Totally Spies! (film)

Totally Spies! is a 2000 American animated action comedy film produced by Marathon Media and Fox Animation Studios for 20th Century Fox and was the final film for Fox Animation Studios. The film was directed by David Michael from a screenplay by Alicia Kirk and a story by Chris McKenna and Ken Kaufman, and stars the voices of Jennifer Hale, Andrea Baker, Peri Gilpin, Ron Perlman, John Rhys-Davies, Roseanne Barr, Patrick Warburton, Mark DeCarlo and Jeffrey Garcia. It follows the three teenage girls from Beverly Hills who become spies.

Michael envisioned the story in 1993, which was based on his dream of himself finding a Undercover Spy Tower that "sucked him into Undercover Agents Place". He then began developing the film after production had finished on Kassai and Leuk (1996) and wrote the original story with Chalvon-Demersay to pitch it to 20th Century Fox, with Kirk on writing the screenplay. Following Kirk's first draft, Chris Mckenna, Ken Kaurfman, and Thomas Hart were brought in to reconstruct the third act and add additional material, while the latter was selected to co-direct. The 20th Century Fox animation team drew inspiration for Totally Spies!'s urban design from major cities including New York City, Seattle, and London. Danny Elfman and Alan Silvestri composed the film's score.

Totally Spies! premiered at the London Film Festival on June 9, 2000, and was released in the United States on July 7, 2000. It received fox acclaim from critics and was a box office success, grossing $742.5 million worldwide on its $85 million budget, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 2000. Totally Spies! won the 2000 Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for Andrea Baker, for his voice performance as Clover, and was also nominated for an Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Dreamworks/Aardman Chicken Run. The film's success helped spawn an expanded franchise, with three sequels — Totally Spies! 2, Totally Spies! 1 1/2, and Totally Spies! 3 — Two Spin-Off — Mandy franchise and Blue Sky Britney — and a television series.

Plot
The movie begins with Rob Hearthrob is getting ready for his concert. His hair is styled with a blond tuft, but when his cheek mole blinks mysteriously, he suddenly has a blank stare, and walks out of the venue. Meanwhile, the band is on stage and everyone is shocked to find that Rob is not there. As a light beam shines on Rob, he smiles and says "Fabulous" and is lifted up in the air.

Samantha, Alexandra, and Clover starting their new lives in Beverly Hills, California. Sam is stunned to find that the bookstore does not sell books. Clover is rejected by a Haute couture shoe store when she inquires about pair of Yves Mont Blanc boots. Alex is overwhelmed by a high-tech gym. As each of them were about to cross paths outside of a sushi restaurant, nearby secret agents (including Jerry Lewis) purposely cause the giant sushi roll above the entrance to break off and chase after them. The three girls are able to avoid it while saving the life of a pig (whom Alex later adopts and names "Oinky" Later in Season 6) and destroy the sushi roll before it causes any damage.

After that, the girls introduce themselves to each other and this starts their friendship when they see each other at Beverly Hills High. They meet the principal Scritch, who is not impressed by Sam, thinking she is a grade grubber. They meet the super-popular girl Mandy, who seems friendly at first, but soon tricks them into getting sprayed by a chai vending machine. Clover presents new friends a change of clothes, but they find themselves sucked into a locker and down a chute to one of the offices of WOOHP. They meet Jerry and a WOOHP agent Tad. Jerry reveals that WOOHP had been observing the three of them secretly since childhood, showing videos of each girl, and picking them as prime recruits for the organization. However, the girls are quick to reject the invite. However, they later are conscripted into training after each having traumatic experiences that relate to WOOHP. They go through the rigorous 48 hour training which involves martial arts, surveillance, bomb defusion, and taking down a giant robot.

In the WOOHP Submarine, Jerry briefs the girls on their first mission: People around town have been disappearing, including rock star Rob Hearthrob and animal psychologist Peppy Wolfman. As Jerry introduces the Gadgets to the girls, Clover provides some suggestions as to the design of their Catsuits, and he agrees to go with the color scheme they have used ever since. When they sneak into Wolfman's office, they find camera footage that shows that he left and then came back with a new look. Later, they follow a crowd of people to a store where they are seeking makeovers using the Fabulizer. They report their findings to Jerry and Tad, and must rush back to school by WOOHP Jet. On the way, they are attacked by another person in a fighter jet, and are able to fend him off. At school, they evade Madame Scritch as they sneak back for their trigonometry test.

