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"One wish? Who could ask for anything more?"
King Salazar

By 1999, Animaniacs was pretty much on its last leg as Kids' WB!'s signature show — the show had ceased full airings after its ending the previous year and was reduced to airing in segments in The Big Cartoonie Show, a compilation series of reruns with several other Warner Bros. programs. Many of its writers and voice actors had moved on to popular yet ill-fated Histeria! and Pokémon was quickly taking over as the most successful show of not just the block, but Saturday mornings as a whole, signaling the full shift to anime or at least action series becoming the bread and butter for most Saturday morning blocks. But at the end of the year, Animaniacs was given a Grand Finale in the form of the feature-length Direct to Video movie Wakko's Wish.

In the film's continuity, the majority of the regular cast of Animaniacs — and a few extras here and there — are living happily in Acme Falls, a nice town in the peaceful kingdom of Warnerstock that is ruled by Sir William the Good. When King William passes away, King Salazar the Pushy of the neighboring kingdom Ticktockia takes over Warnerstock and sends everyone into misery thanks to overtaxing. The Warners — Yakko, Wakko, and Dot — are a trio of orphans who are suffering more than any other Acme Falls resident (except for maybe the Mime), especially Dot (who is in need of a vital operation).

One cold winter night, Wakko wishes upon a star — and happens to choose the one wishing star in the sky, which then falls into the mountains; the first person to touch it gets exactly one wish. The Warner siblings, eager to make their dreams come true, begin their quest to get to the wishing star so Wakko can make his wish — but the rest of the citizens of Acme Falls are after it as well, and so is King Salazar. Who will get to the wishing star first and make their wish? And will any of them find lasting happiness with a tyrant like King Salazar doing his best to take it all away?


Tropes present:

