Rumble (2021 film)

Rumble is a 2021 American animated sports comedy film directed by Hamish Grieve (in his directional debut) with a screenplay by Grieve and Matt Lieberman. Loosely based on Monster on the Hill, a graphic novel by Rob Harrell, the film stars the voices of Will Arnett, Geraldine Viswanathan, Terry Crews, Stephen A. Smith, Jimmy Tatro, Tony Danza, Susan Kelechi Watson, Tony Shalhoub, Bridget Everett, Greta Lee, Ben Schwartz, Roman Reigns and Becky Lynch.

Produced by Paramount Animation, WWE Studios, Walden Media and Reel FX Animation Studios, the film was released in the United States on December 15, 2021 on Paramount+. The film received mixed reviews from critics with criticism for its writing, characters, and pacing, although the animation and voice acting received some praise.

Plot
In a world where giant monsters and humans coexist, monsters compete in a popular professional wrestling global sport known as monster wrestling, with each city having its own monster wrestler. After the current wrestler for the small town of Stoker, the shark-like Tentacular, becomes the new world champion, he announces he no longer wants to represent Stoker. The townspeople are later told if they do not find a new wrestler, they will lose the town's stadium and its revenue, which prompts wrestling enthusiast Winnie Coyle to search for a new monster representative for her town.

Winnie heads to an underground fight and finds Rayburn Jr., the son of Stoker’s late champion Rayburn Sr., fighting under the name of "Steve the Stupendous". Winnie interferes in the match and causes Steve to win instead of taking a dive, as the underground arena employer Lady Mayhen wanted. Steve is confronted by Lady Mayhen and threatened unless he can get her back the money she just lost. Winnie tells Steve she can help him get the money by training him to fight Tentacular. Realizing he has no other way to make the money, Steve agrees to be trained.

Steve initially is uninterested in learning how to fight properly and wins his first match by evading his opponent. Steve later tells Winnie he left Stoker because everyone saw him as an extension of his father and could not live up to his name. Winnie learns Steve loves dancing and decides to train him using dance moves. As they progress up the league's rankings, Tentacular announces he and his agent have bought Stoker's stadium and want to demolish it as Tentacular sees it as a reminder that he will be always compared to Rayburn. Even though Steve repays Lady Mayhen, he decides to help Winnie, reveals his identity as Rayburn's son, and challenges Tentacular to a match for the stadium.

During the fight, Steve avoids most of the hits by Tentacular in the first round, but Tentacular counters his dance moves in the second round. After convincing Winnie not to give up, Steve, in the third round, lands several hits with his dance moves. Winnie tells Steve to use Tentacular's suckers to stick him to one of the corner posts. When Steve goes in for the final move, he and Tentacular collide and are both knocked out. Tentacular gets up first but is too rattled to end the match. The crowd gets Steve back up by clapping a salsa beat and he is able to defeat Tentacular, becoming the new monster wrestling champion and saving the stadium.

Cast

 * Will Arnett as Steve/Rayburn Jr., a giant red reptilian monster and amateur wrestler with a passion for dancing
 * Gracen Newton as young Steve/Rayburn Jr.
 * Geraldine Viswanathan as Winnie Coyle, an aspiring monster wrestling trainer and Jimbo's daughter
 * Kaya McLean as young Winnie
 * Terry Crews as Tentacular, a shark-headed tentacled monster who is the reigning Monster Wrestling champion and is jealous of Rayburn Sr.'s legacy
 * Fred Melamed as the Mayor
 * Charles Barkley as Rayburn Sr., Steve's late father and champion
 * Chris Eubank as King Gorge, a horned bulldog-like monster and former monster wrestling champion
 * Bridget Everett as Lady Mayhen, a toucan-like monster with manicured nails who runs the underground wrestling matches
 * Ben Schwartz as Jimothy Brett-Chadley III, Tentacular's snooty agent
 * Brian Baumgartner as Klonk, a warthog-like monster
 * Jimmy Tatro as Lights Out McGinty/Mac, an anglerfish-like monster and wrestling commentator
 * Becky Lynch as Axehammer, a reptile-like monster from the underground wrestling
 * Roman Reigns as Ramarilla Jackson, a gorilla-like monster with ram horns
 * Tony Danza as Siggy, Tentacular's elderly coach who was Jimbo Coyle's former assistant and protégé
 * Susan Kelechi Watson as Maggie Coyle, Winnie's mother and Jimbo's widow
 * Carlos Gomez as Jimbo Coyle, a legendary monster wrestling trainer and Winnie's late father
 * Stephen A. Smith as Marc Remy, a monster wrestling commentator
 * Michael Buffer as a Stoker announcer
 * Tony Shalhoub as Fred, a man who owns a diner in Stoker
 * Greta Lee as the Councilwoman
 * John DiMaggio as Tattoo Guy and Betting Guy
 * Jamal Duff as Denise
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Nerdle, a spider monkey-like monster
 * Chris Anthony Lansdowne as Farmer
 * Christopher Knights as King Gorge's Coach
 * Fred Tatasciore as Referee

Production
On February 18, 2015, Reel FX Creative Studios announced an adaptation of the 2013 graphic novel Monster on the Hill by Rob Harrell, to be written by Matt Lieberman. On April 25, 2018, Paramount Animation announced that joined the film as a co-producer, with Walden Media, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. DisneyToon Studios vet Bradley Raymond was originally going to direct the film, but due to unknown reasons, he was eventually replaced by DreamWorks Animation veteran Hamish Grieve, head of story for films such as Rise of the Guardians and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, thus making his directorial debut. On June 12, 2019, the title was changed to Rumble.

Casting
The first casting announcement consisted of Geraldine Viswanathan, Will Arnett, and Terry Crews. Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns, Ben Schwartz, Jimmy Tatro, Tony Danza, Susan Kelechi Watson, Carlos Gómez, Charles Barkley, Chris Eubank, Bridget Everett, Michael Buffer, and Stephen A. Smith, revealing their involvement in the film.

Release
On September 19, 2019, the film was scheduled to be released on July 31, 2020. On November 12, 2019, the release date was pushed to January 29, 2021. On October 27, 2020, the release date was then moved to May 14, 2021, and moved again on January 27, 2021 to February 18, 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On November 26, 2021, the film made one final move to December 15, 2021, as a Paramount+ exclusive, cancelling its theatrical release altogether.

Home media
Rumble was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on October 18, 2022 by Paramount Home Entertainment.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 44% based on reviews from 16 critics, with an average rating of 5.20/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".