Line #70 Anime/JackAndTheBeanstalk1974


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jacktomame.jpg]]
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3	A [[{{Anime}} Japanese animated film]] from TheSeventies directed by Gisaburo Sugii who was an animation director for ''Anime/BelladonnaOfSadness'' and later directed ''Anime/NightOnTheGalacticRailroad'', the 1984 ''Manga/GlassMask'' TV series, and ''Anime/StreetFighterIITheAnimatedMovie''. It is, of course, a re-imagining/expansion of the fairy-tale "Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk". The film starts out familiarly enough... Jack is tricked into trading his cow for magic beans, the beans grow a beanstalk over night...and then it gets interesting. Jack's dog, Crosby, saves a mouse wearing a pink princess dress from a bird, and she leads Jack and Crosby to the top of the beanstalk, to a magical cloud kingdom. There, Jack meets Princess Margaret, who seems oddly calm about marrying an ugly, dumb giant and having a WickedWitch for a mother-in-law. Of course, it's revealed that the witch wants to be queen of the cloud kingdom and has turned the rest of the royal family and servants into mice, who beg Jack to save their princess.
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5	Released in Japan in 1974 as the debut production for Creator/GroupTAC, it received an English-language dub and distribution through Columbia Pictures in 1976 with Creator/BillieLouWatt of ''Anime/AstroBoy'' fame as the voice of Jack, and aired occasionally on U.S. cable television (particularly Creator/{{HBO}}) during the 1980s.
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8	!!Tropes:
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10	* AbusiveParents:
11	** Jack's own mother shows signs of this, insulting her son and spanking him with a broom when he sells the cow for magic beans.
12	** Tulip's mother Madame Hecuba is this to Tulip, mostly verbally.
13	* AdaptationExpansion: The movie adds an enchanted princess, a royal mouse-family, an evil witch...
14	%%* AlmostKiss
15	* AmbiguouslyRelated: The people who were turned into mice are referred to as Margaret's family a few times, but it's unknown if any of them are actually related to her or if it's more of an "honorary family" sort of thing.
16	%%* AntiVillain: Tulip.
17	* AnimationBump: This is arguably one of the most fluid anime films made at the time, though there are a few shortcuts the film uses.
18	%%* BigBad: Hecuba, Tulip's mother.
19	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Margaret and her family are saved, the witch and giant are no longer a threat, and Margaret is queen of the cloud kingdom. However, Jack is forced to cut down the beanstalk, the only thing connecting their worlds, to kill the giant. The last scene implies that Jack will eventually forget Margaret.]]
20	* BrainwashedBride: Princess Margaret is hypnotized for a lot of the movie, thinking Tulip (the giant she is to marry) is a beautiful prince.
21	* CannotTellALie: The singing harp. The mice have to hold her harp-strings totally still to keep her from telling the giant where Jack is. (Jack impersonates the harp to get Tulip to go away.)
22	* CardCarryingVillain: Hecuba refers to her "evil ambitions".
23	* CoolOldGuy: The General is this in spirit, though not so much in capability. Even after being turned into a mouse, he still tries to take on a giant over a hundred times his size, albeit with predictably ineffectual results.
24	* DartboardOfHate: A variant; Tulip apparently hates his mother so much that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04jNWtm5vIc he made a wind-up toy of her]] for him to destroy after [[TranquilFury cheerfully listening to her hurl insults at him in song]].
25	* DemotedToDragon: While in the original story the giant was the main antagonist, here he's second to his mother.
26	%%* DisappearedDad: For both Jack and Tulip.
27	* DisneyAcidSequence: The wedding between Margaret and Tulip. Also includes plenty of horror.
28	* DisneyVillainDeath: Just like in the original fairy tale, Tulip is defeated when Jack chops down the beanstalk.
29	* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:After years of enduring his mother's verbal abuse, Tulip finally loses it and crushes her with his foot.]]]
30	* DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff: Jack's mother spanks him with a broomstick when she learns he traded their cow for three beans.
31	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Completely averted. Hecuba openly hates her giant son and considers him an ugly, disgusting monster. For his part, Tulip resents his mother's cruel treatment and fantasizes about killing her, [[spoiler:and ultimately does]].
32	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the treasure vault, Tulip is seen with a tiny robotic doll of his mother, who sings a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. Tulip watches/listens patiently [[spoiler:for a few minutes before suddenly smashing it to pieces. Guess how Madame Hecuba dies]].
