Rock Dog

Rock Dog (, literally Rock and Roll Tibetan Mastiff) is a 2016 animated comedy film directed by Ash Brannon (in his solo directorial debut), from a script by Brannon and Kurt Voelker. Produced by Mandoo Pictures and Huayi Brothers, the film is loosely based on the Chinese graphic novel Tibetan Rock Dog by Zheng Jun. It features the voices of Luke Wilson, J. K. Simmons, Eddie Izzard, Lewis Black, Kenan Thompson, Mae Whitman, Jorge Garcia, Matt Dillon, and Sam Elliott. The film focuses on a young Tibetan Mastiff who leaves his mountain home village to become a rock musician in the big city after a radio falls from the sky.

Rock Dog was released on July 8, 2016, in China by Huayi Brothers and on February 24, 2017, in the United States by Summit Premiere. The film received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office, grossing $24 million worldwide against a production budget of $60 million.

Two straight-to-DVD and blu-ray sequels followed. The second, titled Rock Dog 2: Rock Around the Park, was released on June 15, 2021, and the third, titled Rock Dog 3: Battle the Beat, was released on January 24, 2023. None of the principal voice cast from the original film reprised their roles in the later titles, except for Izzard as Angus Scattergood.

Plot
Teenage Tibetan Mastiff Bodi is expected to be the next guard of the village of Snow Mountain; succeeding his father Khampa, who years ago drove out a pack of gangster grey wolves, led by the villainous Linnux. To maintain the illusion of multiple guards, Khampa has local sheep disguised as Mastiffs. However, Bodi struggles to master the Iron Paw, a powerful move that requires him to "find the fire". Khampa has banned music in the village to prevent distractions.

One day after a failed training session, Bodi indirectly causes a nearby flying plane to drop a package, which includes a radio. Entranced with British rock legend Angus Scattergood, Bodi defies his father by modifying a traditional dramyin into a conventional Western guitar and neglecting his duties to pursue music. Despite an incident where Bodi mistakenly alerts the village to a false alarm, elder Fleetwood Yak convinces Khampa to let Bodi follow his dream, giving him a bus ticket to the city with a promise to return if unsuccessful. At the bus station, Bodi is discovered by two of Linnux's henchman, Riff and Skozz, and he orders them to kidnap Bodi, reasoning it is his chance to take over Snow Mountain.

In the city, Bodi heads to Rock and Roll Park, hoping to follow in Scattergood’s footsteps. He attempts to join a band consisting of the down-to-earth fox Darma and absent-minded goat drummer Germur. However, Bodi is humiliated after losing a guitar contest to arrogant snow leopard Trey, who after discovering Bodi's idolization for Scattergood, manipulates him into convincing Scattergood to give him some guitar lessons at his mansion. At Scattergood's mansion, he is revealed to be a white Persian cat who wears black sunglasses all the time and has a serious case of writer's block, with his only companion being his robot butler Ozzie.

When Bodi tries to meet Scattergood, he is put off by Bodi's attitude and tries to evade him. Eventually, Bodi and Scattergood get lost in a back alley and Bodi decides to play music at Rock and Roll Park to get money for Scattergood to return to his mansion. However, Riff and Skozz mistakenly kidnap Scattergood after they see Bodi at the park; Riff and Skozz drop Scattergood off at his home and continue their search for Bodi. Scattergood believes his career is over since he has less than a day to write a new song, when he hears Bodi playing on his guitar and invites him into his home with the facade of a "guitar lesson", creating a new song called "Glorious". Back at Rock and Roll park, Bodi feels betrayed when Scattergood takes full credit for the song they wrote together on a radio. Trey mocks Bodi and everyone in the park leaves, with Darma and Germur feeling sorry for him. Soon after, Bodi is captured by Linnux's henchmen via tranquilizer darts, who inadvertently reveals the fake Mastiff guards under interrogation. Linnux plans an attack on Snow Mountain, while Bodi is put into a boxing match at Linnux's Fight Palace, but Bodi cleverly has his opponent break the cage surrounding them so he can escape.

Scattergood, guilt-tripped by Ozzie for exploiting Bodi for his own selfishness, uses his old tour bus to find him and apologize. At Rock and Roll Park, Scattergood meets with Darma and Germur and discover Bodi's capture when they see his dart-covered guitar. Scattergood forgoes sending in his new song to rescue Bodi. Meeting Bodi outside of Linnux's hideout, Scattergood makes amends by giving his old acoustic guitar with his autograph. Linnux and his gang overpower Khampa and the whole village and attempt to devour the villagers, but Bodi appears. In a climactic showdown, Bodi finds his inner fire through music, using Scattergood's guitar to levitate everyone, subduing the wolves. Khampa banishes Linnux with his Iron Paw and embraces Bodi's musical aspirations.