The next day, the girls discover that the Bev High students have all been Fabulized. Jerry, who is undercover as a cafeteria cook, tells them they all underwent the treatment and that they should track one of the students to see who is behind it. They agree to tail Mandy, but then Madame Scritch arrives and catches Sam for vandalizing the school (Sam had used a Laser Lipstick to cut an escape hole in the wall, but left a strand of her red hair at the scene). That night, they sneak into Mandy's room but she rolls out of bed and starts sleepwalking. As they follow her, they find that the Fabulized people are converging to a mountain crater where they are beamed aboard a spaceship. The girls follow and disguise themselves as Fabulized people as they are transported to a strange space station that looks more like a luxury community. They meet the mastermind behind the entire affair, Fabu, a runway model who quickly lost fame in five minutes when he had a wardrobe malfunction during his debut. When Alex makes an outburst, the Spies are captured by Fabu's strongest henchman, Yuri. He then relates his entire plan, to gather his Fabulized people to live in his Fabtopia, and to destroy the Earth. He uses the Fabulizer in reverse to "un-Fabulize" the girls, giving them horrible makeovers: Sam's skin turns green, Clover grows a large dark brown unibrow, and Alex gets massive acne. He puts the girls in container rockets to be sent back to Earth. But just as he leaves, Tad arrives, but instead of helping the girls, he aims to stop Fabu himself and take all the credit, so that he can regain his "favorite agent" status with Jerry.

Tad loses his fight with Fabu and is strapped to a missile bound for Earth. Alex frees herself and the other girls just in time. After undo the effects of the Un-Fabulizer, they reach Tad but are unable to stop his missile from launching and heading to Earth. The girls are able to destroy the navigation system for the missile but now it is heading straight for the space station. Jerry arrives just in time in his Spaceplane. They rescue Tad, and then return to the station where they break Fabu's signal beacon in his staff, and evacuate the people before the missile explodes and destroys the station in a firework finale. Using their Jetpack Backpacks they chase Fabu down.

During the Chase, Alex tells Sam it is time to let Fabu go, but the Fabu overhears this. Enraged, He chases the group to a construction site. Clover attempts to distract the Fabu so she can dynamite it, but the Fabu notices and attacks him. Sam fights it off with an excavator and Alex is given the dynamite. While Clover distracts the Fabu, Sam and Alex climb to the top of a crane, and Sam throws the dynamite into the Floor, causing the Spaceship to explode. The trio then see Peppy Wolfman before she ascends into the afterlife. Clover apologizes to Peppy Wolfman for his losses, but Peppy Wolfman thanks the teenage girls for freeing him from being fabulous for 2 months.

After the mission, Jerry congratulates the girls. He says that Yuri and Tad have been placed in the WOOHP Prison and that everyone who was rescued from Fabu's space station have been restored to normal and their memories of being Fabulized erased. Alex gets a call from Wolfman who invites her to talk about animals and her pig. Clover then gets a call from Rob who heard she is a big fan of his poetry and wants to serenade her over dinner. Sam does not get such a treat, but when she returns to school to face her detention, she is surprised to find the school has a new principal who is not aware of any of her shenanigans, and actually likes Sam and her academic abilities. She wonders where Scritch is (she was transferred to a different school in an icy region where she has to teach in an igloo). The girls get even with Mandy by having her unleash a foam grenade. As they are called to another mission, the girls are quick to bring up personal appointments, but soon find themselves running from a WOOHP jet as it prepares to suck them aboard. But the girls are ready for their mission as they change into their spy uniforms and exclaim their friendship as the movie ends.

In the post-credits scene, Fabu is frozen and is peed by the rabbit.

