WAKKO'S WISH

'''Wakko's Wish''' is a 1999 direct-to-video animated film based on the Warner Bros. animated television series ''Animaniacs''. The film relocates all the ''Animaniacs'' characters to a quasi-medieval fairy tale world, in which they race to find a shooting star that will grant them a wish.
Although ''Wakko’s Wish'' had been rated highly amongst children and adults in test-screenings, Toon Zone News Archives: February 1999 Warner Bros. had decided to release it direct-to-video, rather than spend money on adverting. Toon Zone News Archives: February 1999 ''Wakko's Wish'' was released on VHS (there was no DVD release, and there are no current plans for Warner Bros. to re-release the movie on DVD) in December 21, 1999 by Warner Home Video. First-ever "STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS ANIMANIACS" feature-length spectacular unveiled The film is typically aired on television during the same year's holiday season, despite not typically being a Christmas movie.

Contents

Voice cast

Main plot

Subplots

References

External links

Voice cast

★ Rob Paulsen - Yakko Warner, Pinky, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff

★ Jess Harnell - Wakko Warner

★ Tress MacNeille - Dot Warner, Marita Hippo, Hello Nurse, Mindy's Mother

★ Maurice LaMarche - Brain, Squit

★ Sherri Stoner - Slappy Squirrel

★ Nathan Ruegger - Skippy Squirrel

★ Nancy Cartwright - Mindy

★ Frank Welker - Buttons, Ralph, Baron von Plotz, Runt, Flavio Hippo

★ Chick Vennera - Pesto

★ John Mariano - Bobby

★ Bernadette Peters - Rita

★ Paxton Whitehead - King Salazar

★ Ben Stein - Desire Fulfillment Facilitator (aka, "Pip")

★ Jeff Bennett - Baloney, Captain of the Guard

★ Paul Rugg - Mr. Director

★ Julie Brown - Minerva Mink

★ Tom Bodett - The Narrator

Main plot

The movie takes place in the fictional town of Acme Falls within the fictional kingdom of Warnerstock, where all the ''Animaniacs'' characters live happily together. However, upon the death of the king, Warnerstock enters a state of civil war. Taking advantage of the situation, the neighbouring fictional kingdom of Ticktockia takes over Warnerstock, and makes all its people poor and miserable due to overtaxing. In the film, the invasion of Warnerstock by Ticktockia references the real world merger between Warner Bros. and Time Inc.. An animated map scene depicting the invasion sets the two countries roughly where Luxembourg would be in the real world.
As the years pass, the citizens of Acme Falls begin to lose hope, until finally they send Wakko to The City by train to seek his fortune. Wakko returns the following year with a ha'penny and sings as he considers spending it on repairing the water tower he and his sibilings live in, underwear for Yakko, "burgers at the butchers, blitzers at the bakers, groceries at the grocers, season tickets for the Lakers" and finally, decides on an operation Dot needs. However, Plotz (the taxman) gets a wind of the situation and invents taxes so that he can charge Wakko exactly one hay penny, leaving Wakko bankrupt again.
That night, saddened he tries wishing upon a star. A fairy (who calls himself a "desire-fulfillment facilitator") falls from the star he picks and explains he had just chosen the only wishing star in the sky. The star itself falls shortly after in the mountains and the fairy tells Wakko that whoever touches the star first gets the wish.
The following morning he tells the whole town, which makes them all rush towards the glow in the mountains. Plotz manages to get ahead of all of them, only to be stopped by Salazar, the king of Ticktockia. The King finds out about the star's power, and sends his whole army over. He also sends Plotz to stop Yakko, Wakko and Dot from reaching the star alive, threatening to kill Plotz if he doesn't do so.
Plotz fires cannonballs at the Warners from his carriage, but doesn't manage to stop them from reaching the mountains at the same time as all the other townsfolk. However, the King's army has already built a military base around the star, and a small ice palace to the side of it, and they are all (including Plotz) captured and locked up so that the King may have his wish.
The Warners, however, are sentenced to death by firing squad, which they manage to weasel out of by acting as if they knew a secret about the wishing star. The King attempts bribing them and torturing them, until finally Yakko says, "It's not what you wish for, it's how you wish it. ... Things are taken so literally these days." The King proceeds to enlist the things he would've wished for, and the Warners find a comedic way out for all of them. The King, annoyed at being ridiculed, sends them to the firing squad. Dot, however, manages to convince the Captain of the guard to let them out by acting cute.
As the King is about to make his wish, the Warners show up, and he tries shooting them himself with a cannon. He misses, but Dot seems mortally wounded by the force of the explosion created when the cannonball hits the ground. Wakko seizes his chance to head to the star, and Yakko drops behind, trying to convince Dot that she can make it. Dot seems to ignore this, asking Yakko to tell her a story, "One last time."
Yakko complies, telling her the story he told her every night before bed, but towards the end of the story his voice cracks, and he actually begins to cry. Dot appears to die, causing the people of Acme Falls, along with some of the royal army, to become furious with King Salazaar. The captain of the guard exclaims, "She was the cute one, man, the impossibly cute one!" As everyone turns on the King, Wakko reaches the star. Dot immediately reveals she was just acting, and Wakko reveals he wished for two hay pennies. (Whether or not either of her brothers knew she was just acting was never specified.)
Wakko uses the first of these to buy "burgers at the butchers, blitzers at the bakers, groceries at the grocers, [and] season tickets for the Lakers." The second one pays for Dot's operation, which is revealed to be a plastic surgery to create a beauty mark. Wakko's first hay penny, however, returns prosperity to the town as the butcher, the baker, and the grocer start spending the money they've just earned, and the people they buy things from in turn do the same (see Circular flow of income).
The Hospital finds Yakko, Wakko, and Dot's birth certificates, and reveals they were the heirs to the throne. The movie ends showing how they use their power to grant the citizens of Acme Falls their wishes (see below).

