The Magic School Bus Movie

The Magic School Bus Movie is a 2020 American animated edutainment comedy film based on the Netflix series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, which served as a continuation of the 1994-1997 PBS Kids series The Magic School Bus. Directed by series director Richard Weston and creators Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, and written by series writers Suzanne Bolch and Jennifer Daley, the film stars Kate McKinnon, Lily Tomlin, Miles Koseleci-Vieira, Lynsey Pham, Mikaela Blake, Gabby Clarke, Leke Maceda-Rustecki, Matthew Mintz, Birva Pandya and Kaden Stephen reprising their roles from the series, while the film features new characters voiced by Emily Blunt and Thomas Middleditch, and Liz the Chameleon and Goldie the Golden Tamarin's speaking voices by Michaela Dietz and Lacey Chabert. The film takes place after the show's series finale.

The film was released in theaters on January 31, 2020 in the United States and Canada, produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Scholastic Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. This movie makes it the third film to be based on a PBS Kids show to have a theatrical film, after Clifford's Really Big Movie in 2004 and WordGirl: The Movie in 2018, and the second film to be based on a PBS Kids show to receive a PG rating, and making this the tenth movie to be based on a PBS Kids show (and so far, the first film based on a Netflix series). The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $203 million worldwide against a $58 million budget, making it the second animated film to gross as high as $100 million in the United States, and also making it the fifth highest-grossing animated film based on a television series, behind The Simpsons Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and The Rugrats Movie.

Plot
At the movie's beginning, Mrs. Violet decides to find a new job, but not before she tells the rules.

Mrs. Violet tells the class kids "No traveling back in time, no messing around with the laws of nature, no playing ball in the classroom, no transforming, no stupid science experiments, no making mistakes, no getting messy, no taking chances, and absolutely, no strange teacher sets foot in the classroom or else...without my permission!!! Good day!"

Just then, the time has come for miss frizzle to rescue the classroom kids from the boredom of ordinary field trips. Then, Mrs. Frizzle says "Aha, just as I suspected, you've got a case of the worse-field-trips-blues," After she sings The Field Trip Blues songs, she says" here's how to cure your field trip blues: take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!!! To the bus!!!!"

Not only will Mr. Frizzle and her classmates try to save the school from eternal boredom, as well as unmask a mystery-masked teacher, they're also going to also explore the world, encounter creatures of every kind (e.g. wolves, sharks, frogs, rhinos, dinosaurs, octopus, elephants, falcons, parrots, roadrunners, monkeys, anteaters, owls, bears, alligators), travel in time to the dinosaur age where they'd try to tame a T-rex, and much more all while riding on the magic school bus.

In the end, Mrs. Violet learns her lesson and everything is awesome.

Voice cast
Main article: List of The Magic School Bus characters

Main characters

 * Kate McKinnon as Miss Fiona Felicity Frizzle
 * Lily Tomlin as Professor Valerie Felicity Frizzle, Ph. D.
 * Miles Koseleci-Vieira as Arnold Perlstein
 * Lynsey Pham as Wanda Li
 * Mikaela Blake as Keesha Franklin
 * Gabby Clarke as Dorothy Ann Rourke
 * Leke Maceda-Rustecki as Carlos Ramon
 * Matthew Mintz as Ralphie Tennelli
 * Birva Pandya as Jyoti Kaur
 * Kaden Stephen as Tim Jamal

Guest stars

 * Emily Blunt as Mrs. Violet (The Masked Teacher)
 * Michaela Dietz as Liz the Chameleon
 * Lacey Chabert as Goldie the Golden Tamarin
 * Thomas Middleditch as Wyatt Herp, Harry's younger brother

Recurring characters

 * Annelise Forbes as Janet Perlstein, Arnold's know-it-all conceited cousin
 * Martin Roach as Mr. Ruhle
 * Zooey Deschanel as Murph

Additional voices

 * Lilly Bartlam
 * Amos Crawley
 * Lisa Jai
 * Julie Lemieux
 * Ana Sani
 * Stuart Stone
 * Jamie Watson
 * Marcus Craig
 * Martin Roach
 * Kevin Vidal

Rating
The Magic School Bus Movie is Rated PG for Parental Guidance.

