Very best movie i ever watch

Fantastic!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Produced at a time when animation was in a serious slump, this rather curious feature, produced by Filmation Studios, attempts to make a sequel out of a now famous fairy tale, Carlo Collidi's PINOCCHIO. Walt Disney had made the story popular in his lavishly animated and emotionally powerful motion picture, and to this day it remains a masterpiece. Based on that, there is no way that this 1987 continuation could ever compare. Regrettably, the artistry in this movie doesn't live up to the original either. For a production made by 400 animators in three years at a cost of $8 million, PINOCCHIO AND THE EMPEROR OF THE NIGHT looks pretty shabby, no better than an average Saturday morning cartoon.There are also many instances where this movie attempts to steal thunder from the legendary Disney masterpiece, too. In place of Jiminy Cricket, we have a wooden-carved glowbug named Gee Willickers (voice of Don Knotts); a con artist raccoon named Scalawag (Ed Asner) and his pet monkey Igor (Frank Welker) in place of Honest John and Gideon (these characters shift into true allies in the movie); standing in for Lampwick is a pretty blonde named Twinkle (Lana Beeson) who serves as a sort of love interest for our hero. Finally, in the roles of the nasty puppeteer and nasty Coachman we have the shady-looking Puppetino as well as the titular villain, a sort of titanic, nightmarish robed demon with multiple arms and the booming tones of James Earl Jones. Unfortunately, these stand-ins could never hope to hold a candle to their predecessors or emerge as particularly memorable creations on their own. There's even a half-man half bumblebee who attempts to provide comic relief, but comes across as nothing more than a "buzzing" nuisance.Set one year after Pinocchio has become a real boy, this second chapter begins when a scary looking carnival comes into town. Our not so wooden hero runs away to the carnival after bungling a special errand for his father, Geppetto (he had been conned into giving up a precious jeweled box to Scalawag and Igor). In a rather frightening sequence -- one of the few that actually emerges as truly effective -- Pinocchio is transformed into a puppet again after being seduced to the carnival by the mustache-twirling Puppetino. Rather predictably, the Fairy Godmother (lamely voiced by Billie Lee Jones) rescues him, and the usual adventures ensue which lead up to the obligatory final showdown with the main villain.In addition to providing a rather uninspired plot, PINOCCHIO AND THE EMPEROR OF THE NIGHT unwisely also recycles concepts from the first movie; Pinocchio lies to his Fairy Godmother again and his nose grows, Geppetto sets off to find his missing boy, Pinocchio is still gullible enough to trust ne'er-do-wells Scalawag and Igor after they deceive him one time, and everybody ends up at an amusement park where naughty boys can do whatever they please. All are routinely and lifelessly presented, although the latter sequence is trippy and creepy enough to stand on its own; Pinocchio gets drunk in this scene, too. The scene where Pinocchio dances and sings with glittery showgirls is also pretty schizophrenic, but again, it brings up reminders about a similar and more believably executed scene from Disney's film. The movie is also handicapped with a rather dreary synthesizer-driven soundtrack and unmemorable songs; the Fairy Godmother's song is acknowledgingly nice, but nowhere near the same caliber of "When You Wish Upon A Star." Furthermore, of the vocal performances, only Scott Grimes as Pinocchio himself stands out, but a majority of the remaining cast are pretty much run of the mill (as mentioned, the Fairy Godmother is the worst offender--sounding totally lifeless and boring throughout). Even James Earl Jones, awesome a voice though he may have, doesn't have much to do with his scanty role of the Emperor of the Night.Taken on its own, this PINOCCHIO sequel is passable fare, although some sequences do come across as too frightening for youngsters (particularly the appearance of the central villain), and others ineptly silly for grown-ups. There are some creepy sequences and moments of genuine terror, but all in all, children and parents aren't likely find much magic within its 95 minute running time. In all fairness, PINOCCHIO AND THE EMPEROR OF THE NIGHT is not as disastrous as Roberto Benigni's travesty, but it lacks that certain special magic to achieve anything close to classic status. As it stands, it's only so-so.

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 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

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! :)