Dusk and Dawn

Dusk and Dawn is a 2002 American computer-animated comedy fantasy film produced by DKP Effects. The first installment in the Dusk and Dawn franchise, it was written and directed by Phil Nibbelink from a screenplay written by Ralph Zondag and a story by Nibbelink. The film features the voices of Gregory Smith, Zooey Deschanel, Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, and Dan Aykroyd. Set in a fantasy world where parts of a day are depicted as beings, the film follows two individuals—a boy named Dusk (Smith) and a girl named Dawn (Deschanel)—who encounter each other for the first time and discover their abilities to the world but must save Dawn's home from a dangerous threat.

Dusk and Dawn premiered in Los Angeles on September 15, 2002, and was released in the United States on September 27, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and internationally by Universal Pictures through the United International Pictures label. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, humor, screenplay, characterizations, voice acting, and score, while the character designs were varied. It grossed $221.5 million worldwide over its $38 million budget, making it the third highest-grossing animated film of 2002. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards (which lost to Spirited Away), later gaining a cult following through television syndication and its home video release. It has since been expanded into a media franchise with two sequels—Dusk and Dawn 2 (2008) and Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night (2022)—two short films, a television series, and a holiday special; and a number of video games, books, toys, theme park attractions, and various other merchandise.

Plot
In a world where parts of a day are depicted as beings, Twilight creates his darker stage Dusk in order to collect times and stages for Twilight so that he can grain his energy after sunset. Elsewhere, Sun creates Dawn, the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise. Dusk is a social outcast from the others in Twilight's palace due to frequently messing things up by accident. Though he is unconditionally supported by Twilight, Dusk dreams for more in life than the palace's bleak existence collecting stages. In Sun's palace, Dawn is dissatisfied with her life there and is fascinated by the outside world. She ignores the warnings of Sun and her loyal friend Light, who serves as her adviser, that contact of Sun and Twilight's sides is forbidden.

One day, a battle ensues at Sun's palace where a couple of Twilight's tribe breaks in to imprison their rivals Sun and her people except Dawn who is separated from everyone else and crashes onto Twilight's palace, where she encounters Dusk. While hiding her from Twilight's tribe due to the fact that the people from Sun's palace are outlawed in Twilight's, Dusk gains Dawn's trust by keeping her safe in his house and giving her some food to eat. Realizing Dawn is not a threat, the two begin to bond and spend time with each other, as well as showing off their special abilities. However, Dusk later discovers that Dawn is desperate and worried about her home as she feels like she doesn't fit in Twilight's palace, making her an outcast just like Dusk. She convinces Dusk to make a deal to help her return, and Dusk disguises her as a member in Twilight's group named "Daisy" but her cover is later blown and Dawn gets captured by Twilight's guards, getting both herself and Dusk in trouble.

Dusk is admonished by Twilight's advisors Elders Jo, Ji and Ja and the royal council of Twilight's palace, while Dawn is convicted and sentenced to the Void of Shame—where people get sent and fade away in existence for breaking the laws—but Dusk earnestly encourages the council to retrieve her to Sun's palace in order to prevent further dangers that could destroy both Twilight and Sun's reputations. The council sees it as a way to get rid of Dawn and sends the pair off. Meanwhile, Sun instructs Light to find and rescue Dawn from Twilight's side upon learning of her predicament.

During their journey to Sun's palace, Dusk and Dawn are soon caught in a net and are released by a tribe of troll-like humanoid creatures known as "critters" including the leader Keeper who reveal that they know the way to Dawn's home, but challenge the pair to stay for a night first before they can leave. The next morning, the critter tribe lets Dusk and Dawn go, leading them across a bridge to the palace. However, when the pair almost reached the end, the bridge snaps, causing them to fall into a river where they are thrown off a waterfall. Exhausted, Dusk decides to give up but Dawn realizes that she and Dusk are almost near her home. On the way, Light arrives and becomes thrilled when he eventually finds the pair, whom he helps them reach the palace.

The pair enter the entrance of Sun's palace where they find a book about the history of parts of a day, containing "the dusk till dawn" moral which acknowledges the relationship between the two. But learning of their appearances, Dawn realizes she is home and bids farewell to Dusk while Light takes her back. However, Twilight's army captures Dawn and Light, but Dawn interferes long enough for Light to escape and ends up being captured instead. Twilight's army takes Dawn to the main room where Sun and her tribe were imprisoned. There, she discovers Twilight, who reveals that he is planning to capture all the lights around the world, making it all dark and night forever.

