Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori

Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori (劇場版 どうぶつの森, lit. Animal Forest: The Movie), also referred to as simply Doubutsu no Mori, is a 2006 Japanese animated film based on the. The film was directed by Jōji Shimura with production by OLM, Inc. and was released in theaters on December 16, 2006. The film was the third-highest grossing film in its opening weekend, and it earned a total of approximately ¥1.7 billion (US$16,216,731) at the box office as of 2007.

The film features characters and themes from the video games and follows Ai, an 11-year-old human girl, as she moves into a village of animals and meets various friends along the way.

Plot
Ai, an 11-year-old human girl, moves to Animal Village during the summer. After she arrives, she goes to Town Hall and is told by Peliko to meet Tanukichi at his shop to receive her house key. Once she meets Tanukichi, he gives her work to do in the form of deliveries to the village residents. During her deliveries, Ai meets Bouquet, Halberd, Bianca, and a human boy named Yū. Afterward, she visits the Able Sisters for her last delivery and meets Sally. On her way home, Ai encounters Yū again, who attempts to catch a Spider that had landed on her; the two then introduce themselves and become acquaintances.

After several more deliveries, Ai is tasked with a delivery to Apollo. When she arrives at his house, she learns he is not home. Yū once again appears and causes Ai to fall in a patch of roses—this causes Mr. Resetti to appear and scold her; after learning what happened, he tells Ai to look in The Roost for Apollo. Ai heads to the museum, where she meets Fūta and Fūko, the latter of whom leads her to The Roost. Once there, Ai meets Alan and Sakura-jima, and shortly afterward, Apollo arrives. She makes her delivery and heads home, when she encounters Sally, whom she quickly befriends. Sally reveals her dream of being a fashion designer and compares accomplishing her dream to eating a cherry pie. Later that night, Ai finds a note in a bottle on the beach that reads, "Above the pine forest, on the night of the Winter Festival, a miracle will occur." She then sees what she believes to be a UFO.

The next night, Ai encounters another note in a bottle, which instructs her to plant pine trees across Animal Village for a miracle to take place during the Winter Festival. The next day, Ai, Margie, and Rosie meet up with Yū and Halberd, who are looking for fossils. Bouquet tells them to look in a nearby cave for fossils, which they visit and find a Seismosaurus fossil, the one fossil missing from the museum's collection; however, the cave collapses, forcing the group to leave. Later, during the Fireworks Festival, Sally realizes her dream, and Ai wishes to have one of her own. Once she returns home, she reads two more letters in bottles, which reveal that an alien has been writing them, hoping to arrive on her planet during the Winter Festival and meet her.

The day after the Fireworks Festival, Ai learns from Bouquet that Sally left Animal Village to pursue her dream. Disappointed that she did not let her know before leaving, Ai goes to The Roost, where Bianca comforts her. That night, Ai receives a letter from Sally, who explains why she did not let her know that she was moving—she says she would have been overwhelmed with emotion had she approached her before leaving. Attached to the letter is a drawing of Ai and a note telling her to "eat her own cherry pie," or follow her dreams.

In the winter, Sonchou, the mayor, announces the beginning of the Winter Festival, where the resident with the best holiday decorations is crowned the winner. Ai visits the cedar trees that she is revealed to have planted earlier in the year to find them fully grown. She then visits Fūko's observatory in the museum and sees a UFO crash in the village. The townsfolk gather at the crash site, and Johnny, who claims to be an alien, steps out, explaining that five parts of his ship must be found so he can leave. The residents of the village then split up to find the parts; Saruo goes to the woods, Apollo, Sakura-jima, and Alan go to the mountains, Bianca searches near the ocean, and Ai, Bouquet, Halberd, and Yū head toward the cave with the Seismosaurus fossil. However, the entrance is blocked by a boulder, which is moved with the help of Sally, who has returned to Animal Village for the Winter Festival. The group enters the cave and finds the spaceship part on top of the Seismosaurus. Yū climbs up the fossil and retrieves the part. Once the group returns to Johnny's ship, UFOs fly overhead, and the part they retrieved is revealed to be an alien life form. The alien appears to thank Ai before flying to the other UFOs; it then draws Ai's face as a constellation. Afterward, Sonchou announces Ai as the winner of the Winter Festival for the alien's constellation, and Ai feels for the first time that she is a true resident of Animal Village.

