- The Animal
Infobox Film
name = The Animal
caption = Theatrical release poster
director =Luke Greenfield
producer =Rob Schneider
Tom Brady
writer =Rob Schneider
Tom Brady
starring =Rob Schneider Colleen Haskell John C. McGinley
Ed AsnerMichael Caton
music =Teddy Castellucci
cinematography = Peter Collister
editing =Jeff Gourson
distributor =Columbia Pictures Revolution Studios Happy Madison
released =June 1 , 2001
runtime = 84 min.
country = flagicon|USA
language = English
budget = $22 million
gross = $55,762,229
amg_id = 1:244227
imdb_id = 0255798"The Animal" is a
2001 comedy film , directed byLuke Greenfield . It starsRob Schneider ,Colleen Haskell ,Edward Asner , andJohn C. McGinley .Plot
Marvin Mange (
Rob Schneider ) is a meek, uncoordinated man who dreams of being a police officer like his dad was. Instead, Marvin just works in the evidence room of a small town police station. He tries a few times to pass the physical test, but just can't seem to finish the obstacle course.One day, while left alone at the station, he receives a robbery call. With all of the real policemen out at a softball game, Marvin rushes to the scene himself. Along the way, he swerves to avoid a seal in the road and crashes over a cliff. He is critically injured, but is rescued by Dr. Wilder (
Michael Caton ), a mad scientist who puts Marvin back together using animal parts.Days later, Marvin is returned to his normal life with no memory of what he has just been through. Suddenly, he's full of life. He can out-run horses, mean dogs are now scared of him, and he doesn't need his asthma medicine anymore. He thinks it's due to his late-night TV purchase of "Badger Milk", which is guaranteed in the ads to make him stronger.
One day at the park, Marvin meets Rianna (
Colleen Haskell ) while she's out walking dogs from her animal shelter. His animal-like tendencies are slowly taking him over. When a frisbee is thrown in his direction, he can't control himself, and he jumps to catch it in his mouth.He goes to the airport to talk to his friend, Miles the security guard (
Guy Torry ), about his problem. While there, Marvin sniffs out a man trying to hide heroin in his (rectum ). For uncovering a drug smuggler, Marvin is declared a hero and is made a full-fledged police officer.As days go by, Marvin's animal instincts are becoming stronger and stronger. He often wakes up in strange places, and subsequently, hears about animal attacks that occurred in the middle of the night. Because of these attacks, Dr. Wilder believes that Marvin is out of control. The mad scientist confronts him, takes him to his barnyard laboratory, and explains about the grafts and transplants that saved and changed Marvin's life.
Later, at a party given by the Mayor, Marvin chases after a cat and destroys everything around him in the pursuit. Marvin is fired on the spot. During his reprimand, he hears something, jumps into the nearby lake and rescues the mayor's son using powers derived from a sea lion and a dolphin.
Police Sgt. Sisk (
John C. McGinley ) questions Marvin about the late-night attacks on farm animals, because one of witnesses made a police sketch -- and it is identical to Marvin.Rianna goes to Marvin's house, where he has barricaded himself inside. They spend the night together, but Marvin wants to be tied up so he can't hurt anyone anymore. In the morning, he finds himself untied, because Rianna thought he looked uncomfortable. Suddenly, the police show up outside. Another attack had happened that night, and the police have come for Marvin. Rianna convinces him to run.
Marvin escapes to the woods, where a huge chase ensues. The police have organized an angry mob into a search party to catch Marvin. While running through the woods, Marvin finds Dr. Wilder. The scientist tells him that there was another "patient" of his that is out of control, and he is in the woods looking for it.
Sgt. Sisk confronts Marvin, and is about to shoot him. Suddenly, the other "animal" jumps from a tree and knocks Sisk down. It's Rianna. Now, the crowd wants to kill both Marvin and Rianna. Miles is there also, and he takes the blame for everything. He has been claiming that there is reverse discrimination with him since he's black, and that no one wants to hold him accountable for anything. Sure enough, once the mob thinks a black man was the responsible party, they don't care anymore, and leave, one man (Norm Macdonald) saying "I'm not going to be part of a mob that kills a black man."
Marvin and Rianna get married, and have a litter of children that each look like Marvin.
Cast
*
Rob Schneider as Marvin Mange
*Colleen Haskell as Rianna
*John C. McGinley as Sgt. Sisk
*Edward Asner as Chief Wilson
*Michael Caton as Dr. Wilder
*Louis Lombardi as Fatty
*Guy Torry as MilesBox Office Performance
"The Animal" debuted on June 1, 2001, grossing $19.6 million U.S. in its opening weekend. With a production budget of $47 million, the movie grossed $84,772,742 internationally. [for verification ,visit http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=animal.htm]
Controversy
Despite receiving mostly negative critical reaction, one supporter of the film at the time of its release was
film critic David Manning who gave the film critical praise. In late2001 , however, Manning was revealed to be fictitious, created bySony 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 textReferences
External links
*imdb title|id=0255798|title=The Animal
*rotten-tomatoes|id=1108185-animal|title=The Animal
* [http://www.bamlawca.com/pdf/sonynot.pdf Official court notice of David Manning settlement]
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