The How Beautiful It Is to Survive Movie: Too Hot for Theaters!

The How Beautiful It Is to Survive Movie: Too Hot For Theaters! (also known simply as The How Beautiful It Is to Survive Movie) is a 2003 American adult animated comedy film based on the hit The WB animated sitcom How Beautiful It Is to Survive. It was directed and written by series creator Terry Ward, produced by Peter Webber, and co-written by Matt Kelly and Dan McGrath. The film features the voices of Ward, Jennifer Hale, Richard Steven Horvitz, Gregg Berger and Lacey Chabert reprising their roles from the original series, with Uma Thurman, Jessica Biel and Will Ferrell joining as guest stars. The events take place during the fifth season of the series.

The story of the movie follows the three main characters, Geoff, Davy and Sean from the series. All the stories are linked in specific ways. In Davy's story, Roman Antonovich plans on becoming the president of Smokeville with help from his partner-in-crime Barry Sanford. Davy's storyline revolves around trying to stop them. In Geoff's storyline, after being crushed by his own boxes, Geoff is under the impression that Mr. Careidere (a parody of Mr. Belvedere, a character from 80's TV) has kidnapped his wife Lana. Geoff searches for his nemesis through the movie. And lastly, in Sean's storyline, Sean is arrested for apparently robbing the mansion of prize-winning celebrity Bella Crawford. Sean, who did not, must find the real culprit.

The How Beautiful It Is to Survive Movie: Too Hot For Theaters! was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures on April 25, 2003 to positive reviews from critics and audiences. The film was a box office success, grossing $148 million worldwide on a budget of $30 million, making it the TBA highest-grossing film based on an animated television series, and was the highest-grossing television adaptation animated film of all time until it was surpassed by The Simpsons Movie in 2007.

Plot
Davy (Richard Steven Horvitz) sets up a petition to make Luma Curman (Uma Thurman) the president of Smokeville, but however, his petition is interrupted by Roman Antonovich (Tim Curry) and Barry Sanford (Andy Dick), who claim that Roman should be president of Smokeville. After making his way to the garage, Davy decides that he would rather fail at petitions than let the president role fall into Roman Antonovich's hands, and self-destructs the garage. However, Roman reveals that he has come to trick him into destroying the garage. He then leaves in his helicopter (ridden by Barry Sanford), and blasts Davy off the roof. To discover Roman's plans, Davy infiltrates his hideout in the sewers. There, Davy finds the location of Roman's new hideout and promptly lays waste to the facility. Davy finds Roman and Barry at the top of a missile silo, planning to launch the rocket into orbit so he can project his message around the world. To add insult to injury, Eddie (Terry Ward) and Penny (Lacey Chabert) have been placed inside the rocket. Davy destroys the rocket, rescues Eddie and Penny, and has a final battle with Roman and Barry at the water tower. Roman uses a device to grow to tremendous size, but is defeated anyway. Before Davy can finish him off, he and Barry get sent to jail afterwards.

Sean's section of the movie sees him trying to prove his innocence when he is accused of robbing the mansion of prize-winning celebrity Bella Crawford (Jessica Biel). Sean (Gregg Berger) is forced to escape from prison and follow Bella's trails. This leads him to Nick Smith (Terry Ward) and Jeffrey Montes (Phil LaMarr) at the Smokeville News Station, which turns out to be a dead end. Sean's next stop is the Smokeville Talent Show, where Sean, disguised as a food vendor, finds some footprints of some strange person. He takes Bella's place in the catwalk, wins (by drugging the other celebrities), and draws the thief out. Sean reveals that the thief behind the robbing the mansion of Bella Crawford is Ted Norman (Terry Ward), thereby clearing his name.

Geoff (Terry Ward), after being smashed on the head by his own boxes, wakes up in the hospital and finds a ransom note done by Mr. Careidere (a parody of Mr. Belvedere, a character from 80's TV). Believing that Careidere has kidnapped his wife Lana (Jennifer Hale), Geoff rampages across town in an effort to destroy him and save his wife. He eventually arrives at Pizza Slice Palace, where he is hit in the head by the doors, opened by several African-Americans. Geoff takes on the persona of Kevin Delmer and destroys the entire arcade before waking up in the closet. Seeing that another ransom note done by Mr. Careidere states that he's at Las Vegas, Geoff travels there. As he enters, he takes another blow to the head when a prostitute unknowingly falls off a building. Geoff becomes Prostitute Geoff and destroys Las Vegas. He then takes a fourth blow to the head, now seeing that yet another ransom note done by Mr. Careidere states that he's at the docks. As he arrives, the debris of Roman's rocket crashes on him, and Geoff emerges as RoboDelmer, an android programmed to destroy Mr. Careidere. Crossing the dock and the beach, Geoff arrives at a cave and is forced into battle with what appears to be a black knight-looking dude named Sir Dante Dangeresque (Will Ferrell). Geoff defeats Sir Dante Dangeresque, but takes a final blow to the head when Sir Dante Dangeresque's helmet falls off and hits him. When he comes to, Lana confronts him, furious that Elijah had destroyed half of Smokeville looking for Careidere.

