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Main Characters
Elmer Elevator
Voiced by: Jacob Tremblay
A boy forced to leave his old home and live in the big city. A combination of poverty and an inability to solve his mother's problems drives him to run away and, and finding out about it, set sail for Wild Island to find the dragon there. While somewhat stubborn, Elmer is very resourceful and, when the occasion rises, quite compassionate.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the book, his main gripe was being unable to adopt a cat because his mom said no. Here, there's financial strife on top of that.
- Character Development: Initially, all Elmer cares about is mending his own life, even if it means taking advantage of Boris. He also gets frustrated easily when things aren't clear and/or Boris goofs off. But by the end, he's become Boris' first true friend, and he decides to face the future head-on, whether he knows the answers or not.
- Coming of Age Story: The whole movie is about Elmer coming to terms with the fact that despite everything, it's okay to be uncertain of the future, whether he has the answers or not. He goes from wanting to brute-force a solution to his problems to allowing the solutions to come to him. That being said, he loses none of his positive pro-activity.
- Determinator: As misguided as he is, there's no denying that once Elmer sets his mind to something, he'll use anything at his disposal to do it. There's a reason Boris initially refers to him as "answer guy".
- False Friend: Starts out like this to Boris, seeing him as a mere means to an end, but the 'false' part dies out eventually.
- Momma's Boy: Almost everything he does is in the name of making his mother's life easier, even if it is somewhat misguided.
- Moving Angst: Elmer's situation at the beginning is his disappointment and confusion at having to move to Nevergreen, marking an end to the good life he once had.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Saiwa accuses him of ruining everything for selfish reasons, Elmer realizes that, to some extent, the gorilla's right. He immediately rushes to make things right.
- Only Sane Man: Compared to the more out-there inhabitants of Wild Island, especially Boris, he's this.
Boris
Voiced by: Gaten Matarazzo
- Big Brother Worship: He clearly has a lot of respect for his brother Horacio.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Boris gets hit with this twice. First when Aratuah is revealed to be dead, and then when he forces Elmer away to confront his destiny by himself.
- Cheerful Child: In contrast to Elmer, Boris is almost always in a happy go lucky mood.
- Delightful Dragon: He's a young dragon who's very cheerful and friendly.
- The Ditz: Another difference between him and Elmer is while the boy is resourceful and intelligent for his age, Boris...isn't.
- Failure Hero: Boris' biggest fear is that he won't be able to save the island due to now knowing how, resulting in him being this. He doesn't fail, thankfully.
- Keet: He's just one big lovable goofball when you get down to it.
- Kid-Appeal Character: Boris serves as the comic relief for the film.
- Lovable Coward: He's definitely a good dragon, but his biggest flaw is how easily scared he gets, to the point where it's that fear that prevents him from ever entering the island's core. He gets better thanks to Elmer.
- Older Than They Look: One hundred human years is no more than ten for his kind.
- Our Dragons Are Different: He's a traditional western dragon, albeit with bright colors, tiny wings, and long ears. He's ten years old, but that's about one-hundred human years. Apparently, the Rite of Passage will enable him to become an After Dragon, which can breathe fire and is incredibly strong and muscular. He actually comes out not much different-looking after gaining his power.
Wild Island
Saiwa
Voiced by: Ian McShane
The ruler of Wild Island, Saiwa is an old white-pelted gorilla who forces Boris to raise the island in order to prevent its destruction. Despite the short-term nature of the solution, he remains steadfast that his way will protect everyone, and is determined to keep it that way.
- Anti-Villain: Him enslaving a young dragon is bad, yes, but he's doing it only because it's the only way he knows how to save his island. Even when pursuing our heroes, he never wastes an opportunity to help his subjects.
- Big Bad: The main obstacle between our heroes and finding a real solution to saving the island.
- Killer Gorilla: He's a big white silverback gorilla, and can get quite aggressive as the Big Bad. Then again, he's nowhere near as savage as the trope would imply.