33	%%* FluffyTheTerrible: Tulip...for the most part.
34	* EasilyForgiven: Margaret admits she should be angry with Jack for stealing some of the treasure, but because he came back to help, she allows him to keep it as a reward.
35	* EvenTheDogIsAshamed: Crosby isn't too happy with Jack when he refuses to help save Princess Margaret and steals some of the treasure instead.
36	* ForcedTransformation: Everybody who originally lived in the castle except for Margaret get turned into mice by the witch's magic. [[spoiler: And that appears to be the intended fate for Margaret and Tulip once Madame Hecuba gets what she wanted.]]
37	* GoofyPrintUnderwear: Tulip spends a decent portion of the movie in heart boxers after tearing his clothes off in a fit of rage. He has plenty of time to get dressed again afterward, but never bothers.
38	* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Tulip by the end seems to, if not quite turn good, at least not be interested in hurting anybody anymore, simply sitting down by himself and not making any attempt to harm any of the others even when they're standing right in front of him. The others either don't notice this or don't buy it, and decide to get rid of him anyway.
39	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Tulip and Margaret.
40	* TheHyena: The merchant who sells Jack the beans laughs ''all'' the time.
41	* ImagineSpot: Hecuba, Tulip, and Margaret all have them during the wedding sequence. Tulip imagines himself and Margaret on a belle, happily married, Margaret imagines Tulip is a handsome prince (heavily suggested to be a result of Hecuba's magic), and Madame Hecuba imagines what she'll do to the other two after the wedding. [[spoiler: Her plan is to turn them into a mouse and rat after they're married, to take the throne herself.]]
42	* InterspeciesRomance: Crosby the dog seems to have a thing for the mouse princess. When she turns back into a human, he is understandably disappointed for a moment before deciding they're BetterAsFriends.
43	* LeeroyJenkins: The General approaches every combat situation by charging in headfirst with his sword drawn. He does this whether he's in human or mouse form, with about as much effectiveness, considering his opponent is a monstrous giant.
44	* LikesOlderWomen: A little bit of both vibes are present when Madame Hecuba first sees Jack. She wants to get him away from Margaret--so she can feed him potion-laced soup that'll knock him out til her giant-son eats him. But during that, she acted like a weird mix of motherly and seductive, and wondered aloud if she should use her "good looks" to lure Jack away.
45	** Then there's [[spoiler:Margaret telling Jack she has feelings for him and moving in to kiss him near the end. Jack seems to be about twelve, Margaret appears to be eighteen.]]
46	* MagicPants: When the enchanted royal family is turned back into humans, their clothes grow with them.
47	* MelancholyMoon: During his EvenTheDogIsAshamed moment, Crosby sings a melancholy song to the moon, which Jack takes as a sign that he should rescue Princess Margaret.
48	%%* MindControlEyes: Princess Margaret has these.
49	* MoodWhiplash: The tone is all over the place. The wedding is an acid trip, Madame Hecuba's scenes are creepy, and the climax in which Tulip chases Jack is practically a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short with classic ''Looney Tunes'' gags. All capped off by the ending, in which Tulip falls to his death while a reprise of "No One is Happier than I" plays in the background, albiet with lyrics stating that evening has come and the story is coming to a close.
50	* MurderTheHypotenuse: Tulip gets jealous of Jack and Margaret, and attempts to kill the former, saying he'll skin and stuff him afterward.
51	%%* {{Musical}}
52	* NeverSayDie: In the English dub, Jack's father is "gone"; Margaret's parents were "done away with" by Hecuba; Hecuba commands Tulip to "destroy" Jack and Margaret after her spell is broken; and so on.
53	* NoNameGiven: Despite being a fairly important character, the mouse princess is never given a name
54	* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Margaret looks more like a typical anime character than the other more cartoony and western animation-influenced characters.
55	* OddlySmallOrganization: Margaret's kingdom seems to consist of about ten people.
56	* PaintedTunnelRealTrain: During the chase scene where Tulip is chasing Jack and Crosby, he turns into a angry steam engine running towards the two. Crosby places tracks towards a wall and paints an almost fake tunnel, leading the giant to crash.
57	* PostClimaxConfrontation: A couple scenes after Hecuba's defeated, Jack still ends up in a fight against Tulip in the movie's final minutes.
