MYCUN: The Movie (2005 film)

MYCUN: The Movie is a 2005 American animated fantasy-comedy crossover film produced by Geo LTD. Animation in co-production with Glass Ball Productions. Directed by Michael Wildshill, it features an ensemble cast, including Spencer Klein, Kristin Chenoweth, Anne Hathaway, Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Sachi Matsumoto, Dakota Goyo, Christina Ricci, Gus Lewis, Jodelle Ferland, and Evan Sabara. As a crossover film, MYCUN also features characters from Gabriel Garza, Hoodwinked!, Despicable Me, The Legend of Zelda, Ico, Coraline, ParaNorman, Big Hero 6, and many others. With an exception of Gabriel Garza, neither the films nor video games whose characters appear in the film involve the participation of Geo LTD. Animation. In this film, Gabriel Garza teams up with third-party/copyrighted characters to prevent his hated singer Carrie Underwood from invading his mental world.

The film was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on December 16, 2005, and was universally praised by audiences and critics, as well as fans of Carrie Underwood, including Carrie Underwood herself, and was a box office success. It was known as not only the best film of 2005, but also one of the best animated films ever made. MYCUN: The Movie won the 2005 Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for Spencer Klein, for his voice performance as Gabriel Garza, and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to ''Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit. The film has since expanded into a major franchise, with three sequels: Legend of MYCUN, MYCUN and the Mystery to New York, and MYCUN Forever, ''and three television series.

Plot
Gabriel Garza lives in a boring life at his house in West Wyomissing, Pennsylvania with Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, and the Lars in real life. He wants to think of something, but when a message from his nemesis, Carrie Underwood, appeared on his computer, she said in the message that she'll be taking over Gabriel's Imaginary World. So Gabriel had to enter a portal, which Loy built, to the Hoodwinked! universe to see Red Puckett, who saw Carrie Underwood and her evil friends, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Kelly Clarkson, Barney the Purple Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dora the Explorer, Boots the Monkey, Caillou, Chae Cook, Justin Bieber, the cast of Mother Goose Club, and the cast of Hoopla Kidz taking over that universe and even other media universes, including the Despicable Me universe, The Legend of Zelda universe, the Ico universe, the Coraline universe, the ParaNorman universe, the Big Hero 6 universe, and worst of all, Gabriel's imaginary world.

Following Gabriel through the portal to his workshop, Red meets Gru, the Minions (which were Gru's minions), Toon Link, Ico, Yorda, Coraline Jones, Norman Babcock, Agatha Prenderghast, Hiro Hamada and Baymax, and Gabriel created his team called "MYCUN". Together, the MYCUNs go through a portal to Gabriel's imaginary world and must save it to defeat Carrie Underwood and her henchmen, who are ruling Gabriel's world. When they arrive at an old desert at Gabriel's world, they suddenly got captured in cages by Carrie and her minions.

At the Wooden Underwood Enterprises, Carrie's staff cheer after she caught Gabriel and the MYCUNs. Later, Gabriel and his friends were locked up in the dungeon of Wooden Underwood Enterprises. Then Hiro and Gru's minions had an idea to trick Carrie by pretending to serve her, but Gabriel won't let them because he says that Carrie is "one of the worst people we know." However, Hiro and the Minions ignored and got out of the dungeon and into the entrance hall and saw Carrie. One of the Minions said that they want to "work" here. Carrie told them that they all have to work as janitors. Suddenly, Hiro zapped Carrie with the Lipstick Taser and the MYCUNs escaped.

However, Gabriel accidentally steps into a pool of invisible super glue and cannot get out of it. Later, Carrie hires a kid named Ninh Nguyen to track down the MYCUNs, but the MYCUNs dress up as ninjas and hide in front of the windows, meaning that Ninh is "lying" to Carrie and she fired him. Then Gabriel, who is not wearing socks, shoes, and his glasses, returns and Red gave him a pair of glasses, shoes, and socks. Meanwhile in the real world, the Wacky Pack worries about Gabriel. Leno gets Loy's PhotoReal 2000 to load a picture of Gabriel, but nothing happened. Loy said that Gabriel would be brave without the trio.

Back at Gabriel's world, Gabriel and the MYCUNs were planning to build their own city called MYCUN City, but there were cactuses and thorns anywhere, and Gabriel said they should get the water supply from the cactuses. However, Gabriel gets hurt from the cactuses and thorns, and Red takes prickles off Gabriel's back and holds hands together.

