Jonah; a VeggieTales Movie (partially found deleted content of animated film; 2002)

Poster for the film.

Status: Partially Found

Jonah: a VeggieTales Movie is a 2002 computer-animated feature film based on the hit children's series VeggieTales, made by Big Idea Productions and distributed by Artisan Entertainment. It is a retelling of the biblical story of Jonah. It was The film premiered on August 14, 2002, arrived at local theaters on October 4, 2002, and made $25.6 million at the box office.

Deleted Content

Twisted Leafies

Originally, there was going to be a snack food on the ship of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" called Mr. Twisty's Twisted Leafies. These would have been eaten by Khalil the Caterpillar (as a reference to caterpillars eating leaves). However, the ending was revamped (see below), which included a new element in the plot, Mr. Twisty's Cheese Curl Sweepstakes. To match up with the ending, the Twisted Leafies were replaced with Mr. Twisty's Twisted Cheese Curls. The majority of animation featuring the cheese curls at that point, however, still featured the Twisted Leafies logo. This was noticed near the end of production and was eventually changed to Twisted Cheese Curls. One shot near the end in the final release of the film still contains the Twisted Leafies logo. Info on this can be found in the Jonah audio commentary.

Original Ending

While writing the script, directors Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki noticed that the sailors in the first two chapters of Jonah mirrored the king and courts of Nineveh in the last two chapters. This caused them to cast Pa Grape as the king of Nineveh. However, this ending made absolutely no sense, as Pa Grape was already the captain of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" at the beginning of the film. This caused the entire ending to be completely rewritten, re-casting a new character as the King of Nineveh, and adding new plot elements. Very few storyboards can be found of this ending.

Belly of the Whale - Phil Vischer Cut

Belly of the Whale is a song written by Steve Taylor and Peter Furler, and performed by the Christian rock band Newsboys, that plays in the credits of the film. While starting development on the song, Steve initially approached Phil Vischer to co-write the song, but he was too busy handling the film at the time. After a while, he sat down and wrote his own set of lyrics. By the time he sent them to Steve, however, the song had already been recorded. None of these alternate lyrics have ever surfaced.

Gallery

Audio commentary for Jonah: a VeggieTales Movie, giving details about the deleted content. (12:43-13:22, 1:01:23-1:02:12), and (1:19:31-1:20:00).

Info about the original ending. (1:59-2:36)

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  Concept art for the original ending.

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  Storyboard for the original ending. (1/4)

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  Storyboard for the original ending. (2/4)

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  Storyboard for the original ending. (3/4)

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  Storyboard for the original ending. (4/4)

See Also

• Bob & Larry Family Fun (lost content of VeggieTales DVD; 2003)
• Dove Awards: Bob and Larry segments (partially found footage from award show; 1996-1997)
• Duke and the Great Pie War (found online VeggieTales game; 2005)
• GRAFx Studios (partially found production material; 1989-1993)
• He is That Hero (found extended version of "LarryBoy: The Cartoon Adventures" theme song; early 2000s)
• Khalil and the Big Gulp (lost cancelled promotional children's book based on "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie"; 2003)
• Mr. Cuke's Screen Test (found "VeggieTales" animation test; 1991)
• Os Amigos Vegetais (partially found "VeggieTales" Brazilian spin-off TV series; 2005)
• Silly Songs with Larry Musical E-Card (lost animated e-card; 2001)
• Take 38 (found VeggieTales promotional short; 1992)
• The Bob & Larry Movie (lost production material of cancelled "VeggieTales" animated film; 2005)
• Tornado Hunters (partially found Silly Song segment of VeggieTales direct-to-video series; early 2010s)
• VeggieTales (lost radio adaptation of CGI animated series; 2006)
• VeggieTales (found NBC TV version of CGI animated series; 2006)
• VeggieTales (non-existent alternate joke endings to episodes of Christian children’s animated series; late 1990s-early 2000s)
• VeggieTales (partially found radio interview discs from Christian animated children's series; late 1990s-2000s)
• VeggieTales.com (partially found series of online games from website; 2011-2013)
• VeggieTales at Dollywood/Silver Dollar City (partially found live shows based on animated series; 2002-2008)
• VeggieTales Dance Party (lost material of scrapped mobile app; 2014)
• VeggieTales Live! (partially found live shows based on animated series; 2002-2015)
• VeggieTales/Nashville Predators (partially lost VeggieTales hockey pumpers; 2012)
• VeggieTales: Special Edition (found magazines based on animated series; 2004-2006)
• VeggieTales: Whale-Watching Party (partially found event kit based on animated movie; 2002)
• VeggieTales "Where's God When I'm S-Scared?" (found original version of animated series episode; 1993)
• VeggieTown Values (found series of VBS videos; 1998-2001)
• Was He a Boy Like Me? (lost VeggieTales animated music video; 2006)