El deseo de Wakko

I can't call this a bad movie, because I'm a sucker for anything with "Animaniacs" in the title. Somehow, the novelty of just seeing all the characters in one place is enjoyable enough for me. Unfortunately, the charm wears off really fast.

The plot holes are gigantic! I know it's Animaniacs, and I shouldn't be asking for logic, but usually things make just a little bit of sense. This movie tries to be a Disney flick, and it's just not working for it. I compaire this story to fanfiction. The characters are out of character, even for them, and for a movie called "Wakko's Wish", Wakko dosn't get a whole lot of screen time. That really makes me mad, because that's my favorite character!

I can't say the movie is terrible; it's decent Animation, the voice acting is pretty good, and even the plot, as cliché'd as it is, is very entertaining. I just fall in love with it every time I see it. It's so bad that it's good. As an Animaniacs fan, I love to pick apart everything that's wrong with it. For an non-Animanics watcher, I'd skip this movie. If you don't know the characters, it won't make much sense, and you'll turn it off before it reaches the ten minute mark.

For little kids, they'll love it. I know I used to. (I bought five copies of the original VHS version when it first came out. One was eaten by the VCR, I lost one, I have two in my video collection, and one is still unopened.) It's a very nice movie for kids, and it keeps them quiet for an hour. Then again, I guess kids love anything animated, so that's not much of an accomplishment.

'Animaniacs' has always been one of my favorite cartoons. It is truly amazing with its brilliant writing, endless hilarity, fantastic animation, memorable characters and music, and the pure amount of joy it brings me. People of all ages will enjoy the show's intelligence and wit, but adult viewers in particular will understand the clever references to films and celebrities. The cartoon excelled in humor and is a perfect example of why I love cartoons in the first place.

'Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish' is cute and pleasant, but does not come close to the greatness of the original series. As a film targeted more toward younger audiences, it lacks the wacky humor that was very often present in 'Animaniacs' and the characters are less zany.

It was not a complete disappointment, however. The animation is very smooth and clean and the colors are vibrant and lovely. There are also some scenes I found touching, notably the ones where Yakko displays gentleness and brotherly love toward his sister Dot. Pinky and the Brain are very enjoyable in the film and their antics provided me with many laughs. All of the voice acting is fantastic as well.

Despite these positive aspects, the film is let down by rather unexceptional writing, and the large amount of songs sung are forgettable at best. To me, the film just does not feel like it is related to anything 'Animaniacs.' It lacks the strong and clever writing and sharp, comical moments that are so often associated with 'Animaniacs' on the whole. Certain parts did make me laugh, but I did not laugh nearly as much as I do when watching the original classic series.

'Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish' is a likable and fun film and has lots of good aspects, but it is not nearly as good as the series.

Wakko's Wish does what Animaniacs fans have come to expect, and in fact demand. The story is entertaining at multiple levels, from the purely visual, to the slapstick, to clever wordplay, to subtle cultural references that surface on watching for the second or third time.

It may look like it is a Disney-esque thing. If you expect that, you may be uneasy when Wakko's Wish gives it what-for and does what Warner Bros. cartoons have always done: had fun with things and not let anyone or anything off the hook.

I am a huge fan of Animaniacs. I have been hooked ever since the show was introduced to me as a child. I watched the show every day and even owned some of the videos. And yet somehow, I managed to miss Wakko's Wish until very recently. Now, having finally seen it, I must say that I was fairly disappointed that this stands as the brilliant show's swan song.

There is a famous quote that says, "And this above all, to thine own self be true." It would have been nice for the makers of Wakko's Wish to take this into consideration. Most of my problem with the movie was that it tried to make Animaniacs into something it wasn't. Most of the time, Animaniacs (at least, the segments featuring the Warners, who starred in this) was pretty off-the-wall stuff. It was generally pretty zany, and full of jokes that adults would be more likely to understand than kids. There were flashes of that in Wakko's Wish, but overall, it felt like the movie was trying harder to cater to little ones. Also, it didn't feel right that there were so many scenes with *touching moments* in them. They felt out of place for these characters, especially the Warners. And worse, it made the tone of the movie seem uneven when there were scenes that were actually Warner-like, especially the scene with the evil king. That scene *should not* feel out of place in an Animaniacs movie! It should be the norm rather than the exception. And what probably what made me saddest about this movie were the songs. I've always loved the music from Animaniacs, but this was overkill. Even worse, most of the songs weren't fun or funny, which is a crime in the world of Animaniacs. Those songs just made the whole thing come off sounding like a low-rent Disney knock-off. (It's so painful to say that about anything having to do with Animaniacs, but it's true here, sadly.)

Wakko's Wish took the Warners into uncharacteristically dramatic territory, but this was made more palatable by the wonderful vocal cast. They actually did a very good job acting through the more emotional scenes, especially the actors who play Yakko (Rob Paulsen), Wakko (Jess Harnell), and Dot (Tress MacNeille). They were able to make the somewhat corny material have a bit of emotional impact.

Wakko's Wish could have been much better than it was. We could have seen a lot more of the Warners that we've come to know and love, and it would have been nice if there had been fewer songs (and if those few could have been up to par with the music from the TV show!) But overall, Wakko's Wish was a nice little movie, and a nice (if not entirely fitting) farewell to the world of Animaniacs.

I wrote a much longer review on amazon.com and Usenet's alt.tv.animaniacs group. Since then, I've watched the movie several more times, and all I can say is that my original impressions have been reinforced: The folks who made Animaniacs have produced a fitting last hurrah for the series. There's enough adult-level humor to keep everyone laughing, especially if you pay attention to the throwaway lines. A superficial glance might lead you to believe this is another formulaic Disneyoid animated kidflick, but that's wide of the mark: they skewer the formula, not follow it. Give it a chance and you'll be sold.