Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie

Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Phil Vischer
Mike Nawrocki
Produced by Ameake Owens
Written by Phil Vischer
Mike Nawrocki
Starring Phil Vischer
Mike Nawrocki
Tim Hodge
Lisa Vischer
Dan Anderson
Shelby Vischer
Kristin Blegen
Jim Poole
Music by Kurt Heinecke
David Mullen
Phil Vischer
Edited by John Wahba
Production
company
Distributed by Artisan Entertainment
F.H.E. Pictures
Release dates
  • August 14, 2002

(film premiere)

  • October 4, 2002

(regular release)

  • March 4, 2003

(worldwide home video releases)

Running time
 83 minutes
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $14 million
Box office $25.6 million

Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie is a 2002 American computer-animated comedy adventure film, based on VeggieTales, produced by Big Idea, Inc. and F.H.E. Pictures. The movie premiered on August 14, 2002 at a Hollywood movie theater and came out as a regular release 2 months later, on October 4, 2002. It is the first feature-length film in the VeggieTales series. The movie also came out on VHS and DVD on March 4, 2003 as a worldwide home video release in both full-screen and widescreen.

The themes for the film are compassion and mercy. The film weaves two stories together to illustrate these themes. The first takes place in the current day and concerns a mishap that occurs on the way to a concert. The second, set in ancient Israel, is based directly on the biblical story of Jonah. Through both stories viewers learn that they should be compassionate and merciful and that all people deserve a second chance.

This film features the popular "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" in both segments. They were first seen in the Silly Song of the same name in Very Silly Songs! and later hosted The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown.

Most of the animation was done in house by Big Idea Productions.

Plot

Bob the Tomato is driving Dad Asparagus and some of the Veggie children to see the popular singer "Twippo" in concert. Meanwhile, Laura Carrot is taunting the other children because she won a backstage pass. Her taunting makes Dad Asparagus accidentally hit Bob and makes him lose control of the vehicle. During the chaos, Laura loses her backstage pass as the vehicle's front tires are shot out by a porcupine, and it goes careening down a hill and stops just short of a river.

They take refuge in a nearby restaurant. Bob blames Dad Asparagus for crashing the car, and Junior blames Laura. Junior, sitting at a table alone is met by the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. The Pirates say he was tough on his friend and encourage him to show some compassion. To illustrate, they begin to tell all the Veggies a story.

Jonah (Archibald Asparagus) is a Prophet from Israel who goes from town to town delivering God's messages. One night, God asks him to leave Israel and deliver a message to Nineveh, a rough and dangerous city in Assyria, and known for behaving badly and slapping others with fishes. Jonah panics and tries to flee from the Lord. He goes to his travel agent, Angus (Scooter Carrot), who tells him that the farthest he can get from Nineveh is Tarshish. He asks the Pirates in the harbor to take him to Tarshish. They resist, but Jonah convinces them by paying them. On the way, a guilt-stricken Jonah goes below deck to rest. There, he meets Khalil the Caterpillar, a traveling Persian rug salesman.

After having a bad dream about running from God, Jonah finds the ship beset by a great storm. Captain Pa Grape concludes that the storm has been sent because God is angry at someone on the ship. They all play Go Fish to determine who it is. Jonah loses the game and admits that he is running from God. Jonah is forced to walk the plank. With Jonah off the ship, the skies clear immediately. The Pirates attempt to reel him back in, but a whale swallows Jonah. The Pirates are forced to use a bowling ball (with Khalil inside it) as ammo. The whale swallows the ball, disgorges the lifebelt, and swims away.

Inside the belly of the whale, Khalil finds Jonah saddened that he is going to die for disobeying God, but they are visited by a host of God's Angels. They explain through a rousing number that if Jonah repents, then God will grant him a second chance too. He and Khalil are spit up onto the shore; they ride his camel, Reginald, to Nineveh.

After Jonah is denied entrance to the city, the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything appear. They explain that they spent all the money Jonah gave them on Mr. Twisty's Twisted Cheese Curls and won a sweepstakes, giving them free access to Ninevah where the Cheese Curls are produced. They sneak Jonah into the city disguised as winners of the sweepstakes, thought they are all promptly arrested for Larry's theft of the King's personal Cheese Twists. After sentenced to death by "the Fish Slap of No Return", they are granted an audience with King Twistomer (Apollo Gourd). When King Twistomer hears that Jonah has survived in the belly of a whale, he listens to his message. Jonah delivers the message given to him by God. He tells them they should repent and amend their ways, or Nineveh will be destroyed. King Twistomer and the Ninevites quickly repent.

Still expecting the Ninevites to be destroyed, Jonah watches and waits from a distance. Khalil is disappointed in Jonah, and tries to explain to him that God is compassionate and merciful. But Jonah, feeling pathetic and self-important, can't accept that. The story ends with Khalil and Reginald leaving Jonah on a cliff overlooking the city.

Back in the present day, the Veggies are disappointed in the anticlimactic ending but come to understand the point of the story: that God wants everybody to show compassion and mercy, even to those that don't seem to deserve it. Twippo (also Archibald Asparagus) appears in the restaurant unexpectedly and offers to give everybody a lift to the concert, while Bob forgives Dad Asparagus and Junior gives his Twippo ticket to Laura. The film ends with a grand musical number and the arrival of the tow truck driver (Khalil), whom Twippo seems to recognize.

Voice cast

Music

Reception

Reviews of Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie have been slightly mixed to positive. Based on 55 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Jonah currently has a 65% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 5.8 out of 10. By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 58, based on 20 reviews.

In theatres

It was announced in 2000 that the film would be released on August 14, 2002. In early 2001, the first teaser trailer was released and was on many VeggieTales and 3-2-1 Penguins! videos during the 2001 season until 2002. On February 2, 2002, Phil Vischer had announced that the release would be pushed back from October 4, 2002.

Sequel

In 2008, Universal Pictures and Big Idea Productions released a sequel to Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie called The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. This is the first movie from Big Idea that wasn't animated by Big Idea; most of the animation was produced at Starz Animation.

References

    External links