Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context WesternAnimation / FelixTheCatTheMovie

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
5%%
6%%
7%%
8
9[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/felix_the_cat_movie_poster.png]]
10[[caption-width-right:300:Featuring Felix, all his wacky friends, and a ''lot'' of DerangedAnimation.]]
11
12''Felix the Cat: The Movie'' is a feature-length film from UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation, starring WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat (specifically, the Creator/JoeOriolo [[WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatJoeOriolo incarnation of the character]]) a FunnyAnimal who [[WalkingTheEarth walks the earth]] and happens to own a [[BagOfHolding Magic Bag of Tricks]]. He travels into another dimension after being summoned by a [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext sentient teardrop]] to save the Kingdom of Oriana and its Princess from her EvilUncle, [[BigBad the Duke of Zill]], and his army of robotic cylinders.
13
14The film was produced to rejuvenate interest in the Felix the Cat series by Joe Oriolo's son, Don Oriolo, who at the time was largely working in the music business at the time. In the mid '80s, the series had become all but forgotten in the mainstream, to the degree of having exactly ''one'' license to its name. He wrote the story and intended his father to direct it, but Joe's poor health forced Don to enter the animation business to see the film finished himself. It was animated by Creator/PannoniaFilmStudio in Hungary, and directed by Tibor Hernádi. The film is estimated to have been completed in 1986 or 1987 (which the [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece heavily mid-'80s soundtrack]] arguably reveals), but it only received limited release in 1988 and 1989, finally getting a proper U.S. release in August 1991. The film [[BoxOfficeBomb tanked miserably at the box office]], but it aired frequently on the Creator/DisneyChannel for a few years afterward; along with subsequent VHS re-releases, this allowed the film to gain a small following. For better or worse, the film did succeed in its goal of getting Felix back into the public consciousness to a degree, as tie-ins like video games, comic books and even [[WesternAnimation/TheTwistedTalesOfFelixTheCat a brand new Felix show would follow in its wake]].
15
16----
17!!''Felix the Cat: The Movie'' provides examples of the following tropes:
18
19* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: Felix's disembodied head in the opening and in the end credits.
20* AllThatGlitters: Played razor straight in the ending. The professor tries to sneak gold back into his world through the dimensporter, only for Oriana to tell him that the device can't transport gold, and then tells Felix that she's pretty sure his gold ''can'' be transported. He says he doesn't have any gold, but she insists that he does: [[{{Glurge}} a heart of gold.]]
21* AnotherDimension: Where the land of Oriana is located.
22* AntiClimax: The FinalBattle ends abruptly by way of Felix throwing the Book of Ultimate Power at the Duke's Master Cylinder.
23* AsYouKnow:
24** The Professor says to Poindexter, "Yes! That bag! I've always wanted that bag!" But, he says it in a manner that sounds like it's more for the audience's benefit.
25** Earlier in the film, Grumper reminded Oriana that because she disbanded weapons and their army from the kingdom, they're now vulnerable and defenseless. Oriana explicitly told him she didn't need to be reminded, presumably out of annoyance.
26* AwesomeBackpack: Felix's bag of tricks can turn into [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands just about anything the plot calls for.]]
27* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Felix and the group briefly have this when going through a cavern in the hair terrain.
28* CanonDiscontinuity: The movie is ''never'' brought up outside of maybe a historical handwave from the creators, and none of the movie's characters appear in merchandising. Animator John Canemaker's comprehensive history book on the series, ''Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat'', doesn't even acknowledge the existence of this movie.
29* ChekhovsGunman: When Felix journeys through the swamp, a reptilian creature rises out of the water and watches him go by ominously, but never attacks him. Guess what the Professor and Poindexter run into and have to defeat when they come through later?
30* CobwebOfDisuse: The dimensional transporter that Oriana has contains cobwebs all over it to indicate this trope.
31* CompanyCrossReferences: The "Sly as a Fox" musical number. Pannonia Film Studio actually did make a movie about [[Animation/VukTheLittleFox foxes]].
32* CoolShip: The Professor and Pointdexter's transforming ship.
33* CoversAlwaysLie: Just look at how colorful and upbeat that poster is. Outside of the brief glimpses of Felix's world, the entire film is '''NOTHING''' like that.
34* CrapsackWorld: Oriana is reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland when the Duke takes over. The Land of Zill is a hell hole that the Duke made worse. From what we can see, Oriana gets covered in large crystals.
