plant Herd, Sunflower's love interest, Wall-nut's best friend and Repeater's younger brother.
 * Harris also voices Threepeater and Split Pea's right head.
 * Anna Faris as Sunflower, an careful plant who can produce suns. She is Peashooter's love interest and Marigold's best friend.
 * Laura Shigihara (archival recordings) as Sunflower's singing voice, which is heard in Zombies on Your Lawn during the first part of the end credits.
 * Faris also voices Twin Sunflower
 * Ryan Reynolds as Wall-Nut, an solid walnut who can block zombies when the other plants are attacking them. He is Peashooter's best friend and Tall-nut's younger brother.
 * Tom Kenny as Potato Mine, a root plant who explodes when he is in contact with other zombies after being hidden under the earth for a few seconds.
 * Sean William Scott and Josh Peck as Cherry Bomb, a cherry duo who can explode zombies into a 3x3 area. They serve as an instant use plant.
 * Bill Nighy as Chomper, a purple piranha-like plant who has a huge appetite for zombies.
 * Frank Welker provides Chomper's barks, burps and growls.
 * Simon Pegg as Snow Pea, a Peashooter plant who shoots frozen peas to slow zombies. He is Starfruit's best friend.
 * Owen Wilson as Repeater, a serious Peashooter plant who can shoot the double of peas. He is Peashooter's older brother.
 * Wilson also voices Split Pea's left head.
 * Josh Gad as Puff-shroom
 * Gad also voices Sea-shroom.
 * Freddie Highmore as Sun-shroom
 * Ewan McGregor as Fume-shroom. He is the leader of the mushrooms, Doom-shroom's best friend, Ice-shroom's closer friend along with Hypno-shroom, Squash and Torchwood.
 * Alecia Moore (Pink) as Hypno-shroom. She is Doom-shroom's love interest and Fume-shroom's closer friend.
 * Harrison Ford as Ice-shroom, a veteran blue mushroom who can freeze all zombies. He is Fume-shroom's closer friend along with Squash and Torchwood.
 * Idris Elba as Doom-shroom, a massive black mushroom who can explode all zombies leaving craters. He is Fume-shroom's best friend, Jalapeño's closer friend, Hypno-shroom's love interest and serves as an instant use plant.
 * Frank Welker as Tangle Kelp, a monstrous kelp who tangles zombies and take them underwater to devour them.
 * Welker also provides the vocal effects of Grave Buster.
 * Dustin Hoffman as Squash, a grumpy chayote plant that can squash zombies when they are next or near to him. He is Fume-shroom's closer friend along with Ice-shroom and Torchwood.
 * Jim Carrey as Jalapeño, an mexican jalapeno pepper who scorches an entire lane of zombies with a powerful burst of flames. He is Doom-shroom's closer friend and serves as an instant use plant.
 * Dee Bradley Baker provides the vocal effects of Spikeweed and Spikerock.
 * J.K. Simmons as Torchwood, a grumpy stump who can light regular peas that pass through him. He is Fume-shroom's closer friend along with Ice-shroom and Squash.
 * Hugh Jackman as Tall-nut, a taller version of Wall-nut who can block the zombies and also Pole Vaulters and Dolphin Riders. He is Wall-nut's older brother.
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Plantern, a street lamp-like plant who lights up areas removing the fog.
 * Jane Lynch as Cactus
 * Kari Wahlgren as Blover
 * Nick Frost as Starfruit, a carambola who attacks by projecting stars in five different directions whenever a zombie is in his line of fire. He is Snow Pea's best friend.
 * Ben Affleck as Magnet-shroom, a magnet-shaped mushroom who can steal metallic objects from zombies.
 * Jason Lee as Cabbage-pult, a cabbage who can throw cabbages at zombies.
 * Bill Hader as Kernel-pult. a corn cob who has a 75% chance to throw kernel corns at zombies and a 25% chance to throw butter at zombies to freeze them temporarily.
 * Dan Fogler as Coffee Bean, a coffee bean who can wake up mushrooms during the day.
 * Fogler also voices Gold Magnet.
 * Jack Black as Garlic, a garlic who diverts zombies into other lanes.
 * Leslie Mann as Umbrella Leaf, an umbrella-like plant who protects herself and up to eight plants surrounding her from Bungee Zombies and basketballs thrown by Catapult Zombie.
 * Alison Brie as Marigold, a daisy who can produce silver and gold coins. She is Sunflower's best friend.
 * Nick Offerman as Melon-pult, a watermelon who can throw watermelons that can dead heavy damage at zombies.
 * Offerman also voices Winter Melon.
 * Daniel Craig as Gatling Pea, a veteran Peashooter plant who can throw four peas at once.
 * Nick Kroll as Gloom-shroom
 * Grey DeLisle-Griffin as Cattail
 * Billy Connolly as Cob Cannon, a veteran corn cob that can launch big corn cobs at targeted areas that explodes into a 3x3 area.
 * Conrad Vernon as Imitater, a potato that imites and turn into another plants.

