Animal Crossing: The Movie (2006)
"Gekijôban dôbutsu no mori" (original title)

This is the story of a young self-reliant girl called Ai, who one day, moves into the Animal Village. While working at Tom Nook's shop "Nook's Cranny" she begins living her life away from ... See full summary »

Director:

Jôji Shimura

Writer:

Aya Matsui (screenplay)

Stars:

Yui Horie, Misato Fukuen, Fumiko Orikasa

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yui Horie	...	Ai
Misato Fukuen	...	Bûke
Fumiko Orikasa	...	Sarî
Yu Kobayashi	...	Yû
Takatoshi Kaneko	...	Alberto
Masaki Terasoma	...	Apollo
Yurika Hino	...	Bianca
Yasuhiro Takato	...	Saruo
Kazuya Tatekabe	...	Alan
Yûji Ueda	...	Sakurajima
Hisao Egawa	...	Daruman
Naoki Tatsuta	...	Tanukichi
Kimiko Koyama	...	Tamekichi
Noriko Namiki	...	Tsubukichi
Kenichi Ogata	...	Kotobuki

Storyline

This is the story of a young self-reliant girl called Ai, who one day, moves into the Animal Village. While working at Tom Nook's shop "Nook's Cranny" she begins living her life away from her family. To begin with, she doesn't know left from right, but under the guidance of Mayor Tortimer, the angry but correct Mr. Resetti, and the wandering musician K.K. Slider among others, she is eventually accepted as a member of the village. One night as she walked along the beach, she finds a message in the bottle. It sets her off on a quest of planting pine trees around the village to fulfill a miracle on the eve of the Winter Festival.

---

Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site.

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

16 December 2006 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Animal Forest: The Movie

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nintendo, OLM-Animation Studio, Shogakukan

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

Apollo and Ai reconcile as she helps him replant his blue flower garden. Tux/Hopper finally catches a small fish.

---

Connections

References Super Mario Bros. (1985)

---

Soundtracks

"Kaizoku!? Yû"
(Yû as a Pirate!?)
Composed by Kazumi Totaka

User Reviews

Animal Crossing: The Movie is one of the more questionable video game to movie adaptations, but overall, it's a good one.

Every time a movie based on a video game series is announced or released, fans everywhere can be heard groaning. Video game movies just aren't GOOD. Suffering from weak scripts or terrible acting performances, beloved franchises are run into the ground with the terrible reception they make. It's rare to get a movie that properly adapts a video game to the big screen.

Fortunately, Animal Crossing: The Movie is one of the better video game to movie adaptations around. Based on the hit life simulation from Nintendo, the movie seems like it would be a strange game to make into a movie. The game follows a player moving to a new town and basically just socializing or doing odd jobs around their small village, inhabited by talking animals. Somehow, Animal Crossing: The Movie does it right, and is a pretty good movie overall.

The movie follows Ai, a very self-reliant young girl who moves to a new town, known only as Animal Village. An outcast of sorts, Ai doesn't fit in with the regulars of the town, who don't do much to acknowledge her or help her move in. In fact, the local landlord, Mr. Nook, sends her straight to work as a delivery girl upon arriving at his shop.

It is here that she meets Bouquet and Sally, two fellow villagers who she soon bonds with, and they become very close friends. Along with Yu, a mischievous young boy, and his friend Halberd, they go on various adventures around town, learning more about themselves along the way.

The plot really isn't anything special, but that's to be expected from a movie based on a life simulation game. None of the characters really have any engaging or interesting backstory, which is rather disappointing. The overall plot seems more suited to a mini-series or full-out TV show rather than a feature length movie as well. One other nitpick is the ending; a "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"-esque ending just doesn't fit in well for a story like this.

The movie makes up for its plot problems in the atmosphere of the movie. Animal Crossing: The Movie absolutely nails the feeling of the games. Animal Village is a cozy little town, much like the one(s) you inhabit in the games. Each character has a personality that shines, and adds some humor throughout. In fact, fans of the game might even recognize some of the secondary characters from the series, making them smile from nostalgia. Even the music from the game is represented in certain scenes, which is really cool.

The animation is nice as well. The environment is full of bright, lush colors that really suck you into the setting of the movie. Characters have the same look they have from the games, which is a nice touch. The voice acting (albeit, in Japanese only) is also superb.

Animal Crossing: The Movie is one of the more questionable video game to movie adaptations, but overall, it's a good one. Fans of the game series will love it to death, and even those who aren't familiar with Animal Crossing can find some charm in the movie's characters, atmosphere, and morals.