Ama and the Mysterious Crystal

Ama and the Mysterious Crystal (or simply known as Ama) is a 1997 American animated fantasy adventure film produced by Universal Feature Animation as its first film and project for Universal Pictures. It was directed by Michael Wildshill and written by Wildshill, Len Blum, Jonathan Roberts, and John August, and stars the voices of Christina Ricci, Jason Biggs, Jodi Benson, Martin Short, Patrick Stewart, and Jennifer Aniston. The film follows a young girl named Ama, who discovers a powerful magic crystal that came from the ancient city of Crystopia, where she learns that the ruthless sorcerer Lordous plans to place a spell that captures crystals from the city. Ama, along with her friend Edwin and her sister Shelly as well as Pongo the goat and Hubble the bird-like creature, embark on a journey to follow the crystal that prompts them to save the city and defeat Lordous.

Development of Ama began in 1993 after Universal Feature Animation was established, when Wildshill conceived its original plot. James Horner composed the music for the film. It was Universal Pictures' first animated film to be produced at its in-house feature animation studio, which was formed by artists who had worked for the recently disbanded Multimedia Animation led by Wildshill, as well as Walt Disney Feature Animation and Amblimation. The animation of the film combines 2D traditional hand-drawn animation with the extensive use of computer-generated imagery.

Ama and the Mysterious Crystal premiered at Los Angeles, California on December 10, 1997, and was released in theatres in North America on December 19, 1997. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, story, voice acting, and musical score, and earned over $324 million worldwide on its $44 million budget, making it the fifth-highest film release in 1997, the highest-grossing animated film of that year, as well as the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at the time. In recent years, the film has amassed a cult following. Ama was re-released in 3D on March 28, 2014. It later spawned an expanded franchise, with two direct-to-video followups, a television series, several video games, merchandise, and other media. A live-action remake was originally announced for a September 18, 2020 release, before being pulled.

Plot
At a makeshift campsite in the ancient city of Crystopia at early in the morning, a young man named Lordous manages to take a large spell book from a sleeping sorcerer inside one of the tents. As he leaves the tent, Lordous enters a cave with a large blue crystal floating in midair where he goes it and finds a page of the blue crystal in the book. He then chants a spell and later in the day, the other sorcerers go to the crystal but they disintegrate in front of it, and Lordous has the crystal to himself now, where he captures most of the crystals from the city with an exception of one powerfully magical crystal which got scattered far away from Crystopia.

Years later, in a small village near a coastline, 15-year-old Ama lives with her older sister Shelly and her pet goat Pongo alongside their windowed mother and dreams of traveling on an adventure on her own. She meets a nervous boy named Edwin, who Ama helps him find the mysterious crystal he discovered, and Ama curiously takes the crystal into her house. That night, Ama discovers a message from the Crystopia chief Urrkle on the crystal: "This crystal seems to be around hundreds of years old, comes from Crystopia, whenever I'm around it, I feel some sort of power off it, it's not strong, but it's noticeable."; this prompts Ama to save Crystopia with the crystal.

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Voice cast

 * Christina Ricci as Ama, an adventurous 15-year-old girl who attempts to save the city of Crystopia with the mysterious crystal. Alexander Bates served as the supervising animator for Ama.
 * Jason Biggs as Edwin, a geeky and nervous boy who wants to help Ama on her journey to defeat Lordous. Randy Travelers served as the supervising animator for Edwin.
 * Jodi Benson as Shelly, Ama's older sister. Victor Eisenberg served as the supervising animator for Shelly.
 * Martin Short as Hubble, a bird-like creature magically created by the Crystopians who befriends Ama, Edwin, and Shelly. Bob Cokinn served as the supervising animator for Hubble.
 * Patrick Stewart as Lordous, a sorcerer obsessed with crystals who places a spell that captures them from Crystopia. William Jennings served as the supervising animator for Lordous.
 * Jennifer Aniston as Ama and Shelly's Mother. Jack Reed served as the supervising animator for Ama and Shelly's Mother.
 * Jim Cummings as Urrkle, the chief of Crystopia. Phil Nibbelink served as the supervising animator for Urrkle.
 * Frank Welker as Pongo, Shelly's pet goat. John Madson served as the supervising animator for Pongo.
 * Welker also voices the Monstrous Lizard.
 * Edie McClurg as Edwin's Mother
 * Neil Ross as Oak
 * Michael Wildshill as Cal
 * Roger L. Jackson as Xan
 * Tress MacNeille as Native

Additional voices

 * Jack Angel
 * Bob Bergen
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Philip L. Clarke
 * Kendall Cunningham
 * Jennifer Darling
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Bill Farmer
 * Jack Fletcher
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Mickie T. McGowan
 * Denise Pickering
 * Patrick Pinney
 * Phil Proctor
 * Jan Rabson
 * Erik Von Detten
 * Lillias White

Development
During the production of Multimedia's The Three Princes and Their Beasts in early 1993, then-MCA president Sid Sheinberg convinced Multimedia animator Michael Wildshill to launch a new animation studio for Universal Pictures, in which Wildshill agreed. Not long before the public announcement of Universal Feature Animation in May, Wildshill pitched several ideas to Universal, one of which immediately went into development under the title Legend of the Magic Crystal following the foundation of the new animation studio.

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Writing
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Animation
The film was mainly animated at the main Universal Feature Animation facility located in Universal City, California.

