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Making Friends[a] is a 2022 American computer-animated comedy-drama film based on the graphic novel of the same name by Kristen Gudsnuk. The film was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who also wrote the screenplay with Jared Stern, and stars the voices of Kristen Schaal, Dana Gaier, Kevin Kline, Nick Jonas and Jeffrey Garcia. It revolves around a girl named Danielle Radley, who is struggling to make friends before she stumbles across a magic sketchbook that lets whatever is drawn inside of it come to life. After creating a friend with it, she has to deal with the problems that come with creating a magic friend, as well as having one of the creations try to take over her town.
In 2018, Paramount Pictures bought the rights to the Making Friends graphic novel by Kristen Gudsnuk, shortly after it was published by Scholastic. The animation was produced by Mikros Image, while the 2D animation was produced by Duncan Studio, Yowza! Animation, Mercury Filmworks, Tonic DNA, Nørlum ApS, and Yeson Entertainment. The film is dedicated to Richard Robinson, the former CEO of Scholastic, who passed away on June 5, 2021, 14 months before the film's release.
The film premiered in Los Angeles on August 11, 2022 before it was theatrically released in the United States on August 19, 2022 by Paramount Pictures in RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, Dolby Cinema and 4DX formats. The film received positive from critics, with praise for its blending of traditional 2D and CGI animation, voice acting, emotional weight, musical score by Christopher Lennertz, plot, faithfulness to the book and storyline, though criticized the runtime. It was a box office success, grossing $734 million worldwide on its budget of $90 million. Following the success of the film, Paramount announced that a tetralogy of films based on the books would be made. The second installment in the tetralogy, Back to the Drawing Board, is set for release on June 28, 2024.
Plot[]
Danielle Radley is a student from the town of Melton, Connecticut who is new to middle school, and is having a hard time. Her two best friends are not in any of her classes, and not only is she having a tough time making new friends, she is also being bullied. One day, as her family visits their deceased great-aunt Elma Witkowski's house, she finds her old sketchbook. Thinking her drawings are nice, she decides to keep it, before Aunt Tracy and Uncle Dave take the first two, leaving Danielle with the one she finds the least interesting. On the bus ride home from school that day she comes across her old friends Joan Quincy and Leah Tung, as they wish Danielle was in their lunch wave so that they could continue hang out. As Danielle gets off the bus, she gets confused for a boy by one of the other students, embarrassing her.
At her house, Danielle uses her sketchbook to draw the head of Prince Neptune, her favorite character from the show Solar Sisters. Suddenly, Neptune's sentient head springs to life right out of the page, scaring Danielle. Curious, she asks if he is the real Neptune, to which he confirms that he is. Danielle's mother Linda comes into the room, noticing that Danielle's room is a mess. Once Linda exits, Neptune uses his magic powers to tidy her room. Neptune soon begins to refer to Danielle as his "princess", although she asserts that she's just a regular girl. Later at night, Danielle questions what she should do with Neptune, fearing that since he is a bodiless head, he'll scare people. Neptune says that he could come along in Danielle's backpack, a plan that she agrees to.
The next day at school, Danielle gets bullied in class by Nick Maloney, causing her to run out of class crying. This angers Neptune, who offers some advice to help Danielle, however she comes up with a plan of her own. Hiding in the bathroom, she uses the sketchbook to come up with Madison Fontaine, who she envisions as a cool friend who is always by her side. She immediately comes to life, taking notice of Danielle and hugging her. Neptune tries to greet her, however she begins to question why Danielle has a talking head in her backpack. Danielle introduces Neptune to Madison, and the two warm up to each other, before Madison forgets what she's supposed to be for a second as a side effect of her coming from the sketchbook. Madison comes back to her senses and helps Danielle look cooler, as they return to class and Danielle puts Neptune back in her locker.
In the hallway, she encounters Tom Torres, who is having trouble finding his homework. Unable to find it, she uses the sketchbook to create a copy of his homework, thanking her. Danielle returns to class, where Madison is being introduced. Cara tries to convince Madison to sit next to her, however she decides to sit by Danielle. After school, Neptune decides to stay at Danielle's house so he can recover from his headache. Madison begins to question if it is safe for him to be by himself, since he is considered evil, but Danielle thinks he's just misunderstood. Madison says that they should go to the mall as she doesn't feel like going home yet, however she begins to forget where home is, and Danielle, beginning to worry, says that her parents are still finishing business in New York, and she can stay at her house. Danielle decides to sketch up magic rings that enable their user to fly, and they use them to travel to the mall. While there, they try on some new clothes, and Danielle adapts to a certain style. Madison suggests that she should wear something that reflects her style, however Danielle says that she wants to be cool, and Madison disagrees, and she tells her to just exist while not caring about what other people think. At night, returning home, Madison asks if Danielle's parents know that she's coming over, and she reassures that she told them a while ago. They arrive at her house, and she introduces Madison to her family. They go into Danielle's room, where Neptune has been waiting for them. He suggests that she should draw his body, so he could blend in at school easily. Although his new body works at first, it then fails as his telekinetic abilities are limited, and that he needs to harvest human energy to recharge them, which Madison does not allow him to do. Terrified by the experience, the bury his body in the backyard. Later at night, Danielle talks with Neptune about how she should talk to Madison about her coming from her sketchbook and not being a "real" person. Neptune responds by saying that family is overrated, since his parents sold him to the Dragon Lord when he was younger in exchange for their kingdom, before they were betrayed and murdered.