35-->'''Felix:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Where are we,]] UsefulNotes/NewJersey?
36* CreatorCameo: Don Oriolo voices the monster who appears out of nowhere and quotes ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' late in the film.
37* CunningLikeAFox: Averted with the family of foxes Felix encounters early in the film who can't find him hiding under the bag. Mocked with the accompanying "Sly as a Fox" song.
38* DeathWorld: Zill is inhabited by AlwaysChaoticEvil sentient [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent reptiles]], sadistic cannibal giants that can detach their heads, dragons and the entire landscape of Oriana is constantly covered in a downpour of rapidly-growing crystals.
39* DerangedAnimation: Especially the part early in the film where Felix is underwater. If one of the film's goals was to capture the surreal nature of the original shorts, it did its job a bit ''too'' well.
40* DiabolusExNihilo: The Master Cylinder, who was a minor villain in the Felix TV cartoons, makes a decidedly abrupt, completely out-of-left-field appearance for the final battle, now a heavily souped up weapon of the Duke of Zill. [[PlotHole It isn't explained how or why he was brought into the dimension of Oriana (since the Duke clearly does not have access to Dimensporter technology, nor would it explain how he could have found the Master Cylinder, since he lives on the moon) in the first place]], or if he even has any connection to the Duke's own cylinders.
41* DisneyVillainDeath: Wack Lizardi, who falls from a great height and onto his circus, taking it with him.
42* EvilCannotComprehendGood: When the Duke finally gets his hands on the Book of Ultimate Power, he is disgusted to find that its writings are of "Truth, Love, and Wisdom", believing that it's worthless and that he spent years seeking it for nothing.
43* EyeBeams: When Felix transforms his bag by looking at it, and beams of light shoot out of his eyes.
44* TheFaceless: The Duke of Zill. Oddly, one trailer for the film shows that the Duke's eyes were supposed to be originally visible, but this was cut from the movie. His original human form is shown in flashback, though.
45* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Felix would have finished the hero work a ''lot'' more quickly if he took more advantage of what the Bag of Tricks could do.
46* FreezeFrameBonus: Most likely an unintentional example, but during one of his speeches to his audience, there is one very brief moment where it almost looks like [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H0L2liy0Sy8/Tl_p3Z91UjI/AAAAAAAABB0/9fhX20GlHv0/s1600/felix6.jpg Wack Lizardi is flipping everyone off]].
47* FreudianExcuse: The Duke was possibly driven insane by the accident that left him permanently trapped inside a life support suit.
48* TheGhost: Though mentioned several times, the populace of Oriana are never actually shown.
49* AGodAmI: The sentient reptiles and amphibians that inhabit Zill believed that the Duke of Zill was a god who had come to help them when he was banished there. He took full advantage of it. He wants Oriana's Book of Ultimate Power to become the real deal.
50* GoldMakesEverythingShiny: The Book of Ultimate Power is made of gold.
51* TheGoodKingdom: Oriana, which was once a warrior empire but has turned away from its old ways and sealed away its old weapons and secrets to be a peaceful and prosperous nation whose army was only for ceremonial purposes. The Duke didn't like that...
52* HeelFaceTurn: Pim, the hunter Felix meets early on in the film, eventually sides with the heroes after he decides he's sick of Lizardi ordering him around.
53* HumongousMecha: The Master Cylinder, during the final battle.
54* KarmicDeath: The Duke of Zill, who dies when the Master Cylinder malfunctions and falls over on him.
55* KeystoneArmy: [[spoiler: Throwing the book at the Master Cylinder somehow causes the entire cylinder and cube army to go down with it. Poindexter believes that the reason for this was because the book's binding had an adverse affect on the Master Cylinder, and that the rest of the army was destroyed because they derived their power from it. Felix figures there's more to it than that]].
56* LadiesAndGerms: At one point when announcing his new attraction, Wack Lizardi addresses his audience as, "Ladies, gentlemen, reptiles!"
57* LargeHam:
58** The Duke of Zill speaks very loudly and dramatically.
59** As well as Oriana's oracle, Ms. Pearl. "A black duck on a green planet!", anyone?
60** Wack Lizardi also comes off as quite hammy, especially when he overemphasizes his lisp.
61* LizardFolk: Lizardi and most of the inhabitants of Progress City.
