The Hero of Color City

The Hero of Color City
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Frank Gladstone
Screenplay by	Jess Kedward J.P. McCormick Kirsty Peart Rich Raczelowski
Produced by	John D. Eraklis Max Howard [1]
Starring	Christina Ricci Sean Astin Owen Wilson E.G. Daily Jessica Capshaw Rosie Perez Tara Strong Craig Ferguson Wayne Brady Jess Harnell David Kaye
Edited by	Josh Gladstone
Music by	Zoë Poledouris Angel Roché Jr.
Production companies	Exodus Film Group Toonz Entertainment
Distributed by	Xing Xing Digital (international sales) Magnolia Pictures (United States)
Release date	October 3, 2014 (2014-10-03)
Running time	77 minutes
Countries	United States India
Language	English
Box office	$32,048 [2]

The Hero of Color City (also known as The Hero of Colour City in the UK) is a 2014 animated musical adventure comedy film directed by Frank Gladstone. The film stars the voices of Christina Ricci, Sean Astin, Owen Wilson, E.G. Daily, Jessica Capshaw, Rosie Perez, Craig Ferguson, Wayne Brady, Jess Harnell, and David Kaye. Original songs and the score were written by Zoë Poledouris and Angel Roché Jr. The film follows Yellow, a yellow crayon and her gang of other crayons who find themselves living in a crayon box to save the unfinished drawings from a monster known as Trashasaur.

The Hero of Color City was released in a limited theatrical engagement on October 3, 2014, followed by releases on streaming and video platforms.

The film received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Six-year old Ben is drawing a king named King Scrawl and an insect-like creature named Gnat. As he is drawing, his mom tells him to go to sleep, leaving the drawings unfinished. As he falls asleep, his crayons come to life and use their crayon box to enter a magical land known as Color City. One of the crayons, Yellow, is accidentally left behind and enters late. As she enters, she accidentally brings in King Scrawl and Gnat, who wish to be colored.

In Color City, she meets up with her friends, Red, Green, Blue, Black, and White. They go to Madame Pink's hair salon. Yellow talks to Madame Pink about not being special, but Pink says that she is. Yellow sings about this while she rides her bike across Color City. However, she is kidnapped by King Scrawl and Gnat and taken to the top of a skyscraper. After Sheriff Brown frees her, Scrawl and Gnat head to the top of the Rainbow Colorfall, the source of the crayons' color.

Brown holds a city meeting, having Professor Heliotrope do a lecture on Scrawl's potential threat. Heliotrope explains that if the monster were to block up the Colorfall, the crayons' would no longer receive new color and would fade away until they became transparent, and then cease to exist. Brown calls up volunteers to stop King Scrawl, and all of Yellow's friends volunteer.

Cast

• Christina Ricci as Yellow, a timid yellow crayon who likes to sing
  • Tara Strong as Yellow's singing voice
• Rosie Perez as Red, a sarcastic red crayon
• Jeremy Guskin as Professor Heliotrope, a lilac-colored crayon scientist, as well as White, Grey and Orange
• Jess Harnell as Green, a nerdy green crayon
• Wayne Brady as Blue, an easy-going blue crayon that wears a pair of sunglasses
• Sophia Eraklis as Purple, a purple crayon
• Zoë Bright as Madame Pink, a French-accented pink crayon who owns a beauty salon
  • Bright also voices the Opera Singer
• Sean Astin as Bumble Bee
• Owen Wilson as Ricky, an unfinished dragon drawing who leads the other unfinished drawings
• E.G. Daily as Ben, an imaginative 6-year-old boy
  • Daily also voices Ben's mother and the crayons Tutti Frutti and Neon Lime
• Jessica Capshaw as Duck, an unfinished drawing who is Ricky's assistant
• Craig Ferguson as Gnat, an insect-like unfinished drawing who is King Scrawl's advisor
• David Kaye as Black, a gloomy black crayon and King Scrawl, an unfinished drawing who wears king’s robes and is friends with Gnat
• Robin Howard as Tangerine, Periwinkle and Aquamarine
• John D. Eraklis as Navy Blue
• Frank Gladstone as Refried Bean and Astronaut
• Tom Lowell as the Sheriff, a brown crayon with cowboy clothes and has cowboy-like traits
• Laura Lane as Horse
• Josh Gladstone as Cow

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a rating of 29%, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 4.40/10. ^[3] On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 33 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". ^[4]

Release

The Hero of Color City had a limited release, as well on iTunes and on demand on October 3, 2014. ^[5] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 2, 2014. ^[6]

References

1. "The Hero of Colour City IMDB Credits". IMDb . Retrieved August 22, 2019.
2. "The Hero of Color City (2014) - Box Office Mojo" . Retrieved October 27, 2014.
3. "The Hero of Color City". Rotten Tomatoes . October 3, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
4. "The Hero of Color City Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic . Retrieved October 3, 2014.
5. "EXCLUSIVE: Trailer for 'Hero of Color City'". Animation Magazine. March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
6. Patten, Fred (February 23, 2015). "The Hero of Color City – animated movie review by Fred Patten". Dogpatch Press. Retrieved March 12, 2025.

External links

• The Hero of Color City at IMDb
• The Hero of Color City at Rotten Tomatoes