Product Details

• Actors: Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Sherri Stoner
• Directors: Rusty Mills, Liz Holzman, Tom Ruegger
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: December 21, 1999
• Run Time: 70 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000K4ZI
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,834 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This made-for-video feature-length animated movie finds the Animaniacs living in Acme Falls, a town in the country of Warnerstock, which is overthrown by a greedy king who taxes the good citizens into a state of pennilessness. Wakko, Yakko, and Dot are displaced royal orphans who have fallen on hard times until Wakko makes a wish to save his ailing sis. Pip, the desire fulfillment facilitator (the ever dry Ben Stein), directs him toward a fallen star. The first one who touches it will have a wish come true. The race is on, with the king, Pinky and the Brain, and other Warner characters giving the trio a run for the money--literally. Along the way, viewers are treated to big musical numbers and jokes about everyone and everything from Snow White to the mayor of Washington, D.C. Of course, the kids make it in the nick of time, Dot gets her operation, and the economy of Acme Falls is revitalized. The story is directed at kids 5 and up, with much of the humor aimed squarely at their parents. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great finale for Animaniacs...not just for kids, either., November 7, 1999

By A Customer

Through the application of liberal amounts of cash and anability to place last-second bids on eBay, I've managed to lay handson an advance copy of Wakko's Wish. I'm glad I did. It's a worthyfinale to the Animaniacs franchise.

I won't get into the plot. Daniel Gallo did so on Usenet a few months ago, and did a thorough job of it. Suffice it to say that the plot is a good framework to build the movie on. For those who were wondering if Animaniacs could support 80 minutes worth of story, this will answer the question with a loud YES!. The different characters have different places in the story, but they're woven together smoothly and well; there's no sense of jumping back and forth between storylines. The ending is logical and fits well.

Wakko's Wish spends a lot of time paying homage to the series itself. I believe that most of the CRGA entry for the movie will be references to Animaniacs episodes, rather than the rest of the world. There's a fair amount of that as well, though. Those who appreciate potshots at real- world happenings won't be disappointed. You'll find plenty of humor here, whether you're 10 or 40. I suspect that, had this gotten theatrical release, it would have been a case of kids dragging their parents to see it, with the parents coming out afterwards laughing more than the kids.

There's plenty of original music here. At first, I thought it was all going to be musical, but right about the time the story picked up, the prevalence of songs as opposed to spoken dialogue changed. That made for a good change in feel, and worked well. The music, as well as the story, allowed Jess Harnell's singing talents to take center stage, and he shows just why he's doing well as a professional singer (though in places where he's not immediately known). Just about everyone gets a chance to show off their musical talents; those who think that Pinky can't sing get a dramatic rebuttal, and even Sherri Stoner and Ben Stein take a whack at it, with humorously bad results. I don't know if Sherri can sing, but Slappy sure can't.

TMS's animation is at the top of the heap. Their Warners are generally recognized as the standard to which everyone else aspires, and, if anything, they've raised the bar here. Not once did I catch an error in modeling or in continuity. There are several scenes with very fast action, all handled quite well, and more than a few difficult pans. There's also a fair amount of CGI, though it's so well done and so unobtrusive that you'll have a hard time picking it out. This is the first cartoon I've seen that combined cel animation and CGI in a manner that wasn't jarringly dissonant.

About the only negative I can bring up is the final bit. The writers resisted the tendency to over-senitimentalize right until the very end, but there they succumb to temptation and deliver a message with a heavy hand. Animaniacs can and does do better than that. Even so, it's not objectionable enough to make you want to throw the tape in the trash after seeing it; the rest of the movie is way too good for that.

The credits had a pleasant surprise; every major and nearly all minor speaking roles are credited to the voice actors who performed them, and the rule the TV series follows about only crediting a voice actor once even if they play multiple characters is not followed here. The viewer is shown exactly who voiced everyone. There's also a disappointment: no gag credit. I don't know why not, but I expected to see one and didn't.

Overall, Wakko's Wish is a winner. It's well worth ordering and waiting with bated breath for it to hit your doorstep on December 21. Animaniacs fans, and anyone who enjoys a good comedy, will love it. Tom Ruegger and his team have done a great job.

Thanks, guys. If it had to end, this is the best way I can think of doing it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the TV series, but not bad..., October 26, 2001

By	Dag Nygaard - See all my reviews

If you haven't seen the "Animaniacs" TV series, "Wakko's Wish" might be a little hard to follow at times. The number of in-jokes are staggering, and a lot of the characters don't get enough screen time to properly introduce them. Still, the movie does give even the "Animaniacs virgin" a fair deal of exposure to the cast and relationships.

The Warner Siblings are the stars of the show, of course, and although they never get quite as zany as they were in the TV series, they have several brilliant moments. Pinky and the Brain are also in great shape here, and a lot of the funniest moments in the movie are thanks to them. The rest of the cast make varied preformances -- The Goodfeathers do better in this movie than they ever did in the TV series, as do Mindy and Buttons, but Slappy isn't really up to par (mostly since she doesn't get to blow anything up), and Rita and Runt aren't used to their full potential here either.

For the people who HAVE seen the series, it's impossible not to compare the movie rather unfavorably to it. The TV series is funnier, has better music, is more intelligent and has more of that genuine charm that comes from really good animation. This isn't to say the movie is bad, but it does lack that little extra spark to raise it from merely "good" to "outstanding."

All gripes aside, "Wakko's Wish" is the first direct-to-video animated film I've seen that actually makes good use of the format. It's one of those rare movies that is more enjoyable the second time you watch it, because by then you know what's really going on, and a lot of the scenes that seemed overly-saccharine during the first viewing suddenly become delightfully ironic. This is a storytelling trick that is ideally suited to the direct-to-video format, since those types of movies ARE the ones most likely to be seen repeated times. I hope more producers will learn from this.

"Wakko's Wish" definitely deserves four stars out of five. It's quite good, while not up to par with Warner's very best.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great kids movie! Adults will love it too!, October 21, 2002

By	Katherine J. Keller "Deaconess Katie Keller" (Rockford, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw this movie for the first time my first year of college. I'd always liked Animaniacs and I had to see this movie. It definately was a great tribute to the series. All the favorite characters are back (with the exception of Mr. Skullhead).

The basics of the plot are the Warner Brothers (and the Warner sister) are orphans who are in a race against their village and a greedy king to reach a fallen wishing star and make their wish. It has alot of comedy (a must for the Animaniacs) and even some heartstring tuggers!

I loved the music (wouldn't be a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes without Franz Liszts' "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2")

It's a great movie, filled with humour both parents and kids can appreciate. I watched it last night with my friends and the humour we laughed at on the series was even funnier in our college days! A big two thumbs to the cast of such a wonderful series and movie (special Hi to Rob Paulsen from another transplanted Michigander!)