At the city, Scattergood publicly credits Bodi for “Glorious”. Bodi forms a band with Darma and Germur, and they perform the song to the city, including the Snow Mountain villagers, Khampa, redeemed wolves, and other friends, while Trey comically fails to gain entry to the venue.

Voice cast

 * Luke Wilson as Bodi, a young Tibetan Mastiff who is eternally optimistic and wants nothing more than to play rock music.
 * Adam Friedman provides Bodi's English singing voice, including the final song "Glorious".
 * J. K. Simmons as Khampa, Bodi's father, an elder Tibetan Mastiff who takes his duties as the village guard extremely seriously and despises music after defeating the wolves at one point.
 * Eddie Izzard as Angus Scattergood (安格斯·史卡特古德), a British Persian cat rock legend who is suffering from a serious case of songwriter's block.
 * Lewis Black as Linnux, the CEO of Linnux Industries, alpha male wolf of a sinister wolf gang, and club owner of the Fight Palace.
 * Kenan Thompson as Riff, the smallest henchman in the wolf pack. He tries to take on jobs bigger than himself just to impress his boss Linnux, but they almost always result in epic failure due to the lack of unity between him and his absent-minded partner, Skozz.
 * Mae Whitman as Darma, a red fox who has been playing her bass guitar at Rock n' Roll Park for years.
 * Jorge Garcia as Germur (格尔穆尔), an absent-minded goat drummer.
 * Matt Dillon as Trey (特雷), an arrogant and egotistic snow leopard who humiliates Bodi in Rock n' Roll park.
 * Sam Elliott as Fleetwood Yak, a wise and elderly yak who is Snow Mountain's village elder. His name is a pun on the British rock band Fleetwood Mac.
 * Liza Richardson as Radio DJ
 * Ash Brannon as Ian, Scattergood's impatient manager who is only heard when he talks to Scattergood on the phone.
 * Will Finn as Floyd, a sheep barber
 * Finn also voices Carl, another sheep

Additional voices are provided by Julie Craig, Deng Feng, Kellen Goff, Jennifer Hale, and Matt Taylor.

Production
The film was animated by Reel FX, which produced Free Birds (2013) and the Golden Globe-nominated The Book of Life (2014). Rock Dog cost $60 million to produce, making it the most expensive Chinese-financed animated production.

The film is dedicated to producer David B. Miller who died while riding his mountain bike near his Topanga home.

Release
The film premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival, which took place between June 11 and June 19, 2016. It was released in China the following month on July 8. In the United States, the film was theatrically released on February 24, 2017, by Lionsgate through its Summit Premiere label.

During its original theatrical run, Wanda Cinema Line withheld most Chinese theaters from showing Rock Dog, limiting the film's box office in China. Allegedly, this was due to a conflict with Huayi Bros.

Home media
Rock Dog was released on Digital HD on May 9, 2017, and on DVD and Blu-ray on May 23.

Box office
Rock Dog grossed $9.4 million in the United States and $14.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $24.1 million, against a production budget of $60 million.

In the United States, Rock Dog was released alongside Collide and Get Out, and was expected to gross $6–7 million from 2,077 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up grossing just $3.7 million, finishing 11th at the box office and marking one of the worst-ever debuts for a film playing in over 2,000 theaters.

The film had a poor opening weekend in China, eventually earning $5.7 million. It was suggested that the largest Chinese theater chain, Wanda Cinema Line, attempted to limit the number of screens the film would be shown on. The film was shown only on seven of Wanda's screens—0.3 percent of all its screens in China. Huayi Bros., the film's production company and an owner of a competing theater chain, poached Wanda's executive Jerry Ye a few months before the film's release and made him CEO of its film division.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Rock Dog is amiable enough, but its second-tier animation and uninspired story add up to a movie whose meager charms are likely to escape all but the youngest and least demanding viewers." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average to reviews, the film has a score 48 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequels
A sequel to the film, Rock Dog 2: Rock Around the Park, was made available for digital download on June 11, 2021, followed by a June 15 release for DVD and Blu-ray. Taking place a year later, Bodi and his band True Blue work with pop sensation Lil' Foxy, while learning about the price of fame and being true to yourself.

Another sequel, titled Rock Dog 3: Battle the Beat, which is the third installment of the trilogy, was released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download on January 24, 2023. In the film, Bodi is compelled to join the music competition show Battle the Beat to restore Angus Scattergood's good name. None of the original cast members reprised their roles for both sequels except Izzard.