Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish

The town of Warners is poor. King Salazar has taken all the money in tax and the people have nothing. Yakko, Wakko and Dot sit by a well. Dot is ill and needs an operation; there is no money. Then a star falls from the sky. The story says the first person to touch it gets a wish. Everyone in town sets off at once. The king hears too and sends his army. Along the road all the characters from the series appear, each preparing a wish. Liz Holzman directs with Rusty Mills and Tom Ruegger. Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille and Maurice LaMarche are among the voices. It is an American production. The film was made as a continuation of the television series Animaniacs and went straight to video. In the series the characters appeared in separate sketches; here they are all inside one story. The narrative is a musical; the songs are inside it and the classic musical shape is used. The film keeps the series' sense of humour; the film references and jokes breaking the fourth wall continue. The matter it treats is poverty and a wish; the story follows the shape of a fairy tale. Dot's illness adds a weight the series did not have. The ending does not use the wish in the expected way. Its limit is scale; the animation is at television level, the narrative simple, and the songs uneven. Who it is for: viewers who like nineties American cartoons and musical animation. Who it is not for: it is closed to anyone who does not know the series, it is simple, and the ending sentimental.