Wakko's Wish - (Animaniacs Bonus Review) - 'Toon Reviews 39

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Before reviews officially wrap up on Animaniacs, I’m going to look into one last special production for the series; its first and only full-length feature.  As it’s the final production from the original series crew, it stands as a pretty exciting send-off as well as a great animated production on its own.

Wakko’s Wish

(December 21, 1999)

Speaking from personal experience, this is a very special Animaniacs production to me.  I never got a chance to experience the series proper when it was originally airing, and it was never on at a good time when rerunning.  This feature film was basically my first exposure to the series as I was frequently able to catch it. At that time, it was constantly airing on channels like Cartoon Network and HBO Family.  Through watching it a lot, I easily got a good feel for the series and the characters starring in it.  In other words, this film played a major role in getting me interested in checking out the actual Animaniacs series.  Before I knew it, I had the DVDs of the series in my possession and couldn’t get enough of the show.  Ultimately, I owe a lot to this film.  Now that I’m really adjusted to the series though, watching this film is still great fun, but it gives a true feel to just how loyal to the strengths of the series it truly is.

A big thing about the background of this film is that when it came to doing an Animaniacs movie, there were a lot of potential ideas according to blog posts from Tom Ruegger.  There were the Warners in a medieval setting with a potential fourth Warner, a Revolutionary War reenactment, an Oliver Twist parody, a Christmas movie, a Hollywood-themed adventure, and more.  Easily, the potential film ideas were incredibly plentiful and could go in a variety of ways.  In the end though, the film the Animaniacs crew went with took almost the entire cast of the show and placed them in a fairy tale setting.  In other words, the film would play off like a random segment from the series tending to feature characters in any setup imaginable.  While some could understandably want a big film for the show to take place in the most important regular places, like the Warner Bros studio lot, this is still in line with what the show is about.  

There are also good ways to incorporate such a wide variety of characters which in turn reflect the size of the theatrical scope of the production.  Placing them in a small village called Acme Falls allows the events of the film to reach out to everyone.  The hostile takeover by King Salazar doesn’t hold back on showcasing the effects of the town, mainly through the people getting mercilessly taxed.  There’s shops closing, citizens starving, and people doing nothing but trying to hold onto hope in such lousy situations.  Even when a bit of hope does come from someone getting money, that’s easily taken away, and everyone becomes miserable again.  However, it isn’t long before an even bigger bit of hope in the form of a wishing star falls to Earth, and there’s a big scramble to get to it and earn a wish that can change everything.

From the premise alone, this sounds like a pretty good movie, if a bit generic on the fairy tale aspect.  That said, there are parts that can feel off when it comes to staying true to the feel of Animaniacs proper, mostly from the tone of the film.  For coming from a series that specializes in mining animation for all comedic potential, the story tends to lean heavily on somber drama in many areas.  Just the setup of a tyrannical king overtaking the throne after the death of the original monarchs and Acme Falls suffering from it is not taken lightly.  This is further enhanced by droning narration that overly explains the political undertones of the takeover with no trace of comedy whatsoever.  There is at least some creative depiction with the nation taking over Acme Falls being called Tick-Tockia, a reference to Warner Bros merging with Time Warner around this time.  In addition to the poverty and hunger that comes with heavy taxes, the film goes an extra mile with how certain characters are effected by Acme Falls’ hardships.  

Of all the characters in the immense cast though, the ones most effected are the Warners.  It’s not just that they’re portrayed as orphans here, which makes a lot of sense considering that they only have each other throughout the actual series.  They have to put up with believable challenges just to get by in a corrupted kingdom, not unlike what would happen if this was the case in real life.  When poverty becomes so bad, Wakko has to leave to try and make a good profit to support him and his siblings, a major departure from his antic-driven nature.  The biggest harsh result of the tyrannical rule over the town though belongs to Dot, who apparently becomes so ill that she needs an operation.  It only takes a few immensely endearing and emotional moments to support there being legitimacy to her situation.  Making this aspect really show is how hard Wakko takes things when paying for Dot’s operation becomes too difficult to manage.  Genuinely lamenting over not making enough money and acting desperate to save his sister are fitting states of mind for most people.  The thing is, it’s not the best thing to expect from someone firmly established as a comedy-driven character.  In fact, the amount of emphasis on drama makes it too easy to take what goes on seriously.  As a general rule of feature-length storytelling, this is a very appropriate course of action to sustain audience’s attention for a long time.  Then again, a huge emphasis on comedy is a big thing that makes Animaniacs as great as it is, so to see it downplayed with legit stakes and repercussions is a tad concerning.

