Balto II: Wolf Quest

Last updated

Balto II: Wolf Quest
Balto2.jpg
DVD release cover
Directed byPhil Weinstein
Screenplay by Dev Ross
Produced byPhil Weinstein
Starring
Edited by
  • Jay Bixsen
  • Ken Solomon
Music by Adam Berry (score)
Amanda McBroom
Michele Brourman (songs)
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Studios Home Video
Release date
  • February 19, 2002 (2002-02-19)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Balto II: Wolf Quest is a 2002 American animated adventure film produced and directed by Phil Weinstein. It is the sequel to Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment's 1995 Northern animated film Balto . [1]

Contents

Plot

One year after his heroic journey, Balto has mated with Jenna, and they now have a new family of six puppies in Alaska. Five of their puppies resemble their husky mother, while one pup named Aleu takes her looks from her wolfdog father. When they all reach eight weeks old, all of the other pups are adopted to new homes, but no one wants Aleu due to her wild animal looks, forcing her to live with her father. A year later when she is grown, Aleu is almost killed by a hunter who mistakes her for a wild wolf. Balto tells Aleu the truth about her wolf heritage, causing her to run away, hoping to find her place in the world. Balto then goes out into the Alaskan wilderness to find her. At the same time, Balto has been struggling with strange dreams of a raven and a pack of wolves, and he cannot understand their meaning. Balto resolves to find the meaning of these dreams as he searches for Aleu. His friends Boris, Muk, and Luk attempt to join him, but after they are halted by some unknown force, they realize that this journey is meant only for the father and daughter themselves.

Taking refuge in a cave, Aleu meets the field mouse Muru, who explains that Aleu should not be ashamed of her lineage, which tells her what she is but not who she is. Muru reveals himself to be Aleu's spirit guide and tells her to go on a journey of self-discovery. Balto and Aleu reunite when he saves her from the grizzly bear and reconcile, and find their way to the ocean, where they are attacked by a group of starving Northwestern wolves led by Niju, an arrogant and vicious wolf. The confrontation is defused by the elderly Nava, the true leader of the pack, who welcomes Balto and Aleu. Nava announces to his pack that the wolf spirit Aniu has contacted him in "dream visions". Aniu has told him that the caribou herd they depend on during the winter has moved across the ocean and will not return and that they will soon be led by a new leader, "the one who is a wolf but does not know". Nava believes that Balto, who is half wolf himself, is the chosen one that Aniu was speaking of. However, Niju refuses to abandon his homeland and takes control of the pack, and plots to steal from other animal clans in the area to survive the winter.

Aleu has a "dream vision" of the caribou herd crossing a bridge made of ice floes. The next morning, Niju prepares to lead an attack on a clan of bears, but is stopped by Balto just as a large group of ice floes in the ocean come together to form a land bridge. Balto then leads the pack across the bridge until Nava falls behind. When Aleu attempts to help Nava, Niju attacks, and Balto doubles back to save them, leaving the pack leaderless. Nava cannot make the journey across the ice in his old age, and Balto tells Niju to go lead the clan. Niju refuses, too afraid to leave his home, and soon returns to the shore. Balto prepares to go to the pack, but Aleu realizes that her true place is to take leadership of the pack as Nava foretold. Balto and Aleu say goodbye to each other before Aleu rejoins the pack and takes over as the leader. Back on shore, Nava bids farewell to Balto before going to look for Niju so they can survive together. The raven appears to Balto again, and transforms into Aniu, revealing herself to be his mother before he begins to make his way home.

Voice cast

Balto II: Wolf Quest is the last film Bergman contributed to before she committed suicide on November 11, 1999, releasing it posthumously.

Production

Following the original film's strong video sales, production and development on Balto II: Wolf Quest, as well as Balto III: Wings of Change, began in 1996 at Universal Studios's animation division, Universal Cartoon Studios. Due to the film not taking any historical references from the true story of Balto (as opposed to the original film), as well as having a completely different crew, only Balto, Boris, Jenna, Muk, and Luk were recast. Denis Leary and Jeff Bennett were considered for replacing Kevin Bacon, Balto's voice actor from the original film. Instead, Bennett settled for the role of Yak, and the role of Balto went to Canadian voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Voice-recording sessions took place in 1997 at Salami Studios in Hollywood.

