Advance Wars (fake movie)

'''Note: This film is obviously fake. Planty wanted to make this blog after he saw The Bad Guys in theaters. Anyways, here's a war parody movie idea from the creators of Shrek, How To Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Captain Underpants, Trolls, Megamind, and The Bad Guys!'''

Advance Wars is a 202X Japanese/American computer-animated war comedy film. This is a collaboration between Nintendo and DreamWorks Animation with Universal distributing the film. The movie is based on the first game of the series released in 2001. The movie is directed by Pierre Perifel with Tohru Narihino, Ethan Reiff, and Cyrus Voris being the producers.

Plot
It's pretty much the same as the original game released in 2001. Andy gets falsely accused of starting a war only for an investigation on what is actually causing the war. That's all.

Cast

 * 1) Laura Stahl as Andy, a young commanding officer
 * Laura also voices Andy's Clone
 * 1) Arin Hanson as Max, a direct combat specialist enlisted in the Orange Star army
 * 2) Ratana as Sami, a foot soldier specialist enlisted in the Orange Star army
 * 3) Caitlin Glass as Nell, a commander in chief of the Orange Star.
 * 4) Mike Pollock as Olaf, a Commanding Officer enlisted in the Blue Moon army.
 * 5) Keith Silverstein as Grit, an expert in long-range combat.
 * 6) Chris Patton as Eagle, a Commanding Officer from the Green Earth army.
 * 7) Jon Jafari as Drake, a Naval units specialist
 * 8) Roger L. Jackson as Kanbei, a Commanding Officer enlisted in the Yellow Comet army
 * 9) Cory Yee as Hachi, a former commander in chief.
 * 10) Cassandra Lee Morris as Sonja, Kanbei's daughter
 * 11) Matt Sloan as Strum, the leader of the Black Hole army.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The animation here is incredible. Much like The Bad Guys, the animation here is so stylish that it looks gorgeous. The way the movie is portrayed here is legit reminiscent of the art style in Reboot Camp only its CGI that is unique in every way. You can thank WayForward for also being involved in the film. The character designs also stay true to Reboot Camp.
 * 2) The story not only stays true to the first game, but it's also worth noting that it's also translated well without having to look down at the source material. The movie gives time to talk about Andy being falsely accused of attacking the armies of two nations thus causing a war. We also get to see other characters being focused as well without either character hogging the main plot.
 * 3) The idea of a war movie that makes fun of war films sounds interesting. This isn't the first time DreamWorks did a twist for a movie genre as they are no stranger to twisting genres thus resulting in a unique story to tell much like what Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Megamind, Captain Underpants, and The Bad Guys did with their respective genres.
 * 4) Good voice acting. This is the first time the game is depicted with actual voice acting.
 * 5) On certain segments, there are some brief scenes where the animation switches to a 32-Bit animation with a terrain that resembles a board game which is very notable in scenes where the characters come up with war plans and whatnot.
 * 6) The tone of this film is clever. It embraces the fact that this is a war movie that is nothing too serious but rather more of a spoof of war films. Even with the main tone, it also does have moments when it wants to be serious as well without being inconsistent.
 * 7) There are a lot of great action scenes since this is a war movie. The action scenes feel so action-packed much like in other DreamWorks films like Megamind, Kung Fu Panda and The Bad Guys. What would a war movie be without the action? The action scene also has a good sense of cartoonish style to them as well since this is Advance Wars were talking about. The final battle is one of the best ones.
 * 8) Has a lot of respect for the source material regardless if it's the story or the premise that proves what made Advance Wars a great Nintendo IP. Even Tohru Narihino got involved with the movie to make something this enjoyable.
 * 9) A great cast of colorful and likable characters. There are a lot of characters who have lots of personalities and they are quite well-written. In this movie, many of the characters have gotten much more character without being out of character when compared to their video game counterparts.
 * 10) *Andy is the main character of the movie. He's depicted as a mechanic who may not be the smartest but is enthusiastic. He may at first come off as annoying due to his enthusiastic personality (much like Aang from Avatar, Buster Baxter from Arthur, Gene from Bob's Burgers, and even SpongeBob himself), but he does have enough likeability as he's depicted as more than just the optimistic one.
 * 11) *Max is the big and brutish guy who is a powerhouse. He can be considered one of the toughest yet most incredible characters in the movie thanks to his personality. While he does hate tactics, he still uses them when the situation calls for it.
 * 12) *Sami is an attractive young woman who takes her work as a soldier seriously yet still has a calm attitude. Like Max, she's also a pretty cool character and she might be considered a fan favorite much like Buck from Ice Age in a way.
 * 13) *Nell is the commander-in-chief of the Orange Star. She often gives good advice to the COs and we do get to learn more about her past when she, Max, and Grit when to military school together.
 * 14) *Hachi is a former Orange Star Commander-In-Cheif who runs the Battle Maps game shop. For an old guy, he was quite a powerhouse during his days. Heck, at one point he manages to join the battle, and gosh he's that powerful.
 * 15) *Olaf is an entertaining character. He comes off as an idiot that is supposed to be intentional. At first, he may seem like a villain but the movie, later on, proves it to be false.
 * 16) *Grit is portrayed as this laid-back man who has no joy in fighting despite being good at it. He does not have any ill towards the three main characters (Andy, Sami, and Max), but Olaf is just making him fight them.
 * 17) *The list goes on and it is miles if we were to list out all the characters featured in this movie.
 * 18) One of the most iconic moments about this film is that some characters in the movie get to use the CO Power all in cinema glory. The CO Powers are so incredible that they are very effective and pay good homage to the original source material.
 * 19) Good pacing. The movie gives itself enough time to tell the story and what is going on with the plot. You can tell that DreamWorks and Nintendo did a good job giving this war movie enough time for its premise.
 * 20) Comedy that is timed right. For instance, certain scenes involving Olaf due to his personality.
 * 21) Well-written dialogue. We can name a bunch of them that turn out to be clever or even meaningful. Here are a few examples.
 * 22) *"Don't hate me just because I'm lucky"
 * 23) *"I may be old, but I can still rumble"
 * 24) *"Really? Continents?"
 * 25) *"Check out these guns"
 * 26) *"Where's the fool who wants to help me with target practice!?"
 * 27) *"Try hitting the gym!"
 * 28) *"I may be low-key, but I'm tough"
 * 29) *"Listen to the foe from afar... Watch him up close"
 * 30) The main message of the movie is impactful. The message is that it's never ok to falsely accuse others because drama can occur. You see, Andy got accused of starting a conflict when it was revealed that the Black Hole army was behind the conflict. It has gotten to the point where the four countries unite. You see, accusing someone of doing something wrong can really cause some consequences in real life no matter if it's war-related or not.
 * 31) The terrain found in certain scenes is not only good worldbuilding, but it's also quite atmospheric as well.
 * 32) There are some good callbacks to the previous Wars series. You see, some of the small references appear to be based on the Famicom Wars and the Game Boy Wars series which is a nice nod to what the Wars series is like before Advance Wars became a thing. To prove this to you, there are some picture frames that resemble the already mentioned old games. There's even a brief history about the old games that were mentioned by Nell who narrates them before the movie goes into the present day albeit Max interrupts her via breaking the fourth wall and says "Do we really need a full-on history about this, that's kinda unnecessary" only for Nell to switch topics (without being off-topic).
 * 33) A rocking soundtrack. The soundtrack does have the same spirit as the original game. Heck, some of the music used in the movie happens to be remixes of the original songs from the original GBA game. Take a listen to certain songs and they have this typical American rock-ish type of sound while others are more unique.
 * 34) Despite being more lighthearted, it does have a deep moment in regard to war. Think about it, this is a war movie yet it can still go into a few deep subject matters while also still having its lighthearted tone. What would a war movie be without a few deep moments even if it's lighthearted?
 * 35) It's basically the DreamWorks'/family friendly version of Three Kings, JoJo Rabbit, Good Morning, Vietnam, M*A*S*H, and Tropic Thunder due to being war comedies.
 * 36) The amount of units found in the game is so well designed, especially the vehicles including the recon, the tanks, the APC, the rocket launchers, the missile launchers, the boats, and the aircraft.
 * 37) The DreamWorks logo has a new twist to it. The Man in the Moon is seen wearing army clothes. As soon as the logo appears, a gunshot is heard only for the Man in the Moon to take action with a gun in hand.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) This could be intentional, but here is a plot hole. How can a kid even become the commander of an airport since kid commanders exist in this universe? In real life, kids can't be commanders in an army and it's illegal for kids to go to war. Take the US for example as a child would need to be 18 years old (or 17 via singed permission) at least to join the army.
 * 2) While the tone of the movie does match the game series, it's also kinda off-putting for those who are more used to seeing more traditional war films. Yes, the first 3 games of Advance Wars are meant to be more lighthearted and cartoony, but still.
 * 3) Andy can sometimes be a bit awkward and annoying. For instance, he said stuff like "What's an airport" which is a cringey line.

