A Troll in Central Park (1994)

An evil Queen banishes a flower loving troll named Stanley (Dom DeLuise) to New York City, where he befriends two young children.

Directors:

Don Bluth, Gary Goldman

Writers:

Stu Krieger (screenplay), Don Bluth (story)

Stars:

Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman, Charles Nelson Reilly

Cast

Credited cast:
Dom DeLuise	...	Stanley (voice)
Cloris Leachman	...	Gnorga (voice)
Charles Nelson Reilly	...	Llort (voice)
Jonathan Pryce	...	Alan (voice) (as Jonathon Price)
Hayley Mills	...	Hillary (voice)
Phillip Glasser	...	Gus (voice)
Tawny Sunshine Glover	...	Rosie (voice)
Neil Ross	...	Generic Pansy (voice)
Will Ryan	...	Boss (voice)
Pat Musick	...	Snuffy (voice) (as Pat Musik)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Zambetti	...	Self - Ugly Little Tree Troll

Storyline

Stanley (Dom DeLuise) is a kindhearted, popular troll who can create flowers with a mere touch. When Gnorga (Cloris Leachman), the mean-spirited Queen of the Kingdom of Trolls discovers Stanley's secret, she banishes him to a faraway place where she assumes nothing green can grow - New York City. Taking refuge in Central Park, Stanley befriends two young children, Gus (Phillip Glasser) and his baby sister Rosie (Tawny Sunshine Glover). The three share wonderful adventures until Gnorga decides to let her mischief-making magic loose in the Big Apple.

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Plot Keywords:

world trade center | hand drawn animation | traditional animation | movie flop | five word title | 

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Taglines:

A classic tale of Thumb vs. Evil

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Don Bluth): (casting): Dom DeLuise, Charles Nelson Reilly, Phillip Glasser, Tawny Sunshine Glover, Neil Ross, Will Ryan, and Pat Musick provided voices for this movie.

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Goofs

In the full screen version, when Gus and Rosie leave Stanley to go home, some of their bodies start to vanish.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Stanley runs and bumps into a troll from behind]
Troll: Hey! Watch yourself!
[Stanley accidentally grows a flower]
Troll: Say, what was that?
[the troll laughs as Stanley drops his bag behind him and the flower jumps in]
Troll: Oh, for a minute, I thought I saw one of them, um, um, uh, flower things.
[the troll laughs]
Troll: That's a relief. I'd sure hate to have to tell the queen. Oh, well, have a rotten day!
[as the troll walks off, Stanley picks up his bag and waves]
[...]

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Crazy Credits

After the credits are over, an image of Stanley appears. His green thumb lights up, and the words "A Don Bluth Presentation" appear, then they vanish.

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Alternate Versions

The DVD version omits the Warner Bros. logos, as it was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, which its logo appears instead.

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Connections

Referenced in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Disney's Dishonor (2020)

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Soundtracks

Friends Like Us
Music by Barry Mann

User Reviews

If you're over 7 years old, this movie will be a chore to watch.

This has to be one of the most pointless and boring animated feature films of all time. Don Bluth had directed some stinkers in the past, but this was by far the worst. By the end of the movie, it feels like nothing happened. The animation is a step down from Bluth's previous films, and the character designs and animation are just terribly loose. The only real positives about this are the voice over acting, and the lively musical score, despite only having bad songs.

Stanley the troll (Dom Deluise) is unlike the other trolls. He's more interested in planting flowers and making the world pretty, where the other trolls only want to cause misery. The trolls have black thumbs that turn things to stone, but Stanley has a green thumb for bringing plants to life. When Queen of the trolls, Gnorga (Cloris Leachman), finds out about Stanley being a good troll, she shoots him up in the air, and he lands in Central Park. Meanwhile, a little boy Gus wants his dad to take him to the park, but his dad is busy, so he and his infant sister Rosie go off on their own. They meet Stanley, and go on a stupid adventure with him, while Gnorga is hot on their tail, and for some reason wants them all out of the picture.

Babies will probably have a good time watching this, though some parts may be too scary. Older kids will despise this, unless it has a nostalgia factor to them, which it does to me, and I still hate it. Everything is overly corny, and cheesy and sappy. The plot....heck, what plot. It's pretty much just, little boy and girl go to park, meet troll, he teaches them about imagination, bad troll comes in, chaos ensues. The songs in the movie are really bad, which is weird because the musical score is quite pretty. The voice over acting is actually pretty good, with Cloris Leachman in an almost unrecognizable voice over role, Charles Nelson Reilly doing the same likable voice he'd done in so many other cartoons and Dom Deluise with his normal, over the top voice. Other than the music and voices though, this is an utterly ridiculous movie.

I dislike the beginning, and I downright despise the ending of this sappy kiddie junk that should have had less put into the direction, and more into the writing.

My rating: * out of ****. 75 mins. G.

Details

Country:

Ireland USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 October 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Troll in New York

Filming Locations:

Dublin, Ireland

Box Office

Gross USA:

$71,368

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$71,368

Company Credits

Production Co:

Don Bluth

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1