Angelina Ballerina



Angelina Ballerina is an Animated Series produced by HiT Entertainment, based on books by Catherine Hollabird and Helen Craig. First airing in 2002, the series is a Slice of Life type program. It features the misadventures of a mouse named Angelina Mouseling and her friends.

In 2009, the series was given an All CGI Cartoon makeover and subtitled "The Next Steps" as Angelina goes to attend dancing school. Angelina herself received a makeover in this version of the show: She's now light pink in color. In the original series and books, she was white.

Angelina Ballerina provides examples of the following:
"It's. My. Turn!"
 * Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Majority of the cast in the original series.
 * All CGI Cartoon: The 2009 CGI revamp.
 * Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Pink mice in the 2009 CGI revamp. Yeah, baby mice are called pinkies, but this is pushing it.
 * Animated Adaptation: An adaption of books by Catherine Hollabird and Helen Craig
 * Anthropomorphic Shift: From the books through to the 2002 series, Angelina and the other mice were firmly in a Mouse World/Civilized Animal setting but as of the 2009 series, where the dance aspect of the show became a more dominant element, they had become Petting Zoo People. This was to enable more diverse styles of dance to be performed by the characters and to be more relatable to the older viewer demographic they were now aiming at.
 * Art Evolution: As time moved on, Angelina became less plump, taller, and her fur color changed from white to light pink.
 * Art Shift: From traditional animation to CGI.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome / Put On a Bus: Henry received the short end of the deal when the All CGI Cartoon rolled around (or at least received a gender switch into Polly).
 * What Happened to The Mouse??
 * Cool Old Lady: Miss Lilly.
 * Face Palm: In CGI episode, "Angelina's Oldest Friend", the titular character of the episode and Angelina pulls this.
 * Angelina's mother has this in the end of episode, "Angelina's Sleepover".
 * The Faceless: Ms. Mimi appears this in "Angelina's New School". Her face is revealed in the next episode.
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The original:
 * The Hero: Angelina
 * The Lancer: Alice
 * The Smart Guy: William
 * The Big Guy: Sammy
 * The Chick: Anya
 * The Mentor: Ms. Lilly
 * Tagalong Kid: Henry
 * The CGI:
 * The Hero: Angelina
 * The Lancer: Alice
 * The Smart Guy: Marco
 * The Big Guy: AJ
 * The Chick: Gracie
 * Sixth Ranger: Vici
 * The Mentor: Ms. Mimi
 * Tagalong Kid: Polly
 * Full-Name Basis: For some reason, on Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, Angelina's little sister Polly regularly refers to her as "Angelina Ballerina" and not simply Angelina.
 * Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Angelina and the other kids in the original series when at dance school and performing on stage. Plus Ms. Lilly in the regular cast. Became the norm for the CGI series.
 * I Can't Hear You: Played straight in an episode of the 2009 CGI revamp.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Mrs. Hodgepodge in the original series.
 * Licensed Game / Edutainment Game / IOS Games: One for the iPhone (although like most iPhone games, it runs on most other iOS devices as well).
 * Limited Wardrobe: In The Next Steps, Angelina wears her ballerina outfit at home as well.
 * Merchandise-Driven: Like most animated adaptations, it was originally created to sell the books. Now it sells mostly dolls and miniature figures.
 * No Antagonist: Most of the episodes focuses on slice-of-life issues.
 * No Time to Explain: Played straight in CGI episode, "Angelina and Alice's Big Night".
 * Petting Zoo People: Pretty much the CGI series.
 * Pink Means Feminine: Angelina's pink tutu, and then being pink herself in the latest series.
 * Punctuated for Emphasis: Alice really pulls this off in one episode of the CGI.


 * Recursive Adaptation: Some of the books are this.
 * The Silent Bob: Played straight with Ms. Mimi in a CGI episode. And also earlier, the yogurt selling mouse.
 * Skirt Over Slacks: Alice, Vici, and Ms. Mimi wear this in the CGI.
 * Slice of Life: Yep, one of those series.
 * Something We Forgot: Played straight in CGI episode, "Angelina's Lost Ice Skates".
 * Spring Is Late: With a twist in "Angelina's Spring Fling" in the CGI revamp. The characters know perfectly well that there's nothing they can do to stop it from being cold and snowy outside. So, instead, they decide to try to create a bit of spring inside by doing things such as pretending to play baseball, painting Easter eggs and playing a CD of Vivaldi's "Spring."
 * This Is My Side: In Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, Angelina and Marco did this with a poster after they were assigned to work together. Marco didn't want frills and a tutu on his poster, while Angelina couldn't abide by the idea of having soccer balls in the poster. It didn't work work out, and they went through a couple of other hangups, before finally hitting on a working idea.
 * The Unfavorite: This is what Angelina feels about when Polly debuted in original series episode, "Angelina's Baby Sister".
 * The Voiceless: Ms. Mimi becomes this in one episode of the CGI when she has laryngitis.