Back at the real world, the Wacky Pack orders pizza and sends one of them to the portal for Gabriel and the pizza box fell off the sky. Gabriel then had an idea to build a pizza restaurant called "Pizza Hut", while Dave would say that they can watch satellite television programming with the satellite dish on their own high-definition television. However, Red told Gabriel that his pizza restaurant has the same name as "Pizza Hut" and they should call it "MYCUN Pizza" instead. Later, Ninh, who was fired from Wooden Underwood Enterprises before, arrives to ask his questions about hating some stuff, but Gabriel and Ninh started to fight each other, then Ninh kicked him in the chest, and finally Red kicked Ninh's butt and face. Ninh gets upset when he got hurt and went back to his home in the real world to recover his face. Gabriel and the MYCUNs take a break for the night.

The next day, the group encounter a giant ball-shaped rock. Gabriel, Gru, the Minions, Hiro, and the others make it safely, but Red struggles, about to get ran over. Gabriel rescues her, almost got run over. When the MYCUNs almost reach the mountain, the group met Carrie Underwood and her henchmen. However, Geo Guy, who lived at a cave on the mountain of Gabriel's imaginary world, appeared and joins Gabriel and the MYCUNs to chase Carrie and her henchmen down the mountain and into the Wooden Underwood Enterprises building but Carrie traps Geo Guy, Gabriel, and the MYCUNs with her working Rube Goldberg-like mouse trap with a bigger cage, telling that Gabriel, Geo Guy, and the MYCUNs won't be arrested until Christmas Day.

Disguised as a Baa Baa Sheep clone, Kevin and Hiro freed Gabriel and the MYCUNs in their cages and lets them go to the bathroom. In the boys' bathroom, Hiro pulls out a screwdriver and unscrews the boys' bathroom vent cover while Gabriel takes out a ladder from his backpack. Gabriel and his male MYCUN members went inside the vent, and they took the female MYCUN members to escape. Suddenly, they are surrounded by Carrie Underwood and her henchmen before they battle. After the battle, the Minions set up some bombs all around and inside Wooden Underwood Enterprises, and it exploded into a million of pieces.

Although the Minions are able to foil Carrie's plan and destroy Wooden Underwood Enterprises, Gabriel cannot stay in his Imaginary World and is forced to confess that he had to get home for Christmas, leaving and disappointing the others who feel used by him. When Gabriel went to the portal to the real world to get home, he is lost in a snow. Very tired and hungry, Gabriel struggles to get home and ends up getting covered in snow. The next day on Christmas Day, however, Gabriel hears Red's voice and wakes up, seeing his house, and realizing he made it. When Gabriel went home, his father, Marvin, his stepmother, Celia, his stepbrother, Adan, and his two stepsisters, Jannie and Nana, walk over to Gabriel and say they were so worried about him, and so does Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, and the Lars. Gabriel opened his Christmas presents where he got a brand new computer. Marvin puts the computer to Gabriel's room, and Gabriel enjoys it.

Back in the Imaginary World, Gru confirms Red's suspicions when he believes that a story tells about Carrie Underwood, who somehow found Gabriel's information about hating Carrie and her friends on the internet with his location. Also in the story, Carrie hijacked the portal and plans on divorcing her husband Mike Fisher so she could start Wooden Underwood Enterprises. They also learn that Hiro had known the truth about Wooden Underwood Enterprises before. Upon realizing Carrie's story, the group is then ambushed by Carrie and her henchmen and they took them to Underwood Jail, which is a mixture of a normal prison and Carrie Underwood's live tour.

Later that night in the real world, Gabriel prays to God that he could return to his Imaginary World, and rejoin the MYCUNs to defeat Carrie Underwood someday. Hiro, Baymax, and the other Minions exit a portal and convince Gabriel, Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, and the Lars to rescue the MYCUNs. Gabriel wanted to ask Loy to make a clone out of him, but Loy said yes and cloned Gabriel with his clone-creating machine. The actual Gabriel left his clone "Gabriel Garza the 2nd" behind and said goodbye to his parents, as Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, and the Lars, along with Hiro, Baymax, and the Minions, joined him to go through the portal to save the MYCUNs. Gabriel 2.0, Gabriel's clone, likes to live in the real world until college while the actual Gabriel returns to his own Imaginary World.