  • 0% Approval Rating: It's established from the very start that King Salazar is a very unpopular monarch. Other nations disapproved of him seizing Warnerstock by force, and the economic sanctions that followed caused his royal coffers to dry up, which is why he begins taxing everyone in Warnerstock, which makes him even more unpopular. By the time the movie ends, even Salazar's own troops have turned against him, leaving him powerless to stop the Warners from literally booting him out of the palace.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: Done with Buttons when he attempts to climb a tree, only to fall down when Mindy points out that "puppies can't climb trees".
  • Acme Products: Not only does the movie take place in Acme Falls, but also an anvil with "ACME" written on it falls on Baloney.
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: In the TV series, the Animaniacs were cartoon stars created by Warner Bros. that were sealed away in the water tower, hopefully never to be seen again. Here, they grew up in an orphanage and then were homeless once it was shut down. At the end, it's revealed that their parents were a king and a queen, both of whom were killed by King Salazar.
  • All Wishes Granted: We learn of the desires of every character towards the beginning of the story. Dr. Scratchansniff: Having his elixirs (later changed to Scratchy Cola) taste good, Hello Nurse: Finally being appreciated for her brain and not her looks, Slappy Squirrel: Her tree back to life and all the acorns she can have, Skippy Squirrel: Kids his own age to play with, Buttons: Being rewarded for his loyalty, Mindy's Mom: Having Mindy call her "mom" instead of "lady", Rita and Runt: Finally founding a place called home with Scratchy, Baron von Plotz: Being King (Burger Meister King), Ralph: To direct traffic, The Goodfeathers: Finally being respected (although they didn't know that all of the respect they got was actually for a statue of the Warners), Pinky: To be with Pharfignewton, The Brain: Although he didn't take over the world, he still got great political power as the prime-minister and most trusted advisor of the Warners.
  • And Knowing Is Half the Battle: The Wheel of Morality finally presents an actual moral at the end.
  • And Starring: Bernadette Peters as Rita.
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: The people celebrate when Wakko gets his Wish; "Not one, but two hay'pennies!"
  • Animation Bump: The bridge crossing sequence is far and away the best looking sequence in the film, and there are some dynamic camera sweeping shots and detail on the collapsing bridge that couldn't have been easy to animate. A runner up sequence is the avalanche scene, for many of the same reasons.
  • Anvil on Head: Happens to Baloney (extra points for the anvil having "ACME" written on it).
  • Art Evolution: The only Animaniacs project of the original iteration to use digital ink and paint.
  • Bad Boss: Salazar is pretty nasty to Plotz, Ralph, and the Goodfeathers, causing them all to eventually turn against him.
  • Badly Battered Babysitter: Buttons the dog, as in the series, but his heroism is finally recognized and rewarded.
  • Berserk Button: "Just Dot. Call me Dottie and you die."
  • Big Bad: King Salazar, though Plotz serves as The Heavy for at least half of the movie.
  • Big Damn Movie: Wakko's Wish is this compared to the series.
  • Biting-the-Hand Humor: The nation of Warnerstock being taken over by the neighboring Ticktockia is apparently a reference to the Time-Warner merger that occurred in 1990- though Time didn't take over the company (indeed, WB's rival Paramount actually interfered via suing), but presumably someone on the writing staff disliked the merger for whatever reason. Also note how Salazar is referred to as a "corporate raider". Parallels can be inferred in the throne; good King William compares to former Warner chairman Steve Ross, and King Salazar to former Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin.
  • Butt-Monkey: The Mime is treated as such. He's shunned by the cast, considered to be the reason Acme Falls isn't perfect and the only character other than Salazar who doesn't get a happy ending.
  • The Cameo: Chicken Boo only makes a brief appearance during the scene when the people of Acme Falls are being held in a prison camp by Salazar; Katie Kaboom and her mother and father are there too. Furthermore, one-shot characters are seen as extras in crowd scenes. During the "Warners' New Friend" sequence, the Randy Beaman Kid makes a cameo when King Salazar suggests wishing for eternal youth.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Dot's acting lessons are brought up again during her Disney Death, which distracts King Salazar and buys Wacko enough time to finally touch the Star. The story Yakko tells her at night also gets referenced as the Warners are of royal blood.
  • Children Are Tender-Hearted: The young Skippy Squirrel is among the people who cry over Dot when she seemingly dies from getting hit by a cannonball.
  • Conforming OOC Moment: Given the large number of Crowd Songs throughout the film, its particularly noticeable with Slappy the Squirrel. Who, in the intro to her own segments would tell those singing her theme to cut it out, is here shown happily singing and dancing along during musical numbers. When she does speak dialogue though she's back to her usual grumpy ol' self.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Mr. Director and Baloney have cameos.
    • The King also calls Bobby, Pesto, and Squit "rats with wings," a nod to an epithet once hurled at them in the series (not to mention an actual pejorative for pigeons).
    • The captain of Salazar's guard is played by "Mr. Crazy Person", a parody of Dennis Hopper's Photojournalist character from Apocalypse Now that appeared in "Hearts of Twilight" and "Cute First (Ask Questions Later)", and with the same role; being overwhelmed by Dot's cuteness.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: Salazar sends the Warners through The Cave of Your Worst Nightmares, where they are scared by Baloney, a filthy gas station bathroom, and Mr. Director (all of which they encountered previously on the series).