In the final part of the movie, Geoff decides to go in the house. There, he is confronted by Careidere, who rips off a disguise revealing none other than Troy Hickman (Thomas F. Wilson). In the final battle of the movie, Geoff defeats Troy, and just barely escapes a massive explosion in a penthouse, landing safely on top of Robert Villadsen (Matt Kelly) who, along with the rest of Geoff's family and friends, had inexplicably been standing in the middle of the street. After getting up from Robert and rejoining his family, Geoff sees another ransom note done by Mr. Careidere which turns out to be Keanu Reeves working on the ransom notes. Troy, as always, ends up surviving.

Voice cast
Main article: List of How Beautiful It Is to Survive characters


 * Terry Ward as Geoff Delmer / Eddie Delmer / Ted Norman / Nick Smith / Pizza Slice Palace Owner
 * Jennifer Hale as Lana Delmer / Matilda Villadsen
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Davy Delmer / Identical Japanese Bodybuilder Duo 34
 * Gregg Berger as Sean Delmer
 * Lacey Chabert as Penny Delmer
 * Uma Thurman as Luma Curman
 * Jessica Biel as Bella Crawford
 * Will Ferrell as Sir Dante Dangeresque
 * Tim Curry as Roman Antonovich
 * Andy Dick as Barry Sanford
 * Billy West as Frank McDilly
 * Grey DeLisle as Gladys Norman
 * Matt Kelly as Grodi Shelby / Robert Villadsen / Identical Japanese Bodybuilder Duo 82
 * Phil LaMarr as Jeffrey Montes
 * Thomas F. Wilson as Troy Hickman
 * Keanu Reeves as himself / Mr. Careidere
 * Brian Doyle-Murray as Captain Long John

Production
In 1999, shortly after the second season of How Beautiful It Is to Survive had finished, Terry Ward wanted to do a movie based on the series for Warner Bros. Pictures. In June 2000, it was announced that a How Beautiful It Is to Survive film was in the works at Warner Bros., slated for a December 6, 2002 release date, with the show's cast reprising their roles. Series creator Ward was hired to write and direct the feature film.

In April 2002, the film’s title and teaser poster debuted, and it was announced that Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell had joined the cast. In August 2002, it was announced that Jessica Biel joined the voice cast.

Release
The How Beautiful It Is to Survive Movie was originally scheduled for a theatrical release on December 6, 2002, but on November 6, 2001, production setbacks resulted in a push-back to March 14, 2003, while Analyze That was moved to fill in for the film's absence. On March 25, 2002, the film was then moved back to April 25, 2003 to avoid competition with Agent Cody Banks.

The film received a PG-13 rating by the MPAA due to “violence, language and obscene sexual content” making it the first Warner Bros. animated film to receive this rating. The film made its network premiere on The WB on July 24, 2005 and its cable premiere on TBS on August 28, 2005.

Marketing
A teaser trailer was released on June 14, 2002, and was attached to Scooby-Doo. The official theatrical trailer was released on December 20, 2002, and was released in theaters with Two Weeks Notice.

Home media
The film was released on DVD, D-VHS, and VHS on September 2, 2003. The film earned $49.6 million in DVD sales during the end of 2003. A special edition DVD was released on July 17, 2007. It was later released on Blu-ray in North America on November 20, 2012. An Ultra HD Blu-ray was released on February 25, 2020, containing a new 4K restoration.

Box office
Coming soon!

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The How Beautiful It Is to Survive Movie: Too Hot for Theaters! holds a 79% rating based on 212 reviews, with an average score of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The How Beautiful It Is to Survive Movie: Too Hot for Theaters! is unabashedly offensive, subversive and good-hearted, and unexpectedly funny in which that makes the show so popular." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 69 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades
Coming soon!