Meanwhile, Light comes back to Dusk and tells him that Dawn has been captured. The two manage to rescue Dawn, Sun and their other people with the help of Keeper and his tribe and return as well as Dusk's friends Tio, Mark, Sparkle, and Miss Night to the palace where they defeat Twilight's army and free the imprisoned people including Dawn and Sun before Twilight confronts them. When Dusk refuses Twilight's orders to transform Sun's people into dark and night, citing Dawn's teachings, Twilight uses power to control Sun's people while making them transform into their night forms to attack Dusk for disobeying. However, the sun rises which causes the possessed people to turn back to normal. Dawn tells Twilight and his tribe that she and her people are harmless, making Twilight's army isolate him for tricking them.

With Dusk encouraging him to have a change of heart, Twilight eventually apologizes to Sun's people for his misdeed; both sides make peace and become close allies rather than rivals. Dusk is praised for his heroism and lives happily ever after with Dawn, resuming their relationship.

Cast

 * See also: List of Dusk and Dawn characters


 * Gregory Smith as Dusk, a clever, outgoing, charming, determined but stubborn and timid 16-year-old boy who is a representation of the darkest stage of Twilight. He also shows courageous loyalty towards his friends.
 * Zooey Deschanel as Dawn, a beautiful, cautious, sassy but empathetic 16-year-old girl who is a representation of the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise. She eventually becomes Dusk's best friend.
 * Anthony Hopkins as Twilight, the creator and guardian of Dusk and the ruler of his own palace who is overly protective and attached to his creation, often trying to get him accepted amongst the palace's community, but never succeeding.
 * Christine Baranski as Sun, the creator and guardian of Dawn and the ruler of her own palace who is prejudiced towards Twilight and his people. She is often called "The Sun Queen".
 * Dan Aykroyd as Light, a comical midget who serves as Sun's advisor and is a close friend of Dawn.
 * Billy West as Keeper, a troll-like humanoid creature who is the leader of the critter tribe.
 * West also voices the Judge and Tick-Tock Guy.
 * John Cusack, Jennifer Hale, and Keith David as Elders Jo, Ji and Ja, a trio of "elders" that often serve as Twilight's advisors and are a part of the royal council of Twilight's palace.
 * Craig Ferguson as Tio, a selfish, arrogant, disruptive but handsome teenage bully who is Dusk's arch-rival.
 * Tom Kenny as Mark, a dim-witted teenager who is one of Tio's enforcers and friends.
 * Kenny also voices Guard #1, Billy, and Teacher Ted.
 * Jim Cummings as Sparkle, a member in Twilight's group who is one of Tio's enforcers and friends.
 * Cummings also voices Guard #2.
 * Jennifer Darling as Miss Night, a female member in Twilight's group who is Dusk's old friend.
 * Rob Paulsen and Corey Burton as Photogs
 * Justin Shenkarow as Teen
 * Nika Futterman as Shelly
 * Donald Fullilove as Harry
 * Brad Lewis as Grooming Critter

ADR Group

 * Ian Abercrombie
 * Newell Alexander
 * Rosemary Alexander
 * Tom Amundsen
 * Sheryl Bernstein
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Kate Carlin
 * Mitch Carter
 * David Cowgill
 * Ike Eisenmann
 * Elisa Gabrielli
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Nick Guest
 * Jennifer Hale
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Nikki Kaffee
 * David Kaufman
 * Richard McGregor
 * Edie Mirman
 * Philece Sampler
 * Bridget Sienna

Production
The film was initially set up at Amblimation, based on a pitch by former Disney animator Phil Nibbelink. By 1998, it was revealed that Canadian CGI studio Dan Krech Productions would produce the project. MGM Animation Studios was founded to produce its very first computer-animated feature with Kate Mallory serving as executive producer. Some artists formerly at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation worked on its first MGM computer-animated feature.

Nibbelink and MGM contacted and offered cartoonist Chuck McKay to work on the story development and the character designs and McKay happened to be a fan of classic MGM cartoons since he grew up watching them. For the titular characters, McKay selected two characters (coincidentally nicknamed "Blue Boy and Yellow Girl") who originally appeared in some drawings and shorts he had been creating since his college years; he first intended to adapt those characters into a television series titled The Zone, but also considered other options such as a feature film, a children's book, a comic strip, and video games.

More to be added soon

Music
The film's score was composed by Michael Kamen.

