F.U.R.: The Movie

F.U.R.: The Movie is a 1988 Canadian-American-Japanese animated feature film directed by Toshihiro Chiba, based on the TV series of the same name.

Continuing from where the series ended, the protagonists have all gone off to live their own lives but must be called back to action for a mystery related to an ancient Faunasapien civilization.

Produced by DiC Entertainment, Magic World Productions and Studio Axel, the film was released theatrically in the US and Canada by New World Pictures on December 16, 1988 and internationally throughout 1989 by Carolco Pictures (due to them owning Orbis Communications, the show's syndicator).

Release dates

 * December 16 1988 (USA & Canada)
 * December 21 1988 (France)
 * June 30 1989 (Australia & New Zealand)
 * July 6 1989 (Brazil)
 * July 14 1989 (UK & Ireland)
 * September 28 1989 (West Germany)
 * December 15 1989 (Italy)
 * February 22 1990 (Sweden)
 * April 12 1990 (Netherlands)
 * April 13 1990 (Spain)
 * May 25 1990 (Finland)
 * June 8 1990 (Turkey)
 * June 15 1990 (Portugal)
 * June 28 1990 (Israel)
 * July 3 1997 (Argentina) (theatrical release)
 * July 3 1997 (Brazil) (re-release)
 * July 4 1997 (Canada) (re-release)
 * September 18 1997 (Australia & New Zealand) (re-release)
 * Setpember 26 1997 (Norway) (re-release)
 * October 2 1997 (Israel) (re-release)
 * October 15 1997 (France) (re-release)
 * October 24 1997 (Sweden) (re-release)
 * December 12 1997 (Spain) (re-release)
 * December 12 1997 ((UK & Ireland) (re-release)
 * December 19 1997 (Italy) (re-release)
 * January 16 1998 (Turkey) (re-release)
 * February 13 1998 (Portugal) (re-release)
 * April 3 1998 (Poland)

Voice cast

 * Cree Summer Francks - Maya
 * Richard M. Dumont - Reggie Brushtail
 * Jonathan Potts - Ben
 * Melleny Brown - Donna
 * Susan Roman - Karla Quinn
 * Jane Woods - Catalina Quinn
 * Molly Ringwald - Flossie Whitman
 * Lea Thompson - Sophie
 * Catherine O'Hara - Mimi Malgord
 * Donald Sutherland - Prof. Solomon
 * James Earl Jones - Chief Malgord
 * Jean Marsh - Crulbog

Summary
The coexistence of humans and Faunasapien, following the defeat of Dr. Mendelson, makes considerable headway but not without struggle. Amidst the festivities promoting acceptance, two wayward young adult females named Flossie and Sophie (human and Faunaspien) mistakenly happen upon an ancient Faunasapien artifact.

Once this makes the news, Maya and Reggie fear for both girls' safety and swear to protect them from potential assailants, much to the female duo's indignation. It also turns out that the artifact was stolen from a presumed extinct civilization.

The abduction of Donna (who is at an island resort with Ben, Karla and Catalina Quinn) sets into motion a rescue mission, discovery of the past, learning about historical conflict and more, with the involvement of a morally uncertain archaeologist and a charismatic tribe leader, also facing off against an exiled and insane Faunasapien tribeswoman craving dominance over all.

Production
Magic World's film division had begun in earnest with its first releases during 1987 and 1988, despite lacking a concrete partnership with major film distributors. F.U.R. had been conceived as a potential multimedia franchise as early as winter 1985 (with DiC and Saban's involvement seen as potential indicators of success) with a theatrical movie in production concurrently with the TV series. Michael Warren considered this "a risky gamble", but investors were certain both the series and film would have a second purpose as product advertisements.

The script was written in Canada with voice work recorded in both that country and the United States. Animation was handled primarily in Japan by Studio Axel's Tokyo and Naha facilities with Ashi Productions, Gainax, KK C&D Asia, Madhouse, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!_Production Oh! Production], Studio Junio and Tokyo Movie Shinsha providing assistance. Hanho Heung-Up in South Korea and Wang Film Productions in Taiwan also contributed animation.

Due to a rush to have the film released on a stone-set date in the holiday season of 1988, some complex and/or visually-striking scenes planned in the storyboarding phase (mainly sequences utilizing popular songs of the time) had to be shortened or scrapped altogether. These were later made as an addition to the 1997 re-release.

A sudden last-minute change added near the end of production was an inclusion of the hit Koreana single Hand in Hand, due to the song's popularity in Europe (where the series was successfully being test-marketed). The climax was chosen (with little time to add further animation) for this, as the song's theme had a moderate yet serendipitous match with part of the narrative.

Distribution turned out to be easily the film's biggest issue. Carolco Pictures (who owned Orbis Communications, the F.U.R. series' North American TV syndicator) was originally set to distribute the movie both domestically and internationally only to back out of the former (presumably due to the critical and commercial failure of Carolco's earlier animated feature Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw released the same year). Meanwhile, the international rights were uncancellable for contractual reasons.

Magic World resorted to offering domestic exhibition rights for a lower price, which eventually led to a successful purchase from New World Pictures. The Thanksgiving 1988 release date was "convenient" (as Michael Warren later put it) because the studio's planned release of Felix the Cat: The Movie was delayed by then.

Production overall took over a year beginning from June 1987 to October 1988.

Release
The film was released in the US & Canada by New World Pictures (Les Films René Malo in French-speaking Canada) and internationally by Carolco. Its first non-US release was in France through UGC five days later on December 21, 1988 with showings in other countries following from 1989 through 1990.

In 1997, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the original series' premiere (and due to its enduring popularity in some territories), a digitally mastered "special edition" of the film with "new and improved musical scenes" (originally planned but shortened or scrapped due to time constraints) was released to theaters in various parts of Europe and Latin America along with Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Canada and Turkey.