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Casting
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Release
Ama and the Mysterious Crystal was originally slated for release on November 26, 1997, but by February 1997, it was later pushed back a month later to December 19, 1997 to avoid competition with Flubber, as well as Anastasia and the re-release of The Little Mermaid. The release date change was a few days after Warner Bros. changed the release date of Quest for Camelot, from November 1997 to May 1998.

On September 29, 1997, Universal screened the film's first 30 minutes, which received a positive reaction. The film held its premiere at Los Angeles on December 10, 1997, with its wide release occurring on December 19. It was also screened out of competition at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. After the success of the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park, Universal announced a 3D re-release of Ama scheduled for January 31, 2014, but this was pushed back to March 28, 2014. The film later played a limited engagement in the Microsoft Theater at Los Angeles, California from December 2017 to January 2018 for its 20th anniversary. AMC Theatres screened the movie from February 7-13, 2020.

Marketing
Marketing for the film included $40 million spent by Universal for advertising, as well as partnerships with Mattel, Pizza Hut, Oreo, Motel 6, Kellogg's, Gingo, and NBC. It also partnered with Random House to produce children's books based on the film.

Home media
Ama and the Mysterious Crystal was released by Universal Studios Home Video on VHS and LaserDisc on May 26, 1998, with no bonus material. In the first week of this release, VHS rentals totaled $4.8 million, debuting Ama as the week's No. 1 video. Over 19.5 million VHS copies were sold the first year.

The film was released for the first time on DVD on December 12, 2000 as a 2-Disc Collector's Edition, in both Widescreen and full screen versions. It included an audio commentary track recorded by the filmmakers, behind-the-scenes footage, and supplements that detailed the film's development. On April 17, 2001, the film was re-released on both VHS and DVD, but this time as the first release to be part of the Universal Animated Features Collection. This release sold two million copies. On June 19, 2007, a 2-disc "10th Anniversary Edition" was released featuring much of the bonus material from the 2000 DVD with new extra features added. Ama was first made available on Blu-ray on September 13, 2011. It was later released on Blu-ray 3D on June 17, 2014.

An Ultra HD Blu-ray was released on December 19, 2017 for the film's 20th anniversary containing a new 4K restoration and a DTS:X audio remix.

On September 1, 2017, Ama became available on Netflix.

Box office
The film was released on December 19, 1997 in the United States and Canada, and made $22,474,839 in its opening weekend from 2,483 theaters, ranking as #3 behind Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies. It closed on May 21, 1998 after earning $107,214,113 in the United States and Canada with an additional $217,432,840 overseas for a worldwide total of $324,646,953. Ama became the first non-Disney animated feature to gross over $100 million in the US. It remained the top-grossing non-Disney animated film until being surpassed by DreamWorks' Shrek in 2001, and remained the highest-grossing traditionally animated non-Disney film until 2007, when it was out-grossed by 20th Century Fox's The Simpsons Movie.

The film was released in the United Kingdom on March 13, 1998, and opened at number three, Titanic and Good Will Hunting.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a score of 81% based on 64 reviews with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "It may feel unpolished in some spots, but Ama and the Mysterious Crystal is, in the end, a vivid, adventurous, and charming experience." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100 points, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, saying: "Ama and the Mysterious Crystal is, overall, beautifully animated and very entertaining for the whole family." Richard Corliss of Time reviewed the film positively, calling it an "absolute classic". However, Anita Gates of The New York Times gave a negative review of the film saying, "This new Disney wannabe from Universal Studios feels bland and flat-out predictable."

Accolades
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Legacy

 * See also: Ama (franchise)

Sequels

 * Main articles: Ama II: Return to Crystopia and Ama: The Lost Crystals

In January 1998, Universal announced it was planning a sequel to Ama. The sequel, titled Ama II: Return to Crystopia, was released on DVD and VHS on March 21, 2000, with Kath Soucie replacing Ricci as the voice of Ama. Ama II picks up where the 1997 feature film left off. This film also serves as the pilot for the television spin-off.

A direct-to-video followup to Ama, titled Ama: The Lost Crystals, was released on February 5, 2008.

Television series
A spin-off animated series, simply titled Ama, ran from 2000 to 2002, on Gingo and later USA Kids. Produced and developed by Universal Television Animation, the series is set one year after the events of the 1997 film.

Video games
A video game based on the film was developed by Traveller's Tales, Tiertex Design Studios and Tiger Electronics and released by Universal Interactive Studios and THQ for various systems including PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Color and Game.com. The game's storyline was similar to the film's, with a few changes. The game received mixed to positive reviews.

Another game inspired by the film entitled Ama and the Mysterious Crystal Activity Center was developed by Sound Source Interactive and published by Digital Media International in partnership with Universal in November 1997 for PC. It features 10 games and a bonus level that can be attained if a certain item is obtained in a game. Yet another PC game titled Ama and the Mysterious Crystal Animated Moviebook was released, also developed by Sound Source Interactive and published by Digital Media International.

Other media
Ama and the other Universal Animation characters will make guest appearances in the upcoming 2022 film Computeropolis 5.

Proposed live-action film adaptation
On September 13, 2018, Universal announced that a live-action remake of Ama was in production which would begin filming in 2019. The movie would've been written and directed by Spike Jonze and produced by Heal H. Moritz under his Original Film company. On November 7, 2018, it was announced that the movie would be released on May 8, 2020, with Chloë Grace Moretz in the talks for the starring role as the titular protagonist. On April 12, 2019, it was announced that the movie would be pushed back to September 18, 2020, taking over the original release date of DreamWorks Animation's The Croods 2. However, on November 17, 2019, the film was pulled from Universal's release schedule.

Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.