Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Genre: Animation/Family/Comedy
Director: Peter Sohn
Writer: Jacob Jones
Based on the children's book
Voice Cast: Julian Hilliard, Mykal-Michelle Harris, JJ Patano, Alexis Hannan, Major Dobson, Leo Abelo Perry, Ryder Allen, Sonja Ball
Plot: In the town of Letterton, out by the streets of Alphaland, a lowercase A (Julian Hillard) wakes up, ready to start another day. After having his breakfast of arepa and apple slices, A tells his Mama A (Sonja Ball) that he’s going to go outside to play, only to learn that he has some chores to do, such as taking out the trash and washing the dishes.
In a clear hurry, A blitzes through each chore with precision and darts off to the backyard, his eyes lighting up when he spots his family’s coconut tree. A begins to climb up, ready to spend the entire day in his second home when he hears another letter calling for him.
“Hey, A! Can we come play?”
A peaks out from the leaves, finding friends B (JJ Patano) and C (Alexis Hannan). A invites them in, ready to meet them at the top of the coconut tree. Once B and C enter the coconut tree, the three friends pretend they’re space commanders, exploring the galaxy, using the leaves as wings and the coconut holes as buttons.
Later that day, A, B and C lay on top of the tree, watching the clouds pass by. As the three reminisce about the good times they’ve had on the tree, A realizes that his birthday is coming up and that soon, he’ll be a capital letter like his parents.
B frets that A will become old and wrinkly, like his old man, but C is able to reassure him that no matter what happens, they’ll stay the best of friends. Mama A comes out to the backyard, seeing A with his friends, enjoying themselves. B tries to invite Mama A up, but she claims that she can’t climb like she used to, offering apple slices to the three friends instead.
As the sun sets, B and C make their departure, offering to meet at the top of the coconut tree again tomorrow. A heads inside the house for dinner, finding his mom at the kitchen reading through an old scrapbook. Mama A tells him that it’s a book of memories from when they were children. A looks through the pictures, all taking place from his childhood before coming across an old photo of Mama A climbing the family coconut tree.
“Mom, did you use to climb up the coconut tree?” A asks. Mama A stays mum, merely telling A to run along and prepare for dinner. As young A leaves, Mama A stares at old pictures from her childhood and marriage with Papa A, a sad smile appearing on her face.
The next day, A, B and C are in the coconut tree, playing pirate ship. Captain C appears to have first-mate A in retreat, with B looking to make a save when all of a sudden, they hear several new voices. They look out the tree, finding D (Mykal-Michelle Harris), E (Major Dobson), F and G racing each other to the coconut tree, D claiming victory as she sprints to the top.
As D brags about beating everyone to the top, E claims that this wouldn’t have happened if he had brought his pet egg with him. The group banter with each other as D claims to have the superest, most awesomest present for A for his birthday. A hopes so, everyone is gonna be here for the party.
Skeptical, D asks if A’s the most popular letter in the alphabet. A says that wasn’t what he meant, but D runs on the narrative, asking if A is such an important letter, why have the seven of them been the only ones in the coconut tree. B steps in, claiming that A can get everyone up to the coconut tree.
Intrigued, D dares, no, double dares, no, dare double dares A. If he can get everyone to the top of the coconut tree, D will take a break from being awesome. If A doesn’t, he has to do all her chores for a month. Feeling a sense of pride, A accepts the dare.
As D, E, F and G leave, C chides B for bringing them into this mess and A for accepting the dare. A appears confident, saying that D made a big mistake underestimating his importance to the alphabet, and that tomorrow, he’s gonna prove everyone wrong. A then tasks B with spreading the word. This year, the birthday party is tree-bound.
Inside the kitchen, Mama A is preparing her birthday cake when A enters, asking if she can put the cake inside the tree. Baffled, Mama A asks what the reason is. A lies, claiming there’s no particular reason, he just wants to try something different. The two compromise on having cake slices be allowed up, but not the whole cake. As A heads to bed, he ponders whether or not he should have asked for twenty-six slices, only to shrug it off. The coconuts will do just fine.
The next day, the entire backyard is decorated to the nines for A’s birthday. A waits by the coconut tree, nervously watching for any sign of letters. B and C are the first to arrive, ready to meet him at the top of the coconut tree. It’s not long until D lets out a loud whee, beating E, F and G to the top of the coconut tree. E hands A a “pet egg” all his own, leading to B asking where he can get one. E claims that he brought some for everyone, only for B to crack the first one he opens.
It’s at this point B introduces a rhyme he came up with last night. “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, will there be enough room?” The rhyme catches on with everyone and leads to a fun-filled atmosphere, complete with dancing and coconut eating. H soon arrives to the coconut tree, having brought A a toy helicopter.
The first signs of trouble emerge thanks as H’s heavy appearence causes the tree to lean. Time passes and no further letters emerge. D turns to A, guessing that he’s lost the bet. A assures D that they’re coming, it’s just taking some time before rushing to B, asking if he told everyone.
B claims that he did, or rather, he told someone else to do it for him, deferring it to I (Leo Angelo Perry). C points out his appearance, watching as the confident letter (along with his groupies J and K) struts to the backyard, asking if this is where the party is. A swoops him and his friends up to the coconut tree, where he learns that I used his reach to get as many letters as possible.
