The Animal

Marvin Mange is an evidence clerk at the local Elkerton police precinct who dreams of becoming an officer like his late father. However, he repeatedly fails the physical examination. Marvin receives little respect from the populace and is especially tormented by Sergeant Doug Sisk. He is smitten with environmentalist Rianna Holmes but fumbles on a first encounter with her.

While alone at the station, Marvin receives an emergency call; with no officers available, he responds himself. While on the way, he drives off a cliff and is grievously injured. However, he is rescued by Dr. Wilder, a mad scientist, who saves his life by replacing his damaged body parts with animal organs. Days later, Marvin, unaware of what happened, resumes his normal life but discovers that he can now perform extraordinary physical feats and possesses keen animal-like instincts.

While visiting his friend Miles at an airport, Marvin sniffs out and apprehends a man attempting to smuggle drugs in his rectum. The event garners positive media attention and Marvin is promoted to full-fledged police officer assigned under Sisk.

Over several days, Marvin awakens from bouts of sleepwalking, hearing subsequent reports of attacks in the night being attributed to a savage beast. Wilder introduces himself to Marvin, cautioning him of his rising animalistic urges as side-effects of the operation. Despite continued predicaments and embarrassments caused by his instinctual animal behaviors, Marvin's abilities allow him to excel as an officer and bond with Rianna. However, Marvin is questioned after a brutal attack on a cow; a police sketch implicates Marvin as the culprit. Marvin is subsequently placed on leave.

Afraid of what he has become, Marvin barricades himself inside his home. Rianna arrives to comfort Marvin and the two spend the night together. The following morning, the police raid Marvin's home when they suspect him of mauling a hunter. Marvin escapes and flees into the woods. An armed mob headed by Sisk is formed, while Marvin's friends Miles and Fatty seek to warn him. Marvin encounters Wilder who confides the existence of another patient who had undergone the same procedure; he suspects the other patient is the real culprit.

Sisk's lone pursuit of Marvin results in a near-fatal fall into a chasm, but he is saved by the latter. Despite this, Sisk holds Marvin at gunpoint, but he is suddenly killed by Rianna; revealed to be Wilder's other patient. Rianna confesses that she was responsible for the hunter attack, justifying her actions in protecting an orphaned turkey vulture she reared and released back into the wild. The mob arrives, threatening to kill Marvin. Miles makes a false confession to being the beast to protect Marvin and Rianna. Due to the racial implications in prosecuting Miles, a Black American, the mob casually pardons him.

One year later, Marvin and Rianna have married, starting a family and opening an animal sanctuary. While watching television, they witness Dr. Wilder being awarded the Nobel Prize for his transplantation procedure.

Additionally, Philip Daniel Bolden, Megan Harvey, Mitch Holleman portray evidence room kids. Fred Stoller cameos as a news reporter. Noel Gugliemi cameos as a gang leader and Norm Macdonald as a gang member. Adam Sandler plays a townie, along with John Farley and Brianna Brown who are part of the angry mob. Wes Takahashi, former animator and visual effects supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic, makes a cameo appearance as a news reporter at Chief Wilson's press conference.^[3] Cloris Leachman and Harry Dean Stanton make uncredited cameos.

The script was originally sold to Walt Disney Pictures, who had placed the film into turnaround under new management and sold the script to Revolution Studios.^[4]

The Animal debuted on June 1, 2001, grossing $19.6 million U.S. in its opening weekend (#3 behind Shrek and Pearl Harbor). With a production budget of $47 million, the movie grossed $84,772,742 internationally.^[2]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 30% of 84 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "While less offensive and more charming than recent gross-humored comedies, The Animal is still rather mediocre."^[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 43 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+.^[7]

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "An outrageous and imaginative summer comedy."^[8][9][10] Robert Koehler of Variety magazine wrote: "The Animal is never more nor less than stupid, but stupid in ways that deliver goofiness rather than rampant humiliation."^[11]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone described it as "an Adam Sandler reject" and wondered how this "raunchy innuendo wrapped in a PG-13 rating" got past the censors.^[12]

Despite mostly negative critical reaction, at the time of its release film critic David Manning gave the film critical praise. In late 2001, Manning was revealed to be a fictitious character created by Sony to fake publicity for the film. At the time, Sony claimed that the error was due to a layout artist who entered 'dummy text' into print advertisements during their design, which was accidentally never replaced with real text.^[13]

In October 2022, it was announced a sequel is in development. In addition to reprising his role from the first film, Rob Schneider will also serve as director and utilize a script that he co-wrote with his wife Patricia Schneider and Jamie Lissow. Schneider will also serve as a producer on the movie alongside Michael McConnell. The project will be a joint-venture production between Content Partners, Revolution Studios, MarVista Entertainment, Zero Gravity Management, and Tubi Original Films. Intended to be released via streaming as an exclusive Tubi movie, the project is near being officially green-lit by the associated film studios. Principal photography commenced in early-2023, with its tentative release which was scheduled for later that year but is currently delayed.^[14]

• The Animal at IMDb