The Elm-Chanted Forest

The Elm-Chanted Forest is a Yugoslavian/U.S. joint-produced animated film from the 1980s. In fact, it was the first feature-length animated film produced in what is now Croatia. And it proves that the Croatians can weird it up with the best of them. It is also known as Fantasy Forest, but the pun is more distinctive.

The enchanted forest is protected at all times by the great and mighty enchanted elm tree that watches over it. But the nefarious Emperor Spine, the King Cactus, watches it from afar, and he wants to turn it into a desert land that he can rule. As it happens, an exceedingly mild-mannered painter named Peter wanders into the forest from a nearby village to paint the elm tree. When he falls asleep under it, the elm tree grants him a passel of magical powers with which to protect the forest: the ability to talk to animals and a magical paintbrush. At first Peter is content to simply hang out with the local wildlife, but soon the Cactus King bears down on him and his friends. (The bear almost does, but he's more of a good guy.) Soon Peter is teaming up with animals, spirits, and even a beleaguered wizard named Thistle to stop the Cactus King, enchanted upheaval and... literally magic mushrooms? Hey. We warned you it was weird.

It managed to spawn a sequel, The Magic Hat, but that one never really made it overseas. It starred Thistle the wizard.


 * Adipose Rex: The water king; probably because he sleeps in all day. Emperor Spine, too, but then again, many types of cactus are that round...
 * Art Initiates Life: The Enchanted Elm gives Peter a magical paintbrush that can paint living pictures.
 * Though mostly they move slightly for a second or two then stop.
 * Artistic License: Biology: Thistle reasons that the reason the Cactus King is so mean is that . However, when !
 * Berserk Button: Do NOT mention beavers in front of the Cactus King.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Cunning Like a Fox: Fifi, of course.
 * Dance Party Ending
 * Disney 'Shrooms Sequence: The "Truffle Shuffle" done by the mushroom tribe. They must be inhaling their own spores all the time!
 * Everything's Worse with Bears: Thistle tries to get a football-playing bear to tackle Peter. However, neither the bear nor Thistle really is that bad.
 * Funny Afro: The mushroom singers, especially Michael J. Mushroom. While this is actually a reasonable approximation of the way truffles look, the fact that the mushrooms seem to otherwise be in Blackface could be considered somewhat Unfortunate Implications.
 * Gratuitous French: Fifi the fox. Even her Leitmotif sounds French!
 * Heel Face Turn: Thistle does one rather early in the film. Early enough that it's not really a spoiler.
 * Hurricane of Puns: The Cactus King constantly uses some very sharp words to make a point.
 * Idiot Hero: Peter slips into this. Early on, the animals go to more lengths than they should need to to keep him from walking into the Cactus King's lair -- just because the king offered Peter lunch.
 * Mind Screw
 * Kill It with Fire: The Cactus King tries to persuade the great fire spirit to set the forest on fire.
 * Large Ham: Baron Burr. "IF you listen VERY CAREFULLY, the WIND will SPEAK TO YOU!"
 * Leitmotif: Both Peter and Thistle have them.
 * Lip Lock: Parts of the animation are sped up in the English dub to match the new dialogue.
 * Mushroom Samba: There is a literal one, the "Truffle Shuffle", about how awesome it is to be a mushroom. At the end of the routine, they all suddenly grow fangs. It's loosely implied that this is because of something they gave Peter to turn him into a mushroom himself.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: "The Cactus King." Sounds real friendly, doesn't he?
 * No Indoor Voice: Baron Burr can't speak at anything below a shout.
 * Prophecies Rhyme All the Time
 * Show Some Leg: Well, if one of the assets to your evil-fighting team is a sexy French fox, you might as well.
 * Something Else Also Rises: J. Edgar Beaver's whiskers do this Yes, really.
 * Speaks Fluent Animal: Peter gains the power to talk to animals.
 * Sssssnaketalk: Firebug ssspeaksss like thisss.
 * Spikes of Doom: The name "Emperor Spine" really kind of says it all.
 * Tagalong Kid: The three hedgehogs.
 * That Reminds Me of a Song: When Thistle initially goes to the bear for help, said Bear tells him to relax a bit, then randomly breaks into song that has nothing to do with what either of them were saying. And no, it is not brought up ever again.
 * Two Lines, No Waiting: This is as much Thistle's story as it is Peter's.
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Peter takes it quite in stride when he finds out he can paint living pictures and talk to animals.
 * Wacky Wayside Tribe: The mushrooms.