Release
Dusk and Dawn was originally set to be released worldwide by Universal Pictures in December 2001 which was then intended to be the studio's first fully computer-animated feature, but it was moved up a year later to avoid competition with Paramount/Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. However, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer later took over the North American distribution for the film, resulting Universal to remain its international distribution.

The film was released in the United States on September 27, 2002. Universal later released the film in the United Kingdom on December 20, 2002.

On December 7, 2021, it was reported that MGM and IMAX Corporation were in negotiations to re-release Dusk and Dawn in IMAX for its 20th anniversary in 2022. On January 3, 2022, it was confirmed that the film will be re-released in IMAX on January 28, 2022.

Marketing
The teaser trailer was released on November 2, 2001, and was attached to Monsters, Inc. and Mice Tales. The film's official trailer was released on June 21, 2002, and was attached to Lilo & Stitch.

Upon its release, Burger King had a promotional tie-in with six toys including Dusk, Dawn, Twilight, Sun, Light and Keeper with a paid Kids' Meal order. Ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins also promoted the film for its new Dusk and Dawn's Sunny Sundae ice cream that consists of Hershey's chocolate, hot fudge, crushed chocolate cookies, whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Other merchandise promoted for the film includes plush items, books, toys, activity sets, keepsakes and apparel.

Video game
A video game based on the film was released in North America on September 10, 2002 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance. It was published by MGM Interactive and EA Games and developed by EA Redwood Shores for the console versions and was ported by Griptonite Games for GBA. Upon release, the game received a mixed to positive reception.

Home media
Dusk and Dawn was released by MGM Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on January 21, 2003. The home video release accompanied with a home video exclusive animated short film Dawn's Nature. The home video release brought in more than $194 million in DVD and VHS sales and rentals. In March 2003 alone, 13.8 million copies of the film were sold.

The film was later released on Blu-ray on March 17, 2009, by MGM Home Entertainment through 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. An Ultra HD Blu-ray version is set to be released on June 14, 2022, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment for the film's 20th anniversary.

Box office
Dusk and Dawn grossed $108.8 million in the United States and Canada and $112.6 million in other territories with a worldwide total of $221.5 million.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 143 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The critical consensus reads: "While far from complex, Dusk and Dawn withholds all the power needed to deliver 96 minutes of sweetly immersive family-friendly light." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave Dusk and Dawn three out of four stars, describing it "a very unique family film with colorful visuals that would see the light of day." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, stating that "Dusk and Dawn may not be as great as Monsters, Inc. or this year's Ice Age, but kids will definitely adore this daylight-ish movie with a witty and humorous script with a plenty of likeable cast."

Accolades
To be added.

Sequels
A sequel, titled Dusk and Dawn 2, was released on April 4, 2008. Directed by Dick McClane (in his directorial debut) and produced by Alice Dewey Goldstone, with William Davies and Michael J. Wilson as writers. Gregory Smith, Zooey Deschanel, Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, and Dan Aykroyd returned to voice their roles, with Sam Neill, Isla Fisher, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Garlin, and Bill Nighy joining the cast. In this film, Dusk and Dawn's new life turns upside down when an advanced Venus threatens their home, and they attempt to get rid of Venus but are forced to make peace with him.

A second sequel, titled Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night, was released on March 25, 2022. This film was directed by Rob Connor and co-directed by Rachel Rooker and written by Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart. Many of the voice cast from the first two films returned for the third film with the exception of Keith David and Tara Strong, joined by Jonathan Groff, Bobby Cannavale, Kate McKinnon, Matt Frewer, and James Corden. In this film, Dusk and Dawn accidentally switch colors of their appearances when several optical phenomena including the zodiacal light occur in their homes; the pair must work together to stop the zodiacal light so they can return to their normal forms before it is too late.

Beside the films, the Dusk and Dawn franchise also includes two short films titled Dawn's Nature and Trouble in Paradise, and a television special titled Dusk and Dawn's Holiday. A television series based on the films also started airing on Cartoon Network on July 3, 2009 and ended on June 27, 2014.

Theme park attraction
On March 15, 2004, Dusk and Dawn: The 3-D Darkness Adventure, a 3D attraction in the new soundstage 3-D theater, was opened at Disney-MGM Studios in the Sunset Boulevard area. The 11-minute 3D attraction costs $33 million and is a mini-sequel to the 2002 MGM computer-animated film of the same name starring Smith, Deschanel, Hopkins, and Baranski as their respective characters. The attraction was closed on November 19, 2007, two months before Disney-MGM Studios was renamed to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

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

Trailer
To see the transcripts for the trailers of the film, click here.