Marketing
Its American theatrical release had a small advertising campaign, with print advertisements in newspapers and magazines, television spots (especially during syndicated reruns of its source television series) and stickers on marked packages of F.U.R. merchandise.

Joseph Haddad later recalled, "It was a movie based on a cartoon with good ratings and it got the cheapest yet still most visible advertising small change could buy."

In French-speaking Canada, the theatrical release was complemented by promotional tie-ins with Sears, Kraft, St-Hubert and Metro along with Radio-Canada and the then-fledgling Canal Famille (now VRAK). Sears in particular emphasized the sales of F.U.R. products in their stores in time for the Christmas season when the film premiered.

Reception
Due in part to moderate advertising, plus competition with Universal's The Land Before Time and Disney's Oliver & Company, the film was a box office failure in the US.

A contributing factor was that while both of its rivals for holiday season audiences received a G rating, F.U.R.: The Movie was rated PG, with some objections raised toward the action violence, themes of interracial conflict, superstition and the villain's scheme to use a young female's body for what she believes will grant her powers.

Critics weren't very kind to the feature, seldom praising anything beyond its animation. Its review in the Washington Post even questioned "how the producers could assume heavy subject matter like a complicated history between humans and talking animals (with all the interracial tensions it implies) and a delusional tribeswoman needing a 'pure beauty' to attain power for herself would be suitable for family entertainment".

However, the film did considerably better overseas, especially during its 1997-98 "special edition" re-release. It has also been viewed way more favorably by audiences in later years, with praise for its grey morality balanced with an ultimate antagonist, handling of sociopolitical themes (as with the series it's based on), character development and carefully-chosen song selection.

Home media
It was first released on VHS by New World Video in the USA and Canada on July 11, 1989. Unlike its theatrical run, the video proved to be moderately successful in retail and rental outlets. It was later re-released by Starmaker and R&G Video in 1991.

Following the purchase of New World by News Corporation in early 1997 and Fox Kids/Saban's then-worldwide ownership of Magic World co-productions with which they had involvement, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the "special edition" on VHS on August 5, 1997 in the United States. This was followed by its first DVD release in the country in 2000 (delayed from a planned release in 1999), featuring the theatrical/teaser trailers, a trivia game, bios and English, French and Spanish language options for bonus features.

The Canadian version of New World's release was handled by René Malo Vidéo (particularly the French-language dub, which used a 35mm print from France). The studio's successor Malofilm later re-issued the film in November 1997, four months after the theatrical re-release in Canada. This version was later reprinted by Malofilm's successor Behaviour Communications (some copies being different with the logo replacing that of Malofilm).

Les Films Séville released the film on VHS and DVD on June 11, 2002 in Canada. The disc contains English and French-language options plus the original theatrical and teaser trailers as its only extras.

It was not released again on home media until March 1, 2016 when Lionsgate and Entertainment One re-released the film on DVD (allegedly to cash in on the release of Disney's Zootopia) in the US and Canada respectively. It uses the 1997 special edition as its basis, much to the disappointment of fans expecting a re-issue of the original 1988 theatrical version. Special features are limited to language options and trailers, albeit also including previews for Norm of the North, The Divergent Series: Allegiant and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2.

In late 2022, Magic World announced that (through its newer home media subsidiary) a 4K remaster of both the original 1988 and 1997 re-release versions would be included in a Blu-ray set (as well as a standard-definition DVD) with both versions on a double-sided disc and a bonus disc containing additional material.

This edition was eventually released on April 11, 2023 on Magic World's website, Amazon.com and through sites for retailer chains such as Walmart, Best Buy and Target. To the considerable delight of fans, the set includes every promised feature and its transfers of both version were handled with proper film restoration techniques. Being a region-free disc, both sides of the main disc include English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German and Japanese audio options (Dolby/DTS 2.0 and 5.1 mixes) with subtitles in most of the aforementioned languages plus Mandarin and Hebrew.

Television
Some time after its theatrical and video releases in North America, the film was aired with considerable regularity throughout much of the 90's on The Disney Channel, starting with its TV premiere in the summer of 1990. With the acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide by Disney and conversion into Jetix, it was later shown on Toon Disney and ABC Family during the mid/late 2000's.

In Canada, its broadcast premiere took place in the spring of 1991 on CBC (both English and French counterparts) with a few more showings until YTV acquired the show and film's rights, airing the film many times from 1999 until 2008.

It similarly enjoyed considerable airplay on various channels around the world in the intervening years, including Canal+ Cinema and TF1 in France, Azteca 7 in Mexico, Venevisión in Venezuela, ITV in the United Kingdom, RTL II in Germany, TV3 in Sweden and TV Globo in Brazil among others.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was originally published on LP, cassette and compact disc from RCA (through BMG) on November 21, 1988 in the US and Canada (the day before its theatrical release).


 * "Walk Like an Egyptian" - The Bangles
 * "Waiting For a Star to Fall" - Boy Meets Girl
 * "Love Always Finds A Reason" - Glenn Medeiros & Elsa
 * "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" - Pet Shop Boys (ft. Dusty Springfield)
 * "In Too Deep" - Genesis
 * "How I Love You" - Frankie Paul
 * "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car" - Billy Ocean
 * "Hand in Hand" - Koreana
 * "Love Changes Everything" - Honeymoon Suite
 * "How Many" - Luba
 * "Together Forever" - Rick Astley

The album also includes suites of the film's score by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy. Not included on the original album release are some select cues from the TV series used in parts of the feature.


 * "Overture"
 * "City Celebration/Finding the Artifact"
 * "Faunasapien History"
 * "The Ritual/The Palace Crumbles"
 * "City Celebration II (For the Heroes)"