Main characters

 * Ai – The film's lead character; a young human girl who moves into Animal Village. Voiced by Yui Horie.
 * Bouquet (Rosie) – Close friends with Ai and Margie. Voiced by Fukuen Misato.
 * Sally (Margie) – Close friend to Ai, whose dream is to become a fashion designer. She leaves Animal Village to realize her dream. Voiced by Fumiko Orikasa.
 * Halberd (Alfonso) – An alligator who is close to Yū. Voiced by Takatoshi Kaneko.
 * Yū – A human boy from a nearby village who likes to visit Animal Village and is friends with Alfonso. Voiced by Yū Kobayashi.

Minor characters

 * Sonchou (Tortimer) – The mayor of Animal Village. Voiced by Kenichi Ogata.
 * Apollo – Masaki Terasoma
 * Peliko (Pelly) – The assistant to Sonchou, often located at the Town Hall. Voiced by Otoha.
 * Tanukichi (Tom Nook) – Owner of Nook's Cranny and employer of Ai. Voiced by Naoki Tatsuta.
 * Fūta (Blathers) – Curator of the museum. Voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi.
 * Master (Brewster) – Takaya Hashi
 * Fūko (Celeste) – Mika Kanai
 * Alan (Cesar) – Kazuya Tatekabe
 * Saruo (Champ) – Yasuhiro Takato
 * Sakura-jima (Cyrano) – Yuji Ueda
 * Johnny (Gulliver) – Wataru Takagi
 * Daruman (Hopper) – Hisao Egawa
 * Kappei (Kapp'n) – Mitsuo Iwata
 * Totakeke (K.K. Slider) – Shun Oguri
 * Kinuyo (Mabel) – Mari Adachi
 * Mr. Reset (Mr. Resetti) – Yuichi Kimura
 * Rakosuke (Pascal) – Takashi Miike
 * Pelio (Pete) – Akio Suyama
 * Pelimi (Phyllis) – Yuko Mizutani
 * Tsunekichi (Redd) – Tetsuo Sakaguchi
 * Asami (Sable) – Saori Hattori
 * Seiichi (Wendell) – Junpei Takiguchi
 * Bianca (Whitney) – Yurika Hino

Background characters
The following characters appear only during the Fireworks Festival and do not have speaking roles.
 * Shishō (Dr. Shrunk)
 * Honma-san (Lyle)
 * Mother (Kaitlin)
 * Maigo-chan (Katie)
 * Roland (Saharah)
 * Mamekichi (Timmy)
 * Tsubukichi (Tommy)

Production
Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori was announced in May 2006 in an issue of Hochi Shimbun, a Japanese online magazine, following the success of. Jōji Shimura, who previously worked on other animated films, directed the film, and staff from the assisted production.

Theatrical
Doubutsu no Mori was released theatrically in Japan on December 16, 2006 by Toho and became the third highest-grossing film of its opening weekend, earning approximately ¥246 million (US$2,085,729). By the end of 2006, the film had a total revenue of ¥1.526 billion (US$12,915,432), becoming the 30th highest-grossing film that year in Japan, and by the end of its theatrical run in 2007, it had earned approximately ¥1.7 billion (US$16,216,731). In October 2007, Nintendo of America stated there were no plans to localize the film for North America. Viewers who pre-purchased tickets to the film received vouchers which could be redeemed for one of the six golden tools in.

Home media
A soundtrack for the film, titled Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori: Original Soundtrack, was released on CD on December 13, 2006, three days before the film's premiere in theaters. It features 46 tracks from the film as well as five bonus tracks from.

Doubutsu no Mori was released on region 2 DVD in Japan on July 25, 2007 by VAP, retailing for ¥3,990 (US$37.12). First-print copies also included an Animal Crossing-themed carrying case.

Trivia

 * During the credits sequence, a present attached to a balloon appears in nearly every outdoor scene.