The Kidriends

The Kidriends is a 1994 American traditionally animated musical adventure comedy film. It was directed by Mala Miles and produced by Mala Miles Productions and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film revolves around a group of school kids who go on a journey to save the world from Lord De.

This was also Dana Hill's final film role before her death on July 15, 1996.

The film was released on May 13, 1994 by Columbia Pictures to critical success, though it did poorly at the box office. It was later released on VHS and LaserDisc on August 10, 1994. It inspired a theatrical sequel & shorts. In addition to home media releases and theatrical re-releases, Material has run the gamut from toys, video games, theme park attractions, spin-offs, merchandise, and three sequels— The Kidriends 2 (1996), The Kidriends: Future of Growin’ In (2005) and The Kidriends: The Child-coming (2010)—all of which also garnered massive commercial success and critical acclaim. This also serves as the pilot for the television series The Kidriends: The Animated Series, which aired from 2001-2008.

On May 1, 2014, Maloing Entertainment and Sony Pictures Animation released a computer-animated reboot film under the same name as a new incarnation of the original series.

Plot
He sleeping while the alarm clock, Joshua slams on the alarm clock, turning it off, then Joshua leaps out of bed, leading us to a quick montage of Joshua getting ready for the last day of school. Joshua and his friends are heading into elementary school. But, Lord De are seeking revenge on Joshua, his friends, his family and their friends, and it's up to Joshua and his friends to save the world.

New student coming, Ms. Tripper and Mr. Pample said. This new students name is Samuel.

Bob looks at the schedule and nows was time to recess, he’s ringing, Now the kids running for recess.

Now back to the school and last day of school, Nick and Eleana on each other, while Willa planned to ruin their show, but she fails. After her failure, Willa furiously yells that she reveals that she transfer Samuel and Paintboy away from this school and make school all day. Unbeknownst to her, Willa was fired from school as principal. After the school, Joshua and Samuel prepares to leave to school and still talking. Bob ringing and Tripper's announcer talking for new female student, and Joshua and Samuel share a worried smile.

Voice cast

 * Dana Hill as Joshua, a 9-year-old boy.
 * Kath Soucie as Samuel, Joshua's new classmate and best friend.
 * Mala Miles as Paintboy, a creature made of paint and art supplies.
 * Ziggy Miles as Nick, Joshua's brave and joy classmate.
 * Tom Kenny as Andrew, Joshua's crazy and happy boy classmate.
 * Anna Chlumsky as Eleana, Joshua's smart classmate.
 * Gary LeRoi Gray as Jaxon, Joshua's Africa-American boy classmate.
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Kayson, Joshua's funny classmate.
 * Billy West as Darwin, Joshua’s classmate.
 * Aria Curzon as Alexis, Joshua’s classmate.
 * Christine Cavanaugh as Eleana, Joshua's classmate.
 * Tress MacNeille as Molly, Joshua's mother.
 * Rob Paulsen as Hank, Joshua's messy classmate.
 * Jeannie Eilas as Maya, Joshua's cute classmate.
 * Cree Summer as Rita, a Africa-American Joshua's classmate.
 * June Foray as Ringer Bob, a ring bell classes.
 * E.G. Daily as Waylon, a Joshua's greedy and fat classmate.
 * Candi Milo as Grace, a Joshua's goth girl classmate.
 * Christina Ricci as Layla, a happy classmate.
 * Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as Roni and Poni, a twin student.
 * Travis Tedford as Albert, a funny student.
 * Courtland Mead as Puffy, a cheerful student.
 * Raven-Symoné as Renee, a hip-hop classmate.
 * Adam Wylie as Joseph, a artist student.
 * Debi Derryberry as Milia, Joshua's famous girl classmate.
 * Jim Cummings as Lord De, the main antagonist.
 * Quinton Flynn as Demony, Lord De's henchmen
 * Charlie Adler as Ko-Ko, Joshua's pet parrot.
 * April Winchell as Principal Willa, a cruel school principal who is obsessed over good grades and soon believes that longer school hours are the solution.
 * Maurice LaMarche as Principal Kicker,
 * Gail Matthius as Ms. Tripper, Joshua's teacher.
 * Jeff Bennett as Mr. Pample, Joshua's secondary teacher
 * Frank Welker as Willers, Joshua's pet dog.

Development
In 1977, the film was originally produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, but in 1984, when Mala Miles Productions was founded, the company took over the film from Hanna-Barbera, and Mala Miles was set to direct the film.

