Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish

'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 is a very worthy finale to the series. While some have complained that it isn't like the show at all, I don't really think it is meant to be. Nor should it. Does anyone really want to see 90 minutes of out and out zanyness? Instead, we get a rather touching story that gives all the characters and emotional weight they never really had before. And of course, we still get the zanyness, it's just placed within a larger framework.

Personally, I would love to see more Animaniacs stories done in this exact style (hope hope hope!).

With Wakko's Wish, Animaniacs ends it's run with a solid piece of work, very unlike the show in many ways, and for that I am glad. Nothing could have been worse for it to finish with something that was basically just another episode.

Just saw this on HBO, did anyone catch the not-so-hidden reference to the Time-Warner merger of 1996? In the opening sequence, the town of "Warnerstock" (not-so-subtle) was all happy and prosperous until the king passed away and the evil king of "Ticktocia" (tic-toc...Time maybe?) took control through a hostile takeover. the people of Warnerstock were forced to turn a profit...and so-on and so-on. The show was always full of obscure and adult references cleverly and tastefully hidden and mixed with the kiddie humor. Maybe an expression of some internal riff with the whole merger, 'cleverly' displayed in Animaniac fashion.

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 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.