62* LongSongShortScene: This happens ''twice'' to Princess Oriana's theme song "Face to the Wind". Neither the original version nor the one that contains Felix's saxophone solo is heard in its entirety, and both times large chunks of the song are covered up by background noise and talking. Fortunately, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErIcD4gj38g the full song]] was released on iTunes (though without Felix's sax) with the rest of the original soundtrack.
63* MeaningfulName: Both subverted and played straight with Progress City. Subverted because, despite the name, it's a rundown hellhole of a city in the middle of a polluted swampland. But then if you consider that The Duke wants Oriana to be under his complete control with the subjects idolizing him like a god, Progress City ends up fitting his idea of progress.
64* MechaMooks: The Cylinders are robotic goons.
65* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Pim joins Felix and Oriana after being fed up with Wack bossing him around like "a puppet on a string".
66* MixAndMatchCritters: The Mizzards are fusions of lizard and mouse. There's also what appears to be a hippo-rhino as one of the performers in the cells.
67* MoodDissonance: All Felix can do to a skull he finds in the mineshaft is say this:
68-->'''Felix:''' Boy, could you use a Big Mac! Uwahahahahaha!
69* MoodWhiplash: The upbeat VillainSong "Who is the Boss" almost makes us forget that Oriana and her kingdom is in danger. That is until they showed a dissolve effect of her crying near the end of the show.
70* TheMovie: The first feature-length film to feature Felix the Cat.
71* MythologyGag: When the Duke of Zill is describing the Master Cylinder he is about to sic on the heroes, he compares the new design to a drawing of the original Master Cylinder from the '60s Felix cartoon (which is drawn in a ''completely'' different art style than the new model). The Duke's backstory is also a callback to that of the original Master Cylinder's origin--he was a scientific pupil of Professor, and Cylinder's original body was completely destroyed in a chemistry lab accident, forcing his brain to be put into a robotic body. In the Movie, the Duke is severely injured when his prototype Cylinder explodes in his face, forcing him to wear a robotic life support suit.
72* NoFourthWall: The opening CGI head of Felix talks directly to the audience and introduces the movie.
73* NonFatalExplosions: The Duke is supposedly disfigured when his prototype Cylinder explodes in his face. However, we clearly see him lying unconscious on the floor, perfectly fine but [[AshFace covered in cartoon dust]]. His assistant, Grumper, is none the worse for wear, either. Perhaps the Duke suffered severe internal injuries.
74-->"Was it [[IMeantToDoThat supposed]] to do that?"
75* NonMammalMammaries: The mutant seahorse things from the underwater scene. [[FanDisservice And they shake them for the camera too.]]
76* OneWayVisor: The Duke's helmet covers his face completely, though this somehow doesn't give him visual problems.
77* OpeningNarration: That CGI head again. And he patronizes you too.
78* PantheraAwesome: The Cat Band, consisting of a lion, tiger, leopard, panther and puma.
79* PardonMyKlingon: ''Scrunted be his name!''
80* PlaceWorseThanDeath: The part where Felix comes over a hill and sees Progress City, surrounded by a deadly swamp, to which Felix says "Where are we, [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey?]]" (The latter is SelfDeprecation on the filmmakers part, as Felix Inc. is located in New Jersey.)
81* TheProphecy: About a "dark stranger" from another dimension.
82* TheQuisling: The Duke's old lab assistant, Grumper, who had since been promoted to Chancellor instantly joins with the Duke once he invades.
83* RandomEventsPlot: The film really has no sense of direction as far as plot is concerned. The "saving the world" bit doesn't even get started till well more than halfway through the picture -- 20 minutes and half an hour from the end, to be precise.
84* RecycledAnimation: A frequent occurrence throughout the movie is how plenty of images are just clips from earlier scenes.
85* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Wack Lizardi, obviously. Also most of the inhabitants of Zill are reptilian/amphibious in nature, to the point where the circus has special water seats designed into the ring, while the enslaved circus workers like the performing cat band are more mammalian. Semi-averted with the Mizzards.
86* RepulsiveRingmaster: Wack Lizardi.
87* RightHandCat: Wack Lizardi has a nameless squeaking lizard head mounted to a stick that he uses as a whip for a pet and is never seen without it. It reacts to events that happen onscreen and it's not uncommon for a scene with Wack Lizardi to shift focus from him to the pet.
88* {{Rotoscoping}}: Princess Oriana's animation.
89* SceneryGorn: The Land of Zill. Progress City in particular has quite a few establishing shots that show just what a decadent ruined hellhole it is, from the rickety buildings that are meant to keep pollution in to the piles of rotting garbage and trashed vehicles.
