Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night

Way back in 1987, one of the least reputable animation studios back in the day, Filmation, attempted to sell out with established fairy tale stories already tackled by the Walt Disney Company. Their first effort, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, proved to be a disaster for both critics and audiences, and even caused the Mouse House to sue Filmation for copyright infringement. Despite Filmation winning based on the original Carlo Collodi book's public domain status and the film eventually gaining a small cult following, it still remains a thoroughly dull albeit bizarrely strange mess of a Pinocchio feature.

Set a year after Pinocchio went from a puppet to a real boy, the titular lad ends up getting swindled by an evil carnival puppet master, along with his companion glow worm and two con animals. With the concept of Pinocchio getting to live as a real boy, the film does have the right idea in mind to tell very cautious morals on not taking your freedom for granted. However, the execution is anything but intriguing, as the pacing really takes a number out of any actual arc that Pinocchio should have gone through in a straightforward manner. On top of encountering the con artists Sylvester J. Scalawag and his sidekick Igor, Pinocchio and his obnoxious glow worm friend Gee Wilikers discover numerous creatures who merely serve the story rather than be actual characters. While Puppetino does serve as an intimidating threat to the naive puppet turned boy, those scenes are far and few in between padded filler of trepid stakes with Wiliker interacting with the derivative Lt. Grumblebee. It doesn't feel like much of a Pinocchio movie since the film doesn't even know when to focus on its titular character.

To the film's credit, it does try to emulate the message that you can't always rely on your guardians to save you; in this case the blue fairy. Given all the different obstacles Pinocchio encounters in just trying to get back home, he has to do only what he can just to save himself. Unfortunately, a lot of the stakes he encounters have very little consequences, as even during his worst endeavors, some form of a magical deus ex machina or another side character will come by just to help out. In the end, as adventurous as the film feels at first, a lot of the sequences feel like repetitive Saturday morning cartoon consequences: shocking at best and safe at worst. Had the film focused a lot more on Pinocchio's development than pointless side character fodder, then we'd have more to be intrigued about. Even the titled emperor of the night has little to offer besides stealing the innocence away from children giving into temptation. When the best usage of Pinnochio getting himself out of trouble is with his nose growing when he lies, then it's a sad day when even Shrek did it better.

Although mostly known for their horrendously limited animation, Filmation did try to boost up the quality of the visuals in this movie. The results are an odd mix, with a lot of gorgeous looking backdrops and scary atmospheric landscapes being overshadowed by clunky composition and awkward staging. While the characters do move more fluidly than your standard TV cartoon, their designs feel derived from those exact kinds of cartoons, down to generic shapes in lieu of appealing anatomy. Had it not been for some impressive trippy sequences and some horrific shadows here and there, then the animation alone wouldn't have much else to offer. Speaking of the cast, even with the best efforts of people like Ed Asner, Don Knotts, Tom Bosley, William Windom, Jonathan Harris and more, not much else can be offered to a cast of characters without the slightest hint of value. Whatever songs were slapped together for the feature alone feel hopelessly dated, even for the 1980s. How can a story as beloved as Pinocchio feel this close minded music wise?

While not without its merits, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night has little to offer outside of its gimmicky followup attraction. Unless you somehow grew up on the feature, it isn't worth recommending its cluttered storyline, paper thin characters, shoddy visuals and wooden songs to even a seven year old. Given how excited people are of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio movie, let alone the love audiences still have of the acclaimed Disney classic, all this film deserves is a reserved spot in the hollow pits of obscure outdated fodder. After all, a film that will not be good might just as well be burned with wood.

A creepy mysterious carnival comes to town, Pinocchio (voiced by Scott Grimes) has just celebrated his first birthday as a human has been given a special assignment from his dad Gheppeto (voiced by Tom Bosley) to return an important jewel box back to the mayor and has been granted the power of freedom from his Fairy Godmother (voiced by Rickie Lee Jones) as he must be responsible for it or else he'll end up a puppet again. He gets swindled by a scandalous Raccoon named Scalawag (voiced by Ed Asner) and his monkey assistant Igor (voiced by Frank Welker) for a worthless fake ruby, it upsets his dad so much that he decides to run away to join the carnival for he falls for the hypnotic singing of a beautiful female puppet named Twinkle (voiced by Lana Beeson) over there and is tricked by the evil Puppetino (voiced by William Windon) as he is magically changed back into a puppet. However, Pinocchio does escape as he looks for the two scumbags that swindled him for they go after the traveling carnival to get the box back and end up in the nightmarish Las Vegas-esquire hellish realm of the empire of the night ruled by the evil Emperor (Voiced by James Earl Jones).

Co-starring the voices of Jonathan Harris and Don Knotts, this is a highly underrated and hugely entertaining animated fantasy from Filmation (The studios behind "He-Man", "Fat Albert", "Star Trek Animated" and "She-Ra") for i believe this is their best movie besides "Starchaser: Legend of Orin" and "The Secret of the Sword". The film does have a few good songs such as the haunting "Love is the light inside your heart" by Rickie Lee Jones, the upbeat "Neon Carbret" and finally the most fun song of all "You're a Star".

