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
Doubutsu no Mori begins with a girl named Ai traveling by cab, driven by Kapp'n, to a far-away town called Animal Village. On the way, Ai is established as an enthusiastic and independent young girl, keen to experience life on her own. After being dropped off outside of the Town Hall, she is greeted by Pelly and Tortimer, who heckles her over the winter vote for mayor (and does not take it too well when she does not understand his question). She is given a map and is directed to Nook's Cranny. After finding her way there, she is quickly sent out on a bicycle to deliver lots of items by Tom Nook, the excuse being that she ought to greet the members of the town. Sent out with a pile of goods, Ai quickly becomes friends with the dramatic Rosie. She soon delivers a box of 500 pies to Alfonso but is abruptly interrupted by his cries of ecstasy for his delivery, and a boy dressed as a ninja with a net called Yu, causing Alfonso to give chase with his net leaving Ai to place the delivery in his house. She delivers to Whitney, who appears cold (much like snooty villagers) and asks her to place the delivery in her house for her, it is not until she starts walking away she then realizes that Ai is new. Ai leaves Whitney and goes to the Able Sisters, where she is greeted by Mabel. While making the delivery, she notices the clothes (a Bunny Shirt and Cherry Shirt) when suddenly Margie walks in and begins a conversation between the two sisters. She leaves them to talk and soon after Tom Nook is shown waving at Ai after a hard day's work. She leaves for her house, walking by the beach when she is confronted by Yu after having a Spider drop on her head; it is then revealed that Alfonso and Yu were competing against each other to catch it (much like the bug competitions in the game). After having a net dropped on her head and a Cockroach thrown at her face, the scene ends with her screaming in disgust.

On the second day, Ai is sent to do more deliveries, heading to Apollo's house (when a Common Butterfly flies past). Again, Yu interrupts, chasing a dragonfly. This knocks Ai into Apollo's flowerbed, crushing many of his blue roses. This causes Mr. Resetti to appear - about to give a lecture on town rules. He lets her off as it was an accident. He directs her to the The Roost to find Apollo. On this day, Hopper and Champ, who feature throughout the film as minor characters, are introduced.

In her search for the mysterious Apollo, Ai is directed to The Roost by Resetti. She walks into the Museum and finds an almost complete fossil exhibit, which causes her to scream. Blathers and Celeste come to see what happens. Ai notices that the fossils have information and find one fossil empty. Blathers starts mentioning facts about the empty fossil container and explains that it is his dream to see it filled. Celeste pulls her aside and directs her to the café.

Ai walks into The Roost and meets two people arguing about music over a table. After inquiring if either of them is Apollo, they burst out laughing — they are Cesar and Cyrano. They claim that Apollo has been very grumpy recently, but stop talking when he enters the room. Apollo then says someone destroyed his flowers, and Ai confesses and apologizes for killing his flowers. After finishing her deliveries, Ai heads home and says hello to Margie and quickly become friends. Ai learns that it is Margie's dream to become a designer. Margie refers to a person's talent as a "cherry pie" and subsequently shakes a cherry tree, giving some of its fruit to Ai. After some time, Yu and Alfonso start a fossil search and make Ai, Margie, and Rosie lead them to a cave full of fossils. As Yu tries to climb up to reach a higher one, the rocks begin to crumble and the group only just make it out. A few days later, there is a festival where K.K. Slider performs K.K. Bossa upon Margie's request. Soon after, Rosie tells Ai that Margie moved away in order to fulfill her dream of becoming a designer, which makes Ai upset because Margie never mentioned it, although she soon recovers. Ai soon discovers a secret Note in a Bottle saying, "Plant a conifer on the snow festival and something miraculous will happen". After she receives many more letters like the first, she plants what she is supposed to plant at the Winter Festival.

That is when Gulliver arrives in his broken ship and requests that the villagers find his missing pieces. Ai, Rosie, Yu, and Alfonso go to the same cave they visited in the summer, where they find Margie who had come for a visit. Yu retrieves the missing piece, which they return to the alien. However, Champ has also found the same piece, which confuses Gulliver. The piece Ai found turns out to be a whole separate alien, which thanks Ai before returning home. The trees Ai planted turn out to be in the shape of a star.

Main characters

 * Ai – The film's lead character; a young human girl who moves into Animal Village. Voiced by Yui Horie.
 * Halberd (Alfonso) – An alligator who is close to Yu. Voiced by Takatoshi Kaneko.
 * Peliko (Pelly) – The assistant to Tortimer, often located at the Town Hall. Voiced by Otoha.
 * Sally (Margie) – Close friend to Ai. Voiced by Fumiko Orikasa.
 * Sonchou (Tortimer) – The mayor of Animal Village. Voiced by Kenichi Ogata.
 * Bouquet (Rosie) – Close friends with Ai and Margie. Voiced by Fukuen Misato.
 * Tanukichi (Tom Nook) – Owner of a small shop and employer of Ai. Voiced by Naoki Tatsuta.
 * Yu – A human boy from a nearby village who likes to visit Animal Village. Voiced by Yū Kobayashi.

Minor characters

 * Apollo – Masaki Terasoma
 * Futa (Blathers) – Kappei Yamaguchi
 * Master (Brewster) – Takaya Hashi
 * Fuko (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

 * Shishō (Dr. Shrunk)
 * Honma-san (Lyle)
 * Mother (Kaitlin)
 * Maigo-chan (Katie)
 * Roland (Saharah)
 * Mamekichi (Timmy)
 * Tsubukichi (Tommy)

Production
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 every scene.