Extinct (film)

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Extinct
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Silverman Raymond S. Persi (co-director)[1]
Screenplay by	Joel Cohen John Frink Rob LaZebnik
Produced by	Joel Cohen John Frink Rob LaZebnik Joe Aguilar Matthew Berkowitz Yanming Jiang
Starring	Adam DeVine Rachel Bloom Zazie Beetz Ken Jeong Reggie Watts Catherine O'Hara Jim Jefferies Benedict Wong
Narrated by	Jason Hightower
Edited by	Steven Liu
Music by	Michael Giacchino Mick Giacchino [2]
Production companies	China Lion HB Wink Animation Huayi Brothers Tolerable Entertainment Cinesite Timeless Films
Distributed by	Huayi Brothers (China)[3] Netflix (Worldwide)
Release dates	February 11, 2021 (2021-02-11) (Russia)[4] October 3, 2021 (2021-10-03) (China)[5] November 19, 2021 (2021-11-19) (Worldwide)
Countries	Canada United States China
Languages	English Chinese

Extinct is a 2021 computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by David Silverman, and co-directed by Raymond S. Persi, from a screenplay by Joel Cohen, John Frink, and Rob LaZebnik.^[6] It features the voices of Rachel Bloom, Adam Devine, Zazie Beetz, Ken Jeong, Catherine O'Hara, Benedict Wong, Reggie Watts, and Jim Jefferies in a story following two flummels, an extinct rabbit-like species, that find themselves transported from their island home in the year 1835 to modern day Shanghai.

The film was released in Russia on February 11, 2021, then theatrically by Sky Cinema in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2021, and then was released worldwide on Netflix on November 19, 2021.

Plot[]

Brother and sister, Op and Ed are flummels, fluffy rabbit-like creatures with holes in their center who are native to the Galapagos islands. The pair are ostracized by their community due to Op's proneness to disaster. Just before Charles Darwin discovers their island during one of his voyages, Op and Ed find and fall into a large flower that teleports them to modern-day Shanghai, where they meet and befriend a poodle named Clarance. The siblings learn their species is now extinct after Darwin found the island destroyed by a volcanic eruption.

Clarance brings them to the Time Terminal, a pavilion where Clarance's owner Dr. Chung kept and studied the flowers and their seeds, which have time traveling properties. Op accidentally knocks some seeds out, causing the Terminal to malfunction and sending Clarance to Antarctica along with the seed that leads the flummels home. In Antarctica, Clarance is captured by Ernest Shackleton's expedition team. With the help of the Extinctables —a team of extinct animals composed of Dottie, a dodo; Burnie, a Tasmanian tiger; Alma, a Macrauchenia; and Hoss, a Triceratops, who were bought by Dr. Chung to the Terminal— Op and Ed travel through each seed in order to find the one that can bring them home and rescue Clarance.

The group then return to the flummels' time, where Op and Ed attempt to warn the rest of the flummels about the volcano. Clarance imprisons Op, telling her that flummels ruined his life and that he is actually behind their extinction. Clarance had been adopted by Dr. Chung, but after Dr. Chung was charmed by the adorable flummels, Clarance became jealous, pushing Dr. Chung into one of the flowers and destroying the seed that would send him back. He then caused the flummels' extinction by planting a drone bomb. Op and Ed make several attempts to escape and stop the bomb, eventually deploying a seed to move the entire island into the present day. Clarance survives, but Dr. Chung arrives and sends him back to Antarctica , thanking the flummels and the Extinctables.

Some time later, Op and Ed are finally accepted by their community, while Dottie surprises Ed by laying a egg shaped like a flummel. The egg hatches, but the creature inside the egg is unknown.

Cast[]

• Rachel Bloom as Op, a happy-go-lucky female cream and brown Flummel who is Ed's sister
• Adam DeVine as Ed, a grumpy male grey Flummel who is Op's brother
• Zazie Beetz as Dottie, a dodo who is the leader of The Extinctables
• Ken Jeong as Clarance, a poodle dressed in a red sweater
• Benedict Wong as Dr. Chung
• Jim Jefferies as Bernie, a Tasmanian tiger who is a member of the Extinctables
• Catherine O'Hara as Alma, a Macrauchenia who is a member of the Extinctables
• Reggie Watts as Hoss, a Triceratops who is a member of the Extinctables
• Nick Frost as Captain Fitzroy, captain of the HMS Beagle
• Tom Hollander as Charles Darwin
• Henry Winkler as Jepson, a large, grey male flummel
• Alex Borstein as Mali, a female brown flummel
• Richard Kind as Wally, a talkative blue whale

Production[]

The film was first announced on September 3, 2019, as a new animated feature in production at Cinesite Animation directed by David Silverman with Raymond S. Persi as co-director. The announcement revealed Adam DeVine, Rachel Bloom, Zazie Beetz and Ken Jeong as cast members.^[7]

Release[]

The film was released in the United Kingdom in August 20, 2021 by Sky Cinema.^[8] The film was also released in Russia theatrically on February 11, 2021. The film was released worldwide on Netflix on November 19, 2021. Extinct was in the Top 10 most watched English films on Netflix during the first week of its release.^[9]

Critical reception[]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a score of 50% based on six reviews, with an average rating of 4.90/10.^[10] Steve Rose for The Guardian gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, writing that: "In the Darwinian world of kids' entertainment, Extinct looks like an evolutionary dead end."^[11]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Extinct at IMDb