Previously, during the heyday of Disney animated films, the idea that an animated film featured an all-star cast was silly. Look at most of the pre-2000 Disney animated films, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find star-studded outings. Sometimes, there would be one or two stars, but definitely not more than that. Nowadays, however, you can’t have an animated film without at least a half dozen stars. It’s become so commonplace that even films like “Arctic Dogs” will be chock full of strong vocal talent.
Not to disparage “Arctic Dogs,” but in a year with “Frozen 2,” “Spies in Disguise,” “Toy Story 4,” “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” and “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part,” it’s hard to remember that there’s another animated film coming to theaters in 2019 with a great cast. But as seen in the new trailer, the people involved with “Arctic Dogs” is pretty startling, for a non-major studio film. Hell, the film somehow nabbed a supermodel, an Avenger, a Python, an Oscar-winner, and two Oscar-nominees. Say what?
The curiously strong cast includes Jeremy Renner, Heidi Klum, James Franco, John Cleese, Omar Sy, Michael Madsen, Laurie Holden, Anjelica Huston, and Alec Baldwin. Again, before today, I didn’t even know this film existed, but somehow it nabs a cast like this? Who owes who money? Something is going on here.
“Arctic Dogs” arrives in theaters on November 1.
Here’s the synopsis:
Swifty the Arctic Fox (Jeremy Renner) works in the mailroom of the Arctic Blast Delivery Service but dreams of one day becoming a Top Dog (the Arctic’s star husky courier). To prove himself worthy of the Top Dog role, Swifty secretly commandeers one of the sleds and delivers a mysterious package to a secret location. He stumbles upon a hidden fortress, where he comes face to face with Otto Von Walrus (John Cleese), a blubbery evil genius, who walks around on mechanical legs and commands a loyal army of oddly polite puffin henchmen. Swifty soon discovers Otto Von Walrus’ plan to drill beneath Arctic surface to unleash enough ancient gas to melt the Arctic, in order to reign as the world’s supreme leader. Now, Swifty has to enlist the help of his friends: PB (Alec Baldwin), an introverted polar bear, Lemmy (James Franco), a scatterbrained albatross, Jade Fox (Heidi Klum), a tough as nails mechanic, Leopold (Omar Sy) and Bertha (Heidi Klum), two conspiracy theorist otters and Magda (Anjelica Huston), the curmudgeonly boss. This ragtag group of Arctic misfits has to band together to stop Otto Von Walrus’ sinister plans and save the day.