Green Eggs and Ham (also known as Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham) is an American traditionally-animated buddy comedy adventure film produced by Amblimation and based on the 1960 Dr. Seuss book of the same name. It stars the voices of Adam DeVine, Michael Douglas, Eddie Izzard, Jilian Bell, Diane Keaton, Jeffrey Wrigth and Ilana Glazer, and is narrated by Keegan-Michael Key.
The film follows a happy-go-lucky character named Sam-I-Am (DeVine), who rescues a rare bird known as the Chickeraffe from a zoo and intends to return it to its natural habitat. After he accidentally swaps his briefcase, containing the Chickeraffe, for that of a failed inventor named Guy-Am-I (Douglas), the two begin a journey to take the Chickeraffe back home, but are unknowingly pursued by a businessman who wants to claim the Chickeraffe as a trophy.
Green Eggs and Ham was theatrically released on November 8, 2019, by Universal Pictures. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised it for its animation, visuals, writing, direction and vocal performances (particularly DeVine and Douglas), though it received criticism for its runtime.
Plot[]
In the town of Glurfsburg, Sam-I-Am breaks into a zoo and liberates a Chickeraffe, a rare and endangered animal. Meanwhile, Guy-Am-I, an inventor, presents his invention, a self-flyer, to Snerz Co. so that he can win a ticket to Meepville. His invention fails, while his fellow inventors all get to go. Michellee, a literal bean counter for the company, worries over her daughter E.B., who spends her days trying to be adventurous. She learns of the Chickeraffe's escape and plans to catch it. McWinkle and Gluntz, two mysterious "BAD GUYS", try to find the thief, while Hervnick Z. Snerz, the head businessman in Meepville, wants the Chickeraffe for his pet collection and is assisted by Yes-Man. Guy, who gives up inventing, stops by a diner and encounters Sam, who orders his favorite dish: green eggs and ham. Despite voicing his distaste for the dish, Sam orders them for everyone in the diner. Guy ends up leaving, but accidentally takes Sam's identical suitcase.
After Michellee sees the news of the Chickeraffe's escape, she prevents E.B. as they are headed to Meepville as well. Guy heads to a motel for the night. After Sam leaves the diner, he sees the police, but gets away. Guy attempts to burn Sam's briefcase in a severe state of depression, but he takes it out due to faint noises from the briefcase. He opens it and the Chickeraffe comes out. The playful Chickeraffe proceeds to destroy the motel room, while Guy tries to sequester the creature.
Sam returns to his home, a run down isolated RV, and discovers that he has the wrong suitcase. After Gluntz gets a supposed earful from Snerz, she learns that McWinkle plans to retire from the B.A.D.G.U.Y.S. business, after they find the Chickeraffe and manage to trace it to Sam's home just as Guy figures out where he lives. Guy is confronted by the two, but is rescued by Sam, who steals their car and flees, causing McWinkle to turn his fur from blue to grey. Sam reveals that he is an animal liberator and that just like Guy is headed to Meepville. Not wanting to put up with him, Guy gets out in the middle of the desert. Meanwhile, in another car, Michellee tells E.B. that Meepville will be fun. Guy flags down Michellee's car. She turns down picking him up, despite E.B.'s protests and Guy ends up hallucinating from the heat. He can even hear the narrator's voice and goes insane of green eggs and ham. He is rescued by Sam, who once again offers him green eggs and ham, but Guy tells him that he will not have them in the car. Guy sleeps, but awakens to see Sam and the Chickeraffe running beside the car, which is heading towards a cliff.
Sam rescues Guy from the car as it lands in a lake and flattens the house of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. He reveals that he had to get rid of it so that it cannot be traced. They buy a couple of tickets for a train, forcing Guy to stay with Sam for a while longer. Michellee and E.B. also take the train as they head to Meepville. As the car is fished out of the water, McWinkle and Gluntz find evidence of the Chickeraffe being there and deduce that it is on a train. Sam and Guy run into Michellee and E.B., where Sam orders them green eggs and ham. Snerz reveals that he wants the Chickeraffe to impress his cronies. Later at night, Sam sneaks out with the Chickeraffe and runs into E.B. and they sit on top of the train, while the Chickeraffe stays inside. Meanwhile, Guy heads to the Quiet Car and runs into Michellee, while watching the paint dry. The train is heading towards a loop with E.B.'s friendship bracelet sticking on top of it, only to find another loop, causing her and Sam to fall off, but are rescued by the Chickeraffe, which E.B. learns of the creature's existence. After Guy and Michellee bond in the Quiet Car, they leave. E.B decides to name the Chickeraffe, Mr. Jenkins. In the morning, Guy gets mad at Sam and angrily tells him that he wants nothing to do with him anymore after E.B finds out about the Chickeraffe. As he gets off the train, he is confronted by McWinkle and Gluntz.
