''Spycies'' ( zh, t=动物特工局) is a 2019 animated science fiction

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a film genre, genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many Jame ...

directed by Guillaume Ivernel and Zhiyi Zhang. It was funded by iQIYI Motion PicturesGrater, Tom (6 September 2018
Kaleidoscope, China's Vision partner on animated feature 'Spycies' (exclusive)
''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

''. Retrieved 14 May 2021. and produced by Lux Populi. The film is a Chinese-French co-production and premiered at the

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

on 14 June 2019 and at the

Shanghai International Film Festival The Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF, , French: ''Festival international du film de Shanghai'') is the largest film festival in Asia and China's longest-running international cinema event. The first festival was established in Octobe ...

in China on 17 June 2019 (where it was nominated for Best Animated Feature) before being theatrically released in China on 11 January 2020.Gruenwedel, Erik (5 January 2020
China’s iQIYI Streaming Service Bows First Theatrical Feature Film
''

Media Play News ''Home Media Magazine'' was a trade publication that covered various aspects of the home entertainment industry, most notably home video distribution via VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and digital copy. The magazine also covered news relating to consumer e ...

''. Retrieved 14 May 2021. The title is a pun on "

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

Synopsis

In years 2300,special agent cat Vladimir Willis is not good at obeying orders, so he is sent on a disciplinary assignment to a remote off-shore platform to guard a top-secret cargo, accompanied with timid rookie rat Hector. But when a gang of mysterious figures break into the platform and steal the cargo, Vladimir and Hector must retrieve the cargo.

Voice cast

Kirk Thornton Kirk Thornton is an American voice actor, director and script writer working mainly with English-language versions of Japanese animated series. Career His major roles include Brandon Heat in '' Gungrave'', Hotohori in '' Fushigi Yūgi'', Klei ...

as Vladimir, an chartreux cat who works as a secret agent, the main protagonist. *

Dino Andrade Dino S. Andrade (born September 16, 1963) is an American voice actor in video games and animated projects. He manages dual careers as both a voice actor and the creator, owner and operator of the geek dating/community website SoulGeek.com. Early ...

as Hector, a lazy but timid

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

who accompanies Vladmir. *

Karen Strassman Karen Strassman is an American actress who has provided English language voices for Japanese anime shows, animation, and video games. Some of her major roles are Kallen Stadtfeld in the '' Code Geass'' series, Miyuki Takara in '' Lucky Star'', N ...

as Chloe, a

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

. *

Salli Saffioti Salli Saffioti (born June 11) is an American actress. She is known for voicing roles in

video game

s including

as Mia, a

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

actress. *

Jamieson Price Jamieson K. Price is an American actor, best known for his deep and booming voice in numerous anime and video game projects. He is known as the voice of the Count of Monte Cristo in '' Gankutsuou'', Sojiro Sakura in ''Persona 5'', Ovan in '' .h ...

as Doc, an

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

scientist and as Kotor, an old hairless

woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African ...

who was rescued from extinction by Doc and plans to get revenge on him with the name of "The Demon of the Cold", the main antagonist. *Lauren Alexandre-Lasseur as Melissa, a female woolly mammoth. *

Debi Derryberry Debi Derryberry (''née'' Greenberg; born September 27, 1960) is an American voice actress who has provided voices for a number of animations and video games. She is best known for voicing Jimmy Neutron, the titular protagonist of the Jimmy Neutr ...

as Melinda a female

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

, Jim a green snake who transforms into a

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

simply by drinking coffee, a mentally hanficap chicken, a pig salesman, and a giraffe nurse. *

Barbara Goodson Barbara Goodson is an American voice actress who has done voice-over work in cartoons and shows. Her best-known role was providing the English dub voice of the main villain Empress Rita Repulsa in the ''Power Rangers'' television series, starti ...

as Antiques Sellers, a giant purple spider who works as a hospital attendant. *David Lodge as Eddie, a

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not clos ...

reporter, Dr. Oxford the

Snub-nosed monkey Snub-nosed monkeys are a group of Old World monkeys and make up the entirety of the genus ''Rhinopithecus''. The genus is rare and not fully researched. Some taxonomists group snub-nosed monkeys together with the genus '' Pygathrix''. Distribut ...

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...

patient, mole doctor, Mike the

alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

, a parrot and Thunderbolt a criminal

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

Production

Dragon Hunters ''Dragon Hunters'' ( French: ''Chasseurs de dragons'') is an animated fantasy comedy television series created by Arthur Qwak and produced by the French company Futurikon in co-production with France 3, Super RTL, RTL-TVI (season 1) and Your Fam ...

, director Guillaume Ivernel developed semi-realistic choices for the characters that integrated into textured and photo-realistic universes. This style offers the viewer an image at the crossroads of animation and live action. Over 250 to 300 people worked on the film. The character designs, modelling were done in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the Lux Populi studios in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

using

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

software. With some parts of the rendering being done at another studio in Paris Les Androids Associés. Parts of the screenplay was designed by the French team, with the film's animation being done back in France at Jungler along with the modeling of some characters, in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Lux Populi's facilities in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

did the rest alongside financing and

post production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

Release

''Spycies'' premiered at the

in France on 14 June 2019 and at the

in China on 17 June 2019, before being theatrically released in China on 11 January 2020. It grossed 128 million yuan, becoming the second highest-grossing animated film of 2020 in China and the seventeenth highest-grossing animated film in China overall.

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews in China, but received more negative reviews internationally. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on critical reviews.

References

External links