Dōbutsu no Mori (film)

Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Forest)
Animal Crossing film poster
Directed by	Jōjin Shimura
Produced by	Bunshō Kajiya
Written by	Aya Matsui
Based on	Animal Crossing and Animal Crossing: Wild World
Starring	Yui Horie Misato Fukuen Fumiko Orikasa Yū Kobayashi Naoki Tatsuta Kenichi Ogata Shun Oguri Yūichi Kimura
Music by	Kazumi Totaka
Cinematography	Kōji Yamakoshi
Editing by	Toshio Henmi
Studio	OLM, Inc.
Distributed by	Toho (in association with Nintendo)
Release date(s)	December 16, 2006 (2006-12-16) (Japan) July 25, 2007 (2007-07-25) (Japanese DVD) August 8, 2009 (2009-08-08) (Nintendo DS video card)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	~¥1,800,000,000

Dōbutsu no Mori (劇場版 どうぶつの森, Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori^?, lit. "Animal Forest: The Movie") is an anime film based on the Animal Crossing series of video games, specifically Wild World, directed by Jōjin Shimura. The film retains the theme of the video games, in which a child moves into a village populated with animals. It opened in theaters in Japan on December 16, 2006. On September 12, 2010, Pagons, Inc. announced that the film will be released in Europe in late September or early October.^[1]

The film earned an estimated ¥1.8 Billion (approximately $19,269,000) at the box office.

Plot

The film opens with Ai, a young girl, moving into the Animal Village during the summer. After being put to work by Tom Nook to deliver goods, Ai befriends four of the village's residents, Rosie, Margie, Alfonso, and Yū, participating in several activities. Ai begins to find a series of anonymous messages in bottles that state that a miracle will occur during the upcoming Winter Festival if pine trees are planted in specific points of the village. Ai complies with the messages and begins planting the trees, half-believing that the messages may have been placed by aliens.

During autumn, Rosie scolds Ai for not attending Margie's farewell party, which comes as an unexpected and utter surprise. Ai becomes heartbroken, learning that Margie has moved away to embark on a career in fashion design. Margie sends a letter of apology to Ai, explaining that a goodbye would have been too upsetting, and encourages her to embark on her own personal journey. Rosie apologizes to Ai for her harsh reaction.

Winter comes, and all the pine trees that Ai has planted have fully grown and are decorated with Christmas lights. A spaceship crash-lands in the middle of the forest, and Gulliver, a seagull, emerges. Gulliver, who had planted the bottles in order to make an entrance dressed as an alien, asks the villagers to help locate some of the pieces that broke off his ship during the descent. Ai, Rosie, Yū, and Alfonso head towards a cave, where Yū claims to have seen one of the pieces fall. Margie appears and helps unseal the cave.

The five retrieve the missing piece and return to Gulliver, who they discover had already obtained them all. The missing piece turns out to be an injured UFO, one of a larger group that was attracted to the village due to the pattern formed by Ai's lit-up pine trees. The injured UFO reunites with its group, and as they depart, create a constellation in the night sky resembling Ai. Ai then wins the Winter Festival contest for the best decoration, leaving her feeling for the first time as a true member of the village.

