Timothy McSweeney's Header Image

Through this Friday, all available back issues of Wholphin are half off—10 bucks apiece for countless warm evenings of rare films, featuring Miranda July, Paul Rudd, Donald Trump, and a monkey-faced eel.

- - - -

THE
CALVIN AND HOBBES
MOVIE
.

BY SAM JOHNSON

- - - -

The story is based on this truck decal I saw where Calvin is peeing on a Ford logo. Since the story is grounded in real life, I got rid of Hobbes. Is he a toy or a talking tiger? Tigers don't talk. Doesn't make sense. So he's gone, as is everything else about the comic strip. It's too wordy and confusing. In the movie, Calvin is this lovable-loser type who pees on corporate logos in his little hometown in central California (Centerville). His girlfriend's dad makes her dump him because he pees on the dad's real-estate-company logo. Calvin is so depressed he leaves town. On the way out, he decides to pee on a Ford logo at a Ford dealership. Big mistake. He's busted. But instead of going to jail, he's sent to the Ford headquarters, in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford VII tells him that Ford is a dying company. It's in deep shit, being totally screwed by foreign competition. Henry Ford VII needs Calvin's help for one last, desperate measure. Under cover of darkness, Calvin is sent to a Mexican car company. It's the biggest car company in the world, but most of the workers are practically slaves and nobody likes it there. But that's how it makes huge profits: shitty cars, slave labor, high prices. That is, until Calvin pees on the Mexican car company's corporate logo (a Mexican in a sombrero and cape taking a siesta). Some guys from Ford take a picture of Calvin peeing on the logo, and the picture gets put in papers everywhere. But mostly it's printed in the U.S., where people go apeshit for it. It's a huge embarrassment to the Mexican car company to have this gringo dude pee on their logo. And Calvin becomes the most revered American of all time. He pees on a bunch of other foreign corporate logos. He's this huge deal, and it sort of goes to his head. He becomes a big asshole who gets millions of dollars for making public appearances and peeing on logos. Then, one time, he gets really drunk and completely misses a Nissan logo and pees on a little girl instead. He's booed by all the people watching. And the little girl cries. He sort of laughs at her, then he sees his old girlfriend standing in the crowd. He feels ashamed because he's forgotten the real Calvin: a smalltime dreamer who pees on logos in Centerville, California. Calvin gives up the highlife and goes home. He gets rid of the entourage and the media and the trappings of success, and tries to live normally so he can win back his girl. He helps his neighbors, he bags groceries, he walks dogs, etc. He's just trying to get back to reality. But it's then when he's most vulnerable, and the foreign corporations send their assassins, led by Professor Edward Tang, who has invented something called the "Atom Bullet." It's sick! But with the help of his neighbors, and after a few narrow escapes, Calvin defeats him. And, in the end, he gets his girlfriend back. Although her dad is killed by this Mexican guy. Other than that, though, it's a happy ending.

- - - -

OTHER McSWEENEY'S FEATURES:

- - - -

The Calvin and Hobbes Movie By Sam Johnson
Report on the Internal Investigation Into the Hansel and Gretel "Gingerbread Incident" By Brian Walton
A Memo From Sony Computer Entertainment America's Executive Vice President Andrew House to the New PlayStation Next Generation Design Team By John Frank Weaver
Pelé Gets "a Brazilian" By Pasha Malla

- - - -

MAIN PAGE   |   ARCHIVES

 

Memories of Amanda Davis

 


Red dot denotes content that is new today.

Black dot denotes newish content.

McSWEENEY'S STORE

SUBSCRIBE TO:
McSWEENEY'S
THE BELIEVER
WHOLPHIN

FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS

THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD

INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE

THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING

McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST

McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES

ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
FOR BOOKS
FOR THE QUARTERLY
FOR THE WEBSITE
FOR WHOLPHIN

McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS

CONTACT US

- - - -

LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S

LISTS

McSWEENEY'S PREDICTS

McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS

NEW WHOLPHIN FILM

DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST

JOKES BY BRIAN BEATTY

REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD

DISPATCHES FROM MOSCOW

SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT?

DISPATCHES FROM THE ANACOSTIA

THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL

BEN GREENMAN'S FAKE CELEBRITY MUSICALS

DISPATCHES FROM A HUMANITARIAN JOURNALIST

DEB OLIN UNFERTH'S SICK OF THE REVOLUTION

DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ

SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES

PHILIP GRAHAM SPENDS A YEAR IN LISBON

STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE

DISPATCHES FROM THE NAPOLEONIC WARS AT THE MET

KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE

SONGS OF ENEMIES AND DESERTS: LIVING WITH THE SUDAN LIBERATION ARMY

LAWRENCE WESCHLER'S EVERYTHING THAT RISES: A BOOK OF CONVERGENCES

THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST

ABOUT WHAT IS THE WHAT

ABOUT BOWL OF CHERRIES

ABOUT COMEDY BY THE NUMBERS

ABOUT JOHN BRANDON'S ARKANSAS

ABOUT MICHAEL CHABON'S MAPS AND LEGENDS

ABOUT UNDERGROUND AMERICA

ABOUT DEB OLIN UNFERTH'S VACATION

LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY

DISPATCHES FROM ADJUNCT FACULTY AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY

ADVICE FROM A PERSON WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY

DISPATCHES FROM THE NBA ENTERTAINMENT LEAGUE

JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES

B.R. COHEN'S ANNALS OF SCIENCE

INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS

OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND

DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN

MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY

DISPATCHES FROM ROY KESEY, AN AMERICAN GUY MARRIED TO
A PERUVIAN DIPLOMAT LIVING IN CHINA


DAN KENNEDY SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS WITH PAPER

STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT

- - - -

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL