Disney In The House: Introduction

Disney In The House: Introduction is a 2017 American live-action/animated direct-to-video film produced by Walt Disney Wonder Studios, Disney Television Animation, and Owen Laramore Home Video for Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Peggy Holmes, produced by Gary Marsh and Gary Krisel, and written by Holmes, Marsh, Krisel, and Jason VanBorssum. It is DisneyToon Studios' first live-action/CGI hybrid film and stars an ensemble cast featuring Sarah Silverman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ed O'Neill, Tom Hanks, Dee Bradley Baker, Frank Welker, Owen Laramore (in his film debut), Michael J. Fox, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Chris Rock, Sam Elliott, Samantha Morton, Billy Connolly, Anthony Anderson, Sam Shepard, and Miguel Ferrer in his final film appearance.

The film had been in production since Tinker Bell and the Return of the NeverBeast was released. The release date for the film was January 9, 2017 on Disney DVD, and could not be moved. It was narrated by David Ogden Stiers, and is the first feature film to use archive recordings of an actor's child voice.

With a PG rating from the MPAA, the DVD film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the humor, the musical score, the screenplay, the plot, and the performances (particularly those of Silverman, Fanning, and Breslin), while others found it "adorably, largely, and universally significant". The film managed to gross $287 million against a budget of $57 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Disney In The House DVD film until Disney In The House: Time Travel overtook it in 2019. It spawned a Disney In The House TV series, which gets every one new season per month, as well as a Lego game. It is also the first installment in the Disney In The House DVD saga.

Plot
In a world where humans and Disney characters co-exist in peace, Vanellope von Schweetz is a single Disney character in the Disney Neighborhood who has been alone for four years. One day, she meets a handsome fellow named Lawrence Broderick and his partner Mr. Ziploc, who take her on a fascinating tour through the history of Disney. After the tour, Vanellope, Lawrence, and Mr. Ziploc meet Judy Hopps, Hank, Sheriff Woody, The Aliens, Agent P, and Iggy the iguana.

Vanellope explains to everyone that she used to have a friend named Banana. After the end of 2012, they were friends, but on May 2, 2013, Banana informs Vanellope that illegal poachers are chasing him. Banana tries to convince her to get the poacher train to the bridge, but she berates him for betraying her, resulting in them losing the train. Banana falls out and tries to make Vanellope save him. Knowing that she cannot save him after what he did, Vanellope ends her friendship with Banana, lets the poachers kill him, and jumps into the river below; Vanellope has been wanting to make a new family ever since.

A knight named Murray hitches Vanellope, Judy, Hank, Woody, The Aliens, Agent P, Iggy, Lawrence, and Mr. Ziploc a ride to the Hader Castle. The king, Marcus, tells them that he has kids, his 10-year-old son, Conrad, and his 6-year-old daughter, Sally. Sally is crying because she is afraid of being rejected. Feeling bad for her, Vanellope comforts Sally, believing she will be able to marry Conrad.

The gang gets Sally a wedding dress. Once she sees Conrad, they date. The plan works, and after the date, the group is recruited by a spy named Agent Gadget, who explains that two outlaws named Ginny and Alan have discovered an ancient power to destroy the kingdom. Not wanting anything to happen to the kingdom, the group decides to help Gadget stop Ginny and Alan.

Once they get to the tower, the group enters the bottom floor, which is actually a modern art museum. Suddenly, to no avail, Ginny and Alan's bodyguard, Mr. Z, kidnaps Sally and takes her to the top floor. Conrad and Vanellope chase Mr. Z and discover that he has attempted to make her fall into the ocean. Sally tries to hold on, but Mr. Z swings her off his leg, and she, Conrad, and Vanellope fall, but Vanellope manages to activate her parachute before landing slowly in the ocean. Vanellope and Conrad rescue Sally from drowning, and Judy rescues them.

The following afternoon, Conrad takes Sally for a rowboat ride across a lagoon. Vanellope conducts a water animal chorus to the tune of Kiss The Girl. After the successful rowboat ride, Vanellope and the others head back to the kingdom to tell them that Conrad and Sally are in love. Just as they are about to kiss, a dragon arrives. Vanellope cannot strike the dragon, so the group uses both Sally and Conrad as bait to lure the dragon into a giant cage. Ginny and Alan try to kill them, but Judy knocks the two outlaws out, and the dragon crushes them. The illegal poachers block their way and try to penetrate them, but Gadget transforms the car into a helicopter. They fly towards the cage and trap the dragon, but Gadget and Sally slip on the ground and grab the ledges. Gadget resigns himself to his fate and sacrifices himself, giving Vanellope enough time to save Sally. Vanellope rushes to find Gadget and she is saddened to see that he died, which reveals that he was a rock on the inside.

Later that day, Conrad and Sally marry, and bid Vanellope goodbye. Vanellope, Judy, Hank, Woody, The Aliens, Agent P, Iggy, Lawrence, and Mr. Ziploc return to the Disney Neighborhood. Vanellope, Judy, and Hank become the Disney Neighborhood's three leaders, Woody becomes a toy store owner, The Aliens get a claw machine room, Iggy gets so many apples to last him the year, Lawrence becomes the mayor, and Mr. Ziploc becomes the news messenger. The film ends with Vanellope shouting, "Happy Disney Day!" as the iris closes on her.

