The Animal
Rob Schneider's head appearing from behind long grass with a leopard-printed shirt also seen behind it. A red feather is sticking out from between his lips.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLuke Greenfield
Screenplay byTom Brady
Rob Schneider
Story byTom Brady
Produced byBarry Bernardi
Carr D'Angelo
Todd Garner
Starring
CinematographyPeter Lyons Collister
Edited byJeff Gourson
Music byTeddy Castellucci
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • June 1, 2001 (2001-06-01)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$47 million[1]
Box office$84.7 million[1]

The Animal is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Luke Greenfield, written by Tom Brady and Rob Schneider from a story conceived by Brady, and produced by Barry Bernardi, Carr D'Angelo, and Todd Garner. It stars Schneider in the lead role, alongside Colleen Haskell, John C. McGinley, Guy Torry, and Edward Asner with supporting roles by Michael Caton and Louis Lombardi. The film depicts a police station evidence clerk who is critically injured and is put back together by a mad scientist who transplants animal parts, resulting in strange animalistic changes to his behavior.

Produced by Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions in association with Revolution Studios, The Animal was released by Columbia Pictures in the United States on June 6, 2001. The film received negative to mixed reviews.

A sequel is in development that will be released on Tubi.

Plot

Marvin Mange is an evidence clerk at the local Elkerton police precinct who dreams of becoming an officer like his late father. However, he repeatedly fails the physical examination. Marvin receives little respect from the populace and is especially tormented by sergeant Doug Sisk. He is smitten with environmentalist Rianna Holmes, but fumbles a first encounter with her.

While alone at the station, Marvin receives an emergency call; with no officers available, he responds himself. While en route he suffers a major car accident and is grievously injured. He is rescued by Dr. Wilder, a mad scientist, who saves his life by means of assorted animal organ transplants. Days later, Marvin, unaware of what happened, resumes normal life but discovers that he can now perform extraordinary physical feats and possesses keen animal-like instincts.

While visiting his friend Miles at an airport, Marvin sniffs out and apprehends a man attempting to smuggle drugs in his rectum. The event garners positive media attention and Marvin is promoted to full-fledged police officer assigned under Sisk.

Over the course of several days, Marvin awakens from bouts of sleepwalking, hearing subsequent reports of attacks in the night being attributed to a savage beast. Wilder introduces himself to Marvin, cautioning him of his rising animalistic urges as side-effects of the operation. Despite continued predicaments and embarrassments caused by his instinctual animal behaviors, Marvin's abilities allow him to excel as an officer and bond with Rianna. However, Marvin is questioned after a brutal attack on a cow; a police sketch implicates Marvin as the culprit. Marvin is subsequently placed on leave.

Afraid of what he has become, Marvin barricades himself inside his home. Rianna arrives to comfort Marvin and the two spend the night together. The following morning, the police raid Marvin's home when they suspect him of mauling a hunter. Marvin escapes and flees into the woods. An armed mob headed by Sisk is formed, while Marvin's friends Miles and Fatty seek to warn him. Marvin encounters Wilder who confides the existence of another patient who had undergone the same procedure; he suspects the other patient is the real culprit.

Sisk's lone pursuit of Marvin results in a near-fatal fall into a chasm, but he is saved by the latter. Despite this, Sisk holds Marvin at gunpoint, but he is suddenly killed by Rianna; revealed to be Wilder's other patient. Rianna confesses that she was responsible for the hunter attack, justifying her actions in protecting an orphaned turkey vulture she reared and released back into the wild. The mob arrives, threatening to kill Marvin. Miles makes a false confession to being the beast in an effort to protect Marvin and Rianna. Due to the racial implications in prosecuting Miles, a Black American, the mob casually pardon him.

One year later, Marvin and Rianna have married, starting a family and open an animal sanctuary. While watching television, they witness Dr. Wilder being awarded the Nobel Prize for his transplantation procedure.

