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Bigfoot Family
Bigfoot Family
	Film poster
Directed by	Ben Stassen; Jeremy Degruson;
Screenplay by	Bob Barlen; Cal Brunker;
Story by	Ben Stassen
Based on	A character; by Bob Barlen; Cal Brunker;
Produced by	Ben Stassen; Caroline Van Iseghem; Matthieu Zeller;
Cinematography	Ben Stassen; Jeremy Degruson;
Music by	Puggy
Production; companies	nWave Pictures; Octopolis
Distributed by	Charades
Release date	August 5, 2020;
Running time	97 minutes
Countries	Belgium; France
Languages	French; English
Box office	$11 million

Bigfoot Family is a 2020 animated adventure film directed by Ben Stassen and Jeremy Degruson. It is the sequel to the 2017 film The Son of Bigfoot. Bigfoot has become famous after returning home and uses his fame to fight an oil company. When he disappears without a trace, it is up to Adam, his mother, and their animal friends to rescue him. The film was also released as Bigfoot Superstar.

Plot

Two months after Bigfoot returns home,^[a] Adam becomes overwhelmed with the attention his father's newfound fame has brought to the family. He is also struggling to confess his feelings to his crush, Emma.

Bigfoot wants to use his fame for a good cause. After some protesters send him a letter about trying to stop Xtract, an Alaska oil company that claims to have zero environmental impact on wildlife, Bigfoot decides to travel to Alaska to help them. Adam helps his father by uploading a promotional video to social media. Swathes of protesters arrive to support Bigfoot. One night, while trying to get a closer look at the company after hearing a loud rumble, Bigfoot mysteriously disappears. Adam and his mother Shelly journey with Wilbur and Trapper to Alaska in their van to find and rescue him.

Arriving in Alaska, Adam and Shelly meet with Arlo Woodstock, the protester who last saw Bigfoot. Shelly follows Woodstock while Adam, Wilbur, and Trapper stay behind. While waiting in the van, they are ambushed by Xtract guards who tranquilize Wilbur and Trapper, but Adam escapes. Adam encounters a wolf who threatens to hurt him, but he strikes a deal with Adam to help him.

The wolf guides Adam to Xtract's worksite before departing. Xtract is revealed to be destroying wildlife by using small explosions to excavate oil. Adam explores the inside of the company and finds Xtract CEO Connor Mandrake planning to set up a massive bomb so that he can excavate the oil easier, but this will destroy the valley. Adam records Mandrake on his phone to expose him. Afterwards, Adam is found by Woodstock, but Adam finds out that Woodstock actually works for Xtract and is responsible for taking Bigfoot and Shelly. Woodstock captures Adam and pushes him into the underground mines.

Mandrake prepares the bomb. After finding Shelly and freeing Bigfoot, Adam escapes with them through the mines. Xtract drones are sent to stop them, but Bigfoot destroys them. While they escape, Adam manages to upload the videos, exposing Xtract online, before losing his phone. Adam turns back and defuses the bomb, but Mandrake gets a backup bomb that cannot be turned off to trigger the explosion. With help from Wilbur and Trapper, Bigfoot takes hold of it and throws it in the air, creating a signal explosion. Mandrake confronts them, but the news shows up in a helicopter, as does the police. Mandrake attempts to escape but is interrupted by a moose and thrown into an oil puddle alongside Woodstock.

Some time later, Adam meets with Emma, who reveals that one of the videos he accidentally uploaded was the one exposing his feelings to her. He asks Emma out, and she accepts. Emma kisses Adam while his eavesdropping family congratulates him.

The movie ends as Trapper asks for another pancake, and it goes on his face, much to his dismay.

Voice cast

Jules Wojciechowski as Adam, Bigfoot's son (voiced by Pappy Faulkner in the previous film)
Roger Craig Smith as Dr. Jim "Bigfoot" Harrison, Adam's father who had genetically mutated into the mythical creature of Bigfoot (voiced by Chris Parson in the previous film)
Grant George as Connor Mandrake, a greedy oil tycoon who is determined to destroy Rocky Valley
David Lodge as Arlo Woodstock, one of the environmental protesters Bigfoot meets in Alaska who is later revealed to be Connor Mandrake's second-in-command
Shyloh Oostwald as Emma, Adam's friend and love interest
Lindsey Alena as Shelly, Adam's mother and Bigfoot's wife (voiced by Marieve Herington in the previous film)
Sandy Fox as Tina, a red squirrel
Joe Ochman as Trapper, a raccoon
Joe J. Thomas as Steve, a European green woodpecker
Laila Berzins as Weecha, a raccoon and Trapper's wife
Michael Sorich as Wilbur, a kodiak bear
Joey Camen as Principal Jones, the principal of Adams's school
Chris Niosi, Della Saba, and Jessica Gee-George as students at Adam's school
Dino Andrade as a drone operator for Xtract
Kyle Hebert as an Xtract guard
James Fredrick as an Xtract guard
Jeff Rector as the news anchor
Cyndia Scott as Doris, a feisty pilot who takes Bigfoot to Alaska
George Babbit as Cy Wheeler, Becky's agent who arranges cheaply-made merchandise for Bigfoot

Production

Production for Bigfoot Family began shortly before the release of nWave's seventh animated feature film, The Queen's Corgi. The film follows The Son of Bigfoot, which came out in theaters in 2018.^[2] The studio teased the production of the movie at the 2020 Paris Images Digital Summit.^[3]

Music

After collaborating with nWave Pictures on the soundtrack of the first film, music band Puggy agreed to score the soundtrack of Bigfoot Family. Puggy collaborated with Sylvie Hoarau [fr] for the single "Out in the Open" with the authorization of Sony Music, which is featured in the film during Adam's road trip to Alaska.

Release

In June 2020, Bigfoot Family premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.^[4] At the festival, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.^[5] Bigfoot Family premiered on Netflix on February 26, 2021. It was the #1 movie on Netflix^[6] in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK on its opening weekend and remained the #1 movie in the US for six days in a row.^[7]

Controversy

In March 2021, the movie was targeted by the Canadian Energy Centre, an agency created and funded by the government of Alberta to promote the oil industry and defend it from critics, including environmentalists.^[8] The Canadian Energy Centre, also called the "energy war room," published a website that accused the movie and its American distributor, Netflix, of "brainwashing" children with misinformation. The website, which was titled Support Canadian Energy, included a petition, and 3,400 letters were sent to the movie company. The controversy increased viewership on Netflix, and the movie director thanked the CEC for the free publicity.^[9]