That’s not to say there’s no strong emphasis on comedy at all, and whenever it does show up, the film really roars into life and feels right for the series it’s part of.  For one thing, even if the somber plot is expected to be taken far more seriously than a story from this show normally is, there’s always some sort of humorous undertone to it.  

There’s a lot of painstaking details to how bad things are in Acme Falls, but the characters could honestly take it harder than they do.  I mean, the situation turns out to not be bad enough to keep everyone from singing an upbeat song about the town’s lousiness. The descriptions of the problems are always undercut by a reminder to never give up hope, and the fun tone of the melody always keeps up.  

In fact, the conditions can apparently be fixed by something as low waged as a ha’penny, the only affluence Wakko is able to get when out in the world.  That too comes with a catchy song of everyone acting like he’s hit a jackpot of some sort.  Maybe this is all a result of very little levity to the setup, but I personally see appeal in comedy from huge excitement over such small change.  On the subject of serious conditions taken lightly, even Dot’s illness isn’t all that somber despite how much it’s brought up in the film.  All that seems to come with it is a cough, but other than that, there are several instances where she’s as active as ever. She’s singing and dancing, and swiftly avoiding attacks thrown at her and her brothers later on, so you have to wonder how bad her condition actually is.

However, the biggest show of comedy comes just after Wakko loses the ha’penny that could have saved the town and makes that wish on the illusive wishing star.  As a bonus, it comes from a solid callback to one of the show's most memorable moments with the droning Pip Pumphandle playing the star's fairy.  

It’s at the point where action really starts picking up as it puts aside the focus on the admittedly generic plot in favor of the thrill of a chase after the star so to get the wish first.  Said chase even starts with great style as everyone is drawn to go after the star with arguably the best musical number in the film set to the incomparable Hungarian Rhapsody.  Not only is this beneficial to the true comedic and musical roots of Animaniacs, but also to the many characters in the cast considering what the film mainly does with them.  The sheer variety in the characters of Animaniacs has been one of the show’s biggest strengths. In putting them as people meant to populate a single town though, the audience isn’t able to get a good sense of their appeal a lot of the time.  They’re basically background characters who stand around, sing the songs as one big chorus, and only get a few single lines here and there. This is disappointing considering exactly who appears.  The main supporting cast like Pinky and the Brain, Slappy and Skippy Squirrel, Rita and Runt, Dr. Scratchansniff, Hello Nurse, and more are a given.  Then the cast goes in a broader route with appearances of memorable one-off characters. There’s Scratchansniff’s girlfriend, the Dover Boys, Prunella Flunderghust, the guy who sang Schnitzelbank, among others.  No matter who appears though, for the most part, as long as all the film has them just stand around and sing, they’re really not used to their fullest potential.  This is what happens with them at first at least, as the appearance of the wishing star makes all the difference.  

As the Warners are all set to go after it, word gets out to all of Acme Falls and the result is one big exciting chase scene that never lets up on energy, antics, and character moments.  The main trio is fun to watch as usual, but most of the other characters have their moments too.  Pinky and the Brain stand out a lot with their usual dynamic of Brain’s intellect and Pinky’s absent-mindedness clashing just as well as they did since Day 1.  In fact, they probably show the most intrigue out of any featured character even before the wishing star is a thing.  Interestingly, in addition to Brain’s world domination plans with the star, there’s a lot of talk of Pinky’s love for Phar Fignewton the horse.  That’s only been the main focus of one past cartoon with only a few short references afterwards, so to see this unusual romance in full force in a film is welcome.  

Of all the characters featured in Acme Falls, other supporting characters who get significant focus are Rita and Runt to a pleasant delight.  That said, even when all supporting players get more to do as a result of the star though, they don’t contribute anything huge.  Still, there’s appeal in their moments together as little scenes of them watching each other’s backs and interacting showcase why they’re great additions to the cast.  This is especially meaningful when you realize they haven’t gotten significant focus in a long time.  The fact that Rita sings a lot during the songs gives a strong suggestion that their absence was due to not being able to get Bernadette Peters as much as before.  Now that the crew’s working on a movie with a bigger budget, they have the full advantage to use her as much as possible.  The characters still might not do much, but seeing how great a team they can be is enough for me, particularly when you consider the circumstances.  