  • Covers Always Lie: The traditional water tower, which is on the cover of the VHS, isn't actually anywhere in the movie. It's replaced with a crumbling wooden "water tower shanty" as befitting of the setting.
  • Credits Pushback: Strangely happens on some of the digital releases, due to a TV master being used. The movie ends, the segment Super Strong Warner Siblings plays, and then the credits and WB logo are shown as a silent, sped-up, white-on-black text scrawl squished into the right third of the screen.
  • Crisis Crossover: The movie is also a crossover of all of the Animaniacs characters.
  • Crowd Song: Most of them features most of the main cast getting at least one solo line.
  • Demoted to Extra: Given the huge cast, it's not unreasonable. A notable example is Minerva Mink. She has some of her own singing lines and gets mentioned in the credits, but she's usually in the background with the two women and three men of Acme Falls that make up the chorus. The Hip Hippos didn't even get their own lines, they were just chorus members.
  • Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: If King Salazar hadn't wasted time building a barricade around the Wishing Star and capturing his rivals, he would have got the wish.
  • Disgusting Public Toilet: The public restroom Wakko visited in the main series episode "Potty Emergency" appears again when the Warners are sent to The Cave Of Your Worst Nightmares. It goes to the same gas station, but the owner says he hasn't cleaned the bathroom in THREE years (also complete with Evil Laugh). The Warners scream in terror and disgust when they saw the inside of the bathroom.
  • Disney Death: Dot, who turned out to just be acting like she was dead to get the king arrested.
  • Don't Look Down:
    Yakko: Whoa! Just don't look down.
    Wakko: Do you get vertigo?
    Yakko: No.
    Wakko: Me neither.
    Yakko: Yeah, I've seen that movie three times and I still don't get it.
  • The Dragon: Plotz works for King Salazar and is ordered to try and get the wishing star.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Everyone (except the Mime and the Big Bad) works their butts off throughout the entire movie trying to get the Wishing Star; thanks to Wakko, they end up all getting what they wanted (the Brain having settled for the moment with being the prime minister of Warnerstock— he ends the movie hoping for a sequel in which he plot to rule the kingdom outright and then take over the world). For Woobies like Runt, Rita, and Buttons, they really earned their happy ending — and then some! And then 22 years later, the Warners came back.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • Some of Salazar's royal army turn against him after he seemingly killed Dot.
    • Plotz is willing to tax the citizens to the extreme because it's his job. He's perfectly willing to steer the other townsfolk off course or stall them from reaching the Wishing Star, but he refuses to kill them.
  • Everyone Hates Mimes: The Mime is the one reason that Acme Falls was not an entirely perfect place to live, and he is physically abused even through the saccharine epilogue.
    Plotz: "Clear the way, you stupid mime!"
  • Evil Brit: King Salazar is the main villain and speaks with a British accent.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: King Salazar is voiced by basso profundo Paxton Whitehead.
  • Fantastic Racism: Brain doesn't approve of Pinky's relationship with Pharfignewton, the only reasoning he gives being the fact that Pinky and Pharfignewton are two different species.
  • Fat Bastard: Baron Von Plotz and The Constable are both very fat, and in many scenes The Baron is stuffing his face.
  • Four Lines, All Waiting: Thanks to the show's large cast, the movie spends the majority of its times simply establishing what each Cast Herd wants, and spends the rest of the time flipping between them all the way to the conclusion.
  • Friendly Tickle Torture: One part of Dot's story has Yakko doing this to Dot.
  • From Bad to Worse: The Warners used to live in a really awful orphanage. But things only got worse for them after it was shut down, to the point that they're outright nostalgic for it.
  • Frozen Body Fluids: Pinky makes ice sculptures by spitting because it's so cold, his spit freezes instantly.
  • Grand Finale: Although it's set in an Alternate Universe, Wakko's Wish more or less wraps up all the major character's individual stories from the main series.
  • Hair-Trigger Avalanche: Wakko sets one off with one of his trademark massive burps.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Von Plotz and Ralph abandon their evil ways before the denouement.
  • Humble Goal: As it turns out, what Wakko really wants is two ha'pennies!
  • Incurable Cough of Death: Dot; subverted in that the operation she needs is actually "plastic surgery, to implant a beauty mark on her cheek," as Scratchansniff says it.
  • Interspecies Romance: Pinky (a mouse) and Pharfignewton (a horse) are once again shown as being a couple.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: The Mime gets trampled by carriages repeatedly, gets bashed in the head with heavy objects, and Yakko drops a safe on him at the end, but afterwards, he is never the worse for wear.
  • "I Want" Song: Titled "When You Wish on a Wishing Star" and it mentions the wishes of all the main cast note 
    • I Just Want to Have Friends: Skippy's section of the song has him expressing a desire for friends his age. When spring returns to Acme Falls, other squirrel kids start hanging around Slappy's tree, granting his wish.
    • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A platonic example with Rita and Runt. While Rita wishes for a home, Runt's only wish is for her to be happy.
  • It's All About Me: King Salazar's attitude in general. When he, Plotz, and Ralph finish singing the line "the Wishing Star belongs to three", he adds, "Me, myself, and I."