Development
On March 26, 2018, Warner Bros. announced the film, with the show's cast members reprising their roles. A year later, the film's title and teaser poster debuted, and it was announced that Emily Blunt had joined the cast. The film marks the twelfth time a theatrical Warner Bros. Animation film isn't produced by Warner Animation Group since the group's formation in 2013.

On February 11, 2019, it was announced that actresses Michaela Dietz and Lacey Chabert were part of the cast, as Liz the Chameleon and Goldie the Golden Tamarin, respectively, with Thomas Middleditch revealed as Wyatt Herp the same day. On March 18, 2019, Warner Bros. officially scheduled the film for a January 31, 2020 release.

Animation
The feature animation was handled by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver, British Columbia. The crew used the same processes from the original television series in the making of the film, most notably the 'skroutlines', which was a seamless blend of a more traditional screenplay with a more simple outline which resembled strong short stories and gave the storyboard artists such as Nick Etherton, Maurice Fontenot and Lisa Whittick all the creative and aesthetic freedom neccessary. Bolch and Daley themselves provided the film's animatics.

Fellow storyboard artists Victor Glasko, Richie Chavez and Chris Buck, and animation veterans Georges Abolin, Rick Acosta and Bryan Arnett also provided the film's storyboards. Erik Elizarrez helped on the character designs and special effects work on the film. Another animation veteran Stephanie Mahoney also worked with Suzanne Bolch and Jennifer Daley on the character designs of the film.

The bulk of the animation work was done on Wacom Cintiq tablets, which allowed drawings to be done directly on screen to facilitate production using programs Adobe After Effects, Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Toon Boom Studio. Pencilled key animation sequences would be digitally inked-and-painted, enhanced and composited into backgrounds using Toon Boom Harmony. Additional pre-production work was done at Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank, California. Animation and clean-up work was done at Atomic Cartoons' facilities on Vancouver, British Columbia. The final animation was also provided by Renegade Animation in Glendale, California, Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, British Columbia, Six Point Harness in Los Angeles, California, Toon City Animation in Manila, Philippines, Slap Happy Cartoons in Vancouver, British Columbia, Boulder Media in Dublin, Ireland, Yowza! Animation in Toronto, Canada and Snipple Animation in Philippines. Digital ink and paint services were provided by Mercury Filmworks in Ottawa, Canada.

Sound and music
Stephen James Taylor composed the soundtrack for the film with Denis M. Hannigan and Mark Watters serving as the soundtrack producers. In addition to using the original series' music work from Peter Lurye on the film, he also composed themes for each Magic School Bus operative. The Magic School Bus' adventure score was the major focus and he also composed themes for Ms. Frizzle, the students, Liz the chameleon and Goldie the golden tamarin, and Mrs. Violet (The Masked Teacher). The music score was recorded and mixed at Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage in Burbank. The score is orchestrated and conducted by John Debney.

The sound design work was done at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California and Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank, California.

Theatrical release
The film was released theatrically in movie theaters for the United States and Canada on January 31, 2020, by Warner Bros. Pictures, on the same year as Warner Bros. Animation's previous film Chuck's Choice: The Movie. The film was presented in a 1.85:1 format, rather than Warner Animation Group's standard 2.39:1 format on its previous titles. This is Warner Bros. Animation's first film to be released theatrically without a leading short.

Home media
The film was released on Digital on April 14 and Blu-Ray and DVD on May 5, 2020. It contains the deleted scenes, the 18-minute featurette, the behind-the-scenes look at The Magic School Bus Movie, featuring interviews with most of the principal cast and crew, animatics, the pilot episode and the audio commentaries.