Characters

Character	Description	Voice cast
Ai	The naïve female human protagonist of the film who moves into the Animal Village.	Yui Horie
Rosie the Cat	A frank female cat who befriends Ai. She has a tendency to praise her own wares. She discovers a Seismosaurus fossil in the village cave. She is Bouqet in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Misato Fukuen
Margie the Elephant	A female elephant who dreams of becoming a designer. Despite her large and intimidating appearance, she is a kind and gentle person, and befriends Ai along with Rosie. She is Sally in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Fumiko Orikasa
Yū	A human boy who lives in a neighboring village. His hobbies include cosplaying (usually as a pirate or a ninja) and collecting insects and fossils.	Yū Kobayashi
Alfonso the Crocodile	A mischievous male crocodile who is friends with Yū. He is Halberd in the Japanese video games.	Takatoshi Kaneko
Apollo the Eagle	A calm male eagle whom Whitney seems to admire.	Masaki Terasoma
Whitney the Wolf	A lovely female white wolf who seems to admire Apollo. She has a passion for ladylikeness. It is heavily implied throughout the movie that she and Apollo were once a couple. She is Bianca in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Yurika Hino
Champ the Monkey	A muscular male monkey who likes to weight-train, and does so throughout the movie. He is Saruo in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Yasuhiro Takato
Cesar the Gorilla	A male gorilla who is skilled in enka. He is good friends with Cyrano. He is Araso in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Kazuya Tatekabe
Cyrano the Anteater	A male anteater who is skilled in chanson. He is good friends with Cesar. He is Sakurajima in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Yūji Ueda
Hopper the Penguin	A male Rockhopper penguin who likes to fish. He always fishes at the same place. He is Tux in the Japanese language release of the video games, where he is a lot grumpier than how he was portrayed.	Hisao Egawa
List of characters in the Animal Crossing series
Tom Nook	A male tanuki that owns a shop in the Animal Village. He likes to make new villagers work at his store as a part time job. He is known as Tanukichi in the Japanese games.	Naoki Tatsuta
Tortimer	An old tortoise, and mayor of the village. In the film, he is worried about his upcoming re-election, even though he is the only candidate. He is known as Kotobuki in the Japanese games.	Kenichi Ogata
Pete the Mailman	A male pelican who delivers letters around the Animal Village. He is Pelio in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Akio Suyama
Pelly the Pelican	A female pelican who works in the Animal Village City Hall during the daytime hours. She is a tender and kind person, unlike her older sister Pelimi. She is Peliko in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Otoha
Phyllis the Pelican	A female pelican who works in the Animal Village City Hall during the nighttime hours. Unlike her younger sister Pelly, she is a foul-mouthed and bitter person. She is Pelimi in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Yūko Mizutani
Blathers the Owl	A male Ural Owl who works at the Animal Village Museum. He cannot stop talking about dinosaurs once he starts talking about one. To obtain a Seismosaurus fossil is his dream. He is Fūta in the Japanese language release of the video games. Unlike in the games, he is not nocturnal.	Kappei Yamaguchi
Celeste the Owl	A female owl who runs the observatory in the museum. A dubbed version of the movie states that the cafe is on the roof and the observatory in the basement. She is Fūko in the Japanese language release of the video games. Unlike in the games, she is not nocturnal.	Mika Kanai
Brewster	A male Columbidae who runs the kissaten in the museum's basement. He is Masuta in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Takaya Hashi
Totakeke (K.K. Slider)	A male street musician dog. He is named and modeled after musician Kazumi Totaka. He is referred to as both Totakeke and K.K. Slider in the video games. When he sings K.K. Bossa during the fireworks festival, he sings it in Animalese, like in the games.	Shun Oguri
Mr. Resetti	A male mole who is in charge of the illumination in the Village. He is Reset in the Japanese language release of the video games, where he serves a different purpose. He appears if the player resets the game without saving, and lectures them not to.	Yūichi Kimura
Wendell	A male walrus painter who is frequently hungry and sorrowful. He is Seiichi in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Junpei Takiguchi
Mabel	The younger of the two Able Sisters, who are hedgehog tailors. She is Asami in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Mari Adachi
Sable	The older of the two Able Sisters, who are hedgehog tailors. She is Kinuyo in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Saori Hattori
Crazy Redd	A male fox who runs a suspicious black market. He is Tsunekichi in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Tetsuo Sakaguchi
Pascal	A male sea otter. He is Rakosuke in the Japanese language release of the video games.	Takashi Miike
Gulliver	A male astronaut Common Gull who flies around the Village in a UFO, and also speaks English. He is Jonni in the Japanese language release of the video games. In the original game, he was a sailor that washed up on shore once a week, giving the player a rare piece of furniture. In Wild World, he flies a UFO like he does in the film, which the player can shoot down with a slingshot. Afterwards, the player must gather the pieces of the ship just like in the movie. Gulliver rewards the player with a piece of space-themed furniture with the completion of this task.	Wataru Takagi
Kapp'n	A male taxicab-driving kappa. He is Kappei in the Japanese language release of the video games. In the original game, he operates the ferry that takes the player to Animal Island. In Wild World, he drives the cab that first takes the player to the village, like in the film.	Mitsuo Iwata
Other characters	Dr. Shrunk, Lyle, Katie, Kaitlin, and Saharah are all seen during the fireworks festival, but have no lines.

References

1. ^ http://gonintendo.com/?p=28316

External links

	Nintendo portal
	Film portal

• Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Forest) at the Internet Movie Database
• North American Animal Crossing Movie Update