Cast

 * Sarah Silverman as Vanellope, the first leader of the Disney Neighborhood.
 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy, the second leader of the Disney Neighborhood who is a member of Vanellope's new family and Vanellope's new best friend.
 * Ed O'Neill as Hank, the third leader of the Disney Neighborhood and a member of Vanellope's new family.
 * Tom Hanks as Woody, a member of Vanellope's new family.
 * Dee Bradley Baker as The Aliens, members of Vanellope's new family.
 * * Baker also voices Agent P, a member of Vanellope's new family.
 * Frank Welker as Iggy, an iguana and a member of Vanellope's new family who is obsessed with apples.
 * Owen Laramore as Lawrence Broderick, the mayor of the Disney Neighborhood.
 * Michael J. Fox as Mr. Ziploc, an anthropomorphic plastic bowl who is Lawrence's agent.
 * Dakota Fanning as Sally Hader, a 6-year-old princess and Shepard's younger sister.
 * Spencer Breslin as Conrad Hader, a 10-year-old prince and Sally's younger sister.
 * Chris Rock as Agent Gadget, an international super spy.
 * Sam Elliott and Samantha Morton as Alan and Ginny, a murderous husband and wife couple.
 * Billy Connolly as Marcus Hader, the king and Sally and Shepard's protective father.
 * Sam Shepard as Commander, the leader of the illegal poach gun unit.
 * Anthony Anderson as Dragon, a hideous beast who is the film's main antagonist.
 * Miguel Ferrer as Murray, a knight. This was Ferrer's last feature film appearance before his death.
 * David Ogden Stiers as Mr. Narrator, the film's main storyteller.
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Mr Z., Alan and Ginny's bodyguard who kidnaps Sally.
 * Max Casella as Banana, Vanellope's former friend who got killed by Commander.
 * Jeff Bennett as Bird-O-Clock, Vanellope's alarm clock.
 * Amy Hill as garden lady
 * Alicia Sliverstone as Tiger Lily
 * Corey Burton as Duck McScrooge
 * James Patrick Stuart as Chesire Cat

Production
Since Tinker Bell And The Legend Of The Never Beast came out in the United States, a film where real life humans and Disney characters lived in harmony was in production. Peggy Holmes signed on as director and co-writer. John Lasseter served as executive producer. Alan Menken originally intended to write an original song for the film, but it was cut because it was deemed a little too unfavorable. The film was originally named DisneyVerse, but in June 2015, they decided to rename it to simply just Disney In The House: Introduction to make it more better looking. The Hader's Castle was built with gray bricks to render it realistically for the film. Production took place entirely in San Diego, California.

Casting
Sarah Silverman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ed O'Neill, and Tom Hanks returned to voice their characters from various Disney films. For the role of Lawrence Broderick, Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Dillon were considered, but those sounded too prestigious, and Holmes wanted more comedy. Holmes suddenly met Owen Laramore because she saw how imaginative he was and asked him if he would play Lawrence Broderick. Laramore was delighted on signed on immediately. Archive recordings of child voices considered for Sally and Conrad were needed for the film. Holmes considered spreading rumors that the child voices of Taylor Momsen and Alexander Gould would be considered, but Disney was not happy with these rumors in January 2016, and Holmes decided to instead choose Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin; they had previously worked together on Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat. Dee Bradley Baker signed on as the voices of Agent P and the Aliens.

The plan to have Iggy talk was dropped, and he instead worked out as a silent character for more comedic effect, so Frank Welker provided his vocals. Michael J. Fox signed on as the voice of Mr. Ziploc.

Music
The music for the film was composed by John Powell. Holmes knew that either Powell or Chris Montan would be going to compose the score, but selected Powell, leaving Montan in charge of executive producing the music. Laramore wrote a version of I'm Coming Out for the film, performed by Fanning, Silverman, Goodwin, O'Neill, Hanks, Baker, Welker, Laramore, and Fox. Sally's signing voice for "I'm Coming Out" was provided by Tara Strong who was not credited in the film.

Soundtrack
"Staying Alive" - Bee Gees

"Heartbreak Hotel" - Ginnifer Goodwin

"One" - Three Dog Night

"I'm Coming Out" - Tara Strong, Sarah Silverman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ed O'Neill, Tom Hanks, Dee Bradley Baker, Frank Welker, Owen Laramore, and Michael J. Fox

"I Wish" - Stevie Wonder

"Kiss The Girl" - Brian Wilson

"The Song Of The Heart" - Prince

"Opening Titles/Disneyville" - John Powell

"Lawrence & Mr. Ziploc" - John Powell

"History Tour" - John Powell

"Judy Hopps" - John Powell

"Hank" - John Powell

"Woody & The Aliens" - John Powell

"Agent P & Iggy" - John Powell

"Vanellope's Backstory" - John Powell

"The Hader's Castle" - John Powell

"Sally's Wish" - John Powell

"The Date" - John Powell

"Agent Gadget" - John Powell

"Chase Ginny And Alan" - John Powell

"Art Museum" - John Powell

"Sally Gets Kidnapped" - John Powell

"Sea Rescue" - John Powell

"Cruise" - John Powell

"Dragon Fight" - John Powell

"Sally & Conrad Marry" - John Powell

Critical response
Despite being a DVD film, the film actually grossed $287.5 million at the time of its DVD release. It is one of the most successful Disney movies of all time, and has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The consequence reads, "Lovable, fantastic, and eccentric, Disney In The House: Introduction is a joyful musical that will get children of all ages started off with a collection." On the DVD cover, The New York Times says "You will love it! Love it!" It is also the highest-selling DVD of 2017, with 10, million copies sold worldwide. It is the highest-grossing Disneytoon Studios film to date, surpassing Planes.