Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure
UK DVD cover
Directed byDominique Monféry
Written byJohn van Bruggen
Based onFranklin the Turtle by Paulette Bourgeois
Brenda Clark
Produced byCynthia Taylor
StarringLouise Cheka
Ariane Aggiage
Ivanah Coppola
Isabelle Volpe
Doug Murray
Kevin Sommier
Edited byPatrick Gonidec
Music byRay Parker
Tom Szczesniak
Production
companies
Distributed byMars Distribution (France)
Release dates
  • September 6, 2006 (2006-09-06) (Canada)
  • December 20, 2006 (2006-12-20) (France)
Running time
78 minutes
CountriesCanada
France
LanguagesEnglish
French

Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure[1] (Franklin et le trésor du lac in France and Benjamin et le Trésor du lac in Canadian French) is a children's animated adventure drama film released on September 6, 2006, based on the TV series Franklin. It was the first Franklin film shown in theaters in Canada and France, as well as the last production in the Franklin series to be traditionally animated.

The events of this film centre around Franklin's Granny falling ill during a visit from Franklin's aunt Lucy, who is an archaeologist. Aunt Lucy knows of a special talisman that may cure the illness, so she joins Franklin on a quest to find it, along with his friends Bear, Beaver, and Snail. But they are also accompanied by Aunt Lucy's goddaughter, Samantha "Sam," and her personality clashes with Franklin's.

The film was released to direct-to-video in the United States by HBO and has had occasional TV airings on the Nick Jr. Channel since then. Writer John van Bruggen stated, "This film will take Franklin on a much greater adventure than any of the past Franklin films, including Franklin and the Green Knight." The film was written by John van Bruggen and directed by Dominique Monfrey; it was distributed by Mars Distribution. StudioCanal controlled international distribution. This film has also been listed under the working titles "Franklin and the Secret Talisman" and "Franklin and Granny's Secret."

It also serves as the series finale to the 1997 series, as no new episodes were produced after the film was released. This was Patricia Gage's final performance before she died four years later, in 2010.

Plot

The Turtle family visit Franklin's grandmother, as do Aunt Lucy and her goddaughter Samantha (or "Sam"). Despite trying to be to nice to each other, Franklin and Sam find it difficult to get along.

Granny flashes back to when she was just a child - she lived in Turtle Lake, and spent mornings fishing with her father and afternoons picking berries with her mother. She found a secret hiding place and buried her valuables inside a painted tin box in the ground, but she never got the chance to open it again. A few nights after she buried it, a forest fire started. She managed to escape but her house was destroyed, the location of the time capsule was obscured, and her parents died. She went to live with her aunt's family and hasn't been back ever since.

Later, the turtles get a call from Lucy that Granny is sick, and they decided to check on her. Thinking that the box may be their only hope, Franklin, Sam, Lucy, Beaver, Bear, and Snail decide to head to Granny's old ruined home. During the adventure, a flock of butterflies appear to them, following the team for no reason, they soon meet an old wise turtle, who gives an item. When they leave, Sam pulls a prank on Beaver, the prank angers Beaver, eventually, they reach the lake, this is where Franklin agrees to follow Sam, but Bear storms off and starts throwing stones into the lake angrily, Franklin & Snail join Bear at the lake, where the poor ursan accuses Franklin being in love with Sam, Franklin denies this and he kindly convinces Bear to rejoin the group, The next day, they meet Little Crow, an orphan bird, who shows them the place the box used to be, revealing that someone took it.

Franklin and Sam's personality clashes happen again, until, while climbing a cliff to rescue Snail from two birds who had taken him, Samantha slips, but is saved by Franklin. While resting and waiting, the two turtles apologize to each other, admitting that their personality clashes had gotten the best of them. They soon reach the top, but the chicks refuse to let them take Snail. Little Crow manages to save Snail, but gets into a fight with the chicks. Sam saves him, but they all fall when the mother of the chicks appears and saves them from falling to certain death. Little Crow decides to stay with the bird family, and the others continue their search for the treasure.

They soon arrive at a chasm, where they meet Grizzly and help him out. Grizzly reveals that he had dug up Granny's box, and gives it to them. They thank him and leave for home, with Grizzly giving them his canoe. They return home and give Granny the box, which is revealed to contain her father's fishing hook, a hand-drawn picture of her house and a sealed picture of her as an infant with her parents. She smiles as she finally recovers. Later that evening, Franklin and Sam bid goodbye to each other, and hope to meet each other again someday, before Sam kisses Franklin in which Aunt Lucy claims that life is full of surprises.

Cast

Versions

Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure is available in two versions, French and English, both of which have different case covers. The film's French title is Franklin et le trésor du lac. The film was released in Canadian and French theaters in 2006.

On May 22, 2007, HBO Video released the film on DVD in the United States, where it was given a G rating from the MPAA despite not getting theatrically released in the US.

References

  1. ↑ Mavis, Paul. "Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure". DVD Talk. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
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