User reviews

If I'm not mistaken, I think it's just about my one-year anniversary here at IMDB. Now I'm sure my raging fans (all two of you) are well aware that I can't get enough of weird cartoons. I happened to run into "Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night" in the bargain bin of a thrift store recently, bought it remembering only that I had rented it several times as a kid, and came away concluding that it's going to take one heck of a cartoon to beat this one!

This movie is crazy. It's like somebody wanted to do an animated film of _Faust_, got bored with it, and decided for the heck of it to throw Pinocchio and Gepetto in it (other characters from the _Pinocchio_ story show up in poor disguises). Pinocchio's adventure leads him from an evil carnival to a freakish neon Hell populated by small children and lastly to the domain of a quadrimanous Satan. Along the way, he has run-ins with a wooden insect, a monkey who is eerily prescient of JarJar Binks down to the last stupid big tooth, and a pretty girl puppet owned by Satan's minion. This last character (the puppet, not the minion) is the focus of a crush from Pinocchio, and I guess this is supposed to be romantic but it comes across as very creepy. (I mean, he's a real boy lusting over a *doll* people; look at the looks he's giving her!)

This is a very trippy movie. On that level, it isn't half bad. I actually rather enjoyed it.

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

Yeah, I am one of those people who are more familiar with Disney's version of the tale of wooden puppet brought to life, but I had to see this after hearing about it for a long time. Basically Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night is a movie made by Filmation (the same company that made some low budget cartoons for TV, most notably, Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids and the original He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe cartoon and its sister series, She-Ra: Princess of Power, among others), and it has gotten a cult following over the years since its theatrical release was not so well recieved.

Basically, the story is set one year after Pinocchio becomes a real boy, and he gets in trouble with his father after trading a jeweled music box that was a gift to the mayor for a fake ruby from con artists Scallywag and Igor, a raccoon and monkey duo serving as the film's version of Honest John and Gideon. The kid runs away, and what results is an adventure where he goes to try to get the music box back.

Yeah, this film has a lot of similarities to the Disney original. So much, that Disney actually tried and sued Filmation, but failed because the original story was out of copright. Other than Scallywag and Igor, we have Gee Willickers, a wooden glow bug brought to life to serve as a replacement for Jiminy Cricket, and Puppetino, a puppetmaster working at the carnival, actually recognizes Pinocchio from a show he saw, which could tie in to him being the film's version of Stromboli, the puppet master of the Disney film. Other than that, the film actually introduces new characters, like Twinkle, a female puppet who serves as Pinocchio's love interest, Liutenant Grumblebee, a bumbebee, and The Emperor Of The Night, the main antagonist (who looks like Filmation redid some animation cels of Prime Evil from their Ghostbusters cartoon). Also, the voice cast has some notable actors, like James Earl Jones as the Emperor of the Night, Don Knotts as Gee Willickers, Johnathan Harris as Grumblebee, and even Frank Welker, a man who has done a lot of characters in animation, as Igor.

As for the story, it is okay. Supposedly set after happily ever after, I believe this has no connection to the Disney film at all, despite certain characters being replacements of characters from the Disney films. There are some scary moments in this film (like the scene where Puppetino captures Pinocchio as he's turning back into a puppet due to taking his freedom for granted, with the creepy puppets and disturbing music played), but I think it's only scary if you're not an older person as I am (it never scared me, yet I could still never brave the scene of Lampwick turning into a donkey in the Disney film). The film has its fair share of high points and low points, but it has Pinocchio learn lessons about freedom and responsibility. It's an okay movie, but may not be suitable for younger viewers due to the use of scary imagery that may or may not give them nightmares.

Yeah, it shows strange stuff but not as strange as the stuff shown in the Disney version from the 1940s. Truth be told, I was doing something else while watching this so I mostly paid attention during "the good parts." I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone right off the bat but I didn't hate it. Then again, I really didn't watch it well enough.

This is literally the most disturbing cartoon I have ever seen in my life. I have no idea how something as dark and creepy was even created for poor little children. I myself watched this movie several times as a kid and now, looking back, I am totally horrified. I will never show this to my kids. It is just so messed up - kids getting drunk, hallucinations, Satan, creepy ventriloquist, puppets, ringmasters - a whole nightmare package. Most reviews here are positive, so maybe there is just something wrong with me. As far as I am concerned, this is way too dark to be called a cartoon, and the whole story of innocent Pinocchio and his father (creator) was totally ruined by some sick man's wild fantasy. This may sound too harsh but no offence, this is just my personal point of view.

I grew up watching the Disney film, and also love the book by Carlo Collodi. This is a wonderful underrated gem from 1987, that is a lot of fun. If I had to decide which is better, Disney's "Pinocchio" or "Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night", the Disney film but only marginally.

For one thing, the animation is very impressive. The backgrounds are surprisingly detailed and the character movements are convincing. The animation on the Emperor of the Night is absolutely brilliant. Also, the songs are fun and memorable. "Love is the Light Inside Your Heart" is not only haunting but a genuine tearjerker. "Neon Cabaret", while more a background song is also great, while "You're a Star" is wonderfully upbeat.

