''Rumble'' is a 2021 American animated sports comedy film directed by Hamish Grieve (in his directorial debut) with a screenplay by Grieve and Matt Lieberman. Loosely based on ''Monster on the Hill'', a graphic novel by Rob Harrell, the film stars the voices of

Will Arnett William Emerson Arnett (; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian and American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix sitcom '' Arrested Development'' (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and the titular ch ...

Terry Crews Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former professional American football, football player. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/The CW Television Network, CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which air ...

, Stephen A. Smith,

Jimmy Tatro James Richard Tatro is an American actor, comedian, writer and YouTube personality. He is the creator and star of the YouTube channel ''LifeAccordingToJimmy'', which has more than 3.4 million subscribers and over 728 million video views. Tatro ...

Tony Danza Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional boxer. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983) and ''Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992 ...

Susan Kelechi Watson Susan Kelechi Watson (born November 11, 1981) is an American actress. She is known for her work on the television show ''Louie'' and for her role as Beth Pearson in ''This Is Us''. She was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for B ...

Tony Shalhoub Anthony Marc Shalhoub ( ; ; born October 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is known for a variety of roles ranging from comedic to dramatic on stage and screen. He has received several accolades including five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, s ...

Bridget Everett Bridget Everett (born April 21, 1972) is an American comedian, actress, singer, writer, and cabaret performer. She began her career appearing and co-writing alongside Michael Patrick King the Off-Broadway musical comedy ''At Least It's Pink: A ...

, Greta Lee,

Ben Schwartz Benjamin Joseph Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his recurring role as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'', his starring role as Clyde Oberholt on the Sh ...

Roman Reigns Leati Joseph Anoaʻi ( ; born May 25, 1985), better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former gridiron football, football player. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he performs on the Sm ...

and

Becky Lynch Rebecca Quin (born 30 January 1987), better known by the ring name Becky Lynch, is an Irish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand and is the current WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion in her ...

. It tells the story of a world where humans and giant monsters exist as an aspiring trainer trains an amateur giant monster wrestler to go up against the world champion. Produced by

Paramount Animation Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the critical and commerical success of P ...

WWE Studios WWE Studios Inc. (formerly known as WWE Films) is an American film studio owned by the professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor (company), Endeavor Group Holdings. WWE Studios ...

Walden Media Walden Media, LLC is an American independent studio that develops, produces and finances feature films and television series for the U.S. and global markets. Its films focus on stories of courage drawn from biographies, historical events, and li ...

and Reel FX Animation Studios, the film was released in the United States on December 15, 2021 on

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

. The film received negative reviews from critics with criticism for its writing, characters, and pacing, although the animation and voice acting received some praise.

Plot

In a world where giant monsters and humans coexist, giant monsters compete in a popular professional

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

global sport known as monster wrestling, with each city having its own monster wrestler. After the current wrestler for the small town of Stoker, the shark-like Tentacular, becomes the new world champion, he announces he no longer wants to represent Stoker. The townspeople are later told if they do not find a new wrestler, they will lose the town's stadium and its revenue which prompts wrestling enthusiast Winnie Coyle to search for a new monster representative for her town. Winnie heads to an underground fight and finds Steve, the son of Stoker's late champion Rayburn Sr., fighting under the name of "Steve the Stupendous". Winnie interferes in the match and causes Steve to win instead of taking a dive as the underground arena employer Lady Mayhem wanted. Steve is confronted by Lady Mayhem and threatened unless he can get her back the money she just lost. Winnie tells Steve she can help him get the money by training him to fight in official matches. Realizing he has no other way to make the money, Steve agrees to be trained. Steve initially is uninterested in learning how to fight properly and wins his first match by evading his opponent. Steve later tells Winnie he left Stoker because everyone saw him as an extension of his father and could not live up to his name. Winnie learns Steve loves dancing and decides to train him using dance moves. As they progress up the league's rankings, Tentacular announces he and his agent have bought Stoker's stadium and want to demolish it as Tentacular sees it as a reminder that he will be always compared to Rayburn. Even though Steve repays Lady Mayhem, he decides to help Winnie, publicly reveals his identity as Rayburn's son, and challenges Tentacular to a match for the stadium. During the fight, Steve avoids most of the hits by Tentacular in the first round, but Tentacular counters his dance moves in the second round. After convincing Winnie not to give up, Rayburn, in the third round, lands several hits with his dance moves. Winnie tells Rayburn to use Tentacular's suckers to stick him to one of the corner posts. When he goes in for the final move, the two collide and are both knocked out. Tentacular gets up first but is too rattled to end the match. The crowd gets Steve back up by clapping a salsa beat and he is able to defeat Tentacular, becoming the new monster wrestling champion and saving the stadium.

Voice cast

as Steve/Rayburn Jr., a giant red reptilian monster and

amateur wrestler Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic, collegiate, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the worl ...

with a passion for dancing. ** Gracen Newton as young Steve/Rayburn Jr. * Geraldine Viswanathan as Winnie Coyle, an aspiring monster wrestling trainer and Jimbo's daughter ** Kaya McLean as young Winnie *

as Tentacular, a giant shark-headed tentacled monster who is the reigning Monster Wrestling champion and is jealous of Rayburn Sr.'s legacy *

Fred Melamed Fred Melamed (born May 13, 1956) is an American actor. After spending most of his early career primarily as a renowned voice over artist, and occasionally playing small roles in films, notably in seven films directed by Woody Allen, he establish ...

as the Mayor *

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...

as Rayburn Sr., Steve's late father and champion *

Chris Eubank Christopher Livingstone Eubank (also Christopher Livingstone Eubank Sr. born 8 August 1966) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight and super-middlewei ...

as King Gorge, a giant horned

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

-like monster and former monster wrestling champion *

as Lady Mayhen, a giant

toucan Toucans (, ) are Neotropical birds in the family Ramphastidae. They are most closely related to the Semnornis, Toucan barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful Beak, bills. The family includes five genus, genera and over ...