While nothing is particularly funny about his role in the film, Dr. Scratchansniff is at least given his own personal arc for this film about perfecting an elixir to sell to Acme Falls.  It is a random departure from his typical role in the series, but said elixir does serve as a good catalyst for much of the gags in the chase scenes.  Said scenes also bring in other characters not part of the Acme Falls setting, but worthy enough to be present in the name of this being an Animaniacs feature production.  The Goodfeathers, portrayed as servants to King Salazar and able to talk to humans for a change, break from their assignments to get respect as their wish on the star. There’s also Mindy and Buttons getting up to their usual chase routine, and it’s one of their more enjoyable ones, mainly through how the pain gags are far more merciful to Buttons.  

As for what Mindy goes after that begins the chase, it’s unfortunately the least substantial characters in the chase, Slappy and Skippy.  If any characters get a true disservice to who they really are in this film, it’s these squirrels.  In accordance with what her roles near the end of the series proper have offered, Slappy’s portrayal is significantly downplayed.  There’s no mention of her knowledge on cartoon violence with the film, instead opting to mainly highlight her being a typical grumpy old person.  She doesn’t even take any overt opportunities to be her usual edgy self. She sings with the rest of the townspeople instead of mocking how cheesy it is, and never uses any sort of gags to get her and Skippy closer to the star.  Think of how better her role would have been if during the race to the star, she was constantly using extreme cartoonish gags on her old enemies who don’t even appear in the film.  In short, not all of the core Animaniacs characters stand out here, but when they do have something big to do, it’s a real benefit.

As for the rest of the chase, while some characters stand out more than others, they’re all at the center of what amounts to one of the biggest spectacles in Animaniacs history.  There’s always something exciting happening at every minute, filled with ingenious little details.  Some of them lie within the many ways the characters travel to the star.  There’s a sled made like a sailboat, a horse drawn carriage, an ox-drawn carriage with a cannon, an airscrew ship modeled after Leonardo di Vinci, and climbing through trees all at once.  Going from one mode of transport to another gives the chase a fitting madcap pace for the series proper’s comedic roots and never gets dull for a second. This is helped by a collection of individual comedic routines.  In the entire sequence, we have the Warners nonchalantly sailing along and singing of their travels, Pinky and the Brain in their amusing banter while running the airscrew, the Mindy and Buttons chase after Slappy and Skippy, Rita and Runt making the most of their good accommodations in Dr. Scratchansniff’s carriage, and King Salazar plotting to apprehend the townspeople and execute the Warners.  So much happens, yet it’s easy to take it all in thanks to how fun the sequence really is.  

It isn’t long before the sequence turns out to be about more than just the core Animaniacs characters in one big chase.  What’s seen from the start leads up to one particular gag that starts small, but grows until that wishing star is reached, all set to the classical music piece, Pique Dame by Franz Suppe. It begins with much of the characters crossing a dangling rope bridge over a chasm which breaks a bit the moment the Warners try crossing it.  Then the rest of the characters follow as Buttons uses his body to cover the gap while keeping Mindy from falling which becomes difficult as heavier characters cross over.  Once intense moments like the Goodfeathers colliding with Pinky and the Brain’s airscrew, or King Salazar’s henchmen, Thaddeus Plotz and Ralph, attack with cannonballs, the fun really starts.  At the right time as the music picks up the tempo, the chase does so too in a variety of ways.  Phar Fignewton takes off after the falling airscrew to save Pinky, serving as the first step of accentuating the liveliness of the music.  Plotz and Ralph aren’t far behind as their carriage comes with a canon that shoots destructive blasts at the others.  Their firing reveals what’s been wrong with Dr. Scratchansniff’s elixir.  Rita, Runt, and later Buttons inside his carriage, use the supply to fight back, and it explodes too, meaning that it was made with nitroglycerin.  Then this scene becomes fully antic driven as Plotz and Ralph reach the Warners.  Following Salazar’s morbid orders, they aim their blasts at the kids with intent to destroy.  Backed by well-constructed shocked expressions to the attacks, a visual highlight is how the Warners’ sled-boat structurally breaks down to small planks, but the kids keep going.  There’s a total lull in the featured music at this point, but it works in notable ways.  In addition to giving the audience a break after fast-paced action, it advances the plot somewhat when the chase causes Dr. Scratchansniff’s elixir to get the right ingredients. It’s a hit with everyone, but is majorly marked by one of Wakko’s trademark big belches.  That ultimately brings the chase to an exciting end as an avalanche occurs, and the Warners seamlessly surf on it all the way to the wishing star to brilliantly animated effect.  This would be a fitting conclusion to such animated excitement, but with more time in the movie left, they first must deal with King Salazar himself.

