Malachi 2: The Rise of Evil

Malachi 2: The Rise of Red Ghost is a 2002 American animated comedy film based on the Malachi Universal franchise. It is the sequel to the 1992 film Malachi: The Movie and the second installment of a projected trilogy. The film takes place ten years after the first film, and focuses on Malachi, Purple Guy, Takashi, Kally, Jenny, and the rest of the gang going up against Cabel, who intends to take over the world. In order to stop Cabel, Malachi recruits his old friends, Lotta, Red, Nataly, and his new friends, Princess Eloise, Genia, and Lioe.

The film was theatrically released on July 19, 2002, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received universal acclaim from critics and was a box office success, grossing $679 million worldwide on its $89 million budget, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2002. This film, along with Ice Age, Lilo & Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Treasure Planet were nominated for the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002, ultimately losing to Spirited Away.

Plot
10 years after the events of Malachi: The Movie, Malachi and Purple Guy decide to go on the journey again when they saw Cabel kidnapped Kally on TV. They team up with Lotta and Red again. Malachi, Purple Guy, Lotta, and Red later meets Nataly, a 9-year-old girl, and b, a 15-year-old boy who wanted to join with them.

Later, Cabel tells her red robot's minions to track down Malachi, Purple, Lotta, Red, Lioe, and Nataly, and she tells Barry to follow them to capture Nataly. Meanwhile, Malachi, Purple, Lotta, Red, Lioe, and Nataly find a place that looks like a kingdom and a village, they never know about this place. When they enter the castle, they meet Princess Eloise, who is the ruler of this kingdom, and her lady-in-waiting Genia. Malachi tells Eloise about Cabel, she is nothing more than a bad princess. Princess Eloise joins Malachi and his friends, as well as Eugenia. When the kingdom was attacked by Cabel's red robot minions, Malachi and his gang fight for it, including Barry and Cabel's giant robot. They then go on the adventure to stop Cabel, until they get some rest for tonight.

In Cabel's lair, she blames Barry and Cabel's red robot minions for failing to destroy Malachi, Purple, Lotta, Red, Lioe, Princess Eloise, and Genia, and capture Nataly. She also had plans to destroy Tyrusville and renamed it Cabeltopia (like in the first film).

Kally breaks free and escapes Cabel's lair with the help of a young boy named Nick. Meanwhile, Malachi and his gang went to a science laboratory called Lab-Lab Technologies, while searching for Cabel. They met Dr. Robert Anderson and Ernest. Malachi cons them into using their magic to send them all to Cabel's lair, the spell works. When they sneak into Cabel's lair, they have been caught by Cabel and learn that she plans to kill Malachi and his friends in her lair. Cabel's red robot minions had captured Nataly, Eloise, and Genia and sent them to prison.

Kally and Nick find a motel for the night, while they are escaping from Cabel's lair. Kally decides to call Malachi on her phone. Malachi and his friends are in danger, because Nataly, Eloise, and Genia were in jail. Kally and Nick need to save Malachi and his friends and team up with Daniel, Elijah, and Ryan. Meanwhile, in jail, a heartbroken Nataly becomes scared after she is captured. Eloise and Genia cheer her up. When they saw Kally, Nick, Daniel, Elijah, and Ryan, Nataly was happy to see her friend, Rick. Kally, Rick, Daniel, Elijah, Ryan, and Nick are being heroes to save Malachi and his friends.

Back in Cabel's lair, she sets a bomb on Malachi, Purple, Lotta, and Red (minus Nataly, Eloise, and Genia) and Cabel tells them that the bomb is a timer and Cabel leaves the room. Then, Kally, Daniel, Elijah, Ryan, Eloise, Genia, Nataly, and Nick are here to save them, stop the timer and escape from Cabel's lair. When Cabel got in the room, he saw Malachi and his friends were gone and the timer is stopped. She tells her red robots minions to get them.

When Malachi and his pals escape from Cabel's lair, Cabel, Barry, and her red robots' minions surround and outnumber them. But, Malachi calls for backup, and the people of Tyrusville and the kingdom, including Dr. Robert Anderson and Ernest, arrive and interfere. Cabel pulls out a red robot that transforms into the biggest red robot. Malachi, along with Lotta, Lioe, and Red, turns into super from to defeat Cabel. After the fight, Cabel blasted off to her lair and it explodes. As Cabel's red robots minions retreat over Cabel's defeat.

Back outside in Malachi's house, Malachi, Purple, Kally, Lotta, Red, Lioe, Elosie, Genia, Nataly, Rick, and their friends started a party that caused the entire world to celebrate. Then, Barry shows up, surprising them.

During the credits, Deja and Rubina are both seen, talking about the next movie should include them.