- Manipulative Bastard: Due to not knowing what to do because of Aratuah's death, he takes advantage of Boris's naivete (calling him "scared and foolish" in a conversation with Elmer), in order to imprison him and force him to repeatedly lift the island instead of attempting to find a more permanent solution. While it comes from a good place, as Saiwa is the island's leader and is trying to protect everyone, he was completely undeterred in convincing a young dragon to keep doing something that was proving increasingly to not work.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After the island is saved, he remains in the shadows feeling guilty over how his solution just made things worse."I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I had the answer. I had nothing. I am sorry."
- Shadow Archetype: It's not explicitly stated, but there are many hints that he's one for Elmer. Both are determined to have the answers to their problems, especially the ones that affect who they love, but Saiwa is what Elmer could become if he refuses to acknowledge the fact that sometimes, he doesn't always have the right answer.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ultimately, him wanting to keep Boris prisoner stems from him wanting to keep his and every other animal's home from sinking and drowning them. His problem is that he refuses to hear any other solution.
- Would Hurt a Child: After Iris saved Elmer and Boris from being caught, Saiwa threatens her baby in order to get her to lead them to the pair. He also is very aggressive towards Elmer while demanding that he hands Boris over and nearly pushes him off a tall flower towards what would have been a VERY messy landing on the sharp rocks and water below them.
Kwan
Voiced by: Chris O'Dowd
Saiwa's right-hand ape. Kwan puts getting the dragon back above all else, even despite his master's orders.
- The Dragon: To Saiwa.
- Dirty Coward: After Boris gains flight again, he angrily leaves everyone behind and sails off on a mushroom, determined to save his own hide. He ends up on a tangerine island with Soda.
- Eviler than Thou: Unlike Saiwa, he has no time for helping the other animals in their time of crisis, his eyes squarely on getting the dragon back. Also, he abandons everyone to their fate when he gets the chance.
- Heel Realization: Possibly. Upon hearing that the island was saved for real, he sports a look of dawning awe. And considering that Soda is right next to him, he might return to Wild Island and have a shot at redemption.
- Inadequate Inheritor: At one point Saiwa tells him that he might one day inherit the role as leader, and the animals will look to him. Considering how disregardful he is to the plights of others, that's a far-fetched assumption.
- Jerkass: Cares for very little other than himself, as evidenced by how frustrated he gets whenever Saiwa chooses the safety of others over getting the dragon.
Tamir
Voiced by: Jackie Earle Haley
An insanely neurotic tamarin monkey, Tamir is absolutely terrified of drowning with the rest of the island. As a result, he clings to Saiwa both figuratively and literally.
- Motor Mouth: During his many panic attacks, he tends to run his words together.
- Nervous Wreck: 90% of his dialogue is him freaking out about dying due to the sinking island.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After spending the entire film worrying about drowning, he finally gets to breathe easy once the day is saved.
Iris
Voiced by: Dianne Wiest
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Her book counterpart was concerned about the whiteness of his horn. Bit of a step down from worrying about a sinking island and providing for your kid.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She assists Elmer and Boris after they give her baby food, promise to save Wild Island, and inadvertently help her out of the trap. She even apologizes to Elmer after she's forced to lead Saiwa to them.
- Gender Flip: The rhino in the book was male.
- Rhino Rampage: Subverted. She's introduced charging at Elmer...only for it to actually be her despairing at her predicament. She's actually one of the nicest animals on the island.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: If you didn't feel your heart melt at the sight of her baby and the adorable (and surprisingly accurate at times) noises it makes, you might need to seek help.
Cornelius
Voiced by: Alan Cumming
A large crocodile with an even larger family.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Despite his Bumbling Dad tendencies and somewhat effeminate voice, he's still a large sharp-toothed crocodile threatening our heroes.
- Bumbling Dad: Implied, as he seems to have a hard time getting his offspring to do as he says.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Although he's definitely a crocodile, his insanely elongated body calls snakes to mind.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: He presents himself quite menacingly, but he's also quite comedic with how unable he is to control his family. That, and he isn't really a bad guy.
- Papa Wolf: He is an overprotective and affectionate father of several baby crocodiles.
George and Sasha
Voiced by: Spence Moore II (George), Leighton Meester (Sasha)
A pair of huge tigers who often fight over food.
- The Glomp: Even with their prey, they sure love to snuggle up to whatever they encounter.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: They inhabit a forest where their stripes enable them to blend right in. Eagle-eyed viewers might see them as they stalk Elmer and Boris.
