How an animated family film sparked a government-led campaign against its environmental message

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When the 2020 animated feature Bigfoot Family hit streaming platforms, it became a global hit. Yet, its depiction of an oil company destroying wildlife drew the ire of an Alberta government agency, which accused the film of indoctrinating children. The resulting controversy only served to boost the movie's popularity.

Directed by Ben Stassen and Jeremy Degruson, Bigfoot Family serves as the 2020 sequel to the 2017 film The Son of Bigfoot. The plot follows Adam, a teenager who inherited his father's supernatural abilities, as he travels to Alaska to rescue his father, Dr. James Harrison. Harrison, known as Bigfoot, had traveled north to protest Xtract, an oil company that claimed to have no environmental impact while secretly using explosives to excavate oil and threaten a local valley.

The film's narrative centers on Adam exposing the company's CEO, Connor Mandrake, by recording his plans to detonate a massive bomb. Upon its release, the film found significant success on Netflix, reaching the top spot in several major international markets, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, where it held the number one position for six consecutive days.

This commercial success was accompanied by an unexpected political backlash. In March 2021, the Canadian Energy Centre—an agency established by the government of Alberta to defend the oil industry—launched a campaign against the film. They accused Netflix and the filmmakers of spreading misinformation and brainwashing children. The agency's website, Support Canadian Energy, encouraged viewers to sign a petition, resulting in thousands of letters sent to the studio. Ultimately, the director noted that the public dispute provided the film with valuable, free publicity, further increasing its viewership.

The production, originally titled Bigfoot Superstar, was an English-language collaboration between Belgian and French studios. It premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2020 before its theatrical release in France and Belgium that August. The film's soundtrack features the band Puggy, who also scored the original movie, and the production process was teased at the 2020 Paris Images Digital Summit.

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