Trivia

 * Some characters in the Japanese version had their names changed. For instance, Andy is named Ryo, and Sami is named Domino.
 * Some characters got redesigned in different releases of the film.
 * Nell wears a somewhat different (if not redesigned) outfit in the Japanese version of the film.
 * Olaf in the Japanese version wears a Santa Claus-esque hat and has a white beard. The International version makes him have an orange beard with a white hat that has a moon symbol.
 * Kanbei in the Japanese version appears to be wearing traditional Samurai attire. The international version makes him wear a World War 2 era Japanese general with a red cape just like in Reboot Camp
 * Drake in the Japanese version also appears to have a pirate-like outfit.
 * Sonja appears to wear a red dress in the Japanese version and also has no hat while the International version depicts her with a green dress and a green hat.
 * Ironically enough, Grit in the Japanese version of the original game appears to wear a Cowboy hat while the International version makes him wear a Russian-styled military cap. His hat in the film as well as in Reboot Camp is basically just a yellow cowboy-ish hat.
 * Andy went through numerous voice actors before Laura was chosen. They were Erika Harlacher, Cristina Vee, and Debbi Derryberry. Cristina didn't record any lines, but some unused dialogue between Erika and Debbi was leaked online. Yuri Lowenthal and Benjamin Diskin were also considered briefly as Andy's voice.
 * Wendee Lee and Stephanie Southerland were considered to voice Nell, but it was scrapped for unknown reasons. There is unused dialogue for both.
 * Sam Riegel was considered to voice Drake.
 * Mike Pollock was considered to voice Olaf.
 * Steve Blum was considered to voice Grit.