Subplots

The story features a number of smaller plots, which successfully includes all the Animaniacs characters. All the subplots intertwine, and end happily when each character "gets their wish" in one way or another. The most prominent ones are mentioned here.

★ 'Dr. Scratchandsniff's Elixir:' Dr. Scratchandsniff arrives to Acme Falls in a wagon claiming to sell a miracle elixir with a wonderful taste. However, no matter how many mixes he tries, he can't find one that won't make people spit it out in disgust. After he uses his wagon and his horse (Phar fig newton) to try to get to the wishing star first, the jarring of all the bottles inside his wagon creates a spill which mixes into the perfect combination of ingredients. He has the Warners try it, and discovers it makes its drinkers burp loudly in satisfaction. He subsequently creates a company called "Scratchy Cola" to sell it.

★ 'Pinky and Phar fig newton:' Phar fig newton first arrives to Acme Falls as Dr. Scratchandsniff's horse. Pinky, however, still is in love with Phar fig newton, and thus when Dr. Scratchandsniff takes her away to pull his wagon towards the wishing star, he is heartbroken. Phar fig newton also shows sadness after a while, until Pinky crash-lands in front of her. Pinky is put in charge of the royal stables at the end of the movie, guaranteeing they will stay together.

★ 'Pinky and the Brain:' Pinky and the Brain are left behind when everyone leaves to get to the Wishing star. They manage to build a functional version of Leonardo da Vinci's Airscrew, and try to use it to get to the star first. Unfortunately, they crash into the Goodfeathers, and they all fall in front of Dr. Scratchandsniff and Phar fig newton. At the end of the movie, the Brain is made prime minister of Warnerstock, and chief advisor to the Warner triumviratum, partially fulfilling his desire to take over the world.

★ 'Slappy and Skippy:' Slappy and Skippy try to reach the star by hopping through the trees. Slappy wants a quiet retirement and Skippy feels lonely as no other young squirrels want to go near Slappy's home. When the movie ends, Slappy's tree flowers for once in a long time, and dozens of squirrels flock towards it. Skippy gets a crush on one of them.

★ 'Buttons and Mindy:' Mindy here is Snow White's daughter and is shown outside the seven dwarves' cottage. Buttons is charged with taking care of her, despite being hungry. When Mindy sees Slappy and Skippy passing by, she chases after them. Buttons, of course, follows, and when Mindy is about to cross a broken bridge, he puts himself over the hole. However, all the other citizens of Acme Falls use his presence to cross over the bridge, and over him. When he returns Mindy safely home at the end of the movie, he is given a large tower of steaks as reward while Mindy fulfills her mother's wish by calling her "mom".

★ 'Mr.Plotz:' gets his wish of owning his own restaurant so he can market his famous Plotz burgers.in that scene his only coustmers are Flavio and Marita.

★ 'The Mime:' The mime from the "mime time" segment also appears in the movie. His inclusion is excused by Yakko saying, "No town is perfect." He appears only in the scenes that take place in Acme Falls where, when he is not imitating other characters, he is being hurt by them. The mime doesn't have any wish fulfilled. However, he is involved in fulfilling Yakko's wish by letting a safe fall on himself.

References

External links

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