After the actors recorded their voices, animating and filming commenced at the Taiwanese-American studio Wang Film Productions, because Amblimation, which did the animation for the original film, had gone out of business in 1997. Unlike the original film, it is entirely animated and contained no live action sequences. Although most of the film's animation was hand-drawn, the film contained multiple computer-assisted animated scenes, which were done by Robin Conover and Flammarion Ferreira. Additional CGI animation was provided by flashbangstudios.com and by Visual Approach. Visual Approach also designed the film's opening titles. Post-production took place at Complete Post in Los Angeles. Sound post-production took place at Hacienda Post in Burbank, California, and at Castle Oaks Productions in Calabasas, California.

This film features the final voice role of Mary Kay Bergman. The film was originally scheduled to be released in 2000, but was pushed back two years due to Bergman's death in 1999. Due to this, the characters that are featured here, including those that were voiced by Bergman, could not be brought back in the next film Balto III: Wings of Change as new characters are introduced.[ citation needed ]

Music

The songs are written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom. A chorus performs several of the songs, and includes Amanda McBroom, George Ball, Roger Freeland, Ali Olmo, Lisa Harlow Stark and Rob Trow.

Original songs performed in the film include:

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Taking You Home"Kimaya Seward1:28
2."Muru's Chant" Rob Paulsen 1:12
3."Who You Really Are" Rob Paulsen & Chorus2:02
4."The Grand Design" David Carradine, Mark Hamill & Chorus3:13

Awards

Balto II: Wolf Quest was nominated for an Annie Award [2] in 2003 for "Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production".

Writer Dev Ross was awarded the Humanitas Prize in 2002 for her script in the Children's Animation category. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Lady and the Tramp II: Scamps Adventure</i> 2001 American direct-to-video animated film

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure is a 2001 American animated direct-to-video musical romance film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, and the sequel to Disney's 1955 animated feature film Lady and the Tramp. This film was released on February 27, 2001, 46 years after its predecessor in 1955. It involves Lady and Tramp's only son, Scamp, who runs away from his home and joins a gang of stray dogs. He also ends up in a romantic affair with one of the gang's members, Angel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodi Benson</span> American actress, voice actress and singer (born 1961)

Jodi Marie Benson is an American actress and singer. She is best known for providing the voice of Ariel in Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid and throughout other films, including its sequel, prequel, and television series spin-off, as well as many other Disney works going up to the present day of the 2020s. Benson also filled in for Paige O'Hara as the voice of Belle in House of Mouse and voiced the character Barbie in the second and third films of the Toy Story franchise (1999–2010), and in the Toy Story Toons short Hawaiian Vacation (2011). For her contributions to Disney, Benson was named a Disney Legend in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Kay Bergman</span> American voice actress (1961–1999)

Mary Kay Bergman, also credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the lead female voice actress on South Park from the show's debut in 1997 until her death. Throughout her career, Bergman performed voice work for over 400 television commercials and voiced over 100 cartoon, film, and video game characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toshiko Fujita</span> Japanese actress

Toshiko Fujita was a Japanese actress, singer and narrator. She was affiliated with Aoni Production at the time of her death.

<i>Balto</i> (film) 1995 American film directed by Simon Wells

Balto is a 1995 animated adventure film directed by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is loosely based on the true story of the eponymous dog who helped save children infected with diphtheria in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The film stars the voices of Kevin Bacon, Bridget Fonda, Phil Collins, and Bob Hoskins. Though primarily an animated film, it uses a live-action framing device that takes place in New York City's Central Park and features Miriam Margolyes as an older version of one of the children. This was the third and final film to be produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, before the studio's closure in 1997.

Amanda McBroom is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Notable among the songs she has written is "The Rose", which Bette Midler sang in the film of the same name, and which has been sung by many other recording artists. McBroom is also known for her collaborations as lyricist with songwriter Michele Brourman, writing lyrics for 14 animated films including some of the songs in The Land Before Time film series, Balto II: Wolf Quest, and the musical Dangerous Beauty based on the film of the same name, which had its world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse on February 13, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Nibbelink</span> American animator and film director

Phil Nibbelink is an American animator and film director as well as comic book writer and illustrator known for his work on films as the Academy Award-winning Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the 1991 cult animated sequel An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. Film Production</span> Danish animation studio

A. Film Production A/S is a Danish animation studio currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Affiliated to the Copenhagen studio are A. Film Estonia located in Estonia and A. Film L.A., Inc. in Southern California. It produces traditional and CGI animation for feature films, television, advertising and games. The studio's notable original features include Checkered Ninja, Help! I'm a Fish, Jungledyret Hugo and Terkel in Trouble.