On that note, there’s another comedic highlight of the film.  While the chase for the star excels humorously with extreme gags set to grand sweeping music, this scene features complete character-driven humor.  After spending the film acting realistically put down by the harsh conditions of their hometown, the Warners end up embracing their true cartoonish nature when with Salazar.  As with many of their adversaries in the series proper, he’s nothing more than a glorified tyrant after power and wealth for the sake of it.  Setting Salazar apart is that he’s actually a legit threat with a very little layer of humor.  He’s already in power and brought Acme Falls to poverty after all, not to mention the reason Plotz and Ralph are after taxes in the first place.  Nevertheless, the Warners are ready to go after him with their antics as he finally catches up to everyone and imprisons them just so he can get his wish instead of them.  It really doesn’t matter how malicious their targets are.  They’re ready to fight back with laughs no matter what.  

After they get Salazar to give them luxurious treatment in exchange for secrets about the wishing star, there’s a rapid collection of hilarious ways the Warners mess with him.  Many of them are clever references to memorable moments from the original series, though they can easily work as funny scenes on their own if you’ve never seen said series.  They get him to leave the room and lock him out as they temporarily cheer that they’re in charge like in “The Three-Muska Warners.”  When Salazar comes back and interrogates them with questions, they turn the situation into a game show which they play dumb at, bringing to mind, “Fair Game.”  Being orphans, they insist the king be their new dad, and with Wakko also referring to him as “dadoo,” there’s a strong resemblance to “Meatballs or Consequences.”  Salazar fights back by sending them to a cave of nightmares, which in the Warners case, have a major comedic undertone of their own.  Unlike what most would think of with worst nightmares, keeping true to the Warners’ characters, their nightmares are beings and setups too eccentric even for them.  There’s a loud comedy routine from Jerry Lewis-inspired Mr. Director, the vile gas station restroom from “Potty Emergency,” and a run-in with Baloney the Dinosaur.  As for original ways the Warners mess with Salazar, their comedy proves totally fresh when they bring up several ways the king’s wishes can be taken literally.  Owning the world means owning a globe, eternal youth means reliving his bad 16^th year, fame and fortune just gives him a movie and magazine subscription, ten million bucks refers to deer instead of money, all the dough in the world refers to pastry dough, the list goes on.  It’s all the genius punchlines only a top-notch comedy show like this can deliver, and a solid reason for why characters should think before they wish in stories like this.

Following this sequence is imprisonment of the Warners. They escape with one more callback where Dot uses her cuteness to have a Dennis Hopper-like guard let her and her siblings go like in “Hearts of Twilight.” This serves as a lead-in to how comedy works in one particularly interesting way.  The big thing about it is that the staging makes the moment seem anything but funny.  In one of the film’s few moments that seems to legitimize Dot’s illness, she seems unable to run towards the star with her brothers.  

Then Salazar’s attacks finally gets her and it looks like the end.  In what seems like her final moments, the emotional staging really goes all out in the series seemingly majorly taking a step out of its standard comedic makeup.  Sad music swells while just about the entire cast looks on with grief as Yakko holds his beaten up and ailing sister close.  All Dot wants is to hear the story about their parents one last time, calling back to an earlier much more wholesome bedtime story scene.  Just about everything from that story is repeated, but this time with apparent strain on emotion given the moment.  How Yakko finds himself trembling while telling the story and Dot struggles to help him along despite her injuries is simply high-talented voice talent.  Then Dot slumping over at the phrase ‘call me Dottie and you die’ is the clincher to make this scene the film’s emotional highlight.  

Now you might wonder how there can possible work on any sort of comedic level.  A notable factor is how investing the death scene is just from mere mentioned emphasis on Dot’s illness, and the scene’s aforementioned staging.  It ends up feeling like a diversion for everyone as Wakko ends the whole chase by dashing to the wishing star and getting to make the wish.  At that perfect moment, Dot happily gets up, revealing that the whole death scene was nothing more than an act and a complete joke.  I can understand frustration that such legitimate sadness turned out to be completely meaningless, don’t get me wrong. Personally, I see good comedic value in dragging the audience in with heavy emotion only to turn it on its head moments later to say that it didn’t matter.  This type of comedy is one of the staples of Animaniacs after all.  Not only that, but I especially can’t fault the scene for how it leads to the great satisfaction of what comes from Wakko’s wish of not one, but two ha’pennies.

