PuffRuff School: The Movie

PuffRuff School: The Movie is a 2001 American animated comedy film based on the Fox animated television series PuffRuff School. Directed by series creator Trevor Jordan, the film stars the regular television cast of Kelsey Stern, Billy West, Tobey Maguire, and Michael Kastek, joined by Alicia Silverstone, Ashton Kutcher, Noah Emmerich, and Freddie Prinze Jr. Taking place between the seventh and eighth seasons of the series, it was the first feature film based on a Fox animated series, and follows middle schoolers MJ, Kirby, Pyro, and Andrew as they seek to take back their school from their friend-turned-rival students of RuffPuff Junior High.

Plans by 20th Century Fox for a PuffRuff School film were discussed as early as 1997, but were put on hold when Jordan and co-writer Nicholas Pockes announced their departure for Nickelodeon to begin production on the series Tj's World in 1998, leaving co-producer Sean Andrews as the showrunner for PuffRuff School. In 1999, after completion of PuffRuff School ' s sixth season and Tj's World ' s first season, Jordan and Pockes announced that they would return for PuffRuff School: The Movie, writing the screenplay with Andrews. Production on the film took place concurrently with PuffRuff School ' s eighth season and Tj's World ' s second season from February to November 2000, with post-production taking place from December 2000 to February 2001. Although the film's initial budget was $10 million, its final budget amounted to $18 million including marketing, which included tie-in promotions with Target, Mattel, Taco Bell, Mastercard, Topps, and Verizon Wireless.

PuffRuff School: The Movie premiered at the Mann Village Theatre in Los Angeles on July 24, 2001, and was released in the United States on August 17, 2001. It received positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing over $97 million worldwide. The film was later released on DVD and VHS on January 21, 2002, and on Blu-ray on August 16, 2011, nearly ten years after its original release.

Plot
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Voice cast

 * Kelsey Stern as Emily "MJ" Jordan
 * Billy West as Kirby Ableman
 * Tobey Maguire as Pyro Rexton
 * Michael Kastek as Andrew Anderson
 * Alicia Silverstone as Cindy Boldman
 * Ashton Kutcher as Steven Pollack
 * Noah Emmerich as Jimmy Undone
 * Freddie Prinze Jr. as Travis Elway
 * Rob Paulsen as Mr. Wayne
 * Jess Harnell as Mr. Constance
 * Maurice LaMarche as Principal Michael

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Development
20th Century Fox had announced plans to develop a feature film based on PuffRuff School as early as 1997, when the series was well into its third season. However, in mid-1998, complications arose when series creator/writer Trevor Jordan and co-writer Nicholas Pockes announced that they would leave the PuffRuff School production team for Nickelodeon Animation Studios to begin work on the series Tj's World, which Jordan had successfully pitched to Nickelodeon (both would remain as executive producers on PuffRuff School). With their departure, co-writer Sean Andrews was thrust into the role of showrunner beginning with the show's sixth season, but because he deemed himself unfit to direct a film adaptation, Fox indefinitely shelved their original plans.

In 1999, after production on the first season of Tj's World was completed, Jordan and Pockes stated that they would be willing to return for a PuffRuff School movie, feeling that the series had achieved enough popularity (around this time, it had become the Fox Broadcasting Company's highest-rated series on Friday nights after the network moved it from its original Sunday timeslot to make room for its newer series Family Guy and Futurama). In order to ensure themselves creative freedom, they agreed to the project on the condition that they would be allowed to produce it through Jordan and Andrews' respective T.J. Entertainment and Imperium Entertainment labels without any involvement from Fox's in-house animation unit Fox Animation Studios (which was later shuttered midway through the film's production in June 2000).

Writing
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Casting
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Animation
Animation for the film took place concurrently with production on the show's eighth season from May to November 2000.

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Post-production
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Music

 * Main article: PuffRuff School: The Movie: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture

The film's soundtrack album was released on August 14, 2001 by Interscope Records, and features songs by artists such as the Chemical Brothers, Queens of the Stone Age, the Dismemberment Plan, No Doubt, Gorillaz, the Strokes, and Sum 41.

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Marketing
The film's teaser trailer was released on December 16, 2000, and was attached to films such as The Emperor's New Groove, Dude, Where's My Car?, and What Women Want. The first theatrical trailer was released on March 16, 2001, and was attached to films such as Spy Kids, Josie and the Pussycats, and Pokémon 3: The Movie. The second theatrical trailer was released on May 13, 2001, and was attached to films such as Shrek, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. TV spots for the film were released from June to August 2001.

In support of the film's release, 20th Century Fox made promotional tie-in deals with Target, Mattel, Taco Bell, Mastercard, Topps, and Verizon Wireless.

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Box office
In the United States, PuffRuff School: The Movie was released alongside Rat Race, American Outlaws and Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and grossed over $18.7 million from 2,301 theaters on its opening weekend. The film closed on December 7, 2001, having earned over $65.8 million in North America and over $31.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $97 million. It became the fifth highest-grossing animated film of 2001, as well as the forty-first highest-grossing film of the year overall.

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Critical reception
PuffRuff School: The Movie received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 73% "Fresh" approval rating based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10 and the critical consensus reading, "PuffRuff School survives the dreaded TV-to-movie process by carrying over the humor and charm that made the series great in the first place." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 69 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

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Home media
PuffRuff School: The Movie was released on DVD and VHS on January 21, 2002, with the DVD version containing widescreen and fullscreen versions of the film. The DVD release also includes an audio commentary track recorded by Jordan, Pockes and Andrews, as well as the behind-the-scenes featurette "How We Made PuffRuff School: The Movie". On August 16, 2011, the film was re-released on Blu-ray for its tenth anniversary.

It is currently unknown if the film will be re-released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, due to T.J. and Imperium Entertainment choosing to split the rights to the PuffRuff School franchise between Fox Entertainment and the Walt Disney Company after the latter's acquisition of 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) in 2019. However, as part of an agreement between Fox and Disney, the film and all episodes of the series are available on the streaming services Hulu (partly owned by Disney) and Tubi (wholly owned by Fox).

Gallery

 * Main article: PuffRuff School: The Movie/Gallery