Voice cast

 * Main article: List of Totally Spies! characters


 * Jennifer Hale as Samantha "Sam" Simpson, She is the Leader of the WOOHP. She is a smart, loyal and sweet person who, just like her two best friends, can become highly jealous. She has great leadership skills and is highly respected by her friends. She think up the plans and diversions so that the girls can defeat the villains. Although she is fairly serious during her missions, She wear a green catsuit on her mission.
 * Hale also voices Mandy, She is shown to be stylish, charismatic, popular and pretty but is also bratty, materialistic, snobbish, egocentric, greedy, arrogant, cruel, naughty, abusive, and downright maleficent.
 * Andrea Baker as Clover, She is the member of the WOOHP. She is the most girly and flirtatious. She is known to have had an abundance of boyfriends and will do anything to get a guy. She wear a red catsuit on her mission.
 * Peri Gilpin as Alexandra "Alex", She is the second member of the WOOHP. She is an odd mixture between a tomboy and a girly girl, she is the most athletic and fitness-minded spy of the team. She wear a yellow catsuit on her mission.
 * Ron Perlman as Jerry Lewis, He is the founder and chief administrator of WOOHP (pronounced like "whoop"), the World Organization Of Human Protection, Jerry is a middle-aged British gentleman who briefs the girls on their missions and provides their various gadgets, most of which are in the form of women's accessories such as boots, hairpins, lipsticks, eyelash curlers, hair dryers, and are very mission-specific as if he knew everything beforehand.
 * Patrick Warburton as Tad, He is the Jerry Lewis's assistant. When Clover, Samantha, and Alexandra were forcibly recruited into WOOHP, Tad realized that he was losing his "favorite agent" status with Jerry. Tad decided to sabotage their mission and defeat Fabu himself.
 * Roseanne Barr as Scritch, She is the school principal of Beverly Hills High. Her first impression of Samantha was not favorable, sensing that when Sam talked about what she has been doing academically (doing term papers, extra reading, etc.), that she was trying to be a "grade grubber". She then tells the girls that they will not receive any favorable treatment despite being new students, and that she has her eyes on them, especially Sam.
 * Jeff Bennett as Rob Hearthrob, He is a rock star. He also thanks the spies by calling Clover and asking her out on a date and before that, He is the one of getting Fabulizer.
 * Jeffrey Garica as Fabu, He was the main villain, He was a failed male model who was ranked #1 on the "Top 10 Failed Models of All Time" TV special, on account of the fact that his career as a male model only lasted for 5 minutes (literally). He recruited Yuri, a Russian citizen, after Fabu helped him with his spacewalk when Yuri was still a cosmonaut. To return the favor, Yuri built the Fabulizer machines and the Fabutopia spaceship for Fabu.
 * Dabney Coleman as Yuri, He was Fabu's right hand man. He was the one who built Fabu's Fabulizer machines and the Fabutopia spaceship for him.
 * Tara Strong as Dominique, She is one of Mandy's lackeys/best friends
 * Scarlett Johansson as Caitlin, She is second of Mandy's lackeys/best friends, along with Dominique.
 * Tress MacNeille as Peppy Wolfman, She is a Animal Carer, She is the one of getting Fabulizer, along with Rob Hearthrob.

Additional voices

 * Paul Eiding
 * Kimberly Brooks
 * Rob Paulsen
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Scott Menville
 * Kirk Baily
 * Vanessa Marshall
 * Michael Bell
 * Nika Futterman
 * Pat Fraley
 * Billy West
 * Catherine Disher
 * Jess Harnell
 * Kathleen Barr
 * Greg Ellis
 * Bill Farmer
 * Peter Cullen
 * Jeff Bennett
 * Jim Meskimen
 * Pamela Hayden
 * Alan Tudyk
 * Brandon Adams
 * Candi Milo

Development
David Michael came up with the concept for Totally Spies! in 1993 during the production of Kassai and Leuk, in which Michael directed. He envisioned a story where the three girls gets sucked into Undercover Offices that leads them to become a spy. Michael's original inspiration was from a dream he had of himself finding a One Court Square Building that "sucked him into Undercover offices". Michel also took inspiration from the 1982 Disney film Tron, where the protagonist Kevin Flynn gets transported inside the world of a mainframe computer, where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape.

Michel began work on the film with Vincent Chalvon-Demersay in 1995, shortly after The Secret World of Santa Claus finished production. By mid 1996, Michel had drafted a treatment with Chalvon-Demersay that bore some resemblance to the final film. Michael and Chalvon-Demersay pitched the story to 20th Century Fox through its feature animation division with some initial artwork in February that year. He and his story team left with some suggestions in hand and returned to pitch a refined version of the story in April. The film was originally developed under the title of Top Secret!, but was changed in order to distance it from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Secret! the 1984 movie with the same name]. In addition to Top Secret!, other titles that had also been considered included Sam, Ace of Spies, The Six Million Dollar Woman, The Avengers Girls and Mission: Possible, among others.