90* SdrawkcabName: The portal to Oriana is hidden in the Anairo Mines.
91* SelfDeprecation: Felix's comment about Progress City appearing to be New Jersey is a LOT funnier when you realize that Felix the Cat Productions Inc. just happens to be located in New Jersey!
92* SequelHook: The Duke's "I'll be back" line, which is said in a different voice. However, the movie didn't get a sequel, and the Duke predictably didn't return in any later Felix productions.
93* ShrinkRay: When the Professor and Poindexter are being chased by a huge [[SwampMonster swamp creature]], Poindexter blasts it with a shrink ray, reducing it to 1/100th its original size. Poindexter mentions that the effects are temporary, so it would eventually return to normal size.
94* SinisterStingrays: When Felix first arrives in the Land of Oriana, and accidentally flooding the dimension arrival room with water, a gigantic fanged stingray is pulled into the room. Felix barely escapes from it.
95* SoundtrackDissonance: The movie has a very upbeat 1980s pop soundtrack, which at times is very at odds with the dark tones we see on screen in Oriana.
96* SpellBook: The movie's MacGuffin is a mix between this and a GreatBigBookOfEverything. It's exact powers are unclear, but it ''is'' able to defeat the Duke's ultimate weapon.
97* SteamPunk: Oriana has a lot of this.
98* SwampsAreEvil: The Land of Zill, a polluted swampland inhabited by a hostile reptilian race loyal to the Duke of Zill, various dragons, and carnivorous ''bubble'' monsters.
99* SwissArmyTears: When the princess of Oriana can't finish summoning Felix, one of her teardrops finishes the job for her... activating the machine, punching in codes, pulling levers, entering the voice command, finding Felix in his world, and leading him back to the portal and into Oriana.
100* ThrowTheBookAtThem: Done by Felix with the "Book of Ultimate Power" to defeat the Master Cylinder.
101* TookALevelInBadass
102** The Master Cylinder, just a generic villain in the original Felix TV series, makes a rather unexpected comeback as the final weapon of the Duke -- he even goes to the trouble of [[MythologyGag comparing the original model to the new one side by side via pictures]]. It is ultimately defeated when Felix throws the movie's MacGuffin at it.
103** Felix punching two of the head hunters flying heads.
104* {{Tuckerization}}: Oriana is obviously named for Felix the Cat's creator Joe Oriolo.
105* TheUnintelligible: Wack Lizardi's unnamed lizard pet, which makes different squeaks depending on what kind of mood it's in.
106* UrineTrouble: Early in the film, Felix uses his magic bag to hide from some foxes, only for the foxes to mark their territory on his bag. No urine is visible, but there's no mistaking when the foxes hike their legs.
107* VillainSong: "Who is the Boss?" Rather catchy tune and shows the extent of the Duke's ego.
108* VoodooShark: The Duke of Zill based his giant Master Cylinder off of the one in Felix's dimension to serve as his ultimate weapon and the source of power for his mass produced cylinder army. The movie tries to hand wave it by showing the Duke's blueprints, which have a comparison chart between the main universe Master Cylinder and Zill's take on him, but this opens up a big plot hole — the Duke didn't have access to the Dimensporter technology that allowed Felix to travel into the dimension, so how could he have possibly known about or seen the Master Cylinder in Felix's universe?
109* WasOnceAMan: The Duke of Zill was an ordinary human before a prototype of his cylindrical soldier robots went haywire, severely disfiguring him and forcing him to [[WeCanRebuildHim rebuild himself.]] Although if one watching the movie looks closely after the explosion, he actually looks just fine.
110* WeaksauceWeakness: Felix's bag during a shapeshift will change back to its original form if someone other than Felix touches it.
111* WeWillMeetAgain: It's not clear if the Duke perished with his army, but he was distinctly heard saying "I'll be back".
112* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
113** So, what happened to all the other imprisoned circus performers? It's possible to assume they escaped after Wack Lizardi was defeated (even though an entire circus dropped on top of them), but that still means they're stuck in a polluted wasteland.
114** Following the Duke's defeat, we don't know what became of Grumper, the Princess's TreacherousAdvisor. He wasn't even seen during the final confrontation, his last scene being him watching the Duke heading towards the Book.
115* YouHaveFailedMe: The Duke yells out at Wack for Oriana and her friends' escape.

Top