58	* PrincessClassic: Margret is one, particularly when not under mind control.
59	** Also, one of the humans-turned-mice dresses like a stereotypical princess, though she's never explicitly stated to be one, or mentioned to be Margret's sister or anything like that, so she may just be an unusually regally-dressed servant or a lesser noblewoman.
60	* TheQuietOne: Tulip only speaks 35 words in the film.
61	%%* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In song-form!
62	* RoadRunnerVsCoyote: During the climax, Jack and Crosby goads Tulip into chasing them, devolving into something of a Road Runner cartoon, with slapstick, Tulip's head getting smashed in at one point, train tracks and a painted tunnel (during this scene, Tulip's head takes on the shape of a train smokestack and [[WheelOFeet his feet turn into wheels]]), the works.
63	* TheSingingMute: Crosby sings in the middle of the movie.
64	* SmallParentHugeChild: Tulip is a giant who easily dwarfs all the other characters, including his evil mother Madame Hecuba. She is tall, but nowhere near the size of her gigantic son.
65	* SoundtrackDissonance: A reprise of "No One's Happier Than I", a beautiful and soft song, plays when the giant falls to his death albiert with a sad tone and lyrics stating the story is coming to an end.
66	* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Jack manages to stop the wedding and break Margaret out of her spell in the nick of time. "STOP! A wedding done with magic tricks is no wedding at all!"
67	* TalkingInYourSleep: Margaret apparently does this, only able to express how terrified she is in her sleep. This is because the mind-control spell that Hecuba has cast over the princess wears off at night and must be cast anew each day. Jack overhears her while on his way back home with some of the stolen treasure and is momentarily given pause, but is not persuaded to go back and fight until Crosby [[WhatTheHellHero shames him into it]] afterward.
68	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The way Jack rubs his backside and sighs as he gets down on all fours to be spanked by his mother.
69	* TooDumbToLive: Suuuuure, Madame Hecuba. [[spoiler:Insulting and yelling at your son, who is several stories bigger than you and a lot heavier, when he's pissed off enough already is a [[SarcasmMode great idea.]]]]
70	* TrueLovesKiss: Averted. It is a kiss that will break the spell on Margaret, but it doesn't have to be her One True Love...the only requirement is that the kisser is brave. [[SelfDeprecation Jack briefly says he isn't brave enough to even]] ''[[SelfDeprecation try...]]'' Nevertheless, Margaret tells him afterward it was the sweetest kiss she's ever had.
71	%%* TwiceToldTale
72	* TheUnintelligible: The mice are unable to say anything in their current forms, as it all comes out as squeaks. When she first meets Jack and Crosby, the mouse princess has to use pantomime to try to explain her situation.
73	* UnstoppableRage: Tulip flies into this after he finds out [[spoiler:Margaret doesn't ''really'' love him, it was just his mother's spell, and that she prefers Jack.]]
74	* VainSorceress: Madame Hecuba. "Should I use my magic, or my good looks?"
75	* VillainousBreakdown: Both Madame Hecuba and Tulip are outraged with Jack ruining the wedding and breaking the spell Hecuba put on Margaret and flat-out try to kill them. Hecuba orders Tulip to smash the heroes, [[TheDogBitesBack but he smashes his own mother instead]], leaving him to take on Jack himself.
76	* VillainSong: A variant, in that the song ("Are You Happy?") isn't sung by either of the two main antagonists, but by a puppet that one of them is (presumably) controlling, which has its own distinct voice.
77	* VolumetricMouth: Jack's mother - "JAAAAAAACK!" - right after she sinks into a chair in fatigue after spanking him with a broom.
78	* WhatTheHellHero: Crosby gives one to Jack... in song form (and a traditional Japanese ''enka'' ballad), no less (see EvenTheDogIsAshamed above).
79	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Poor Tulip takes a lot of abuse from his insane mom and eventually, he can't take it anymore. Doesn't help that he genuinely loves Margaret and wants to marry her for that love, but Hecuba is plotting to dispose of both of them once her plan succeeds.
80	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Part of Hecuba's EvilPlan--once she has the throne, she won't need Tulip or Margaret and plans to transform both of them into mice afterward.
81	* YoureInsane: Jack momentarily thinks Margaret might be crazy for apparently wanting to marry someone like Tulip, until he learns it's because Hecuba is controlling her with a mind-control spell.
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Context Anime / JackAndTheBeanstalk1974