Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night: Difference between revisions

A'''''Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night''''' is a 1987 animated feature released by New World Pictures, made by [[Filmation]].

The movie was designed to be a sequel to [[Pinocchio|the classic tale]], but audiences felt more like they were watching a Re-Tread of the [[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Disney version.]] It hit a lot of similar notes, including but not limited to: [[Funny Animal]] con artists, a Jiminy Cricket-esque conscience figure, a sadistic, cruel puppetmaster, a place where kids are free to do whatever they like, and a titanic battle on the high seas.

Reviewed [https://web.archive.org/web/20120923205051/http://madnessmonster.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/pinocchio-emperor-review/ here]. See also ''[[Happily Ever After (Filmfilm)|Happily Ever After]]'', another Filmation effort that served as a sequel to ''[[Snow White and Thethe Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]''.

* [[Circus of Fear]]: Very much shades of ''[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (Literature)|Something Wicked This Way Comes]]''.

* [[The Dragon]]: Puppetino, it turns out. While very effective at first, particularly in using temptation to get Pinocchio to make his [[Deal Withwith the Devil]], by the end he proves to be next to useless, cowering like a random [[Mook]], and when the shit hits the fan is a [[Dirty Coward]]. Even his powers seem to be a gift from the Emperor, if his ultimate fate also implies a stripping of those powers, thus rendering even his earlier crowning moments rather lackluster in retrospect. His fear of his boss, however, was likely due to fear of [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]] or [[You Have Failed Me...]] ([[Properly Paranoid|and he was right to worry]]).

* [[Everything's Better Withwith Monkeys]]: Igor.

* [[Expy]]: It's painfully obvious that Scalawag and Igor are meant to be stand-ins for [[Cunning Like a Fox|Foulfellow]] and [[Cats Are Mean|Gideon]]. However, because [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|raccoons are cute, chubby, and cuddly]], and [[Everything's Better Withwith Monkeys]], these two end up proving their inner heroism by swallowing their cowardice, doing a [[Heel Face Turn]], and helping Pinocchio out in the end--if only by getting him to the empire and then [[You Are Not Alone|standing by him when it counted]].

* [[Glamour Failure]]: The [[Glowing Eyes of Doom|glowing]] [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red eyes]] on all of {{spoiler|the Emperor}}'s various incarnations.

* [[Good Hurts Evil]]: Or at least, the purity of Pinocchio's [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and [[The Power of Love]] does. Both [[Incredibly Lame Pun|lampshaded and foreshadowed]] by the Blue Fairy's pep-talk [[Aesop]] song.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Scalawag and Igor, though they were fairly [[Lovable Rogue|Lovable Rogues]] in the first place.

* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Scalawag, in the end. (Natch, [[Ed Asner|considering his VA]].)

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Technically, everything that happens in the movie is the fault of Scalawag and Igor for taking the music box from Pinocchio, yet because in the end they [[Heel Face Turn|change sides]] and stand by him, they're given free passes, everyone walks off as friends, and this is never really brought up again. Justified, perhaps, in that unlike Foulfellow and Gideon, they were thieves and con men for fun and profit, not out of malice, they clearly [[My God, What Have I Done?|regretted their mistakes]], and they genuinely do redeem themselves.

* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Puppetino's fate. [[Wild Mass Guessing|What isn't clear]] is whether this is just the Emperor inflicting a particularly delicious and ironic punishment, or if he was restoring him [[Puppet Permutation|to what he used to be]].

* [[Lions and Tigers Andand Humans, Oh My!|Lions And Tigers And Humans -- Oh, My!]]

* [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself|This Is Something He's Got To Do Himself]]: Pinocchio's determination to get the [[MacGuffin|jewel box]] back and thus prove his responsibility and trustworthiness, whatever the cost. He means well, but it does come across as a bit of [[Lawful Stupid]] behavior.