December 4th, 2023 
Jackson Murphy Nickelodeon’s popular Baby Shark’s Big Show expands to feature-length format for the hilarious and heartwarming Baby Shark’s Big Movie. It premieres this Friday December 8th on Paramount+. Writer Whitney Ralls and director Alan Foreman join me for this Animation Scoop Q&A to talk about the film they hope earns wave reviews from families this holiday season. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Whitney, did you watch the Thanksgiving Parade with the Baby Shark float and balloon and [K-Pop group] ENHYPEN in it?
Whitney Ralls: Obviously! I’m full blown ENGENE. Gotta support the boys, ENHYPEN. Very stoked we got to collaborate with them on this.
JM: They’re a lot of fun in the movie. And Alan, with this movie having so much [promotional] presence online and at the parade, that’s gotta make you feel good.
Alan Foreman: Oh, super exciting. Getting to see the promotion behind it has really been a thrill. The folks that we’ve worked with during the whole production have been so wonderful.
JM: Lance Bass voices a version of himself as a fish. There are so many fun details. Whitney, we spoke a couple years ago for the series, and I have to complement you again because the writing is so smart in this movie. So sharp. The self-deprecating humor, especially about the “Baby Shark” song, is really spot on.
WR: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. That means a lot. We wanted to have fun and poke a little tongue in cheek — having fun with the “Baby Shark” song that we all know and love and that is absolutely everywhere. It was a big inspiration for the movie for sure.
Whitney Ralls
JM: And Alan, take me through the origins of the approach of a feature-length story with Baby Shark and his pals and his whole family.
AF: It was really about building upon what the series does so well. I felt really embraced joy and silliness in a really refreshing way. It was about building upon that great foundation and getting to tell a bigger story, a deeper story, something that has higher stakes and more emotional depth.
JM: It does. Baby Shark and his family move away from Carnivore Cove. They go to Chomp City. There’s a big concert that’s going to happen, and Mom is involved with it. Stariana is voiced by Ashley Tisdale, known for Candace on “Phineas and Ferb”. Alan, she’s quite a villain — a nemesis for Baby Shark.
AF: She was so much fun to work with. When we had our first session with her, it was such a pleasant surprise to learn she and her family are such big fans of the series. She really brought Stariana to life in such a manic way. We were laughing the whole time. Her performance is one of my favorite things about the movie.
JM: That’s terrific. And Whitney, Baby Shark and his friend William’s relationship is kind of put to the test in this movie because they are separated from each other for a majority of the movie. This emotional core is strong and will move a lot of parents and kids.
WR: I definitely was inspired by some of my own experiences growing up. Having friendships, especially when you’re so young, are so intense and fun and beautiful, but when change comes in and the uncontrollable factors of the world start affecting those friendships, it can be so scary. I really wanted to send a message that friendship is really magical and it can evolve and grow with you as you evolve and grow as well.
JM: Yeah. And isn’t it amazing the timing of you including for Baby and William the Fin-ship bracelets? And there’s also a “Taylor Drift” reference.
WR: (laughs) Yeah. Sometimes it’s just in the ether. It all just comes together. The Fin-ship bracelets are a really important part of the movie and something that has existed for a long, long time. It’s essential to kid culture. There are a lot of Fin-ship bracelet core memories out there.
JM: Laney is a new friend for Baby. They have a lot of scenes together. And there’s this idea of, “Can you replace somebody else as your best friend?” In my life, I go, “Well, maybe I want new friends to enter my life, but I don’t want them replacing the old ones that I may not see all the time.” How did you sort of respond to that, Alan, as you were making this movie?
AF: As someone who’s moved around his entire life, it’s so clear that that core friendship that you have with somebody is unbreakable. You can have new people come in and out of your life, and you can form fabulous, lasting relationships with those people, but those folks with whom you share that really special bond will never, ever go away.
Alan Foreman
JM: Yeah. Definitely. Whitney, you give Grandma and Grandpa Shark a lot of fun — a lot of opportunities to let loose in this movie!
WR: Oh yeah. Baby and family might be heading off to Chomp City, but Grandma and Grandpa are excited to stay home and have fun throwing a little festival of their own called Burning Sands. That’s such a fun runner throughout the movie.
JM: That’s good fun. This movie is a musical, with a lot of great songs. Alan, we build up to this concert, and with this movie, you and Doug Rockwell (who I interviewed a few years ago for “The Loud House”) have given us a great concert with all the songs.
AR: We worked with some really fantastic songwriters and composers. Doug was one of several. They’re all bangers. They’re all really catchy. I’ve spent the last two years of my life with a rotating playlist in my head every morning of a different song from the movie. All the songwriters brought their A-game.
JM: The movie’s meta. It’s all about a catchy song… and who is the catchiest and why. Why maybe one creature deserves that certain power over the other. Whitney, how did you decide on when you wanted to incorporate ENHYPEN to come in, or Lance Bass or Cardi B and Offset? The timing of it all.
WR: I think it just kind of flows naturally from a story structure as you’re getting into it. We get to set-up Lance Bass in the beginning and then hang out with him a little bit later after Stariana’s… star is rising. It’s fun to see how everyone changes. We had to bring Cardi and family back. Since they came on the series, they’ve had another kid, Wave. Wave is Wavey Shark in the movie, which is super cute. They bring such a force of personality. It’s great to see Baby in this new environment run into some old friends and make some new ones in ENHYPEN. When we were talking about bringing in ENHYPEN for the movie, it was so exciting. We didn’t even really know if we would be able to do it — be able to pull off bringing in superstars like them. They were such great collaborators and brought so much to the movie and had so much fun with it. It was really amazing.
JM: Nice. One of the subplots is Daddy Shark wanting to meet this dentist. Alan, do you look forward to going to the dentist, or does it really scare you?
AF: Oh no. I hate it. It’s the worst. It’s the absolute worst. And I think everybody feels the same way. I don’t know anyone who LOVES going to the dentist. We all have to do it, right? Daddy is one of those people who really loves it. It’s his profession and passion. He’s excited to meet this superstar dentist from the big city who… I modeled after Dr. Z. I used to live in New York. He’s got these ads and billboards all over the city and subway. I modeled Dr. Sawtooth after Dr. Z.
WR: The idea of a celebrity dentist really made us laugh.
JM: Whitney, do you like going to the dentist?
WR: I’m fine with it. I’m not excited, but I think I’m actually supposed to go in a month or two.
JM: You’ll have a good chat with your dentist about making “Baby Shark’s Big Movie”!
WR: (laughs) Yeah!
JM: And Whitney, how have the last three years been for you as far as the impact of the Baby Shark character — working on the show and now this movie? It was already a phenomenon song. How have you seen the popularity rise even more?
WR: You know, it’s funny, because I was just thinking about that, since we last spoke when the series was about to premiere. I was thinking about how much the show has grown and the characters have developed. It’s been really amazing to see people react to it. As I mentioned to you then, we were really setting out to make the Baby Shark show that no one saw coming. And I think that we did that. And I think this movie is a testament to that because it’s silly and funny with all that goofiness, but it also has this heart that people really react to — key into the emotionality of the stories we’re telling when they don’t necessarily maybe expect that from Baby Shark.
JM: Alan, how do you hope this movie impacts families over the holiday season?
AF: I hope they laugh, they cry, they sing along, they dance. One of the things I love about it is that it has such heart. And those emotional moments really hit home. I hope people enjoy the comedy and the silliness but also take to heart the deeper themes we’re discussing about friendship, family and home, because it’s all in there.
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