  • Jabba Table Manners: Baron Von Plotz eats like a slob.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: King Salazar initially seems distraught at Dot's seeming death. But not long after, he heartlessly tries to kill Wakko.
  • Kill the Cutie: Dot seemingly dies from the bomb that hit her. It turns out she was faking it, along with her being ill.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Whilst he does have some humorous moments, Salazar is portrayed significantly more seriously than the majority of "villains" (who were jerks more than they were evil) in the series.
  • Literal Genie: The Warners try to convince Salazar that the Wishing Star is one of these, in one of the film's more hilarious scenes. The examples they give include a wish to be 16 years old forever resulting in him living the 16th year of his life forever and a wish for the world giving him nothing but a globe. He quickly loses his patience after one too many gags.
  • Literal Money Metaphor: One of the hypothetical wishes on King Slazar's list is "a million bucks." He then gets trampled by a deer herd.
  • Littlest Cancer Patient: Dot appears to be this for much of the movie, but it turns out she was just acting the entire time, and the "surgery" she was trying to get was having a beauty mark added.
  • Logo Joke: Wakko joins Bugs Bunny in the opening logo and takes a bite of the WB shield.
  • The Magnificent: King Salazar is known as "the Pushy".
  • Make a Wish: The whole point of the movie.
  • Master Actor: Dot. This comes in handy at the end.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Fed up with King Salazar's constant abuse toward them, the Goodfeathers defy his orders and try to get their own wishes of respect from the wishing star.
  • The Movie: A full-length animated film that allows the series to end on a high note.
  • Mundane Wish: The wish that Wakko ultimately makes is for two ha'pennies. Subverted in that these ha'pennies are enough to fulfill everyone's dreams.
  • Multiple-Choice Past: The Warners' original backstory from the TV series is completely chucked, so that now instead of being cartoon characters created in 1930, they are the long-lost children of the king and queen whom Salazar overthrew. This being a non-canon storyline, and the Warner's past not being a huge facet of their character, it made sense.
  • The Musical: Just like South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, there are quite a number of musical numbers between the dialogue.
  • Musical Nod:
    • The score plays a soundalike to the George of the Jungle theme song when Skippy and Slappy swing from the treetops.
    • "The Train Bringing Wakko" is based on "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from The Music Man.
  • My Friends... And A Mime: Well, no place is perfect.
  • Narrator: The film was narrated by Tom Bodett, aka the Motel 6 guy, and also the announcer for "Mime Time" and "Good Idea/Bad Idea" in the original series.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: When Wakko mentions wanting "season tickets to the Lakers", Jack Nicholson is seen sitting courtside. Nicholson really does have season courtside tickets to the L.A. Lakers games.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • "Silly Buttons, puppies can't climb trees!"
    • The Goodfeathers, when King Salazar's dogs start to chase them.
    • Buttons, when he sees Flavio and Marita about to cross the suspension bridge he's just barely clinging to.
    • Everyone, when an avalanche heading straight for them.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: In one scene King Salazar says that when he gets his wish, everyone will be gone.
  • Opening Shout-Out: During the Triumphant Reprise of "Never Give Up Hope", all the characters are in the same lineup as the theme song, right down to Mindy riding Buttons, Rita riding Runt, and Slappy holding up Pinky and the Brain.
  • Orphanage of Fear: The Warner siblings had to live in one of these. After it shuts down, they realize it wasn't so bad: They at least had food and heat.
  • Paranoia Gambit: The Warners' Literal Genie gag has the side effect of making Salazar paranoid about how the phrasing of his wish could be twisted, causing him to dither long enough for the Warners to escape and make a break for the Star themselves.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • More like "Give the Dog a Meal for All His Troubles for Buttons." The ultimate Pet the Dog, seeing as all his heroism in the entire TV show went unrewarded. Earlier in the story, Mindy gives a clearly hungry Buttons the pie she was supposed to deliver to her grandmother.
    • In the ending, Pinky is appointed a stable hand, so he gets to spend all the time he likes with Pharfignewton. It happens that Brain was the one who appointed him in spite of his earlier disdain for their relationship.
  • Plant Person: Dot appears to be this, at least if we are to believe the bedtime story Yakko is always telling her.
  • Prehensile Tail: The squirrel girl flirts with Skippy by running her tail under his chin.
  • Produce Pelting: Used in a one scene just to show how unpopular Salazar the Pushy is.
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: Some of the songs in the film are merely arrangements of classical pieces (like "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2") with added lyrics.
  • Pun: Upon seeing Skippy crushing on the girl squirrel, Slappy remarks that the young squirrel "used to like nuts, now he's discovered dates".
  • Promotion to Parent: Yakko seems to have taken on a parental role towards his younger siblings, doing things like tucking Dot into bed and her telling stories to keep her smiling.
  • Propeller Hat of Whimsy: King Salazar at one point says one of the wishes he's considering is to be 16 forever. Yakko then claims the wishing star would give that a Literal Genie spin, representing the idea of being permanently 16 by putting a propeller hat on Salazar.