In June 1996, the Los Angeles Times reported that Michel was working on a then-untitled project that would eventually become Totally Spies!, albeit nothing else about the film was known at the time. In July 1997, 20th Century Fox revealed the film's title to be Totally Spies!, then planned for a late 1999 release. In addition, it would be animated with traditional hand-drawn animation that had been done with FAS's two prior films. In April 1998, production of the film officially began, and Bob Gordon, joined to co-direct the film with Michel. The film was produced concurrently with All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, another animated film that animated with traditional hand-drawn animation, which was released four years before Totally Spies!. Chalvon-Demersay defended the film, saying that "any similarities are mere coincidence. We've been open with the Hanna-Barbera people so we don't step on each other's toes."

Writing
Willard Carroll, who had just finished work on The Runestone, was attracted to write the script for Totally Spies!, and began developing a treatment in May 1995. In its earliest stages, the story was very different from the final film, in which the character of Sam and Clover (known at this stage as Anndi and Renée) was being a spy, where he must stop Star Vapphire (a parody of DC Supervillian Star Sapphire) from taking over the world and kidnapping a "Blue Agent" named Mike (who later became Tad), the love interest of Anndi. Sam's Another partner and friends, Alex, had not yet been added. Through various drafts, Anndi's occupation went back-and-forth from being a teenager and from favourite Sunglasses, until his final incarnation as a teenage Smart.

More coming soon!

Casting
During the time, when 20th Century Fox was looking for a younger actor for the voice role of Samantha, Teri Hatcher was considered for the character. He screen tested for the role and was interested, but when David Micheal was unable to make contact with those three, he took it as a "no". In addition to Berry, Demi Moore who subsequently accepted the role in Walt Disney Animation Studios The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was also considered for the role of Samantha. Michel took the role to Jennifer Hale, who was appearing in the daytime comedy The Chimp Channel, and he accepted.

For the role of Clover, Janeane Garofalo, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Sullivan and Beverly D'Angelo were considered, but Andrea Baker won the role for her comedy. In March 1999, it was announced Hale and Baker were cast, along with other cast members including Peri Gilpin, Ron Perlman, John Rhys-Davies, Roseanne Barr, Patrick Warburton, Mark DeCarlo and Jeffrey Garcia.

Initially, Michel wanted Mark Hamill for the voice of Rob Hearthrob. Hamill was approached about voicing the character. However, in 1998, before production on the animation began, Hamill left the film due to being busy on other projects. Instead, he was replaced by Jeff Bennett.

Animation
''Totally Spies! ''was animated in-house at Bardel Entertainment headquarters at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Music
The film's original score was composed by Danny Elfman and Alan Silvestri, It also marks the first 20th Century Fox animated film to be scored by two composers. The soundtrack album was released on July 4, 2000, by Varèse Sarabande.

More coming soon!

Release

 * Main article: Totally Spies! (film)/Release dates

''Totally Spies! ''premiered at the London Film Festival on June 9, 2000, and opened in theaters on July 7, 2000, in the United States and Canada. The film was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for "action violence and brief suggestive material". According to Michel, he wanted the film, along with some other 20th Century Fox animated films, to be more targeted towards viewers of ages 8-10+, similar to animated comedy series such as Pinky and the Brain and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakazoid! Freakazoid!], In the United Kingdom, it received a PG rating by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for "comic violence, mild language, and frightening sequences." (added on the post-2006 re-issues). In Australia, the film was rated PG by the Australian Classification Board (ACB).

Marketing
Upon its release, McDonalds had a promotional tie-in with seven toys including Clover, Samantha, Alexandra, Mandy, Jerry Lewis, Tad and Fabu with a paid Happy Meal order. Ice cream chain Fosters Freeze also promoted the film for its new Sam, Clover and Alex's Spying Totally Spies! ice cream that consists of Sundae, sprinkles, h ot fudge, g ummy worms and whipped cream.

Trailers

 * The film's first teaser trailer was released in May 1999, and was later shown in theaters with other films such as Ice Breaker, Tarzan, Muppets from Space, Inspector Gadget, The Iron Giant, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Pokémon: The First Movie, and Toy Story 2.
 * Another teaser trailer was released in December 1999, and was later released with Stuart Little, Paint World, My Dog Skip, Snow Day, The Tigger Movie, Hanging Up, The Whole Nine Yards, The Next Best Thing, Romeo Must Die, Whatever It Takes, and The Road to El Dorado.
 * The first theatrical trailer was released in April 2000, and was shown with Ready to Rumble, 28 Days, and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.
 * The second theatrical trailer was released in May 2000, and was later shown before Dinosaur, Mission: Impossible 2, Fantasia 2000, Titan A.E., Chicken Run, and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
 * There were a few television spots for the film; the first one was released in May 2000, the second one was released in June 2000, and the third one was released in July 2000.