-like monster with manicured nails who runs the underground wrestling matches *

as Jimothy Brett-Chadley III, Tentacular's snooty agent * Brian Baumgartner as Klonk, a giant

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly cons ...

-like monster *

as Lights Out McGinty/Mac, a giant

anglerfish The anglerfish are ray-finned fish in the order Lophiiformes (). Both the order's common name, common and scientific name comes from the characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified dorsal Fish fin#Ray-fins, fin ray acts as a Aggressiv ...

-like monster and wrestling commentator *

as Axehammer, a giant reptile-like monster from the underground wrestling *

as Ramarilla Jackson, a giant gorilla-like monster with ram horns *

as Siggy, Tentacular's elderly coach who was Jimbo Coyle's former assistant and

protégé Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

as Maggie Coyle, Winnie's mother and Jimbo's widow * Carlos Gomez as Jimbo Coyle, a legendary monster wrestling trainer and Winnie's late father * Stephen A. Smith as Marc Remy, a monster wrestling commentator *

Michael Buffer Michael Buffer (born November 2, 1944) is an American ring announcer (or " MC") for boxing, professional wrestling, and National Football League events. Pioneering a distinct announcing style in which he rolls certain letters and adds other ...

as a Stoker announcer *

as Fred, a man who owns a

diner A diner is a type of restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe and Australia. Diners offer a wide range of cuisine, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a comb ...

in Stoker * Greta Lee as the Councilwoman *

John DiMaggio John William DiMaggio ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the ''Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...

as Tattoo Guy and Betting Guy * Jamal Duff as Denise *

Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor. His voice acting roles include the original voice of Spyro from '' Spyro the Dragon'', the Taco Bell chihuahua in the Taco Bell commercials, Rocko on ''Rocko's Modern Life'', D ...

as Nerdle, a giant

spider monkey Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. The g ...

-like monster * Chris Anthony Lansdowne as Farmer * Christopher Knights as King Gorge's Coach *

Fred Tatasciore Fred Tatasciore ( , , born June 13, 1967) is an American voice actor who has provided voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing the Hulk, Volstagg, and Beast in various Marvel media and ...

as Referee

Production

On February 18, 2015,

Reel FX Creative Studios Reel FX Animation (Reel FX), formerly known as Reel FX Creative Studios and Reel FX Entertainment, is an American computer animation and visual effects studio based in Dallas, Texas, with offices in Hollywood, California, and Montreal, Quebec. ...

announced an adaptation of the 2013 graphic novel ''Monster on the Hill'' by Rob Harrell, to be written by Matt Lieberman. On April 25, 2018,

announced that joined the film as a co-producer, with

, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

DisneyToon Studios Disneytoon Studios (DTS), originally named Disney MovieToons and also formerly Walt Disney Video Premieres, was an American animation studio which created direct-to-video and occasional theatrical animated feature films. The studio was a division ...

vet Bradley Raymond was originally going to direct the film, but for unknown reasons, he was eventually replaced by

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

veteran Hamish Grieve, head of story for films such as ''

Rise of the Guardians ''Rise of the Guardians'' is a 2012 American animated science fantasy action-adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Peter Ramsey from a screenplay by David Lindsay-Aba ...

'' and '' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie'', thus making his directorial debut. On June 12, 2019, the title was changed to ''Rumble''.

Casting

The first casting announcement consisted of Geraldine Viswanathan,

, and

Carlos Gómez Carlos Argelis Gómez Peña, nicknamed Go-Go, (; born December 4, 1985) is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Ra ...

, and Stephen A. Smith, revealing their involvement in the film.

Release

On September 19, 2019, the film was scheduled to be released on July 31, 2020. On November 12, 2019, the release date was pushed to January 29, 2021 as well as a planned 3D version. On October 27, 2020, the release date was then moved to May 14, 2021, and moved again on January 27, 2021 to February 18, 2022 as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On November 26, 2021, the film made one final move to December 15, 2021, as a

exclusive, cancelling its theatrical release altogether.

Home media

''Rumble'' was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on October 18, 2022 by

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

Reception

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 has an approval rating of 44% based on reviews from 16 critics, with an average rating of 5.20/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{WWE Studios 2021 American animated films 2020s sports comedy films 2020s monster movies 2021 films 2021 comedy films 2021 computer-animated films American animated comedy films American computer-animated films American sports comedy films Animated films about friendship Animated films based on American comics Animated sports films 2020s English-language films Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films scored by Lorne Balfe Films with screenplays by Matt Lieberman Giant monster films Kaiju films Paramount Animation films Paramount Pictures animated films Paramount Pictures films Paramount+ original films Professional wrestling films Reel FX Creative Studios films Walden Media films WWE Studios films American wrestling films English-language sports comedy films