I remembered back in 1987 when i was 5 on Christmas night when i lived in St. Louis, my mom took me to see this movie at a shopping mall theater and it sure scared the crap out of me. But now i love it for it's one of my favorite animated movies ever! the animation is just breathtaking here considering it's an improvement over any Filmation animated effort and the film really gets dark with such moments like the absolutely horrifying sequence where Pinocchio changes back into a puppet as he's surrounded by puppets for it will scare the hell out of kids considering it almost escape the "PG" rating plus the Emperor himself is quite an awesome villain here.

If you love animation and good fantasy stories then this is a must see! it's a rare forgotten 80's animated diamond in the rough.

Also recommended: "The Black Cauldron", "Rock & Rule", "Fire & Ice", "Wizards", "The Dark Crystal", "Aladdin", "Big Trouble in Little China", "The Phantom Tollbooth", "Transformers: The Movie", "The Wizard of Oz", "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs", "The Great Mouse Detective", "Sleepy Hollow", "The Corpse Bride", "Willy Wonka and The Chocholate Factory", "Return to Oz", "Oliver & Company", "The Little Mermaid", "The Last Unicorn", "The Secret of NIMH", "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory", "Mulan", "Spirited Away", "Making Contact (a.k.a. Joey)".

I watched this movie when I was little (can't remember exactly how old I was), and I just recently got hold of a copy and thought I'd watch it again (brings back memories, ya know).

It's supposed to be a sequel to Disney's Pinocchio. The characters are similar to the ones in the Disney movie - all except for the Emperor of the Night (I don't know where they got him from). He seemed a little bit too much to throw into this story (and he might be a little too scary for the really young ones). I mean, what kind of demonic overlord would want anything to do with an has-been puppet? (The story tries to explain this, but doesn't do a very good job.) Anyway, the kids will probably enjoy it, so rent it for them if you get the chance (if there's nothing better to get, that is).

I think that when all of us were kids we had one or two movies that we loved so much that we sat down and watched them dozens of times. For me one of those movies was Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, which is definitely a lesser known animated feature but all the same still holds up today. After ordering a copy from Amazon.com and watching it again all these years later, I was pleasantly surprised that Emperor entertained me even at my usually cynical age.

Sure, you could nitpick that the animation is inconsistent, with some scenes appearing less detailed while others are excessively so, and that certain backgrounds are obviously repeated during chase scenes ala The Flintstones (it's even more pronounced here due to the visible line in the visuals), but frankly those didn't hamper my enjoyment of the film. The animation is usually quite vibrant and expressive, and the story takes the usual Pinocchio antics in a different direction by providing an actual villain in the uber-creepy Emperor (voiced by that staple of movie villains, James Earl Jones). In fact, much of the movie is downright dark, from the opening sequence where a demented carnival seems to set itself up to Pinocchio's transformation back into a puppet. I'm not saying any of this will scare kids today, as they've probably seen much worse, but it does give a good balance to the otherwise cheerful imagery.

I can't get through this review without mentioning the handful of songs which are peppered throughout Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night. I can't get enough of "Love Is The Light Inside Your Heart," which is just a beautiful little pop ballad that I can't get out of my head because it's so memorable. True, the Fairy Godmother may sound like she's doped up during her speaking lines, but the song is great. "Neon Cabaret" is more of a background song than "Love," but it still has a nice little jazz beat that goes well with its scene, a night club where children basically throw back green alcohol (come on ya know it was alcohol) and go nuts. Finally there's "Your A Star," which while not a phenomenal song once again fits with the visuals of the sequence. Like I said before, much of the visuals of the movie are extremely well done and give the movie a vintage '80s feel I couldn't help but like.

Now this is coming from a guy who's reviewed countless animated movie, but I think it's safe to say that young kids could still get a kick out of this movie. It's got everything the modern animated flicks have, but without the crass marketing. And the sidekicks aren't half as tiresome or irritating, with the only ones being a glow worm voiced by Don Knotts and a bee named Grumblebee. Some sections of the film may seem like filler, like the scene involving a toad and a city of insects which lasts a bit too long, but other than that I give Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night an enthusiastic recommendation. 3/4 stars

Don't be put off by those who would label this little gem a Disney ripoff. In a time when very few animated features were being produced, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night is a surprisingly nice little animated film. From the opening moments, you can see that this was intended to be something special. There is some great animation, such as the ending on the Emperor of the Night's ship. There are some dark, genuinely frightening moments such as James Earl Jones as the titular Emperor and his macabre carnival, or a scene which has Pinocchio transformed back into a lifeless puppet. There are comical moments with Gee Willikers the wooden glowbug and Grumblebee. There are also bizarre, surreal scenes, notably a sequence where Pinocchio is tempted in a dream-like land by the Emperor and his minions. The song in this scene, "The Neon Cabaret", is jazzy and upbeat, and it enhances strange mood. Don Knotts, James Earl Jones, Ed Asner, and Jonathan Harris all give wonderful voice performances to their respective characters. Rickie Lee Jones as the Fairy Godmother tends to grate though.

The overall impression is that of a very ambitious production. The film moves along at a good pace and boils to a great climactic finish. Definitely worth a look!