Bob (right) and Larry (left).

Status: Lost

Before the release of their feature film, Jonah: a VeggieTales Movie, Big Idea made plans to create another feature film called The Bob & Larry Movie. The film was planned for a 2005 theatrical release, however, it was soon scrapped due to Big Idea going bankrupt in mid-2003. The Bob & Larry Movie would’ve been distributed by Artisan, the distributor of Jonah. According to Big Idea founder and writer, Phil Vischer, they had about 10 people working on the film before cancelling it.

Around 2004, Phil Vischer stated on his website that both The Bob & Larry Movie and another script that he wrote at the time, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: a VeggieTales Movie, were being considered for relaunch.^[1] Eventually, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything was put into production, and was released in January 2008. Phil had also stated that The Bob & Larry Movie would have been put back into production, had The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything performed well at the box office.^[2] However, the film made about $13 million off of its $15 million budget.^[3]

Plot

The film would have begun with a brief synopsis of how talking vegetables were involved in world history, these events being described as a "rare, but recurring phenomenon". One example shown would have been tomb paintings of a pharaoh consulting with a leek.^[4]

Before they met and developed VeggieTales together, Bob the Tomato would be working in local TV news hosting a segment called "Farm Report", while Larry the Cucumber would work as a tester at a chicken hat factory (on account of the fact that his head was chicken-sized).^[5] According to starlight1994, who met Phil at a conference in Canada, Bob would make a report on the chicken hats, and both would meet up through several antics involving the chicken hats.^[6]

The film also would have featured human characters. The film starred a boy named Dexter, and Bob and Larry would've lived in his nightstand.^[7] Who Dexter was, and what significance he had to the story is currently unknown.

Aside from these details, not much else is known about the plot.

Known People Who Worked on the Film

Tod Carter - Story Supervision

Philip Dimitriadis - Concept Art

Michael Spooner - Concept Art

Joe Spadaford - Concept Art

Chuck Volmer - Concept art

Keith Lango - CG Supervisor

Ameake Owens - Producer

Marc Vulcano

Luis Contreras

Availability

Although there is no proof of video footage of the movie, if any, has been released, former Big Idea director Brian K. Roberts confirmed that the 3D model for the villain was re-used in Dr. Jiggle and Mr. Sly, a segment in the 2004 VeggieTales episode A Snoodle's Tale.^[8]

Several pieces of concept art and a color script have been leaked online. Phil Vischer has stated that he still has the full script for the movie, but has no plans on releasing it to the public as the script currently belongs to NBCUniversal.^[9]

On March 28th, 2019, it was announced that Universal was in discussions about possibly doing another VeggieTales movie. Before April 23rd, it was unknown if this was a revival of The Bob & Larry Movie or a completely new film.^[10] On April 23, 2019, Phil Vischer confirmed that the new VeggieTales movie was not The Bob & Larry Movie and that he will be going with another idea if the film does get greenlit.^[11]

On March 21st, 2021, Joe Spadaford uploaded more pieces of concept art on his ArtStation portfolio.^[12]

On May 29th, 2021, Phil Vischer revealed more details about the plot on his Twitter account.

Animation Test

There is a possible animation test of the Bob and Larry movie, re-uploaded on YouTube by Mr. Lunch's Junkies and Mr. Vegify. The original upload was posted by an unidentified channel that got taken down for unknown reasons. According to Mr. Lunch's Junkies, after Big Idea's movie "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - A VeggieTales Movie," Big Idea outsourced animation to Huhu Studios, located in New Zealand. Big Idea's contract with DKP (animation company from "A Snoodle's Tale", until VeggieTales' second movie) expired, and they were too occupied with various animation projects.

Mr. Lunch's Jukies reports that it is believed Kirby Atkins animated this in 2011. Atkins was assigned to animate the VeggieTales episodes "The Little Drummer Boy" & "Princess and the Popstar." While the audio source of this clip is unknown, the audio is from a band discussing low-quality record prints, and the animation test features a human model animated on Maya, and this model is proprietary of AnimSchool, while this test also features a newer model of Jimmy Gourd with a different voice, and a background character in the form of a VeggieTales carrot, sitting on a couch with the guy sitting next to his guitar. The veggie characters are proprietary of Big Idea Entertainment, which is now under NBCUniversal.

As revealed in the title of his video, Mr. Vegify believes this could be an animation test for the cancelled Bob and Larry Movie, since this resembles veggies interacting with human beings, which is a major plot point addressed in the movie script, as Bob and Larry are seen on top of a table in a green room for what is most likely a television studio.

Mr. Lunch's Junkies' upload:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3hU175HgPg

Mr. Vegify's upload:

https://youtu.be/6teIMdc0wBY?si=ajXt_JEpiBx5T3J3

Gallery

Part of the color script, and the script itself.
Part of the color script (1/3).
Part of the color script (2/3).
Part of the color script (3/3).
Several pieces of concept art for the factory being shown to Big Idea employees.
Several pieces of concept art by Joe Spadaford.
Concept art by Philip Dimitriadis (1/4).
Concept art by Philip Dimitriadis (2/4).
Concept art by Philip Dimitriadis (3/4).
Concept art by Philip Dimitriadis (4/4).
Concept art by Joe Spadaford (1/6).
Concept art by Joe Spadaford (2/6).
Concept art by Joe Spadaford (3/6).
Concept art by Joe Spadaford (4/6).
Concept art by Joe Spadaford (5/6).
Concept art by Joe Spadaford (6/6).
Concept art by Michael Spooner (1/2).
Concept art by Michael Spooner (2/2).