History WesternAnimation / ATrollInCentralPark

[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TrollcentralparkOnTheRight_5420.jpg]]

->'''[[BigBad Gnorga]]''': ''He is kind, he is good, he is gentle... and, [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad he is giving a bad name]] to trolls everywhere!''

->'''Gnorga''': (grabs him, pulls him closer) ''[[TakenForGranite Stone him!]]''
->'''Llort''': ''Why not make an example of him? [[BigApplesauce I know a place]], [[BlatantLies rock and steel, where nothing grows. Huh hmm, nothing!]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Creatures more troll-like than we are]], think of it, for him it will be worse than stone, [[FateWorseThanDeath it will be slow, it will be painful!]] Think what they'll say about you in the newspapers! Why, it's a shoo-in for the tabloids!''

* SpoiledBrat: Gus. A rich kid with a nasty temper, whom the Queen describes as being troll-like. He does grow out of it though.

* RandomEventsPlot: The film's plot, besides being very simplistic, is also extremely loose. It starts with Stanley's flower planting getting uncovered and him getting exiled from the Troll world to New York, where he hides under a bridge in Central Park--then he encounters Rosie and Gus, who snuck out to the park, and partakes in a half hour of entertaining them with his flowers and magic. Then Gnorga finds out he's still alive and decides to take matters into her own hands, arriving at New York to kidnap the kids as bait (and turning Gus into a troll) so she can lure Stanley to her, forcing him to man up and save the day, although he gets turned to stone when Gnorga uses Gus' powers on him. Gus changes back to human, but still has a magic thumb and manages to change Stanley back in turn. They all sing together as Stanley's magic envelops all of New York in plant life. The end.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: In at least one point, Stanley refers to troll powers as "prestidigitation" instead of "magic." This is even an inaccurate use, since prestidigitation refers to stage magic and not supernatural powers. This might make sense when you consider Stanley was trying to emphasize that Gnorga's magic is much more powerful than his. And "Prestidigitation" is derived from the word for "finger"... perhaps it's meant to be a too-subtle pun?

* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: The parents leave their kids with the housekeeper expecting her to babysit them. Housekeepers aren't babysitters.

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: While Stanley is initially shown to merely have a magic GreenThumb that makes flowers grow and come to life, later on when he meets Rosie and Gus, he is revealed to have "prestidigitation" abilities which allow such feats as making a toy boat grow to full size and fly, and create a dreamlike world from Stanley's own mind. This ability isn't even foreshadowed prior to those scenes.
** Gnorga's magical powers are certainly implied to be quite flexible, [[spoiler: but her ability to control Gus' own magic thumb from a distance against his will in the films climax comes off as a really blatant example of this.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Llort's alternative sentence to have Stanley banished instead of being stoned is not only the mainspring of the films plot, [[spoiler:but also indirectly leads to the downfall of Gnorga's rule.]]

* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:Stanley's "Dreamboat" gradually disappearing as he turns to stone, and Gnorga's tornado magically taking away her and Llort when she is completely turned into a rose bush. Curiously, while her spell that turned Gus into a troll wears off, it leaves him with a magic green thumb, and Stanley doesn't revert back to normal.]]

** How did Gnorga even know where to banish Stanley to when Llort didn't even tell her where it was to begin with, and only gave a general description of how horrible it was? And how did Llort even learn about New York in the first place or even know if it was as bad as he made it out to be, since the Troll Kingdom is clearly a far ways off from any place humans would be around? Stanley mentions offhand that his mother used to read him stories about humans, but when Llort discusses sending Stanley to New York, he words it in a way that makes it seem like none of the other trolls knew about the human world.
** The source of Stanley's "prestidigitation" powers, which is not explained and [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands comes out of nowhere]], with no foreshadowing, midway through the film. Earlier he was shown to have magic, but only the kind that could grow plants.
** While Gnorga going to New York without bringing other trolls can be written off due to her impatient, temperamental personality, did she even consider that sending a Tornado to destroy Central Park, located in one of the most densely populated cities on Earth, all just to capture a rogue troll and two kids, would attract a lot of unwanted attention? Even the next day, well after she's defeated, no one seems to be raising a stink about how Central Park has been completely razed.

* PsychopathicManchild: Gnorga.
* RandomEventsPlot: The films plot, besides being very simplistic, is also extremely loose--it starts with Stanley's flower planting getting uncovered and him getting exiled from the Troll world to New York, where he hides under a bridge in Central Park--then he encounters Rosie and Gus, who snuck out to the park, and partakes in a half hour of entertaining them with his flowers and magic. Then Gnorga finds out he's still alive and decides to take matters into her own hands, arriving at New York to kidnap the kids as bait (and turning Gus into a troll) so she can lure Stanley to her, forcing him to man up and save the day, although he gets turned to stone when Gnorga uses Gus' powers on him. Gus changes back to human, but still has a magic thumb and manages to change Stanley back in turn. They all sing together as Stanley's magic envelops all of New York in plant life. The end.

* FishOutOfWater: Stanley when he is banished to New York, although its clear he wasn't exactly at home in the Troll Kingdom either.
* ForTheEvulz: Gnorga's modus operendi.