At school the next day, Leah compliments that Danielle looks cool, and Madison takes credit for her looking like that. Nick comes back at Danielle, before Madison immediately approaches him and roasts him for bullying Danielle, and Nick storms off defeated. Danielle and Madison continue spending most of their time together, and a few days later, Madison asks Neptune if he misses his family, mostly his brother Prince Saturn, and Neptune responds by saying that he has made peace with his brothers death, partially because he got revenge on Lord Dragon. He then asks Madison if she misses her family, causing to Danielle to finally admit that Madison doesn't have parents. Madison attempts to respond with a backstory, but Neptune interrupts her by saying that she came from the sketchbook. She doesn't believe it at first, but after a failed attempt to call her parents, Danielle tells the truth to Madison, and Madison flips through the sketchbook, finding her original drawing in there, and causing her to get mad at Danielle. She tries to convince Madison to stay, but she leaves. Danielle finds her sitting on the road, and says that she will try to figure something out. Madison comes back inside, but the two are now separated and barely talk to each other. Danielle finds that Madison is now hanging out with Cara, and is completely ignoring her. At lunch, Tom finds out that he left his original science report at home, and begins questioning why there are two of them. Nick comes to the table Danielle and Tom are sitting at and picks on her, causing Tom to snap and push Nick, before the three are sent to the councilor's office. Danielle later catches up with Madison, trying to let her stay at her house, but Madison says that she's already found a motel she's staying at. Danielle tries to convince her to let her parents adopt her, but she responds by saying that she needs space to figure out who she is. Neptune comes up with a plan to help her get more friends, which Danielle agrees to.
The next day, Neptune begins speaking to Danielle through a microphone, trying to make her say often rude things as to make others like her. She rejects most of his plans as to not be hated, but she accidentally says a piece of his advice to Aleesha, causing her to storm off in anger before she apologizes. As Aleesha later begins missing most of her classes to prepare for the pep rally, Danielle talks to Neptune about her loneliness. He lectures her about how he could have become a classmate like Madison, but instead she kept him in her locker, and forbidden human energy, his main energy source. Danielle agrees to let him use some of hers, and agrees to find a way to give Neptune a body. She comes up to Amanda, and tries to use Neptune's advice. This backfires, angering her and causing her to stab Danielle with her pen. Madison comes across Danielle, and she tells him about the earrings Neptune uses to communicate with her. Madison then yells at Neptune, and throws the earrings out of the window. Madison and Danielle then go into the library where she tells her about her attempts to get into the motel, which failed due to her being a minor. She is then assigned to a foster family, the same one as Amanda.
The students then head to the pep rally, where Joan and Leah introduce Danielle to Rhonda. As the pep rally begins, Tom notices that Madison joined the cheerleaders. However, the pep rally is then cut short when Prince Neptune bursts through the ceiling, now with a full body, trapping all of the students inside the gym. She then proceeds to sketch up Solar Sisters Transformation lockets and flying rings for all the members of the group. As Neptune harvests the energy of most of the students, including Matt, the group proceeds to use their transformation lockets as they go to fight Neptune. He then notices Danielle and tries to convince her to join his side, before the group, as well as several other students, try to attack at Neptune, before he knocks all of them away. The battle moves outside and to the center of town, where Neptune proceeds to tase the group as he reveals that he drew his new body himself, as he has telekinesis. Madison rips his page out of the sketchbook, and Tom tells her to destroy it in order to defeat Neptune, but she is reluctant as her sketch is on the other side. She rips the paper, but it doesn't effect either of them as they're both "alive", even though they came from the sketchbook. Neptune then asks why Danielle brought him to life if she refuses to join his side and rule Connecticut, to which she replies to it as an accident, Neptune and Danielle then proceed to share a kiss, as Aleesha believes the fight is over, before he proceeds to steal the sketchbook as he uses it to his advantage. Danielle then gets the idea to defeat Neptune with the power of friendship, an idea that confuses everyone at first, before they proceed to hold hands, causing a great force that blasts Neptune all the way to the moon. The group then notices all the destruction that's been caused in Melton and begin to worry.
