An animated film made by Don Bluth.Stanley is a weirdtroll. He is kind, he is gentle, he loves flowers, and he has a literal Green Thumb that makes plants (talking, dancing, singing plants, to boot!) grow wherever he touches. As punishment, instead of just turning him to stone, the queen of the trolls decides to banish him to a place that is a nature lover's worst nightmare — New York City! While hiding out in Central Park, he meets a boy and his little sister and takes them on an adventure that's 50% Tastes Like Diabetes and 50% Nightmare Fuel.All in all, a verystrange ride.The film had a budget of $23,000,000 and only grossed $71,368 domestically, which is less than a third of 1% of its budget. It currently holds 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Tropes featured include...
0% Approval Rating: Apparently what starts happening to Gnorga and Llort when the trolls learn of Stanley's punishment failing.
And I Must Scream: The final fate of Gnorga, who is turned into a rose bush by Stanley and planted in the palace garden in Troll World. Also happens to a bat she turns to stone during her Villain Song, despite the film clearly stating that being turned to stone is equivalent to death.
And There Was Much Rejoicing: The trolls celebrate Gnorga's defeat at the end of the movie, including her husband.
Gnorga: "Worse than death? Slow and painful?! Does that look like MISERY to you?" Llort: "It looks nice, very nice, don't you think so, shnooksie poo?" Gnorga: "Yes, I think so! That's precisely what's WRONG, YOU MORON!!!"
Disproportionate Retribution: When Gnorga finds out that Stanley is happy in New York, she goes OUT OF HER WAY to travel to Earth and turn him to stone like she wanted to in the first place. Hand Waved by a newspaper article stating that Stanley's surprisingly soft sentence has caused Gnorga and Llort to lose their authority in the eyes of the people.
Disney Acid Sequence: Which actually manages to take up quite a sizeable chunk of the entire movie.
Hanging Judge: Inverted by Llort, who, for no apparent reason, goes to great lengths to prevent Stanley from being turned to stone.
Heel Face Turn: Gnorga briefly mentions being afraid that other trolls might do this if she doesn't make an example of Stanley
Heel Face Revolving Door: Llort. Throughout the film he seems to be against killing or stoning anybody, but instead suggests a Fate Worse than Death for Stanley. In the middle he does everything he can to stop Gnorga from going to Central Park to kill Stanley, but once they get there he actively helps her capture the children. And at the very end, he seems to be happy that his wife has basically been killed.
Hufflepuff House: Gnorga mentions a "Goblin Ville" and "Gremlin Land" in addition to Troll World. Hell, Troll World itself counts, since the first ten minutes take place in it and it is never seen again apart from Gnorga's bedroom.
Inferred Holocaust: The movie ends with all of New York being engulfed in vines and flowers. It's meant to be heartwarming, but ends up looking like some sort of supervillain takeover, or a scene right out of Life After People.
So nobody else assumed this was another crazy dream sequence?
Irony: Albeit very subtle irony. Before Gnorga is about to exile Stanley to New York, King Llort encourages her by saying, "Just think about what they'll say about you in the newspapers!" Later in the film, Gnorga is reading a newspaper with headlines reading, "SURPRISINGLY SOFT SENTENCE FOR STANLEY."
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gus is, to be frank, a brat. However, he does care for his sister, and goes to rescue her from Gnorga even when Stanley is too scared to help.
Karma Houdini: In a way, Llort, who becomes the acting ruler of Troll World at the end of the film, despite being entirely responsible for all the chaos that has happened (if not for him, Gnorga would have simply "Stoned" Stanley). He still gets bitten by the dog, but that's nothing new.
Karmic Transformation: Gnorga is turned into a flower bush. She also briefly turns Gus into a Troll.
Lighter and Softer: Arguably the lightest and softest film Don Bluth has ever made.
No Ontological Inertia: Stanley's "Dreamboat" gradually disappearing as he turns to stone, and Gnorga's tornado magically taking away her and Llort when she is completely turned into a rose bush.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Used to ridiculous extremes when Gnorga and Llort not only go to Earth personally to kill Stanley, but do not bring any other trolls whatsoever.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: In at least one point, Stanley refers to troll powers as "prestidigitation" instead of "magic." This is even an inaccurate use, since prestidigitation refers to stage magic and not supernatural powers.
Actually does make sense when you consider Stanley was trying to emphasize that Gnorga's magic is much more powerful than his.
"Prestidigitation" is derived from the word for "finger"...perhaps it's meant to be a too-subtle pun?
Social Services Does Not Exist: The parents leave their kids with the housekeeper expecting her to babysit them. Housekeepers aren't babysitters.
Screwed by the Studio: According to the IMDB trivia. Gary Goldman stated that the movie did so poorly at the box office was the fact that it was released without any promotion, and that release was limited.
Spoiled Brat: Gus. A rich kid with a nasty temper, whom the Queen describes as being troll-like. He does grow out of it though.
Stealth Pun: The newspaper Gnorga reads is named "Wursta Times."
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife - Inverted; Llord is probably the least ugly male troll in the movie, while Gnorga...
Reinverted considering how trolls see the world - she is probably quite a catch, while he....
Unusually Uninteresting Sight - Near the end of the movie, Gus's father doesn't seem all that surprised when he sees his son sitting on the steps with a really detailed stone statue of a sad troll.
The entire city gets overgrown with plants, without much notice.
Gus's first reaction to seeing the troll and the dancing flowers: "This is weird".
You'd think that there'd be more of a fuss over Central Park being completely devastated.
0 reviews