Zombies

 * Conrad Vernon as Basic Zombie, Flag Zombie, Conehead Zombie, Buckethead Zombie, Screen Door Zombie, Backup Dancer Zombie and Ducky Tube Zombie.
 * Vernon also provides the Zombot's robotic voice.
 * James Arnold Taylor as Pole Vaulter Zombie, an athletic zombie who runs with his pole jumps through plants except Tall-nut.
 * Taylor also voices Bobsled Team Zombie.
 * Ed O'Neill as Newspaper Zombie, an elder zombie who gets angry everytime he loses his newspaper.
 * Will Arnett as All-Star Zombie, a strong zombie that can run and crash into the plants killing them.
 * Will Ferrell as Disco Zombie, a dancing zombie whose favorite music is Disco music and spawns four of his backup dancer. Everytime he loses one of his backup dancers, he spawns a new one.
 * Christopher Knights as Snorkel Zombie
 * Alan Tudyk as Zomboni
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Dolphin Rider Zombie, another athletic zombie who runs with his dolphin into the water and jump through the plants except Tall-nut, like the Pole Vaulter.
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Zombie Dolphin (speaking voice)
 * Tom Kenny as Jack-In-The-Box Zombie
 * Kenny also voices Bungee Zombie.
 * Jeff Bennett as Balloon Zombie, a zombie who can fly with his balloon and can only be attacked by the Cactus when he is floating.
 * Wayne Knight as Digger Zombie, a zombie who digs underground through Crazy Dave's lawn with his axe reaching to the first column of the lawn.
 * Knight also voices Catapult Zombie, a zombie who throws basketballs at plants.
 * Seth Rogen as Pogo Zombie, a zombie who jumps with his pogo stick over multiple plants except Tall-nut.
 * Clancy Brown as Zombie Yeti, a silent yet curious zombified Yeti who leaves the lawn slowly after he reaches the sixth column.
 * John DiMaggio as Ladder Zombie, a zombie who carries a ladder as a shield and puts it into defensive plants.
 * Alec Baldwin as Gargantuar, a giant zombie who smashes plants with his telephone and throw his Imp when he suffers the half of his health. He is Imp's adoptive father.
 * Jonah Hill as Imp, a small but intelligent zombie who sneaks around plants and eats them. He is Gargantuar's adoptive son.

Release
The film was theatrically released in USA on July 15, 2016.

Marketing

 * The film's teaser trailer debuted on July 10, 2015, and was shown in front of screenings of Minions, Ant-Man, Pixels, Hotel Transylvania 2, Goosebumps and The Peanuts Movie.
 * A first trailer debuted on November 25, 2015, and was shown in front of screenings of The Good Dinosaur and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
 * A second trailer debuted on January 29, 2016, and was shown in front of screenings of Kung Fu Panda 3 and Deadpool.
 * A third teaser trailer debuted on March 4, 2016, and was shown in front of screenings of Zootopia, Captain America: Civil War, The Angry Birds Movie and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
 * Seven individual TV spots for Crazy Dave, Peashooter, Sunflower, Dr. Zomboss, Wall-nut, Chomper, Cactus were released between May 20 and 27, 2016.
 * The final trailer debuted on June 17, 2016, and was shown in front of screenings of Finding Dory, The BFG and The Secret Life of Pets.

Home media
The Plants vs. Zombies Movie was released on Digital HD on October 4, 2017, and on Blu-Ray and DVD on October 18, 2016, from the first day of release to July 2017 it became the most sold DVD on the market. The Wal-Mart exclusive Blu-Ray + DVD Combo release has six individual plushies featuring Crazy Dave, Peashooter, Sunflower, Wall-nut, Marigold and Dr. Zomboss. Since March 2017, the film is available on Netflix, and it became the most watched film from March to August.