Guy gets back on the train with McWinkle and Gluntz in hot pursuit. He makes it back to Sam and Mr. Jenkins, where E.B. inadvertently reveals its existence to Michellee, who gets upset at Guy for being lied to. Before Guy try to get to Michellee to talk to her, McWinkle and Gluntz show up. Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins are forced to jump off of the train to escape them and end up in a quarry. E.B. runs off to see if Mr. Jenkins managed to escape McWinkle and Gluntz, causing Michellee to take her to the Think About What You've Done Car. As McWinkle and Gluntz try to have the train turned around, they get kicked off for not having any tickets.
Snerz invites his cronies to a met gala for the eventual Chickeraffe. Sam and Guy learn that Mr. Jenkins likes to eat ties and spot a farm house in the distance. The house has no ties, but a fox named Michael, who guards its green eggs and tries to impress Sandra, one of the hens, wears a tie. Meanwhile, back on the train, Michellee is shock that E.B. was riding on top of the train. Michael is trying to vent his love for eggs and as he meditates, Sam and Guy break into his foxhole to steal his tie. They are successful, but open a closet full of green eggs. Michael spots them and furiously lunges at them. However, Michael breaks down and reveals his hopeless love of green eggs and his contradictory love for Sandra and Sam and Guy leave with the ties, promising not to say anything, though Michael mishears and tries to attack them.
As the sun sets, Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins spot a motel sign, but learn that it is actually in the middle of a junk pit and they get stuck. Meanwhile, Michellee and E.B. leave the train and drive to a B&B. E.B. becomes bored, especially when Michellee fails to grasp E.B.'s imaginative side. Sam and Guy find an exit, but it turns out to be a large tube of toxic sludge and they get trapped on a pile of trash. Michellee decides to draw a picture of the Chickeraffe to make E.B. feel better. Guy reveals that all of his previous inventions have exploded and he has lost hope. The narrator reveals that Mr. Jenkins was separated from his mother when he was a little Chickeraffe. With Sam's encouragement, Guy manages to build a contraption. E.B. discovers that Michellee drew a perfect picture of the Chickeraffe as a way to make up for losing it. After building a contraption, Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins escape. They arrive at a diner in Prinz Pazookle, but a woman's pet flea scares Mr. Jenkins and he breaks free from the suitcase and begins running amok in the diner.
Sam and Guy flee with Mr. Jenkins and they switch hats. McWinkle and Gluntz learn that Sam and Guy are in Prinz Pazookle. Snerz gets upset that the Chickeraffe is in Prinz Pazookle. Meanwhile, Michellee takes E.B. to see the world's smallest thermometer. When E.B. yells her displeasure about how boring and selfish she can be, Michellee is filled with the gumption to take her to the carnival to prove her wrong. With no money, Sam and Guy resort to working at the carnival as Dave and Randy. McWinkle and Gluntz arrive at the destroyed diner, where they learn that Sam ordered green eggs and ham. Michellee and E.B. look around in the carnival. While Mr. Jenkins hides as a prize, Sam works at the Wheel of Insanity ride and Guy works at the Relaxation Station dunk tank. McWinkle and Gluntz head to the carnival to win Mr. Jenkins as a prize.
Michellee and E.B. get on the Wheel of Insanity, just as Guy switches jobs with Sam and finds himself sending the two on a wild ride. McWinkle and Gluntz take Mr. Jenkins after winning. Guy speaks with Michellee, who once again gets upset at him for supposedly lying to him. McWinke and Gluntz try to make off with Mr. Jenkins, but Sam and Guy rescue him. E.B. gives the two a bruckle and they ship themselves to Shvizelton with McWinkle and Gluntz in hot pursuit. As Sam and Guy switch hats back, Sam suddenly gets arrested by the police with Guy wondering what will he do. However, Sam manages to escape his cuffs, but sees Guy and Mr. Jenkins leaving by taxi and he solemnly allows himself to be arrested.
McWinkle and Gluntz arrive in Shvizelton. Guy is hit with guilt over leaving Sam and he decides to go get him at jail. After interrogating, McWinkle and Gluntz learn that Sam was incarcerated. Snerz thinks that the Chickeraffe is being delivered. Sam meets his cell mate, a mouse that he names Squeaky, who to himself speaks with a proper French accent, but to others communicates in unintelligible squeaking. He was arrested for stealing a small piece of cheese for himself and his family. Guy arrives and allows himself to be arrested. McWinkle and Gluntz arrive just in time. Squeaky reveals that he has dug a tunnel to escape. He, Sam and Guy grab their things and flee through the sewer systems. The group manages to come out far from the prison as it begins to rain. Squeaky leaves to reunite with his family. McWinkle gets upset after Sam and Guy escaped. Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins trek before encountering a cabin. However, Michellee is inside and will not let them in because they are fugitives. Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins are forced to sit out in the rain, where Sam realizes that Guy has a crush on Michellee.