Cast

  • Rob Schneider as Marvin Mange, a police evidence clerk who gets animal parts put in him.
  • Colleen Haskell as Rianna "Hummingbird" Holmes, an animal activist who Mange falls for.
  • John C. McGinley as Sgt. Doug Sisk, a sleazy police sergeant of the Elkerton Police Department who picks on Mange.
  • Michael Caton as Dr. Wilder, a mad scientist who saved Mange's life by putting animal parts in him.
  • Guy Torry as Miles, an airport security guard who is friends with Mange and is a victim of "reverse racism" where he has been claiming that there is reverse racism towards him since he's black.
  • Louis Lombardi as Fatty, a fellow police cadet at the Elkerton Police Department who is friends with Mange and Miles.
  • Edward Asner as Chief Marion Wilson, the elderly chief of the Elkington Police Department.
  • Bob Rubin as Bob Harris, a farmer whose cows are attacked by Mange.
  • Pilar Schneider as Mrs. De La Rosa, Marvin's neighbor.
  • Scott Wilson as the unnamed Mayor of Elkerton
  • Michael Papajohn as Patrolman Brady
  • Ron Roggé as Patrolman Jaworski
  • Raymond Ma as Mr. Tam, an Asian man whose restaurant was robbed.
  • Sebastian Jude as a lost boy
  • Philip Daniel Bolden, Deker Daily, Timmy Deters, Hannah K Ford, Megan Harvey, Mitch Holleman, Mollie Rae Dodson, and Charlie Stewart as Evidence Room Kids
  • Arthur Bernard as an elderly jogger
  • Tim Herzog as Badger Milk Host
  • Berglind Icey as Yolanda, a woman who works in the "Badger Milk" commercial.
  • Bret Smrz as the Mayor of Elkerton's son
  • Norm Macdonald as a Mob Member who asks angry mob-related questions to Sisk.
  • Adam Sandler as a Townie who is part of the angry mob. Sandler did his rendition of the Townie that Schneider portrayed in The Waterboy and Little Nicky.
  • Brianna Brown, Amber Collins, and John Farley as Other Mob Members
  • Pete as Dimples the Dog, a dog that is owned by Mrs. De La Rosa.
  • Bliss as Nelly the Goat
  • Louey as Henry the Orangutan
  • Cloris Leachman as Cat Lady (uncredited)
  • Harry Dean Stanton as Hunter (uncredited)

Wes Takahashi, former animator and visual effects supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic, makes a cameo appearance as a news reporter at Chief Wilson's press conference.[2] Fred Stoller also cameos as a news reporter that interviews Marvin about his abilities during Chief Wilson's press conference. Noel Gugliemi cameos as a gang member.

Reception

Box office

The Animal debuted on June 1, 2001, grossing $19.6 million U.S. in its opening weekend (#3 behind Shrek and Pearl Harbor). With a production budget of $47 million, the movie grossed $84,772,742 internationally.[1]

Critical response

This film received negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 30% based on 83 reviews, with its consensus stating: "While less offensive and more charming than recent gross-humored comedies, The Animal is still rather mediocre".[3] Metacritic gave the film a score of 43% based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+.[5]

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "An outrageous and imaginative summer comedy."[6][7][8] Robert Koehler of Variety magazine wrote: "The Animal is never more nor less than stupid, but stupid in ways that deliver goofiness rather than rampant humiliation."[9]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone described it as "an Adam Sandler reject" and wondered how this "raunchy innuendo wrapped in a PG-13 rating" got past the censors.[10]

Rob Schneider was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actor of the Decade for his performance in the film.

Controversy

Despite mostly negative critical reaction, at the time of its release film critic David Manning gave the film critical praise. In late 2001, Manning was revealed to be a fictitious character created by Sony to fake publicity for the film. At the time, Sony claimed that the error was due to a layout artist who entered 'dummy text' into print advertisements during their design, which was accidentally never replaced with real text.[11]

Sequel

In October 2022, it was announced a sequel is in development. In addition to reprising his role from the first film, Rob Schneider will also serve as director and utilize a script that he co-wrote with his wife Patricia Schneider and Jamie Lissow. Schneider will also serve as a producer on the movie alongside Michael McConnell. The project will be a joint-venture production between Content Partners, Revolution Studios, MarVista Entertainment, Zero Gravity Management, and Tubi Original Films. Intended to be released via streaming as an exclusive Tubi movie, the project is near being officially green-lit by the associated film studios. Principal photography commenced in early-2023, with its tentative release which was scheduled for later that year but is currently delayed.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Animal (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2010-09-01. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
  2. ↑ "Subject: Wes Ford Takahashi". Animators' Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  3. ↑ The Animal Movie Reviews, Pictures Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 19, 2018
  4. ↑ "The Animal". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2010-10-13. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
  5. ↑ ANIMAL, THE (2001) B+ Archived 2018-12-20 at the Wayback Machine CinemaScore
  6. ↑ Kevin Thomas (June 1, 2001). "Calendar Live - Goofy 'Animal' Has a Nice Bite". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2001.
  7. ↑ Michael O'Sullivan (June 1, 2001). "Schneider's 'Animal' Magnetism". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  8. ↑ Owen Gleiberman (June 1, 2001). "The Animal". EW.com. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  9. ↑ Koehler, Robert (30 May 2001). "The Animal". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  10. ↑ Travers, Peter (7 June 2001). "The Animal". Rolling Stone.
  11. ↑ "Official court notice of David Manning settlement" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
  12. ↑ Lodderhose, Diana (October 4, 2022). "'The Animal' Sequel Starring & Directed By Rob Schneider Nears Greenlight By Tubi". Deadline. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
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