Critical response
Critical response aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 89% "Certified Fresh" based on 230 reviews. The website's consensus reads "The Plants vs. Zombies Movie is a fun-filled action film which makes fun at the zombie apocalypse and truly stays faithful to its source material just like The Angry Birds Movie. Packed with beautiful computer animation, funny and charming characters and a great choice of voice actors. Older kids and grown-ups will enjoy it!". Metacritic gives the film scored a 89/100. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequel
A sequel titled The Plants vs. Zombies Movie 2: Travel Through Time was released to theaters on June 28, 2019 by DreamWorks Animation and PopCap Animation, and was distributed by Universal Pictures.

Main article: The Plants vs. Zombies Movie 2: Travel Through Time

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was released on July 12, 2016 and was composed by Hans Zimmer.

Original Soundtrack

 * 1) Crazy Dave (Main titles)
 * 2) Story of Crazy Dave and Dr. Zomboss
 * 3) Starting a New Life in the New House/Tragic Moment
 * 4) Grasswalk
 * 5) Loonboon
 * 6) A Huge Wave of Zombies is Approaching
 * 7) Ultimate Battle
 * 8) Moongrains
 * 9) Watery Graves
 * 10) Rigor Mormist
 * 11) Graze the Roof
 * 12) Dr. Zomboss is Approaching
 * 13) Final Battle
 * 14) Suburbia is Now in Peace, Harmony and Zombie-Free... for Now
 * 15) A New Adventure Begins

Music

 * 1) Thriller - Michael Jackson
 * 2) Bad - Michael Jackson
 * 3) Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson
 * 4) Zombies on Your Lawn - Laura Shigihara

DreamWorks Animation 2010-2017 logo variant

 * The logo plays as usual, although there are no clouds after the boy throws them out with the hook, in a similar way to Megamind's DWA logo variant. After the logo is formed, it grows green leaves on the whole logo except the moon and the boy, and the camera pans down to start the film. A shortened version of "Crazy Dave", the main theme song of Plants vs. Zombies, composed by Hans Zimmer plays during the logo.
 * Unlike The Angry Birds Movie that has the Rovio Animation logo shown after the Columbia Pictures logo, the DreamWorks Animation logo is shown after the PopCap Animation logo. This does not happen in the sequel.