Critical
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 79% "Certified Fresh" approval rating based on the 105 reviews, and its average rating is 6.4/10. The critical consensus reads, "The Magic School Bus Movie is an outstanding family film that will please the fans of the franchise." Metacritic, assigns the film a score of 69 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore gives the film an "A" on its A+ to F scale.

Box office
The Magic School Bus Movie has grossed $46 million in the United States and Canada, and $157 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $203 million, against a production budget of $58 million.

In the United States and Canada, The Magic School Bus Movie was released alongside Gretel & Hansel, The Rhythm Section and The Traitor, and was initially projected to gross around $69 million from 4,300 theaters in its opening weekend, with a chance to go as high as $100 million. Therefore, The Magic School Bus Movie was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $203 million worldwide against a $58 million budget, making it the second animated film to gross as high as $100 million in the United States, and also making it the fifth highest-grossing animated film based on a television series, behind The Simpsons Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and The Rugrats Movie.

Trivia

 * This is the first ever feature film of the series.
 * This is the first animated Magic School Bus movie to hit theaters.
 * Liz and Goldie speak for the first time in this movie.
 * The Magic School Bus theme song is heard at the beginning of the film, as well as the end credits.
 * This is Warner Bros. Animation’s seventh theatrical animated film, the first films were "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" released 27 years prior, "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" released 2 years prior, "Unikitty! The Movie", "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: A Star is Born!" and "Krypto the Superdog: The Movie" all released a year before and "Chuck's Choice: The Movie" released this year.
 * This is the next theatrical 2D animated movie in 22 years after Quest for Camelot (1998) and 21 years after The Iron Giant (1999).
 * This marks as Warner Bros.' next 2D animated theatrical film. Warner Bros. had its original feature animation division, which produced 2D animated films.
 * The movie is Rated PG for Parental Guidance.
 * This is Warner Bros.' thirty-eighth traditionally animated film to be released theatrically, after  Clifford's Really Big Movie  released 16 years prior.
 * This is the thirteenth theatrical Warner Bros. film to rely solely on Flash animation instead of hand-drawn animation, or CGI animation.
 * This is the second Warner Bros. Animation film of the 2020s.
 * This is Warner Animation Group's thirty-eighth traditionally animated film.
 * The film was animated by Atomic Cartoons using Toon Boom Harmony, with digital ink and paint services provided by Mercury Filmworks.
 * This is Warner Animation Group's third film to be produced in a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio after Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018) and Harvey Street Kids: A Really Big Movie (2019).
 * This movie takes place in the universe of the reboot series.
 * The characters wear the same outfits from the 2017 reboot series.
 * This movie uses 2D animation just like the TV series, making this the second Warner Animation Group movie to use 2D animation instead of CGI animation, after WordGirl: The Movie.
 * Much like the original series, Arnold has a crush on Wanda, in this movie Wanda has a crush on Arnold as well.
 * This is Thomas Middleditch's second animated movie based on a Scholastic book. The first was Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
 * In the live action segments of WordGirl: The Movie, there was a figure display of a school bus, and in the mid-credits where the comic book store was closing for the night, the bus came to life and became the Magic School Bus and did the famous horn. This was a easter egg for this movie.
 * This is the second Warner Bros.' animated film of 2020s to be rated PG by the MPAA.
 * This is the second animated film of 2020s to be produced in 1.85:1.
 * This is of the only 5 theatrically released traditionally animated American films to release in the 2020s.  The previous film was Chuck's Choice: The Movie and the next films are The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie 3, We Bare Bears: The Movie and Bob's Burgers: The Movie.

Main Transcript

 * Main article: The Magic School Bus Movie/Transcript

Trailer Transcripts

 * Main article: The Magic School Bus Movie/Trailer transcripts

Credits

 * Main article: The Magic School Bus Movie/Credits