This film being the work to officially close out Animaniacs, it’s very pleasing that major closure is given to long standing character motivations that have always defined the series.  The many sendoffs they get feel just as satisfying as they should be, therefore making a great ending to what’s essentially a fairy tale.  Of course, plot threads exclusive to the film end well, in some cases humorously as you’d expect in a series like this.  Dot’s operation can be paid for and is unsurprisingly a complete success, but it turns out that all she needed was plastic surgery for a beauty mark on her cheek so to be even cuter.  In other words, her sickness and cough was never really major and was used as a setup for this one comedic outcome.  Again, I understand any potential frustration over this plot direction, but I personally enjoy it fine for feeling right at home with the established Animaniacs atmosphere.  Even smaller film-related cases like Dr. Scratchansniff finally selling his elixir and Wakko getting his sibling much-needed nourishment with his other ha’penny are pleasantly impactful.  

However, the strongest part of the ending is how it brings on several full-circle endgames tying into not just this film, but the series as well.  Any character who’s always been after something in their cartoons but never able to get it finally has things work out.  Buttons, for once, gets Mindy home without any trouble, and his efforts are finally majorly rewarded like they should have been from the start.  As an aside, Mindy finally calls her mother Mom instead of Lady.  Rita and Runt officially get themselves a home, and given the events of the film and how principal they were in making his elixir big, I’d say Dr. Scratchansniff is a great owner for them.  Hello Nurse’s often hinted brand of intellect ends up getting noticed as she starts up a company to widely distribute that elixir.  The Goodfeathers receive some sort of respect, though it’s possible that everyone’s compliments are not really aimed at them.  As Pinky lands in a position close to Phar Fig Newton, Brain even lands in a position of power, as Prime Minister, though it’s still far off from his ultimate world domination goal.  

The Warners, however, are the ones with the true power as fate reveals that they’re the true rulers of Acme Falls allowing them to literally boot out Salazar and take over.  For how much authority they have over any adversity just from being funny cartoons, I for one am proud to see these characters land in this position as all of Animaniacs ends.  There are even a few examples in the series proper to show that the Warners have, in some ways, always been destined to rule.  While the final official episode of the series was a great sendoff for the show itself, this film turns out to be a great sendoff for the characters.  After an exciting adventure of fast-paced gags, action, and music, the conclusion is the perfect way to cap off one of the biggest selling points of the biggest TV animation marvel.

Whether or not you’ve seen the show it’s a part of beforehand, Wakko’s Wish is a solidly exciting and engaging animated feature.  In my case, it gave a good idea of the style of the series, thus enticing me to check it out years later. As this was one of the most accessible ways to see anything related to Animaniacs at the time, I imagine that notion being true for most people.  However, if you have seen the series before this film, certain elements can surely leave a stronger impact with references and character motives being easier to get.  It’s not a perfect recapture of the series with the story feeling too dramatic for the usual comedic atmosphere and some characters not being used to their fullest potential.  These factors hold the film back from being the best of the series, but things still work out. Any detractor is made up for by great smart comedy that is present, amazing songs and music, and core characters reaching the best endgames possible.  It’s strong enough as a sendoff to the best of TV animation, and as an animated film by itself, it’s one great feature film reminding us to just cheer up and never give up hope.

Highly Recommended

This brings the official end to this overview of Animaniacs which, for all its ups and downs, will be something I may always view as the closest thing to animation perfection.  It’s an influential show of how to find great consistent success through letting a cartoon be a cartoon, and the art of animation explore all possibilities.  Long after you see, or even talk about the series, its many strengths will forever resonate from its smart writing, immersive music, and highly diverse cast.  In fact, there may never be another series up to the standards this one has set, though we’ll just see how the upcoming Hulu reboot of the series goes.  Either way, while the original series has been completely looked into, it will forever stand as a work that’s truly one of a kind.  

So now, as Yakko would say:

Goodnight everybody!

And as I always say:

Stay Animated Folks!

Coming up on MC Toon Reviews, look out for recurring reviews of these two series:

• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Seasons 2 & 3 
• Steven Universe Future