While McWinkle and Gluntz continue their search, Snerz sees the news of Sam and Guy taking the Chickeraffe and orders Yes-Man to look for the Goat. E.B. begs Michellee to let Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins stay indoors for the night and she finally caves. Sam has Guy hang out with E.B. to dry up Mr. Jenkins, while he stays with Michellee to cook a vegan tofu version of green eggs and ham. Guy and E.B. have trouble using a giant bellows to dry Mr. Jenkins, so E.B. uses Michellee's jar of beans and accidentally launches it out of the roof and into the woods. They jump after it, while Sam distracts Michellee. Meanwhile, Yes-Man heads to a saloon, where the Goat attacks some people after they call him a sheep. E.B. learns that Guy likes her mom and they find Michellee's bean jar with Giroosters, the deadliest judgivores, and get chased by them. Michellee panics when Sam accidentally reveals that he and Guy were in jail. Guy orders the Giroosters to give him the jar back. He and E.B. return in time to divert suspicion. Meanwhile, Yes-Man calls Snerz that the Goat taking the job of hunting the Chickeraffe. The Goat spots the Chickeraffe's feather, while the gang get ready to leave to Meepville together.
Snerz gets interviewed for a magazine and the interviewer tells him to talk about his love of animals. When Guy spots the Goat out in the front, Sam explains that he is dangerous and convinces him to let Michellee and E.B. leave ahead without them to protect them. The Goat proceeds to attack the cabin as Guy and Sam distract him and escape with Mr. Jenkins with the Goat in hot pursuit. Snerz reveals that when he was little, he had a pet Flemur, but when he saw that it was gone and the door was left open, he blames his mother for losing it.
Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins end up climbing a snowy mountain, where the Goat kidnaps Mr. Jenkins. Seeing Sam and Guy in danger gives Mr. Jenkins the courage to fight back and toss the Goat away up the mountain; allowing them to escape. Meanwhile, Michellee tells E.B. that they will never Sam and Guy again. The interviewer learns that Snerz hasn't called his mother for six years. Later, she meets with Snerz's mother and learns that Snerz loved his Flemur too much and it wanted to leave which the mother complied. Snerz asks Yes-Man if the cuffs are ready for the Chickeraffe. Sam and Guy use the Goat's credit card to buy bus tickets to Stovepipe Junction, which concerns Guy. McWinkle and Gluntz are saddened over not finding any leads. However, McWinkle suddenly realizes Sam's love for green eggs and ham. He and Gluntz manage to continue the search by zeroing in on Sam.
Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins arrive at Stovepipe Junction. Sam and Guy try to book a motel room, where everyone seems to recognize Guy as the Goat survived the avalanche and continues to hunt for the Chickeraffe. It is revealed that Stovepipe Junction is Guy's birthplace and he was considered most likely to succeed in high school. McWinkle and Gluntz go to every restaurant, where every waitstaff tells them that Sam ordered green eggs and ham. Guy wants to avoid seeing his family as they consider him a failure and he and Sam try to enter his childhood treehouse.
They get caught, but contrary to Guy's claim, his family is fully supportive of his creative endeavors. He announces to them all that he is no longer inventing and that he is going to become a paint watcher and leaves to his treehouse angrily. Sam goes to talk to Guy, who admits that he feels insecure around his family due to their successful achievements. Sam then reveals that he himself never had a family and lived most of his life in an orphanage (throughout the film, he mentions his bizarre past with his mother, but that was all lies). The reason why he loves green eggs and ham is because he still remembers how his mother cooks them and he hoped to this day that once he find the right flavor from various diners he visited, he would find her as well. Guy feels better and apologizes. When Sam enters the house, he calls Snerz, revealing that he is actually the one employed by Snerz to take the Chickeraffe to him from the very start.
The next day, a guilt ridden Sam tries to stall Guy, who has bought tickets for the ferry to Meepville. Just as Guy is about to try green eggs and ham, McWinkle and Gluntz arrive at the Am-I household, but Sam and Guy manage to escape on a boat. It is at this point that McWinkle and Gluntz reveal that B.A.D.G.U.Y.S. is actually an acronym for Bureau of Animal Defense Glurfsburg Upper Yipville Section, that they had been trying to put the Chickeraffe in a zoo, and that they are enemies with the Goat. Sam, Guy and Mr. Jenkins get on the ferry and run into Michellee and E.B. again. While E.B. is happy to see them, Michellee still is upset with Guy, even though he apologizes for splitting from them. After McWinkle and Gluntz get an earful from their boss, Captain Walter Bigman, the Am-I's comply with them.
