The Happy Cricket

The Happy Cricket
The Happy Cricket
Directed by
Written by	Walbercy Ribas
Produced by	Juliana Ribas; English version:; Cleber Redondo; Francisco D. Lourenço
Starring	See below
Music by	Ruriá Duprat
Production; company
Distributed by	Hoyts General Cinema; Paris Filmes
Release date	20 July 2001;
Running time	80 minutes
Country	Brazil
Language	Portuguese
Budget	R$4 million

The Happy Cricket (Portuguese: O Grilo Feliz) is a 2001 Brazilian animated children's fantasy film directed by . The film is about Christopher, a happy, singing, guitar-playing, and music-loving cricket who must rescue his friends from the evil and music-hating monitor lizard, King Wartlord, and save Linda the Night Star from that villain's grasp.

Plot[]

Production[]

The title character was first seen in local commercials for Sharp Electronics in the 1980s.^[1] The film spent over 20 years in development,^[1] and 30 months in production.^[2]

The English-language dub is dedicated to one of its voice actors, the late Bob Papenbrook.

Animation[]

The movie was produced by StartAnima in São Paulo, Brazil. It uses both traditional animation (2D animation) and computer animation (3D animation) with Adobe After Effects (compositing and visual effects), Alias Wavefront Maya (compositing, computer animation and modeling), pencil and paper (hand-drawn animation, rotoscoping and storyboards), oil-paint and paper (background art) and Sofimage Toonz (compositing, digital ink and paint, traditional animation and video editing) were created for using software from industries Adobe Inc., Digital Video, Microsoft and Silicon Graphics.

Sequel[]

In early 2009, 20th Century Fox released a CGI sequel, O Grilo Feliz e os Insetos Gigantes (The Happy Cricket and the Giant Bugs).

Cast[]

Original version[]

- Grilo
- Maledeto
- Faz Tudo
- Bituquinho
- Juliana
- Sapo 1
- Sapo 2
Antonio Moreno - Sapo 3
- Pouco Grilo
Jorge Barcellos - Caracol velho / Geral
- Pai
- Tucano
Isaura Gomes - Saranha
- Caracolino
- Bacaninha
- Rafael
- Moreninha
- Linda Estrela Da Noite (singing voice)
- Grilo (singing voice)

English version[]

Sam Riegel - Christopher The Happy Cricket
Bob Papenbrook - Wartlord
Cindy Robinson - Honeydew / Spidora
Peter Doyle (actor) - Magic Toucan / Soldier 1
Bob Buchholz - Barnaby / Sergeant
Dave Mallow - Buffuno
Steve Staley - Leonardo
Neil Kaplan - Toad 1
Dan Woren - Toad 2
Grant George - Father / Toad 3
Stephanie Sheh - Little Christopher / Sneally
Steve Kramer - Old Snail / General
Mona Marshall - Cartibella
Philece Sampler - Isabella
- Linda The Night Star (singing voice)

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c Hessel, Marcelo (2007-10-19). "O Grilo Feliz - Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo" (in Portuguese). Omelete. Archived from the original on 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
^ The Happy Cricket (About the Production (accessed from Bonus Material)). Fairview, New Jersey: Clever Image Studios. 2006 [2001]. {{cite AV media notes}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)