# G-Force (film)
**G-Force** is a 2009 American family action-comedy film that blends live action with computer-generated characters, following a covert government squad of trained guinea pig spies who must stop an evil billionaire from taking over the world. It was directed by Hoyt Yeatman, produced by [Jerry Bruckheimer](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-bruckheimer) and [Walt Disney Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney-pictures), and released in the United States on July 24, 2009, rated PG for some mild action and rude humor.[1](https://movies.disney.com/g-force) • [2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | July 24, 2009 (U.S., wide); July 23 in Chile and other countries[1](https://movies.disney.com/g-force) • [3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/) |
| Director / producer | Hoyt Yeatman, Jr.; Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Walt Disney Pictures[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/) |
| Format | Live action blended with CG characters, filmed in Disney Digital 3-D via post-production conversion[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/) • [2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force) |
| Running time | 87 minutes (88 minutes per the Australian classification)[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force) • [4](https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/g-force-3d-0) |
| Worldwide box office | $292,817,841 against a $150,000,000 production budget[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 41 (19 reviews); 22% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436339/criticreviews/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009462-g_force) |
| Home video | Released December 15, 2009 by Walt Disney Home Entertainment; estimated DVD sales of $45,478,918 and Blu-ray sales of $19,131,392[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and characters
A covert government program trains animals to work in espionage, and the G-Force unit is made up of ultra-intelligent commando guinea pigs who discover that the fate of the world is in their paws.[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/) The team includes Darwin, the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster, an outrageous weapons expert with a love of all things extreme; Juarez, a martial arts pro; Mooch, a literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert; and Speckles, a star-nosed mole who serves as the computer and information specialist.[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/)
The story turns on the F.B.I. shutting the secret unit down just as it is about to save the world, leaving the animals, shipped off to a pet shop, to break out and prevent a mad billionaire from taking over the world.[1](https://movies.disney.com/g-force) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009462-g_force) The mole-faced saboteur is Speckles, who manipulates billionaire Leonard Saber, played by [Bill Nighy](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-nighy).[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009462-g_force) • [14](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2009/07/gforce/)
## Cast
The voice cast pairs well-known actors with the animal leads: [Sam Rockwell](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-rockwell) as Darwin, Nicolas Cage as Speckles, Penelope Cruz as Juarez, Tracy Morgan as Blaster, Jon Favreau as Hurley, Steve Buscemi as Bucky the hamster, and [Dee Bradley Baker](https://www.edgepedia.org/dee-bradley-baker) as Mooch.[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/) • [7](https://helposter.com/movie/19585-19585-g-force) Live-action roles include Bill Nighy as Saber, Will Arnett as Agent Kip Killian, Zach Galifianakis as Ben, Kelli Garner as Marci, and Gabriel Casseus as Agent Carter.[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/) • [7](https://helposter.com/movie/19585-19585-g-force)
## Production and visual effects
**A first feature for a effects veteran.** G-Force was the directorial debut of Hoyt Yeatman, a visual-effects supervisor who had received an Academy Award for *The Abyss*, an Academy Technical Achievement Award, and two Oscar nominations, and it was Jerry Bruckheimer's first stereo 3D film.[8](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2009/Volume-32-Issue-8-Aug-2009-/Pushing-The-Bounds.aspx) The writing team included Ted Elliott and [Terry Rossio](https://www.edgepedia.org/terry-rossio) (the *Pirates of the Caribbean* series), The Wibberleys (*[National Treasure: Book of Secrets](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-treasure-book-of-secrets)*), and Tim Firth.[9](https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/media/dvc/languagespecific/eng/member/justformembers/disneyfilesmagazine/2009/DisneyFilesMagazine_Summer2009.pdf)
The film was shot with standard cameras rather than stereo 3D rigs, and the 3-D version was created in post-production; it is described as arguably the first VFX-heavy, live-action film shot with standard cameras to be converted into stereo 3D.[8](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2009/Volume-32-Issue-8-Aug-2009-/Pushing-The-Bounds.aspx) Midway through shooting, Bruckheimer told Yeatman the film needed to be 3-D, and the already-shot live-action footage was "dimensionalized" in the computer.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jul-30-et-scene30-story.html) In the 3-D version, every one of the film's 1,861 shots is a visual effects shot; [Sony Pictures Imageworks](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-pictures-imageworks) created all the CG creatures and handled 1,287 shots, Asylum VFX added on-screen graphics to 133 shots, and In-Three converted the remaining shots to stereo.[8](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2009/Volume-32-Issue-8-Aug-2009-/Pushing-The-Bounds.aspx)