* GreenThumb: Stanley has a literal one. [[spoiler:Gus at the end.]]
** Inverted with the other trolls: their thumbs turn stuff into stone.

* HeelFaceTurn: Gnorga briefly mentions being afraid that other trolls might do this if she doesn't make an example of Stanley. Ironically, her attempt to thwart this ends up having the whole kingdom do this in the end.

* HiddenElfVillage: The Troll Kingdom is implied to be this, given its completely isolated and far off from the outside world.
* HufflepuffHouse: Gnorga mentions a "Goblin Ville" and "Gremlin Land" in addition to Troll World. Hell, Troll World itself counts, since the first ten minutes take place in it and it is never seen again apart from Gnorga's bedroom.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Gus is, to be frank, a brat. However, he does care for his sister, and goes to rescue her from Gnorga even when Stanley is too scared to help.
* KangarooCourt: Gnorga's "trial" on Stanley, where its clear they already plan to convict him, and that the trial is otherwise just a formality.

* MagicMirror: Gnorga's crystal lets her spy on anyone and zoom in on the sounds of children crying.

** King Llort is a slightly better treated [[Disney/AliceInWonderland King of hearts.]]

* EvilTastesGood: More like "It feels delicious to be so vicious!", as Gnorga more or less says during her VillainSong.

* EvilIsHammy: Gnorga, oh so very much. This trope is her entire personality. Her live delivery is so over the top, it sounds like she's going to burst a blood vessel with each syllable.

* CrapsackWorld: The Troll Kingdom appears to be this. A very dull, dingy swampland with no plant life whose inhabitants appear to be AlwaysChaoticEvil and abide by the BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad mentality, and are ruled by the tyrannical, vain Gnorga, who will severely punish anyone who dares stray from the proper conduct of trolls.

** The puppet theater from [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment BLAM]] mentioned above.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: One of the films intended aesops is that anything is possible if you believe enough in your dreams.

* AntiVillain: King Llort is a [[SlidingScaleOfAntivillains Type IV]]; while he's not really a "good" guy and directly assists Gnorga, he certainly has some sympathetic qualities and tags along out of [[HenpeckedHusband fear of his own wife]]. [[spoiler: At the end when Gnorga is defeated, he takes up rule over the now much more peaceful Troll Kingdom, and is quite glad his wife is turned into a rose bush.]]

* CardCarryingVillain: Gnorga, who fits into all three types; she calls herself "The Queen of Mean" and has [[VillainSong a song number about it]], and her whole kingdom's code runs on the BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad mentality and will kill anyone who defies her tyrannical rules, and obviously reaps pleasure from death and destruction, as she says in her song number

* CrapsackWorld: The Troll Kingdom appears to be this; a very dull, dingy swampland with no plant life whose inhabitants appear to be AlwaysChaoticEvil and abide by the BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad mentality, and are ruled by the tyrannical, vain Gnorga, who will severely punish anyone who dares stray from the proper conduct of trolls.

* BigDamnHero: Stanley attempts this twice; the first time, he attempts to rush Gnorga head-on in an off the cuff "armor", only to get attacked by her and sent running back under the bridge. [[spoiler: The second time, he does this to save Rosie via his flying boat just before the final battle.]]

* BeamOWar: Done between Gnorga and Stanley in the films climax; its a [[{{Pun}} Thumb War]], no less.

* EvilTastesGood: More like "It feels delicious to be so vicious!" Gnorga says this during her VillainSong.

* EverythingsNuttierWithSquirrels: A small squirrel Stanley meets has a minor subplot.

[[caption-width-right:200:[[TastesLikeDiabetes Ugh. Need insulin yet?]]]]

->''"This movie was made for your wall!"''
-->-- '''The Nostalgia Critic'''

** How did Gnorga even know where to banish Stanley to when Llort didn't even tell her where it was to begin with and only gave a general description of how horrible it was? And how did Llort even learn about New York in the first place, since the Troll Kingdom is clearly a far ways off from any place humans would be around? Stanley mentions offhand that his mother used to read him stories about humans, but when Llort discusses sending Stanley to New York, he words it in a way that makes it seem like none of the other trolls knew about the human world.

* [[EvilTastesGood It feels delicious to be so vicious!]]: Gnorga says this during her VillainSong.

A 1994 animated film made by Creator/DonBluth. Both [[OldShame he]] and [[BrokenBase his fans]] wished he hadn't.

The film had a budget of $23,000,000 and only grossed $71,368 domestically, which is less than one-third of 1% of its budget, making it one of the biggest {{box office bomb}}s in the history of animated films (formerly ''the'' biggest until ''WesternAnimation/{{Delgo}}'' came along). It currently holds 17% rating on RottenTomatoes, resulting in a critical disaster (It is, after all, a tired pastiche of children's filler, poor dialogue and annoying characters).

A 1994 animated film (And old shame) made by Creator/DonBluth. Both [[OldShame he]] and [[BrokenBase his fans]] wished he hadn't.

A 1994 animated film made by Creator/DonBluth. Both [[OldShame he]] and [[BrokenBase his fans]] wished he hadn't.

A 1994 animated film made by Creator/DonBluth.