As the ferry transforms into a submarine and dives, Guy and Michellee finally grow closer. Sam gets over his guilt after speaking with E.B. and decides to save Mr. Jenkins for real. They arrive in Meepville and Michellee gives Guy her phone number. The Goat appears and scares Sam and Guy back onto the boat. He causes it to capsize and even though they all escape, the Goat grabs the briefcase and makes off with Mr. Jenkins. McWinkle and Gluntz catch up with the Goat and manage to capture him. Sam and Guy arrive to get Mr. Jenkins back, but Guy gets caught. He learns about McWinkle and Gluntz's true purpose and is taken in to be questioned.
E.B. thinks that she and Michellee are going to a toy store with a roller coaster inside, but Michellee tells her that they're going somewhere better. McWinkle tells Guy about Sam and his many aliases and his intent to sell Mr. Jenkins. Michellee takes E.B. to the Hall of Walls, an art gallery, and E.B. learns that Michellee used to paint for a living, but gave it up once her husband died so that she can take care of her. Sam tries to break Guy out of holding, but he is still angry at him for lying and is further angered at being offered green eggs and ham again. Guy yells and lashes out at Sam, viciously declaring that he doesn't fit in anybody or his mother, but he quickly regrets it. Sam sadly leaves with Mr. Jenkins. A guilt-ridden and saddened Guy tells McWinkle and Gluntz that Snerz is buying the Chickeraffe; letting him go. Snerz puts on his met gala as Michellee and E.B. attend. Guy stops by a diner, before he goes to his paint watching job.
E.B. spots Sam at the gala and wanders backstage to discover, to her horror, that Sam is selling Mr. Jenkins to Snerz. E.B. is heartbroken upon seeing Sam sell Mr. Jenkins to Snerz. Meanwhile, Guy is watching paint dry on the wall. E.B. tries to break Mr. Jenkins out and ends up getting the attention of both Michellee and Guy, who went to investigate the noises coming from behind a wall he was watching paint dry from. Michellee sees Snerz's pet collection, and when Guy walks into the same room, she immediately accuses him of animal abuse, causing them to argue with one another. E.B. realizes that the Chickeraffe is actually a painted Girooster, which relieves Guy and Michellee. As McWinkle and Gluntz show up, E.B. tells Michellee spill the beans because Giroosters like to eat beans.
They all escape, just as Snerz realizes he has been "bamboozled". They find Sam at a cold air balloon port with plans to send Mr. Jenkins back home to Chickeraffe Island. Sam is still upset at Guy for what he said earlier and Guy makes it up to him by finally eating green eggs and ham, much to his own surprised enjoyment. McWinkle, Gluntz and Snerz arrive and chase the group up the port tower. Guy, Sam, Michellee, E.B., and Mr. Jenkins made it to Platform 71, and Snerz gets entrapped. McWinkle lets them go upon learning of Sam's mission, finally retires from B.A.D.G.U.Y.S., and gives Gluntz his hat, making her an agent. The balloon gets hijacked by the Goat and Guy uses his failed invention to save Mr. Jenkins and finally defeat the Goat, as well as receiving a kiss from Michellee. After that, Mr. Jenkins returns to Chickeraffe Island. Snerz and the Goat are both arrested, and everyone returns to Glurfsburg. One week later, Sam and Guy are having green eggs and ham when Sam recognizes the taste as his mother's. He learns that the eggs come from East Flubria and is about to embark on another adventure.
Cast[]
- Adam DeVine as Sam, a happy-go-lucky enthusiast of green eggs and ham.
- Michael Douglas as Guy, a cantankerous inventor who dislikes green eggs and ham.
- Keegan-Michael Key as Narrator
- Eddie Izzard as Snerz, an arrogant businessman.
- Jillian Bell as Gluntz, McWinkle's rookie sidekick.
- Diane Keaton as Michellee, the overprotective mother of E.B.
- Jeffrey Wright as McWinkle, a deadly serious member of BADGUY.
- Ilana Glazer as E.B., a good-hearted girl and Michellee’s daughter.
- Tracy Morgan as Michael, an eccentric fox
- Daveed Diggs as Squeaky, a French-accented mouse.
- John Turturro as Goat, a bounty hunter sent by Snerz.
- Billy Eichner as Mr. Bigman, McWinkle and Gluntz's boss.
- Dee Bradley Baker as Mr. Jenkins, the Chickeraffe.
- Tom Kenny as The Red and Yellow Guy, the owner of the Glurfsburg Hotel.