At Danielle's house, the group gets informed that they will be transferred to different schools until the damage has been repaired, initially worrying them, as Danielle and Madison proceed to make up their friendship. Danielle is assigned to Bridgeford Middle School, where she meets a student named Grace, and stumbles across Nick, who is stuck as a pig. She uses her transformation locket to turn him back into a human, before meeting up with Grace's friends, Rose and Sophie, as the group quickly become friends.
In a mid-credits scene, Alex comes out of a locker that was scattered from Neptune's attack, and he stumbles across one of Neptune's Knightmares. It terrifies him and causes him to run back into the locker, which then falls over on the Knightmare, but traps Alex. He begins to hit against the locker to have it move so he can get to his house, refusing to open the locker as the Knightmare is still stuck on the front.
Voice cast[]
- Kristen Schaal as Danielle Radley, a teenager who is struggling to make new friends in her school.
- Dana Gaier as Madison Fontaine, whom Danielle brings to life with her notebook.
- Kevin Kline as Prince Neptune, the main antagonist of the in-universe anime Solar Sisters that Danielle brings to life.
- Nick Jonas as Nick Maloney, a bully who constantly picks on Danielle.
- Jeffrey Garcia as Tom Torres, a Guatemalan-American and one of Danielle's friends.
- Joan Allen as Aunt Tracy, Danielle's aunt.
- Val Kilmer as Uncle Dave, Danielle's uncle.
- Jennifer Garner as Linda Radley, Danielle's mother
- Seth Rogen as Chuck Radley, Danielle's father.
- Will Forte as Matt, a nerdy boy typically nicknamed by his friends as Elder Matt.
- Brooke Dillman as Rhonda, one of Joan and Leah's friends.
- Kristen Wiig as Cara McCoy, one of Madison's friends.
- Jenny Slate as Lauren Radley, Danielle's younger sister.
- Deena Dill as Joan Quincy, one of Danielle's friends who is usually seen with Leah.
- Jennette McCurdy as Leah Tung, one of Danielle's friends who is usually seen with Joan.
- Leslie Jones as Aleesha Robinson
- Nicolas Cantu as Alex, a boy who’s seen frequently throughout the movie attempting to hide somewhere, such as his locker.
Production[]
In 2018, shortly after Kristen Gudsnuk published the graphic novel Making Friends, Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to the novel for the purpose of film production. Scholastic Entertainment signed a deal with Paramount Animation in September, and production went underway on October 30, 2018 after it was given the green light by Paramount. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller became interested with the project in January 2019, and were soon after attached to direct it. Lord and Miller were confirmed to write the screenplay with Jared Stern, and produce the film with Aditya Sood of Lord Miller Productions and Kristen Gudsnuk. Kristen Schaal was cast as Danielle Radley, with Dana Gaier, Kevin Kline, Nick Jonas and Jeffrey Garcia as Madison Fontaine (Gaier), Prince Neptune (Kline), Nick Maloney (Jonas) and Tom Torres (Garcia). While the film was primarily animated with CGI animation provided by Mikros Image, characters and props that come from Danielle's sketchbook are 2D animated. The 2D animation was produced by Duncan Studio, Yowza! Animation, Mercury Filmworks, Tonic DNA, Nørlum ApS, and Yeson Entertainment.
Soundtrack[]
When Making Friends underwent production, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller wanted to have Michael Giacchino compose the score. However, he declined the offer. Then, Christopher Lennertz reached out to Lord and Miller, who tentatively agreed to let him compose the score for the film. Lennertz worked with Glenn Slater to compose the songs for the film, after having previously collaborated to write the songs for UglyDolls. The film's accompanying soundtrack, titled Making Friends: Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture, was released June 1, 2022 by Paramount Music.
Release[]
Making Friends held its red carpet premiere in Los Angeles on August 11, 2022, before it was theatrically released eight days later in the United States by Paramount Pictures.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Coming soon!
Critical response[]
Coming soon!
Future[]
Following the success of the film, Paramount announced that a tetralogy of films based on the books would be made. The second installment in the tetralogy, Back to the Drawing Board, is set for release on June 28, 2024, with the third and fourth installments, titled Third Time's A Charm and Together Forever, set for 2027 and 2028 respectively. Chris Sauvé and Ennio Torresan, Jr., animation supervisor and head of story on the first film, respectively, are set to direct Back to the Drawing Board.
Notes[]
- ↑ Known in the United Kingdom as Making Friends: The Movie