In the mid-credits scene, before the scrolling credits begin, Nataly and Nick, walk home, until Nataly's mother looking for her. She finally goes home with her mother, Nick says to the audience, "And so everybody did live happily ever after."

In the post-credits scene, Caleb survived the explosion, and he wants to revenge on Malachi next time, while she plotting a new plan, as she does an evil laugh.

After the post-credits scene, Nataly and Nick are seen playing Malachi 2 for Game Boy Advance. After they succeed, Nataly tells the viewers to enter the Malachi 2 Game Boy Advance code. (This is only seen on the home media release.)

Cast

 * Mala Miles as Malachi / Purple Guy / Lucas / Jarek
 * Frank Welker as Takashi / Wyatt / Ratchet / Freddy / Popkies / Jake / Chewy / Scott Pig
 * Grey DeLisle as Jenny / Genia / Riley / Hilda Cat
 * Sean Schemmel as Lioe
 * Anndi McAfee as Lotta / Sarah
 * Scott Menville as Red
 * Lara Jill Miller as Nataly / Zombila
 * Jennifer Hale as Princess Eloise
 * Mr. Lawrence as Lignen
 * Jack Angel as Dr. Beanson
 * Tom Kenny as Green Bob / Pingux / Zach / Chucky Chicken
 * Jess Harnell as Edgar
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Henry / Bryan / Ethan Bird
 * Phil LaMarr as Barry / Eris
 * Tress MacNeillie as Arpeggio
 * Cathy Cavadini as Nevada
 * Kari Wahlgren as Deja / Rubina (uncredited)
 * Russi Taylor as Lolly
 * Debi Derryberry as Lara
 * Susan Blu as Tiana
 * Tara Strong as Lola / Giana / Darlene / Emma Bird
 * Veronica Taylor as Kestrel
 * Carolyn Lawrence as Ella
 * Kimberly Brooks as Laddie
 * E.G. Daily as Kally / Zaria
 * Kath Soucie as Tanya / Alaina / Alimee / Bee-Girl
 * Tara Jayne Sands as Rick
 * Charlie Adler as Nate / Deshaun
 * Joe Alaskey as Daniel
 * David Kaufman as Ryan
 * Billy West as Cory
 * Candi Milo as Michael
 * Cree Summer as Kila / Julie / Gwen / Krystal Cole
 * Corey Burton as Tony Dog
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Gree
 * Greg Abbey as Cabel
 * Jim Cummings as Dr. Shizzion / Killer K. Fox

Development
Following the release of Malachi: The Movie in 1992, Sid John, the writer of the film, stated that a sequel is unlikely, despite the film's successful box office performance. He said "I think that they are talking about doing that, but I haven't signed up for anything. We just feel like we've told so many stories, and Malachi Universal exists so well in this short 11-minute form."

In 1994, Mala Miles announced that the sequel to the 1992 film is in development and was slated for an unspecified 1998 release, titled ''Malachi: The Revenge of Tiana. ''The film would have focused on Malachi and his friends had heard that Tyrusville is in trouble, and it's because Tiana is taking over every segment universe. Malachi and his friends had to recruit other good characters from other cartoon universes and defeat Tiana and other evil cartoon characters before the invasion occur. Mala initially stated, "We will be releasing a Malachi movie in the November of 1998, which will serve to start off or be one of our films that starts off our new animation effort." Originally slated as a direct-to-video film with a 1998 release, Warner Bros. concluded this film did not count towards the '5 picture' contract when it was released in theaters. In June 1998, Mala Miles and Sid John confirmed that a sequel was in the works, tentatively scheduled for summer 2002 release. In April 1999, Bear Bones announced it would have the subtitle Ultra Chaos, which was changed by February 1999 to The Return of the Power before simply being retitled as Malachi 2: The Rise of Evil in October 1999. In February 2000, it was announced that Cabel, Princess Eloise and Genia would appear in the film. By early October 2000, the first draft of the script was completed. On December 10, 2000, Warner Bros. announced that the film went into production.

Animation
2D animation production began in February 2000. 2D traditional animation of the characters and 2D props are created and animated by Mala Miles and Sid John at Bear Bones Productions. Traditional animation was directed by Dave Madson, with the rest of the animation by James Baxter, Richard Williams, and Matthew O'Callaghan. 2D traditional animation was also made at Bear Bones Australia in Sidney, Australia, Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Rough Draft Studios in Seoul, South Korea, Toon City Animation in Manila, Philippines, Yowza! Animation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Toon Boom Animation in Montreal, Québec, Canada, Mercury Filmworks in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank, California, and was done overseas at Saerom Animation, Inc. in South Korea, and Wang Film Productions in Taipei, Taiwan, Hanho Heung-Up, Yearim Productions, as well as Yeson Entertainment, and in Japan at Mook Animation, Madhouse, TMS Entertainment, OLM and Production I.G.

