A Wish for Wings That Work (1991) (TV)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Skip Jones

Writers:

Berkeley Breathed (book)
Berkeley Breathed (comic strip "Bloom County")

Release Date:

18 December 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Comedy | Short

Plot:

Opus the Penguin struggles to achieve his seemingly impossible dream to be able to fly.

Plot Keywords:

Penguin | Christmas | Cat | Satire | Based On Comic

Cast

Michael Bell	...	Opus (voice)
Joe Alaskey	...	Truffles / The Ducks (voice)
John Byner	...	Bill the Cat (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	The Chicken (voice)
Andrew Hill Newman	...	Santa (voice)
Robin Williams	...	The Kiwi (voice) (as Sudy Nim)
Alexaundria Simmons	...	Ronald-Ann (voice)
Frank Welker	...	Santa Claus (voice)

Runtime:

22 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Amblin Television

Trivia:

During the production of Hook (1991), executive producer Steven Spielberg decided to utilize lead actors Robin Williams (The Kiwi) and Dustin Hoffman (The Cockroach) to record (in what little time he had) their voice-over work in a small studio. This is why both A-list stars were available for this animated special. It is also the reason why the quality of their voice recordings isn't as clear as the rest of the cast.

Quotes:

George the Kiwi: ALBATROSS. Just be glad your wife didn't leave you for an albatross.
Ronald-Anne: Good, George, confront your feelings.
George the Kiwi: My puny kiwi wings weren't big enough for Delores. Oh no, oh no... she had to have AN ALBATROSS. With great big huge LONG WINGS. He was on hormones. You heard me, read my beak: HORMONES.
Opus: Uh, maybe we shouldn't confront those particular feelings.

Movie Connections:

References Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

A beautiful fairytale

Based on Berke Breathed's popular cartoon Bloom County, A Wish for Wings that Work is sure to amuse and enthrall every audience, from youngest to oldest. Wings is the story of Opus the penguin, whose greatest wish is to fly. But alas, penguins are not meant to fly no matter how hard some of them try. Throughout the movie Opus' misadventures entice the watcher to both laugh and cry, before, as befalls a good fairytale, it ends happily albeit with a twist.

Although I am no great fan of cartoons I really enjoyed Wings. It has a charming quality to it, an ability to make people feel like children again. Making it even better is the fact that it has a number of rather adult jokes (such as Elvis turning up or the Toy and Gun store being named after Norman Schwarzkopf).

In all I strongly recommend A Wish for Wings that Work, whether you are a Bloom County fan or not.