Meanwhile, back in Gabriel's Imaginary World, Red woke up in a prison cell at Underwood Jail, only to find out that she, along with Gru, Toon Link, Ico, Yorda, Coraline, Norman and Aggie are now surrounded by tall chain-link fences. Carrie Underwood steps on the stage to sing "Good Girl" before she attempts to kill them, for good. When Gabriel, Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, the Lars, and the Minions arrive to rescue the MYCUNs as well as Caesar, Blue Eyes, Maurice, Rocket, Cornelia, Luca, and other apes, Carrie Underwood and her henchmen arrive and surround Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, the Lars, Hiro, Baymax, and the Minions as well as the apes, while Gabriel secretly ran out of Underwood Jail, and go through the portal to his workshop.

Meanwhile, back at Underwood Jail, Carrie and her minions outnumber the MYCUNs, but Gabriel calls for backup and Homer Simpson, Lucy Wilde, Dr. Nefario, Margo, Edith, Agnes, Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Marge Simpson, Maggie Simpson, Geo Guy, the cast of Father Lion League, a fictional television show that is a rip-off and a rival of Mother Goose Club, and Hiro, Baymax GoGo Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred, and Aunt Cass "Cassie" Hamada arrive and interfere. As the group tried to leave, Norbert is stranded and Carrie attempts to kill him. Gabriel manages to save him, so he can defeat Carrie Underwood, and escape with all of his friends. After that, the jail explodes.

With Gabriel's Imaginary World safe, Underwood Jail destroyed, and the innocent people, animals, creatures, and living objects out of jail free, the Forest Animals from Hoodwinked! arrive at the desert to build the MYCUN's new city and the police force to arrest Carrie Underwood and her henchmen and took them back to their homes. After Carrie and her henchmen got arrested, Marvin arrives in the Imaginary World to take Gabriel back home, but he decides to stay with his best friends instead.

Gabriel and Marvin then realize that Gabriel is home.

After that, Gabriel and Red let out a kiss. On top of the mountain where they formed their own village, Gabriel became the king of the Imaginary World. The MYCUNs started celebrating as Gabriel, Red, Gru, Toon Link, Ico, Coraline, Norman, and Hiro sing "MYCUN Song" in front of the Minions and the others, including Caesar, Blue Eyes, Maurice, Rocket, Cornelia, Luca, and other apes, who are all joining the MYCUNs as newcomers of the team.

Cast

 * Spencer Klien as Gabriel Garza
 * Kristin Chenoweth as Carrie Underwood
 * Anne Hathaway as Red Puckett
 * Steve Carell as Felonious Gru
 * Pierre Coffin as Dave the Minion, Stuart the Minion, Kevin the Minion, Bob the Minion, Norbert the Minion, Larry the Minion, Carl the Minion, Tom the Minion, Phil the Minion, Jerry the Minion, and Additional Minions
 * Sachi Matsumoto as Toon Link
 * Dakota Goyo as Ico
 * Christina Ricci as Coraline Jones
 * Gus Lewis as Norman Babcock
 * Jodelle Ferland as Agatha "Aggie" Prenderghast
 * Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada
 * Scott Adsit as Baymax
 * Elle Fanning as Yorda
 * Rieko Takahashi as Yorda (from archival recordings)
 * Geo G. as Roge
 * E.G. Daily as Leno
 * Jacob Hopkins as Cole
 * Jake T. Austin as Loy
 * Jeff Fowler as the Lars
 * Ashleigh Ball as Miranda Lambert
 * Jeff Gunn as Brad Paisley
 * Kelly Clarkson as herself
 * Ariel Winter as Dora Marquez
 * Taylor Grodin as Boots the Monkey
 * Tara Strong as Caillou / Elmo
 * James Arnold Taylor as Johnny Test
 * Justin Chapman as Barney the Dinosaur
 * Adam Rodriguez as Justin Bieber
 * Jim Carrey as Chae Cook
 * Cree Summer as Teddy Bear
 * Jeremy Shada as Eep the Mouse
 * Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Mary Quite Contrary
 * Alexander Gould as Jack B. Nimble
 * Annie Potts as Little Bo Peep
 * Grey Griffin as Annie
 * Bill Fagerbakke as Ben the Dog
 * Andrea Libman as Penny the Dog
 * Tim Allen as Ace the Dog
 * Brian Koch as Mango
 * Kristen Wiig as Lucy Wilde
 * Miranda Cosgrove as Margo Gru
 * Dana Gaier as Edith Gru
 * Elsie Fisher as Agnes Gru
 * Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario
 * Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson
 * Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson
 * Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson
 * Glenn Close as Granny Puckett
 * Patrick Warburton as Wolf W. Wolf
 * Cory Edwards as Twitchy
 * Jim Belushi as Kirk Kirkendall
 * Nick Offerman as Marvin Garza
 * Emma Thompson as Celia Garza
 * Freddie Benedict as Adan
 * Julie Lemieux as Jannie
 * Kath Soucie as Nana
 * Marc Weiner as Swiper the Fox
 * Rob Paulsen as Ninh Nguyen
 * Mike Fisher as Himself
 * Andy Serkis as Caesar
 * Nick Thurston as Blue Eyes
 * Karin Konoval as Maurice
 * Terry Notary as Rocket
 * Judy Greer as Cornelia
 * Scott Lang as Luca
 * Toby Kebbell as Koba