Trivia

 * It is the twelfth DreamWorks Animation film to be filmed in 2.35:1 aspect ratio after Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, The Croods, Turbo, How to Train your Dragon 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3.
 * This film was originally going to be a live action movie with CGI elements and made by Illumination, but it was cancelled due to the negative reception of Hop.
 * The production for the cancelled live action movie has been going on since October 2010, one year and five months after the game was released to USA stores and three months after Despicable Me was released to USA theaters, but it was cancelled on April 4, 2011, three days after Hop was released to USA theaters. The production for the final version has been going on since 2014 and ended closer to the beginning of 2016.
 * The writing of the script for the final movie has been going on since 2014 and ended closer to the middle of 2015
 * The film's working title was just "Plants vs. Zombies". On April 2015, the title was changed to "The Plants vs. Zombies Movie".
 * On March 2013, it was announced that Plants vs. Zombies was originally scheduled for general release on March 20, 2015, but it was rescheduled to July 31 of the same year due to DreamWorks' satisfaction with the successful release of The Croods (2013). Later on May 2014, the film was rescheduled to March 4, 2016 due to the negative reception of Rio 2 (2014). In January 2015, the film was rescheduled again to June 22, 2016 to avoid competition with Disney's Zootopia (2016). Finally in June of the same year, during the premiere of Pixar's Inside Out (2015) and one month before the release of the Teaser Trailer, the film was rescheduled to July 15, 2016 to avoid competition with Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).
 * Back in 2010, Larry the Cable Guy was going to portray him in the cancelled live action version. Bill Murray, Jack Black, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman were all considered for the role of Crazy Dave before Dan Aykroyd was chosen to voice the character. According to director Mike Mitchell and producer Chris Miller, Jeff Garlin was originally cast for the role of Crazy Dave.
 * Harvey Flaxcaster, Crazy Dave's best friend since childhood, was originally going to appear in the live action film and was played by Crispin Glover. But after the live action film's production was cancelled, the character was scrapped from the film.
 * Frankie, a talking white Toy Poodle dog, was originally going to appear in the film and was voiced by Ricky Gervais. But after the live action film's production was cancelled, the character was scrapped from the film.
 * Nate Timely and Patrice Blazing, Crazy Dave's nephews were originally going to appear in the live action film and were portrayed by Jake T. Austin and Bella Thorne respectively, but after the production of that film was cancelled, they became scrapped characters until certain future plans for any animated PvZ films the next decade.
 * As shown in a early opening montage for the film, there was going to be a black crow named The Crow Narrator, he served as the original narrator for the film and was voiced by Jeremy Irons. Later, this character was scrapped and a off-screen narrator voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart was offered instead.
 * Tobey Maguire was originally cast as the voice of Peashooter.
 * Back in 2010, Laura Shigihara was originally going to compose the score music for the movie and she auditioned for the role of Sunflower, but she left development team after the acquisition of PopCap Games by Electronic Arts and Hans Zimmer composed the score music for the movie.
 * Back in 2014, during casting of the film, Hotel Transylvania co-star Kevin James was rumored to voice Fume-shroom, but DreamWorks dislikes him for actual inappropriate and finally Ewan McGregor took over. Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly were also considered for the role of Fume-shroom.
 * Anna Kendrick was originally cast for the voice role of Marigold.
 * Back in 2010, Michael Clarke Duncan was originally cast as the voice of Doom-shroom, but he passed away on 2012. Samuel L. Jackson and Ving Rhames were also considered for the role of Doom-shroom.
 * Robert de Niro was originally cast for the role of Gargantuar.
 * James Earl Jones was originally cast for the voice role of Cob Cannon.
 * Back in 2010, the late Robin Williams was going to portray Dr. Zomboss in the cancelled live action film, but he passed away on 2014. Albert Brooks, Gary Oldman, Steve Carell and Tom Hanks were also considered for the role of Dr. Zomboss before Steve Buscemi was chosen to voice the character. According to director Mike Mitchell and producer Chris Miller, Tom Hanks was originally cast for the role of Dr. Zomboss.
 * Lily Pad, Pumpkin and Flower Pot are the only plants that do not speak a single word during the film.
 * Grave Buster, Spikeweed and Spikerock are the only plants that can only speak and express making noises during the film, and those sounds were voiced by Frank Welker and Dee Bradley Baker, respectively. The noises of these plants weren't dubbed in different language dubs, instead keeping the original audio from them.
 * Hypno-shroom and Blover are supposed to be male in the games and the franchise, but here are female.
 * Torchwood is the third 2016 animated character to be voiced by J.K. Simmons, the first two being Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3 and Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia.
 * The respective names of Crazy Dave's parents "Zoet Blazing" and "Dave Blazing Sr." weren't mentioned in the film, instead being refered to as "Mom" and "Dad" by a 8-year-old Crazy Dave Blazing.
 * Gargantuar is the third DreamWorks Animation character to be voiced by Alec Baldwin, the first two being Makunga in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and Nicholas St. North in Rise of the Guardians (2012).
 * This is the third animated film to co-star Seth Rogen and Will Arnett together after Horton Hears a Who! (2008) and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009).
 * This is the third animated film to co-star Simon Pegg and Nick Frost together after The Adventures of Tintin (2012) and Boxtrolls (2014).
 * Dan Aykroyd and Anna Faris previously co-starred in Yogi Bear (2010) as Yogi Bear and Rachel, respectively.
 * Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Neil Patrick Harris previously co-starred in the two Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films (2009-2013).
 * Josh Gad and Bill Hader previously co-starred in The Angry Birds Movie (2016), which came out one month before than this film.
 * Sean William Scott and Josh Peck previously co-starred in the Ice Age sequels (2006-2016) as the voices of Crash and Eddie.
 * Ryan Reynolds and Bill Hader previously appeared in Turbo (2013).
 * Hugh Jackman and Bill Nighy previously appeared in Flushed Away (2006).
 * Steve Buscemi and Jason Lee previously appeared in Monster House (2006).
 * Tom Kenny and Clancy Brown previously co-starred in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise (1999-present).
 * Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Seth Rogen previously co-starred in the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008-current).
 * Bill Nighy, Will Arnett and Steve Buscemi previously appeared in G-Force (2009).