Ruby Rivest

Ruby Rivest is a 2005 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by IDT Entertainment. Directed by Ash Brannon and written by Tab Murphy, Peter Baynham, Roger S. H. Schulman, J. David Stem, and David N. Weiss, the film features an ensemble voice cast including Mandy Moore, Tobey Maguire, Samuel L. Jackson, David Spade, Steve Zahn, William H. Macy, Whoopi Goldberg, Anthony Anderson, Nathan Lane, Eric Idle, Dakota Fanning, and Paul Giamatti. The film is a homage to, and a self-parody of sci-fi space films of the 1950s/1980s.

Ruby Rivest premiered at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles on December 3, 2005, and and was theatrically released in the United States on December 21 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and internationally by Columbia Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics who praised the humor, animation, and vocal performances of Moore, Maguire, Jackson, and Giamatti but criticized the lack of originality, tone, and the use of pop cultural references. However, through home video releases and television syndication, it later gathered a cult following in recent years. It was also a commercial success, grossing $323 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2005 (behind Madagascar).

It launched an expanded franchise, with two sequels, a television series, video games, merchandise, and other media.

Plot
During the destruction of the planet Misorilia, an infant girl named Ruby is sent off to another planet for her safety. Her escape pod heads toward the planet Glatarus, and Ruby crash-lands in the obscure city of Nebulaville, where she is met by an young Cosmic Warrior named Ben Rivest who adopts her and takes her as his child. Meanwhile, an mean-spirited and human-hating alien named Galcer Spasotin, desires to find the Ambrose, a powerful substance that gives the user super-human strength, with the help of his ruthless army of evil aliens called the Aurks.

More to be added.

Voice cast

 * Mandy Moore as Ruby Rivest, a optimistic space human girl who dreams of a becoming a Cosmic Warrior. She later becomes Robert Stawls' love interest.
 * Tobey Maguire as Robert Stawls, Ruby's best friend and partner.
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Ray Moonblazer, a retired Cosmic Warrior who helps Ruby and her friends on their adventure.
 * David Spade as Crimson, a cat-like comical alien who often clashes with Barney in a frenemy way.
 * Steve Zahn as Barney, a talking wise-cracking space dog that Ruby befriends.
 * Whoopi Goldberg as Linda, a optimistic yet dim-witted alien who lives on the planet Museria.
 * William H. Macy as Ben Rivest, Ruby's deadpan adoptive father.
 * Eric Idle as Fredrick, the empathetic British emperor of Nebulaville.
 * Anthony Anderson as Kerry, a goofy one-eyed alien.
 * Nathan Lane as Louie, a clumsy alien who is a con artist.
 * Dakota Fanning as Vivian, a feisty young girl who looks up to Ruby.
 * Paul Giamatti as Galcer Spasotin, a villainous and selfish alien tyrant.
 * Alan Rickman as Rodal, Galcer's dim-witted servant.
 * Sigourney Weaver as R.U.T.H., Galcer's computer.
 * William Shatner as Zarry, one of Galcer's top henchmen.
 * Bill Hader as Larry, one of Galcer's top henchmen.
 * Tom Kenny as Tuck, an insane alien who believes Ruby is a monster.
 * Patrick Warburton as Bean, an giant, naïve, yet philosophical gorilla-like alien.
 * Dick McClane as Morvis / Alien Guard #1
 * Jennifer Hale as Ruby's biological mother.
 * Tom Kane as Ruby's biological father.
 * Cathy Cavadini and Grey DeLisle as Vivian's friends.
 * DeLisle also voices Alien Guard #3.
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Mexican Food Dude
 * Phil LaMarr as Robot / Alien Guard #2

ADR Group
To be added.

Development
To be added.

Casting
To be added.

Animation
The animation services for the film were provided at IDT Entertainment in Toronto, Canada, with additional animation services by Reel FX Creative Studios. The traditionally-animated 2D sequences were provided by Rough Draft Studios in South Korea.

Theatrical
Ruby Rivest was originally scheduled for theatrical release on September 23, 2005, but in February 2005, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer moved the release date up to December 21, 2005. A short film featuring the characters from the Dusk and Dawn franchise titled Dusk and Dawn Hex Out accompanied Ruby Rivest during its theatrical run.

Marketing
The film's teaser trailer was released on November 9, 2004 and was attached into The Polar Express a day later. The film's official trailer was released on July 7, 2005. The final trailer was released on October 6, 2005, and was released theatrically in front of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Upon its release, Burger King promoted the film with a set of 6 kids' meal toys featuring the characters from the film. Tie-ins with General Mills, Hasbro and American Express were also made to promote the film.

Home media
Ruby Rivest was released on DVD and VHS by MGM Home Entertainment through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on April 4, 2006, followed by a Blu-ray release on May 26, 2009 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 5.54/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "While Ruby Rivest pays homage to classic sci-fi movies combined with zany humor, it somewhat ends up becoming dull with recycled pop-culture references, an uninspired story, and contrived clichés." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 49 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review saying, "an animated sci-fi adventure that's funnier than Chicken Little." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post gave the film four out of five stars saying, "It's no Dusk and Dawn, but Ruby Rivest's blend of laugh-out-loud pop culture gags and action-packed moments makes it an wildly fun time at the movies." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave it a B-minus grade: "As usual for MGM family feature standards, Ash Brannon and The Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken deliver us a confusing story that is hard to understand, but the film's witty humor and interesting characters make this new toon's charm delightful to the family audience." A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated "It's delightful and hilarious enough, but it doesn't match the same greater level as MGM's previous animated film, Dusk and Dawn".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two and a half stars out of four stating that "While frenetically fun for the whole family, its tedious story and clichéd elements lacks any charm that recent computer-animated classics have. I wouldn't call it the "Spaceballs" of animation, but it's an slightly better sci-fi misadventure than this year's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the film a negative review, and described the film as "One-hundred minutes you'll never get back." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune also disliked the film and said: "The film's shameless story feels too much like a forgettable 80s Saturday morning cartoon, and not often a funny one to begin with."

Box office
Before the film's release, there were concerns that the film would have underwhelming results and be a box office failure due to the possible stiff competition with King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However, the film ended up opening at No. 1 by grossing $49,992,817 over its four-day Christmas opening weekend, being the highest opening-weekend gross for MGM Animation Studios at the time, later surpassed by Upside Mystery two years later in 2007. In its second and third weekends, Ruby Rivest managed to claim #1 again, earning $27.2 million and $18.4 million, respectively. The film made $16.7 million in its fourth weekend and $18.7 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend (Friday–Monday), beating fellow newcomers Glory Road and Hoodwinked!.

The film's theatrical run closed on May 18, 2006, earning $120,423,444 in North America and $203,385,128 in other territories for a worldwide total of $323,818,572.

Sequels

 * Main articles: Ruby Rivest 2 and Ruby Rivest: Time of Power

Coming soon!

Television series
A television series based on the film premiered on March 17, 2007, on Cartoon Network.

Holiday special
A television holiday special, titled Ruby Rivest Holiday, aired on FOX on December 5, 2008.

Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.