Production
In February 2002, Geo LTD. Animation announced the film a feature film, with Glass Ball Productions co-producing while Universal Pictures would distribute. The film's first release date of May 27, 2005 was announced. The plot, director, producer, writer, and other small details were announced in June 2002, while Geo LTD. and Glass Ball got the license from various companies to use third-party characters in the film. Wildshill announced the film as The Untitled Crossover Movie. On September 3, 2002, Geo LTD. announced that it would be titled Crossoverland."

In September 2003, the release date for Crossoverland was moved to November 23, 2005. In February 2004, the film was retitled MYCUN. The name "MYCUN" stands for MinionsYesCarrieUnderwoodNo, and it is pronounced as "My-con." Wildshill stated that the name was a "play-up on MYCIN." In July 2014, Wildshill confirmed that the characters from Big Hero 6—Hiro Hamada and Baymax—would appear as supporting characters in the film. On October 30, 2004, Universal pushed the film down three weeks to December 16, 2005.

Soundtrack

 * Main article: MYCUN: The Movie (2005 film)/Soundtrack

Release
Universal Pictures released the film in the United States on December 16, 2005.

Marketing
Upon its release, Burger King had a promotional tie-in with seven toys including Gabriel, Carrie Underwood, Red Puckett, Gru, a Minion, Toon Link, and Hiro Hamada with a paid Kids' Meal order. Ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins also promoted the film for its new Gabriel & Red's Loaded MYCUN ice cream that consists of Hershey's chocolate, hot fudge, crushed chocolate cookies, whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Trailers

 * The film's first teaser trailer was released in August 2004, and was later shown in theaters with other films such as Mr. 3000, Shark Tale, The Incredibles, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Zina and the Vivid Crew, Fat Albert, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Elektra, and Are We There Yet?.
 * Another teaser trailer was released in March 2005, and was later released with The Pacifier, Robots, Ice Princess, Tj's World: The Movie, Kim Possible: The Movie, and Madagascar.
 * The first theatrical trailer was released in August 2005, and was shown with The Proud Family Movie and Corpse Bride.
 * The second theatrical trailer was released in October 2005, and was later shown before Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit, Chicken Little, Zarthura: A Space Adventure, and Metro Cone.
 * There were a few television spots for the film; the first one was released in October 2005, the second one was released in November 2005, and the third one was released in December 2005.

Home media
MYCUN: The Movie was first released on DVD on May 2, 2006. The release includes four "mini-movies", Dial "G" for Gabe, Like a Boss!, MYCUN-usical and MYCUN Outs, which takes place after the events of the film. The film was the best-selling DVD in its initial week of release, selling over 500,000 copies and making over $16.9 million. It was also released on Game Boy Advance Video in June 2006 and on UMD for the Sony PSP. It was later released on Blu-ray in North America on July 29, 2008, coinciding with the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Legend of MYCUN, and on Blu-ray 3D on November 13, 2012, coinciding with the DVD and Blu-Ray release of MYCUN and the Mystery to New York. A second Blu-ray release from Universal for the film was released on June 5, 2012, as a part of Universal's Universal 100th Anniversary releases. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version was released on September 4, 2018.

Box office
MYCUN: The Movie was released on December 16, 2015, and opened on 11,782 screens. It got to earn $85,729,840 during its opening weekend, placing first in its box office during that weekend and setting new records such as earning the highest-opening weekend for a non-sequel animated feature, and the highest opening for an original non-Disney/Pixar film. The film also earned the highest-grossing domestic debut for Glass Ball Productions (later overtaken by its sequel in 2008). By the end of its theatrical run, it grossed $506 million and was a box office success.

Critical response
The film received critical acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film had a rating of 96%, based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "MYCUN: The Movie climbs at the expense of what would have made this crossover more watchable, filled with illogical plot points and an unbearable urge to flanderize the stars of far superior movie efforts, this is a much watch." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 89 out of 100, based on 75 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. A reviewer for the Christian Science Monitor called it a "a true piece of cinema".