Other advantages are an engaging, dark and heartwarming story that keeps to the spirit of the book, a strong script and good characters, including the hilarious Igor and Puppetino(the part when he turns Pinocchio into a puppet was quite frightening). Pinocchio is engaging enough, and the Emperor of the Night while very intense is a great villain. Oh and the Good Fairy is gorgeous.

The voice acting is top notch, you don't hear much of James Earl Jones but once again he does an awesome job as the voice of the Emperor of the Night. Tom Bosley is surprisingly good as Geopetto, while William Windom is unrecognisable as Puppetino. Also Frank Welker deserves credit for his hysterical performance as Igor. In conclusion, this is wonderful and something quite special. 10/10 Bethany Cox

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)".

This movie traumatized me as a kid! I hate it to this day! I'm 36 years old and am still too scared to watch it all the way through. I buy and destroy any copy I find at thrift stores lol. I totally agree with sunlight_vikki's review on here. This movie is the worst. Not for children!!!!

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!

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.

Once Walt Disney and his film studio made a name for themselves after making several animated movies, it's no surprise that other people wanted to capitalize on those properties by either making their own version or creating cheap knock offs. For Filmation Studios, the company had even more ambitious plans which was to make sequels to Disney's popular films. However, due to the massive legal advantage Disney probably had at the time, Filmation didn't get far in this. Despite this though, the studio did release two of the fifteen they had in their lineup. One of which was this movie. Some won't likely see this a legit movie to bother watching, yet there are components to this feature that make it worth at least one viewing. Of course the things that may make it worth watching could be for the wrong reasons.

The plot takes place after the events of the original Pinocchio story. Now that he's a real boy, Pinocchio's birthday has come and wants to help his father Geppetto (Tom Bosley) deliver a special package. On his travels though he comes across several obstacles in the forms of bandits Scalawag (Edward Asner) and Igor (Frank Welker), the carnival ran by Puppetino (William Windom) who has a more sinister boss known as the Emperor of the night (James Earl Jones). The script was written by Robby London, Barry O'Brien and Dennis O'Flaherty, who had credits to shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the less popular Ghost Busters show. Directing for the last time for this feature was Hal Sutherland, known for also working on Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Star Trek: The Animated Series.

For the story that's presented, it's not strong at all, but it's not terrible either. Due to Pinocchio's innocence, one could argue he's still very gullible. But after going through his first adventure before becoming a boy, you'd think he'd remember some things. The narrative just seems to have a number of useless characters. Most of which these characters have a parallel side plot that feel unnecessary as well. Aside from Pinocchio's fairy god mother (Rickie Lee Jones), there's Grumblebee (Jonathan Harris) and Gee Willikers (Don Knotts) who help, but it feels so small by comparison, no pun intended. The bandit characters Scalawag and Igor are also not that likeable. This is most likely due to them being able to persuade Pinocchio more than once to make a bad decision. It's cases like these that make the thin development of the characters feel that much more flimsy.

The same could be said for the villains and their motivations. Despite this though, the voice acting is performed well by everyone. Scott Grimes the voice of Pinocchio sounds good and would later go on to be voices for Steve Smith in American Dad and Kevin Swanson in Family Guy. Edward Asner would go on to voice J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Carl Fredricksen in Up (2009). But the fact that this production was able to nab James Earl Jones and Frank Welker is amazing. Just considering how many credits Welker has and what Jones would best be known for less than a decade later under the actual Disney banner. The actor who steals the show was William Windom as Puppetino, this is due to the nightmare inducing design of the character and the memorable voice he was given.

For an animated film, the movie is decently produced. With supervising animators like Kamoon Song, Chuck Harvey and John Celestri, majority of the scenes have fluid and expressive movements. Unfortunately, some of the character designs are what gave young viewers such scarred memories. There are some fairly dark moments in this feature. Specifically, the first scene of the film and when Pinocchio first meets Puppetino. The music sadly is also largely forgettable despite having talents like Rickie Lee Jones doing a song. The score composed by Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli who would a year later score for Young Guns, make adequate music. The problem is, the film itself isn't completely memorable and that's because of how stock the music felt. That's not to say it's boring, it's just not memorable.

This animated film hits straight down the middle. The story isn't very strong, the characters themselves don't develop much and the music is marginally forgettable. However, this film does deserve a view out of curiosity because of its decent voice cast, acceptable animation and uniquely disturbing character designs.

This film will go down as one of my all-time favorites. Filmation wasn't known for phenomenal animation, but after watching the Masters of the Universe series again, I wasn't expecting too much from them on THIS one- I was COMPLETELY blown away! The animation is PHENOMENAL, coming from Filmation. The Emperor looks awesome, and the music scores are EXCELLENT. In my opinion, this film never received the marketing blitz it truly deserved. Personally, I like THIS film better than DISNEY'S Pinocchio, and this film is actually not a continuation of the DISNEY film, but of the Adventures of Pinocchio animated series. Every time I see this film, I love it even more. A real winner in my book! :)

I saw this movie when I was about 10 or so and I absolutely loved it. The animation was fantastic and I actually thought it was better than the Disney movie. The story was very involved, but not too hard for a kid to follow. I hope to find this movie on DVD.