“Hey guys, look who’s coming!” B cries out as a whole swarm of letters emerge, those being the laughing L, the musical M, the nonsensical N, the obedient O and, to everyone’s shock, the perfect P. A sputters, asking I how he got her?
“I know how to spell things out.” I states.
By this point, the party inside the tree is rocking with each letter dancing to music thanks to M’s boombox, handing A presents or eating coconuts. D admits that A’s doing pretty well, but that he’s not quite there yet. Feeling cocky, A claims that this may be better than her so-called awesomest present.
D chuckles, unimpressed by A’s retort. Her present is going to blow everyone away. As D heads off, A finds B and C and asks them how their enjoying the party. B is enjoying himself, saying that P taught him how to do a pirouette, only to fail miserably. C is more concerned about the tree and if it can withhold everyone. A is convinced that is can, it has to if he’s going to win the bet.
Speaking of the bet, E alerts everyone that more letters are coming. This time, it’s Q, R, S and T, U and V. As all six letters enter the tree, a coconut falls off, bringing more worry to C. Another concern rises as space becomes cramped in the tree, A doing everything he can to accommodate the others.
C sits in a corner in the tree, mortified by what’s happened when A and B catch up to her, asking what’s wrong. Having clearly held something back, C lashes out, calling this an absolute mess. All she wanted was a perfectly normal birthday party but no, D had to make this stupid bet. Seeing the concern, A tries to calm C down, saying that it’s almost over. All they need are a few more and it’s done. C gives A an ultimatum, if they aren’t here in the next twenty minutes, she’s leaving.
Luckily, they don’t have to wait long as W, X and Y all arrive at the tree, thus leaving Z (Ryder Allen). The minutes tick by and there’s no sign of Z. C looks ready to head home when B spots someone sprinting towards the tree. It’s Z! He apologizes for being late, handing A a jacket with a zipper. D, amazed that A pulled it off, is ready to reveal her amazing gift only for A to gloat about his success.
A gathers all the letters together, thanking them for arriving to his party. Thanks to them, he has done what was once thought impossible. The whole alphabet up the—
More coconuts fall from the tree, causing to B to peak out, realizing that the coconut tree is about to topple over.
“Oh no.”
The tree creeks, awaiting back and forth before finally hurling every letter out and sending them tumbling down. The other uppercase letter hear the crash and rush outside, finding that all the letters are in a pile and not without casualties. I has gotten tangled up with H, L is knotted up, P has a black eye, E stubbed his toe and D has skinned her knee.
As Mama A helps A, B and C up, the other capital letters try to sort out the mess, taking care of their boo-boos, dusting them off and giving them a hug (or in O’s case, being pumped back up after being twisted alley oop). When the pile clears out, A tries to apologize to everyone, only for C to roll out. A sighs, relieved to have at least won the dare.
“What dare?” Mama A catches wind of this statement, confronting A about this bet. A tries to shrug it off, only to admit that he got into a bet with someone to bring all the letters up the coconut tree. Feeling guilty, D takes full blame, apologizing to both As. Disappointed, Mama A tells everyone to head home, asking D to stay with them.
The As and D walk inside the house, Mama A showing the little letters her scrapbook. She asks A and D if the other A in it looks familiar. A realizes the face, calling it his dad. Mama A reveals that he dared her that he could get the entire alphabet up the coconut tree. She almost did, but the tree broke apart and squished Papa A, killing him in an instant.
Mama A waited to tell A this until he was older, but she tells him this now to teach him a lesson. Don’t make risky dares. A obliges, apologizing for what happened. D heads for home, feeling complete remorse for what happened. When she enters her room, she sees the present she was going to give A, a singing dolphin. D sighs, collapsing on her bed, sniffling as she wrestles with her guilt.
That night, D sneaks out of bed, in search of C’s houses only to bump into B. Realizing they’re both after the same thing, agree to team up. With B leading the way, the two eventually find C’a house and using B’s bouncing ability, sneak into C’s room. Startled, C asks them what they’re doing here. B attempts to convince C to forgive A, saying that he made a mistake.
After a few attempts, C makes a confession. The coconut tree in A’s backyard was like a safe space to get away from life. She feels like she always has to be the responsible one in life and the tree was a place to be herself. Sharing their sympathies, D takes blame for what happened, apologizing to C. The three proceed to come up with a plan.
The next day, A gets called outside by Mama A, being told of a “final birthday surprise”. A heads to the backyard, shocked to find the others with a coconut cake, made with the fallen coconuts of yesterday. D steps forward, saying that this is her way of making up for the dare. A then sees C from the distance and apologizes to her, promising to never make or take another silly dare again. The two share an embrace as everyone enjoys some coconut cake.
That evening, little A sits on the ground, seeing all the stars in the sky and a full moon when Mama A checks up on him. A asks his mom if the stars would look better on top the tree. Mama A isn’t sure, but it’s possible. A asks if his mother would be willing to see, for old times sake. Despite her hesitation, Mama A accepts the offer, causing the two have a friendly race to the top, Mama A winning.
As the two As stare out into the full moon, little A’s suspicions are proven correct. It’s beautiful up in the tree.
Post Credits:
Out on the other side of Letterton, in a small town called Numberly, a small 0 looks up an apple tree, wistfully wondering about what lies up here and if there’s a place for her.
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