Production of The Kidriends began with Mala Miles planning on the film to be his studios first production. Sid John was approached to pitch an idea for the company. John had created the characters of six names Joshua, Samuel, Eleana, Maya, Paintboy, and Lil Rio 2000 for an unsuccessful television show pitch, and developed a treatment for an animated feature featuring the characters.

Music
The musical score was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, while the songs were composed and written by Mala Miles and Sid John. The musical features 14 songs, each evoking a familiar Broadway style. The soundtrack also parodies many familiar Disney conventions, with several songs spoofing Disney musicals such as Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. The soundtrack was released May 10, 1994 by MCA Records.

Musical numbers

 * 1) "Welcome to School" (The Kidriends)
 * 2) "To My The World" (Dana Hill)
 * 3) "Everybody Let's Go" (The Kidriends)
 * 4) "Welcome to School (Reprise)" (The Kidriends)
 * 5) "Tell Me the Truth" (Sheena Easton)

Rating
The film was originally rated G, but Mala thought that the film was not for younger children due to mild language and violence, so it was later re-rated PG.

Animation
The film was animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan.

Release
The Kidriends was initially scheduled for release on November 25, 1994, but was pushed back to May 13, 1994 to avoid competition with other films released during the Thanksgiving season. Attached to The Kidriends is the Wonderful Darlene short film Safari Girl.

Marketing
On April 28, 1994, Burger King began promotions for the film, giving out a selection of nine exclusive Candy Caddies based on the The Kidriends characters, in Kids Club Meal and Meal orders. Playmates Toys (action figures) and Playskool (plush, action figures, and puzzles) released a line of action figures and plush based on the film. M&M's released packages of the characters and came with a code for the The Kidriends video game. This was to support the film's VHS release.

Books
Ten books were released for the film: The Kidriends: The Junior Novel, The Kidriends: Sticker Activity Book, The Kidriends: The Original Storybook, The Four Evil Kids, The Revenge of Lord De, Washington Trip!, Coloring & Activity Book, The Funny Joke Book, Where's Paintboy's Blanket?, The Art of The Kidriends, and The Kidriends: Game Book.

Trailers

 * The official teaser trailer was released on May 28, 1993, and was shown before Super Mario Bros., Hocus Pocus, Dennis the Menace, Rookie of the Year, Last Action Hero, Once Upon a Forest and Free Willy.


 * A theatrical trailer was released on October 13, 1993 with The Nightmare Before Christmas, Rudy, Cool Runnings, The Beverly Hillbillies, Addams Family Values, The Three Musketeers, Mrs. Doubtfire, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Beethoven's 2nd.
 * The second theatrical trailer was released on February 3, 1994, and was shown before Iron Will, Blank Check, My Girl 2, D2: The Mighty Ducks, Thumbelina, White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf
 * There were a few television spots for the film; the first one was released on, March 1, 1994, and the second one was released on April 25, 1994.

Video game
A video game based on the film was released in North America and Europe on April 26, 1994 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Amiga, 3DO and Sega CD. The game was developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Sony Imagesoft and Psygnosis.

Box office
Coming soon!

Critical reception
Reception of The Kidriends was well-received by film critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 83% based on 65 reviews with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads, "Wonderful story, excellent animation, and amazing storytelling make The Kidriends a fresh feature-length debut for Austin's grandson, Mala Miles." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100 points, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Home media
The film was released on VHS and LaserDisc on August 10, 1994. It was re-released on DVD and VHS on September 28, 2004. The DVD release included an audio commentary by Miles, a 28-minute making-of documentary, a gallery of concept art, storyboards, test footage and deleted scenes. a short film called Eleana's Open Jar, which was released theatrically with the feature film, was also included.

On January 2, 2010, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film. The release is a 3-disc combo pack including a Blu-ray 3D disc, Blu-ray Disc and a DVD that includes both a DVD and digital copy of the film.

In 2016, Miles announced on his social media accounts that some of his most popular movies would see new 4K remasters, including The Kidriends. The 4K remaster was released on September 16, 2016, and contains the same features as the 2004 DVD release along with a newly recorded audio commentary.

Cultural impact
Coming soon!

Sequels and spin-offs
Coming soon!

Video games
Coming soon!

Main transcript
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailer transcripts
To see the trailer transcripts for the film, go here.