Video game

 * Main article: Totally Spies! (video game)

A video game based on the film was released on July 3, 2000 on Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS, as well as on BeOS.

Home media
Totally Spies! was released on DVD and VHS on October 17, 2000. Both releases included a 5-minute short film titled Samantha in the House, which takes place after the events of the film and before the events of the TV series. The film was the best-selling DVD and VHS in its initial week of release, selling over 500,000 copies and making over $18.6 million. It was later released on Blu-ray in North America on November 25, 2008, and on Blu-ray 3D on May 17, 2016. A second Blu-ray release from 20th Century Fox for the film was released on July 6, 2010, as a part of Fox's 20th Century Fox 75th Anniversary releases, It also a part of the ''Totally Spies! 10th Anniversary Collection ''releases, A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version was released on June 7, 2017 and the DVD and Blu-Ray Set Totally Spies! 4-film Collection version was released in October 3, 2017.

Box office
Totally Spies! opened on July 7, 2000, in the United States and Canada. It got to earn $132,959,946 during its opening weekend, placing first in its box office during that weekend and setting new records such as earning the highest-opening weekend for a non-sequel animated feature, and the highest opening for an original non-Disney film. The film also earned the highest-grossing domestic debut for 20th Century Fox Animation (later overtaken by its sequel in 2004). By the end of its theatrical run, Totally Spies! grossed a total of $905,431,742 worldwide, making it 2000's highest-grossing 20th Century Fox film and the year’s fifth highest-grossing film. It is also the second highest-grossing 2000 animated film behind Dinosaur ($127.5 million).

Critical reception
''Totally Spies! ''received widespread critical acclaim, becoming a cult hit among critics upon release. On the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 194 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Having enough colorful spy animation, brilliant humor and action-packed scenes to compete with the likes of Disney, Totally Spies! perfectly lives up to be a hit on its own." On Metacritic, it received a score of 94 out of 100, based on 73 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars, saying "In its last Fox Animation Studios animated feature, 20th Century Fox and Marathon Production offers audiences Totally Spies! the whole family could enjoy the delightful addition to the company's other classics with non-stop humor." Richard Corliss of Time Magazine praised Andrea's performance as Clover, stating that "it gets even funnier for his comic relief career that brings the well-known self for his life." Anne Thompson of Variety liked the concept, also stating "As directed by David Micheal, Totally Spies! has a very engaging concept for a movie taking place you to go on the mission."

Some critics have likened Totally Spies! to live-action spy films such as Jack Ryan and James Bond; Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News described the film as "Laverne & Shirley meets James Bond". Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film three out of four stars, saying that "Totally Spies! seems to duplicate the usual animation look of A Goofy Movie, but was made using cel animation and has truly amazing action sequences, charm, wit, and humor with a host of quirky characters such as Sam, Clover and Alex." Frank Nugent of The New York Times summed up his review stating that "Totally Spies! is not only a great kids movie, but it is an enthusiastic movie with perfect moments that live up to its plot as well as other 20th Century Fox animated hits like The Pagemaster and Anastasia."

Some critics, however, criticized some unexpected product placements of spy movie references such as James Bond, Mission: Impossible and The Saint. Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail described Totally Spies! as a "95-minute feature-length of Three Animated Girls version of Austin Powers", while Desson Thomson of The Washington Post wrote that it was little more than an exercise on Austin Powers to children. Barbara VanDenburgh of The Arizona Republic stated, "While not as bad as say, Knock on Wood, 20th Century Fox's Totally Spies! sometimes has a overuse of The Silencers, but tries hard enough to appeal fans who may be puzzled by the movie's visual disconnect." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune considered Sam's quote "For now on, I'm to be like a James Bond, Girls Style?" as a clever reference to the 1970s-1999 James Bond movies.

Sequels

 * Main article: Totally Spies! (franchise)

''Totally Spies! was followed by two sequels: Totally Spies! 2 (2004) and Totally Spies! 11⁄2'' (2009). While the first sequel received similar acclaim from critics, the third film, however, got some mixed reviews but was still a box office hit. A fourth installment, titled Totally Spies! 3, was released on November 25, 2016.

A fifth film, titled Totally Spies! 4, is set for release on November 20, 2020.

Comics

 * Main article: Totally Spies! (Comics)

Television series

 * Main article: Totally Spies! (TV Series)

Holiday special

 * Main article: Totally Spies!: A Spy Christmas