  • Quest for a Wish: All the characters race to find a fallen star; the first one there gets one wish. Interestingly, while Wakko of course gets the wish, his wish ends up granting the wishes of nearly every other good character in the Ensemble Cast.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Right after Dot's fake death, the Captain of the Guard gives a good one to Salazar for ruining everything and his men turn on him.
    Captain: She was the cute one, man! The impossibly cute one, and now she's gone! You killed her man! Wrong, wrong!
  • Ridiculous Future Inflation: Inverted; Acme Falls is suffering from such grinding poverty and horrendous economic deflation that a ha'penny is a massive windfall.
  • Rightful King Returns: The Warners turned out to be part of the royal line, so we see them on the thrones wearing Cool Crowns that are too big for their heads.
  • Sequel Hook: The Brain actually Breaks the Fourth Wall at the end of the movie and states they are going to plan a hostile take over of The Kingdom of Warnerstock and then The World.
    They're dinky!
    They're Pinky and the Brain Brain Brain Brain Brain! (BA-BA-BA-BUM!!!)
  • Series Goal: Some of the minor characters pursue the Wishing Star to resolve their subplots, e.g. Rita and Runt want a permanent home; Buttons wants to be acknowledged for his heroism; Brain wants to rule the world, etc. Most of them come true — kinda.
  • Setting Out Song: The first "Wishing Star" Song has the Warners singing their intents to find the titular star- and then the rest of the town gets involved...
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: Played for Laughs with Dot's vital operation, which turned out to be just getting her a beauty mark.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Snake Oil Salesman: Dr. Scratchnsniff plays one in this movie, with Hello Nurse as his assistant. His intended wish is to make his elixir into an actual cure-all. At the end, Rita and Runt come up with a better-tasting brew that he sells as a cola.
  • Spoiler Title: Guess who gets to the Wishing Star first. Wakko.
  • Standard Snippet: The song “I Gotta Get to the Wishing Star” is sung to the tune of the second half of that old cartoon standard, Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
  • The Starscream: Baron Von Plotz has ambitions of overthrowing Salazar and becoming King himself. He wants the wishing star for himself so he can wish to be King.
  • Taxman Takes the Winnings: The corrupt Baron Von Plotz overhears the town of Acme Falls celebrating in song after Wakko returns from a yearlong journey for riches with a ha'penny (apparently a lot of money in their country). He quickly confronts Wakko in town and invents a series of phony taxes, including an "insulting the king" tax after Wakko calls the king a jerk, to take Wakko's ha'penny.
  • Tempting Fate: "You know, for a cave of your worst nightmares, this isn't so bad."
  • That Reminds Me of a Song: The characters spend almost as much time singing as they do talking.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone:
    • Buttons finally gets rewarded (with a platter of steaks) for keeping Mindy safe.
    • Rita and Runt get the home they've always yearned for when they are adopted by Doctor Scratchnsniff.
    • While he doesn't get the world, The Brain does finally achieve some political power.
  • Triumphant Reprise: At the very end of the film, the entire cast sings a cheery, non depressed reprise of "Never Give Up Hope" after Acme Falls is prosperous once again.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Wakko causes an avalanche that buries everyone with one very loud belch. They all survive though.
  • Villain Song: King Salazar at one point sings about how much he wants the wishing star.
  • Villainous Glutton: Baron von Plots is constantly stuffing his face in the first half of the movie.
  • Visual Pun: The Warners literally kick Salazar out of the palace.
    • Also, in the end, when Pesto says: "Finally, people are looking up to us," the "camera" pans out to reveal that he and the other two Goodfeathers are on top of a high column with statues of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot pointing to them. People are literally looking up to them.
  • Vocal Dissonance: At one point during the opening song, when Dot sings, "I've been feeling low..." her voice goes from a soprano to a basso profundo.
  • Wham Line: When the Captain of the Guard alerts King Salazar of the Warner's escape, he makes a remark that Foreshadows the Warners deceased parents being the former king and queen of Warnerstock
    Guard Captain: Your Majesty, I'm afraid the Warners have escaped!
    Salazar: WHAT?! But I told you to execute them!
    Guard Captain: I tried, man! I really did! But the cuteness was too much, man! They're too clever!
    Salazar: Just like their parents.
  • Winter of Starvation: Downplayed — it is a snowy winter, and there is a food shortage in the town, but the food shortage is said to be caused by poverty, rather than by the winter itself.
  • Win-Win Ending: Everyone getting his or her wish. Except for The Mime. And also King Salazar.
  • Wishing for More Wishes: King Salazar briefly wonders if the Wishing Star would allow this.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: The main plot is a parody of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In fact, the original title was going to be It's a Wakko, Wakko, Wakko, Wakko Wish, but it was shortened, similar to when the Tiny Toon Adventures movie How I Spent My Summer Vacation was shortened to How I Spent My Vacation.
  • Zillion-Dollar Bill: Because Acme Falls has fallen on such hard times, a ha'penny is treated as this, and two of them is what restores it to being perfect (except for The Mime).

Just cheer up and never, ever give up hope.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Animaniacs Wakkos Wish, Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs Wakkos Wish

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Never Give Up Hope

The Wheel of Morality, which has been known to give out absurd and nonsensical aesops, finally gives an actual moral.

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