To capture lighting on set, the crew used Yeatman's "ChirpiCam," a one-and-a-half-foot cube holding five fish-eye cameras that takes bracketed exposures and stitches them into HDRI (high-dynamic-range image capturing full lighting data) maps; it produced 800 HDRI images in 360 degrees from a guinea pig's point of view, and it is named for the chirp it makes while capturing.[8](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2009/Volume-32-Issue-8-Aug-2009-/Pushing-The-Bounds.aspx) Yeatman also placed cameras low to help the audience relate to the guinea pigs and tuned the stereo depth to what a guinea pig might see.[8](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2009/Volume-32-Issue-8-Aug-2009-/Pushing-The-Bounds.aspx) For the 3-D effect, discreet black bars at the top and bottom of the screen served as a false frame for images to break, so explosions appear to burst from the screen.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jul-30-et-scene30-story.html)
Animal actors in the production were monitored through the American Humane Association's No Animals Were Harmed program.[11](https://www.americanhumane.org/production/g-force/)
## Box office
G-Force opened at number one with $31,706,934 from 3,697 theaters, about 26.5% of its eventual domestic gross.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force) It finished with $119,436,770 domestically and $173,381,071 internationally, for a worldwide total of $292,817,841, roughly 2.0 times its $150,000,000 production budget.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force) Domestic sales of the DVD and Blu-ray editions added an estimated $64,610,310.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force)
## Reception
Critical response was unfavorable. The film scored 41 on Metacritic from 19 reviews and holds a 22% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus says it "features manic action, but fails to come up with interesting characters or an inspired plot."[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436339/criticreviews/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009462-g_force) Roger Ebert of the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) called it "a pleasant, inoffensive 3-D animated farce," while the Washington Post described it as "an aggressively stupid entry in the family-adventure genre."[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436339/criticreviews/)
A licensed video game, developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software and Keen Games and published by [Disney Interactive Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/disney-interactive-studios), was released on July 21, 2009 for DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, and [Xbox 360](https://www.edgepedia.org/xbox-360); GameSpot rated it 7.5, praising its combat and puzzles.[12](https://www.gamespot.com/games/disney-g-force/reviews/) • [13](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/g-force-review/1900-6214244/)
## References
1. [G-Force, Disney Movies](https://movies.disney.com/g-force)
2. [G-Force (2009), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/G-Force)
3. [G-Force (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/g-force-film/)
4. [G-FORCE (3D), Australian Classification](https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/g-force-3d-0)
5. [G-Force (2009) Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436339/criticreviews/)
6. [G-Force, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009462-g_force)
7. [Where to Watch G-Force (2009), Helposter](https://helposter.com/movie/19585-19585-g-force)
8. [Pushing The Bounds, Computer Graphics World, Aug. 2009](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2009/Volume-32-Issue-8-Aug-2009-/Pushing-The-Bounds.aspx)
9. [Disney Files Magazine, Summer 2009, Disney Vacation Club](https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/media/dvc/languagespecific/eng/member/justformembers/disneyfilesmagazine/2009/DisneyFilesMagazine_Summer2009.pdf)
10. [Making 'G-Force' 3-D, Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2009](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jul-30-et-scene30-story.html)
11. [G-Force (2009), American Humane](https://www.americanhumane.org/production/g-force/)
12. [Disney G-Force, GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/games/disney-g-force/reviews/)
13. [G-Force Review, GameSpot, July 27, 2009](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/g-force-review/1900-6214244/)
14. [G-Force - Christianity Today](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2009/07/gforce/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action comedies › Action comedies, 2000 to 2019*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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