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Objectia is a 2007 American animated object fiction film directed by Mick Arbora, produced by George Maxton and Parker Jenson, and written by Drew Wally and Mark Jame. The film is about Objectia, a fictional city populated by anthropomorphic, inanimate objects. The city is planned to be turned into a giant theme park by its mayor, an anthropomorphic basketball named Bally Roundson (Tom Kane), who plans on having the park be a joint venture with a businessman named Viz Telly (Bob Chain).

The film was released by Warner Bros. on June 7, 2007 and received positive reviews from critics. On January 31, 2010, CinemaJournal dubbed Objectia "the best animated family film ever", and CNO listed it as #2 on "Top 10 Best American Animated Films", which was published on September 7, 2010. The film was also nominated for and won various awards, including an Oscar.

The film rose in popularity, starting the object fiction genre, leading to series such as Battle for Dream Island and Esaïe. The film's success also lead to a sequel and a graphic novel adaptation.

Plot

The fictional city of Objectia is populated by 918,004 anthropomorphic, inanimate objects. Its mayor is an anthropomorphic basketball named Bally Roundson (Tom Kane).

One Friday, a businessman named Viz Telly (Bob Chain) presents an offer before Roundson, stating that he wishes to turn the populous city into an amusement park called Park Optimum. Roundson agrees with the offer, and he schedules to announce the transition into Park Optimum live on television the next day.

On Saturday, Roundson makes announces on the five city television stations—Channel 6, TV7, Ten Television, Objectia 25, and 52 Action News—that Park Optimum would replace Objectia, shocking the near-million citizens; the news especially surprises friends Phil Bucket (Phil LaMarr) and Reed Book (Keith Ferguson), who spent their whole lives in Objectia.

Bucket and Book work on a plan to save Objectia from the destruction of the city and the construction of the park. The two gather nearly five hundred citizens to protest at the North Side Mall. However, the protest does not work, and the citizens are forced to leave the mall.

The second plan, however, is to scam the construction company. The scandal begins with Bucket and Book's friend Penn Cil (Tom Kenny), an anthropomorphic pencil, stealing $5,000 from the construction company, GoodBuilds, and placing it in the TV7 studios, resulting in GoodBuilds thinking the TV7 team stole the money and calling the Police Department of Objectia (PDO).

While the police are busy with TV7 and Goodbuilds, Cil and Book take a police car and ride away to the mansion of Lee Fi (Julius Shi), an anthropomorphic leaf and an author. They tell Fi that he needed to join the fight against Roundson and Telly. Fi agrees because he does not like amusement parks. Fi also gives them a fifty-year-old legal paper declaring that Objectia itself is a landmark.

The protesters take over every city television station to announce that the town should not be replaced because it is a landmark, showing the paper. The construction company and the assistants to Roundson and Telly become furious and cancel on the park.

Three months later, Roundson is voted out of office and replaced by Sunn Flower (Bob Parkes), an anthropomorphic flower.

Cast

  • Tom Kane as Bally Roundson
  • Bob Chain as Viz Telly
  • Tom Kenny as Penn Cil
  • Phil LaMarr as Phil Bucket
  • Keith Ferguson as Keith Ferguson
  • Julius Shi as Lee Fi
  • Grey DeLisle as Christine Cup
  • Ben Dealey as Detective Perry Pie
  • James Arnold Taylor as Officer Tom Matchstick
  • Vince Lloyd as Basketball
  • Neal Shauney as Donut
  • Duncan Baker as Lewis Lamp
  • David Kaye as Ice Cube
  • Ian Hano as Carl Cake
  • Olivia Jeye as Stephanie Soup
  • Emily Havey as Juice Box
  • Newton Ashton as Cookie Boy
  • Nori Vasquez as Cookie Girl
  • Bob Parkes as Sunn Flower

Production

Development

In 2005, Drew Wally pitched a film idea to Mick Arbora, George Maxton, and Parker Jenson about "a story where the characters anthropomorphic objects". Ths four gathered a team of artists and colorists to design backgrounds, characters, and props.

In early 2006, Muffin Animation agreed to produce the animation. However, Warner Bros. would only distribute the film.

Writing

The script for the film was written by Drew Wally, who stated he wanted to write for an animated comedy film about anthropomorphic objects while making sure there is a conflict in the film to prevent it from being boring. He also wanted the script to be "really interesting, even with no visuals."

Music and soundtracks

Main article: Objectia (soundtrack)

The original music for Objectia was composed by Ben Houston. The soundtrack also features various songs made for and inspired by the film.

Animation and design

The characters in Objectia were designed by Joe Enter, George Head, Peter Kong, Max Munard, Shannon Dyley. First, Enter and Head drew the characters together. Kong, Munard, and Dyley, edited the art with Imageflip 3.

The backgrounds were designed by Enter, Head, Julian Frasey, Lara Matt, and Drew Dave using Imageflip 3 and MicroArts.

The color for the characters and backgrounds was styled by Mark Hullman and Hal Robin, who wanted the film's colors to be "vibrant, but not enough to hurt the viewer's eyes".

The film was originally animated by Muffin Animation in Seattle, Washington using Macromedia Flash 8. The animation was then cleaned up by Cylinder Studio in San Francisco, California, using Wintersky Paint, Yorkworks Motion, and Pyros Animate. The animation process lasted from December 2005 to October 2006.

Release

International release

Country Release date
United States June 7, 2007
Canada June 7, 2007

Reception

Objectia has received positive reviews. It has a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (with the Audience score being 90%), and an 8/10 rating on IMDb.

On January 31, 2010, CinemaJournal dubbed Objectia "the best animated family film ever", and CNO listed it as #4 on "Top 10 Best American Animated Films", which was published on September 7, 2010.

Awards and nominations

Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result
International Film Production Academy Excellence in Film Animation Objectia Won
80th Academy Awards Best Animated Feature Film Objectia Won
2008 Cinemawards Best Animated Theatrical Film Objectia Won
Best Writer for a Theatrical Film Drew Wally Nominated
Best Composer for a Theatrical Film Ben Houston Won
3rd Moviebox Awards Best Family Film Objectia Won
2008 Eyewards Best Film Soundtrack Objectia (Soundtrack Made for and Inspired by the Film) Won

Legacy

See also: Objectia 2 and Objectia (graphic novel)

Objectia is well known for starting the object fiction genre, leading to series such as Battle for Dream Island and the well-known Esaïe. The film's success also lead to a sequel and a graphic novel adaptation.

Footnotes

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