The Happy Cricket

The Happy Cricket
The Happy Cricket
Directed by	Walbercy Ribas
Written by	Walbercy Ribas
Produced by	Juliana Ribas; Cleber Redondo; Francisco D. Lourenço
Starring	See below
Music by	Ruriá Duprat
Production; company	Start Desenhos Animados
Distributed by	Hoyts General Cinema (Brazil); Tapeworm Video Distributors (United States)
Release date	20 July 2001;
Running time	80 minutes
Country	Brazil
Language	Portuguese
Budget	R$4 million

The Happy Cricket (Portuguese: O Grilo Feliz) is a 2001 Brazilian animated fantasy film directed by Walbercy Ribas.

Plot

Christopher is a music-loving cricket who spends his days playing his magic stringless guitar for his friends. But, his peace is interrupted when the tyrannical monitor lizard Wartlord bans music. Making matters worse, Linda the Night Star falls from the sky. Making matters worse, Wartlord, having mistaken the star for a diamond, is also searching for her. Thus, it's up to Christopher and his friends to rescue the night star and stop Wartlord.

Production

The title character was first seen in local commercials for Sharp Electronics in the 1980s.^[1] The film spent over 20 years in development,^[1] and 30 months in production.^[2]

The team of approximately 70 illustrators, indenters, and colorists drew around 375,600 frames and 201,600 layouts that where later placed in the digital coloring phase using Silicon Graphics softwares, including mixing the use of CGI.

The film was transferred onto Exabyte to Record tapes and transferation of 118,080 files of the 82 Minutes of film onto the 35MM film recording boards that were made at Cinesite in London.

The English-language dub is dedicated to one of its voice actors, the late Bob Papenbrook.

Sequel

In early 2009, 20th Century Fox released a CGI sequel, O Grilo Feliz e os Insetos Gigantes (The Happy Cricket and the Giant Bugs).

Cast

Original version

Vagner Fagundes - Grilo
Araken Saldanha - Maledeto
Régis Monteiro - Faz Tudo
Fátima Noya - Bituquinho
Letícia Quinto - Juliana
Nelson Machado - Sapo 1
Renato Master - Sapo 2
Antonio Moreno - Sapo 3
Camila Bullara - Pouco Grilo
Jorge Barcellos - Caracol velho / Geral
Emerson Caperbat - Pai
José Soares Maya - Tucano
Isaura Gomes - Saranha
Rita de Almeida - Caracolino
Marli Bortoletto - Bacaninha
Rodrigo Andreatto - Rafael
Úrsula Bezerra - Moreninha
Tatiana de S. Parra - Linda Estrela Da Noite
José Luiz Burato - Grilo (singing voice)

English version

Sam Riegel - Christopher
Bob Papenbrook - King Wartlord
Cindy Robinson - Honeydew / Spidora
Peter Doyle (actor) - Magic Toucan / Soldier 1
Bob Buchholz - Barnaby / Sergeant
Dave Mallow - Buffuno
Steve Staley - Leonardo
Neil Kaplan - Toad 1
Dan Woren - Toad 2
Grant George - Father / Toad 3
Stephanie Sheh - Little Christopher / Sneally
Steve Kramer - Old Snail / General
Mona Marshall - Cartibella
Philece Sampler - Isabella
Tatiana de S. Parra - Linda The Night Star (singing voice)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Hessel, Marcelo (2007-10-19). "O Grilo Feliz - Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo" (in Portuguese). Omelete. Archived from the original on 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
^ The Happy Cricket (About the Production (accessed from Bonus Material)). Fairview, New Jersey: Clever Image Studios. 2006 [2001].

External links

Official sites (Flash required)

(in Portuguese) Official franchise site
(in English) Official site of Clever Image Studios

Other

The Happy Cricket at IMDb

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[omelete-1] Hessel, Marcelo (2007-10-19). "O Grilo Feliz - Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo" (in Portuguese). Omelete. Archived from the original on 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2009-05-27.

[2] The Happy Cricket (About the Production (accessed from Bonus Material)). Fairview, New Jersey: Clever Image Studios. 2006 [2001].

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