Visual effects
The visual effects production for the film began on March 5, 2000, where it's supervised by Caleb Elbourn. Video editors, compositors, and visual effects artists edited the film just by importing 2D images and 3D animated footage as the backgrounds. They also imported digital hand-drawn animated footage with the vector background as their cels that really needs editing and compositing along with the backgrounds. They even add CGI animated footage with the vector background as their cells, so they composite the backgrounds and the animation cels to make it look like the fantasy in the final cut. Tom John and Mala Miles worked together to animate the Evil Red Robots sequences with help from Caleb Elbourn and Taylor Grodin, using Anime Studio Pro, Adobe Flash, Autodesk Maya, and Adobe After Effects.

Post-production
The post-production began on April 25, 2001, where it's supervised by Caleb Elbourn and Mala Miles, and directed by Sid John. The sound production was created at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California. Sound editors Tom Myers, Teresa Eckton and Chris Boyes, and sound designer Gary Rydstrom design the sound and then edit it, next sound recorder Mala Miles recorded the sound for Gray Rydstrom and Tom Johnson to edit and mix it, then sound re-recording mixers Tom Johnson and Gary Summers re-recorded the sound and mix it.

The digital imaging services are at Technicolor Digital Intermediates, where they time the color of the film, and cut the negative clips into the film. The opening titles are created by Blur Studio and Pacific Title, while the end credits are created by Scarlett Letters.

Cast
The regular series main cast members returned.

Release
Malachi 2 was originally going to be released on March 30, 2002, however, in November 2001, the date was changed to July 19, 2002. The film was succeeding the Malachi Universal short Felix's Hangout during its theatrical release. A montage of "outtakes" was made and included in the end credits of the film starting on August 23, 2002, which was done because Bear Bones hoped it would encourage people to view the film a second time. The film made its network premiere on Bear Bones Channel on January 23, 2003.

Attached short film
A short animated film starring the Malachi and Friends segment characters of the Toon Friends franchise, Felix's Hangout, accompanied Malachi 2: The Rise of Red Ghost during its theatrical release.

Trailers

 * The teaser trailer for the film was released on February 18, 2001, and was attached to Spy Kids and Shrek.
 * Another teaser trailer was released in October 2001, and was later released with  Max Keeble's Big Move,  Monsters, Inc., Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
 * The first theatrical trailer was released in February 2002 and was shown with Big Fat Liar, The Rookie, and Ice Age.
 * The second theatrical trailer was released in May 2002 and was later shown before Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, The Journey to Adventures, Lilo & Stitch, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, Like Mike, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Stuart Little 2, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
 * There were a few television spots for the film; the first one was released in March 2002, the second one was released in May 2002, and the third one was released in June 2002.

Marketing
Upon its release, Burger King had a promotional tie-in with seven toys with a paid Kids' Meal order. Customers could also purchase one of six different Malachi Universal-themed watches for $1.99 with the purchase of a value meal. The film was backed by a large marketing campaign, with toys, books, games, clothes, and many other items becoming available throughout 2002. A video game based on the film has been released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PC, and Macintosh, as well as on mobile phones. Kellogg's included film-branded spoons in their cereal boxes and Sony produced a limited edition Malachi 2 PlayStation 2.

Video games

 * Malachi 2: The Rise of Evil (2002)
 * Malachi 2: Activity Center (2002)
 * Malachi 2: For Pink & Blue (2002)
 * Malachi: Super Fight (2003)
 * Bear Bones All-Stars Sports (2004)
 * Malachi: Teamwork Time (2004)

Home media
Malachi 2: The Rise of Evil was released on DVD and VHS on November 2, 2002, by Warner Home Video. This release also includes a short film called Felix's Hangout. The film was also released on Game Boy Advance Video in December 2004 and on UMD for the Sony PSP. It was released on Blu-ray in North America on October 10, 2013, and on Blu-ray 3D on March 10, 2014. The film was released on May 25, 2019, on Blu-ray, coinciding with Malachi Universal 's 55th Anniversary. This release was later made available individually on March 10, 2020, along with the rest of the Malachi Universal films, in a "septology" pack to promote Malachi: The Ultimate Time!. As of May 2019, the film, along with the rest of the Malachi Universal films are now available on Netflix, Digital on iTunes, Movies Anywhere, Microsoft Store, Vudu, and Amazon Prime.

Cancelled sequel
In addition to Malachi 2, Bear Bones had plans for a third film, tentatively titled Malachi 3: Evil Returns!. On July 3, 2005, Bear Bones stated that the third film was canceled due to multiple problems with its story.