Kevin Schon is an American voice actor who is known for his voice-over work in video games, movies and television shows. He is best known as a voice double for Nathan Lane for animated media, most notably as Timon in the Timon & Pumbaa television series and in various other Disney related projects.

<i>Alpha and Omega</i> (film) 2010 American film by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck

Alpha and Omega is a 2010 American animated adventure film directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck. Starring the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover and Christina Ricci, the film was written by Christopher Denk and Steve Moore, based on a story by Moore and Gluck. This film sets around two young Rocky Mountain wolves named Kate (Panettiere) and Humphrey (Long) who fall in love with each other, but are on the opposite ends of their pack. However, when Kate and Humphrey learn that they got relocated to Idaho for repopulation, they must work together to get back to Jasper National Park before a war slowly begins to emerge between both packs.

Claudio Moneta, at the registry office Claudio Andrea Moneta, is an Italian actor, dubber and dubbing director. He contributed to voicing characters in animation, video games, sitcoms, and more. He is very well known for providing the voice of the title character in the Italian language version of the Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. He is also known for voicing Shadow the Hedgehog in the Sonic franchise, Kakashi Hatake in Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden, and Son Goku in Dragon Ball Super. The role of Kakashi Hatake was temporarily filled by fellow voice actor Gianluca Iacono between 2010 and 2011, due to a motorbike incident suffered by Moneta. He was also replaced in Mass Effect 2 because of that accident as well.

Patrizia Mottola is an Italian voice actress. She contributes to voicing characters in anime, cartoons, and films. She provides the voice of the protagonist Raf in the animated series Angel's Friends. Mottola also voiced the character Hanon Hōshō in the Italian-language version of the anime series Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch.

Events in 2002 in animation.

Elisabetta "Lisa" Mazzotti is an Italian voice actress who is affiliated with Associazione Doppiatori Attori Pubblicitari.

A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the Canidae family and a subspecies of the gray wolf.

Nicolas "Nico" Marlet is a French-American animator and character designer employed by DreamWorks Animation. He is best known for his character design work on films in the Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon franchises, as well as Disney television shows such as TaleSpin and DuckTales. He also worked on an unproduced animated version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats at DreamWorks' predecessor studio, Amblimation. His work has appeared in several "art of" books, including The Art of Kung Fu Panda, The Art of How to Train Your Dragon, The Art of Bee Movie, and his own limited edition sketchbook containing some of his personal works.

Events in 1961 in animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dev Ross</span> American actress

Dev Ross is an American screenwriter, children's book author, performer, director, and producer in theater, film, and television industries.

<i>Wolfwalkers</i> 2020 animated fantasy adventure film

Wolfwalkers is a 2020 independent animated fantasy adventure film directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart. The film is the third and final installment in Moore's "Irish Folklore Trilogy", following his previous films The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014). An international co-production led by Cartoon Saloon and Mélusine Productions, the film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 26 October, in the United States and Canada on 13 November, and in Ireland on 2 December. It was released digitally on Apple TV+ on 11 December 2020, to critical acclaim.

<i>100% Wolf</i> 2020 film

100% Wolf is an Australian animated adventure fantasy comedy film directed by Alexs Stadermann and produced by Alexia Gates-Foale and Barbara Stephen. It is adapted from Jayne Lyons' 2009 novel of the same name. It features the voices of Jai Courtney, Samara Weaving, Magda Szubanski, Rhys Darby, Ilai Swindells, Akmal Saleh, Rupert Degas and Jane Lynch.

References

  1. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (2009). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (3rd ed.). New York: Checkmark Books. pp. 262–263. ISBN   978-0-8160-6600-1.
  2. ↑ 30th Annie Awards
  3. ↑ Humanitas Winners Archived April 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.