Detective Carl

Detective Carl is a 1990 American adult animated action buddy cop comedy film starring Jason Bateman as Carl Jenkins, and is directed by Ralph Bakshi.

The film follows Carl, a low-ranked cop, as he takes on a mission to arrest the evil mastermind of the XAPD gang.

The film released on May 12, 1990 by Orion Pictures to positive reviews, considering it as one of the best films of 1990 and has since gathered a cult following while also becoming a huge box office success, grossing over $126 million against its $8 million budget.

It's success spawned a franchise including a TV series, which was shown to be as successful as the film, directly following up the events of the movie and was aired on ABC from 1991 to 1998 as well as a novel series.

A sequel titled Detective Carl Returns with Jason Bateman reprising his role will be released on January 27, 2023.

Plot
The film starts off with Carl Jenkins who frequently hops from job to job failing to keep a steady job due to his extreme short temper but ends up deciding to become a detective after getting recommended by his childhood friend Grant Cross who is a Corporal for the police force. Later on, Jenkins now being a rookie cop is sent by Commissioner Lawrence find the leader of the XAPD gang, after various cops and detectives go missing. Initially, Jenkins goes against this idea with him being a rookie until the police chief Barry Johnson convinces him to go after the mission after finding out his old high school friend Mary Brown was one of the missing victims. To prepare for the mission, Jenkins was paired with a goofy yet violence centered cop, Josh Heinken.

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Cast

 * Jason Bateman as Detective Carl Jenkins, a low-ranked rookie cop who is violent with a short temper and has a huge amount of strength.
 * Jim Carrey as Detective Josh Heinken, a goofy and dim-witted cop who often goes to violent solutions.
 * Harold Ramis as Commissioner Lawrence, the Commissioner of the police force that Carl works with.
 * Ving Rhames as Officer Barry Johnson, the Director-General of Police (DGP) and the chief of police.
 * Johnny Depp as Corporal Grant Cross
 * Jodi Benson as Mary Brown, one of Carl's old high school friend's who becomes his girlfriend and eventual wife.
 * Kevin Costner as Ben, the leader of the XAPD gang.
 * Robin Harris as Caine Brown, a mob boss/murderer/gang leader of New York.
 * Bruce Dern as Walter Jenkins, Carl's father.

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Production
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Release
The film was released by Orion Pictures on May 12, 1990 in the United States. Internationally, the film was released under Universal Pictures.

The MPAA initially gave the film a NC-17 rating for "graphic violence and non-stop strong language" which Bakshi came to surprise with the rating. After 2 edits, it eventually received an R rating for "intense violence and pervasive strong language." In the United Kingdom, the film was given a 15 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification for "frequent coarse language and graphic violence" with no edits made. In Australia, it was rated MA15+ (Mature accompanied for those under 15) by the Australian Classification Board. In Canada, the film received 18A and 14A certificates in most provinces, and a 13+ certificate in Quebec.

Box office
The film became a huge success at the box office grossing $50.2 million domestically and $76 million overseas for a worldwide total of $126.2 million.

Critical Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 76% based on reviews from 56 critics, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Even though at moments the plot and pacing can seem like a mess, Detective Carl is an entertaining adult skewed toon when the kids are asleep." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequel
A sequel for the film which was in development since 1992. However, after various creative issues between Ralph Bakshi and Orion caused the film to be in development hell. The film will be released on January 27, 2023 by Orion Pictures and Universal Pictures with Bateman, Carrey, Rhames, Depp, and Benson all reprising their roles.

TV Series
A TV series was aired from 1991 to 1998 on ABC.