- Panthera Awesome: They and their kind are tigers three times the size of both Elmer and Boris.
Soda
Voiced by: Judy Greer
A very cheerful and excitable sperm whale who serves as Elmer's escort to Wild Island on the cat's request.
- Animals Not to Scale: For a (presumably adult) sperm whale, she's only about the size of a car.
- Cartoon Whale: If she were slightly more rectangular, she'd nail the exact look of this trope.
- Genki Girl: She's in an eternally cheery and talkative mood, much to the annoyance of just about everyone.
- Meaningful Name: As she's incredibly eager to demonstrate, she gets her name from how she can make water come out of her spout like a shaken-up soda can.
- Motor Mouth: Practically never shuts up during her on-screen time. Is implied to even keep talking while Elmer sleeps, as she continues right on once he wakes up.
- So Proud of You: Says this to Elmer as he flies away with Boris after saving the island.
Nevergreen
Dela Elevator
Voiced by: Golshifteh Farahani
Elmer's struggling mother. As much as she tries to put on a confident face for her son, it becomes harder and harder to hide the fact that they're struggling in the recession.
- Lies to Children: She lies to Elmer about how they'll open a new shop in the city in order to help him cope with the move better, but the lie rapidly unravels due to the stress of her attempting to find a job.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She hits her Rage Breaking Point when she not only can't find a job but that Elmer supposedly also brought a cat into the apartment, refusing to listen to him and admitting that they won't be opening a new store like she said. She immediately regrets this when she sees how much she's hurt Elmer, and is very worried for him after he disappears to go to Wild Island.
- Parents as People: While for the most part a caring mother who wants the best for her son, the stress of their current situation is shown to weigh on her a lot, and it doesn't stay hidden for long.
- Struggling Single Mother: Zigzagged; she doesn't seem to be struggling at the beginning of the film, as she and Elmer have a very busy and popular store, but after she's forced to close down the store she later faces near-poverty while trying to convince her son that it'll be okay.
Mrs. McClaren
Voiced by: Rita Moreno
Elmer and his mom's cynical landlord.
- Child Hater: She doesn't like kids because they're loud and rough on furniture; a previous tenant of hers had a child and the kid broke all of the furniture in the Elevators' room, though she softens up over the course of the movie.
- Cranky Landlord: She starts like this at the beginning, charging a considerable fee for Elmer and his mother's residence while acting quite cantankerous.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She starts out cynical, grumpy and bitter, but seeing that Elmer runs away from home, leaving his mother worried, Mrs. McClaren is visibly worried. When Elmer returns to his mother at the end, Mrs. McClaren looks much nicer than she did before, even protecting Elmer and his mother from the rain with her umbrella. She becomes kinder and more empathetic towards Elmer and his mother, even letting the two of them adopt the cat.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although she can be bitter and cynical, Mrs. McClaren is shown to make a living as a landlord due to hard times. She is somewhat concerned when Elmer runs away from home, leaving his mother worried. When Elmer returns with his mother, Mrs. McClaren looks content and happy.
Callie, Gertie, and Eugene
A trio of kids Elmer's age who perform on the street.
- Foreshadowing: The show that they're performing when Elmer first sees them is telling the story of the threat to Wild Island, and about Boris.
- Jerkass: They steal the coin Elmer is paid with when he manages to sell some of the rubber bands he brought from his old store because they claim he "took" it from them.
- Reformed Bully: After Elmer returns home, they are much less snobbish to him. Callie lets Elmer join her group of friends on the streets to put on shows and tell stories to earn money together.
The Cat
Voiced by: Whoopi Goldberg
A stray cat who can inexplicably talk, and sets Elmer's journey in motion.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She decides to help Elmer after he gives her milk, telling him the story of the dragon that inhabits Wild Island and that could be the financial solution that Elmer and his mother need.
- Cats Are Magic: She can talk, but she doesn't grant wishes like Elmer initially believes.
- Happily Adopted: By Elmer and his mother at the end. Even, Mrs. McClaren, who did not allow her guests to have pets in her building, seems okay with it.
- You Can Talk?: Elmer has this reaction to her.
