Misi Mókus kalandjai is a Hungarian Stop Motion animated series, created by Pannonia Film Studio in 1980. Based on the 1953 children's novel by Hungarian writer Józsi Jenő Tersánszky, the 13 7-minute episodes were later combined into one single feature-length film.
The plot follows the adventures of a mischievous young squirrel named Misi, who doesn't want to collect nuts for winter, so he goes on a journey to a tropical land where trees always bear fruit. On his adventures he meets many wacky animals and learns that the land he dreamed of is not as pleasant as he believed.
This series contains examples of:
- Absent-Minded Professor: Ottmár the paleontologist.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Misi wears a red scarf.
- Adaptational Dumbass: Kaa was one of the wisest animals in The Jungle Book. Here, he's a comedic character who gets easily outsmarted by Bumba. His Laughably Evil personality and lack of intelligence is much closer to the Disney version of the character (the Disney film premiered in Hungary in 1979, while this series was in production).
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Bumba the monkey is a treacherous false friend to Misi in the book, but a heroic, loyal friend in the film.
- Alliterative Name: Misi Mókus.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Misi gets mocked for his black tail.
- Ambiguously Jewish: Ottmár's camel has the stereotypical Jewish name "Sámuel Goldmann". An Israeli camel is also one of the National Animal Stereotypes.
- Animated Adaptation: Of the 1953 novel.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Misi dreams of a land where he doesn't have to work for food. His dreams come true in the land where trees always bear fruit, but the local squirrels are so painfully passive there that Misi gets frustrated with them and terrified that he'd become one of them.
- Boring Return Journey: Misi's journey to the land where trees always bear fruit is much longer than the journey back - it takes eight episodes to get there and only three to get back. On the way back, the only important event is a Circus Episode where Misi's friend and companion Bumba's story arc gets resolved by him getting a job as a circus performer.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Ottmár wants to find a yeti in the Sahara. He eventually finds the skull of a dead yeti.
- Bratty Half-Pint: The spoiled kid who buys Misi from the pet store. Early on, Misi himself also acts bratty, but he goes through Character Development.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Misi. He doesn't want to gather food for the winter, but is a very smart squirrel whose ingenuity often saves him during his adventures.
- Canon Foreigner: The animated film has a handful of characters that don't appear in the book, most notably Ottmár the paleontologist and his camel Sámuel.
- Cats Are Mean: Played straight with the city cat that tries to catch and eat Misi on the attic, but averted with the gentle old sailor cat.
- Circus Episode: On the way back from the journey, Misi and his friends visit a circus where Misi challenges the climbing champion for a reward. The ringmaster wants to employ Misi as the new climbing champion, but he chooses to return home. Bumba joins the circus instead of him.
- Giant Flyer: Dániel, the albatross, who gives Misi a lift both ways.
- Honorable Elephant: Kacifánt has the reputation of being one of the wisest animals in the jungle. He's also a close friend of the elderly (human) sage Apa-pirra-soka-tir.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: Misi encounters Kaa from The Jungle Book during his travels, who attempts to eat him and Bumba. Misi lampshades this, saying that he read about Kaa in The Jungle Book before.
- Lazy Bum: All the squirrels living in the land where trees alway bear fruit are fat, slow, and are too lazy to even walk.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the book it is based on. The book is full of violence and death, and Bumba the monkey is a treacherous false friend. The series, aimed at younger children, omits all character deaths, and makes Bumba a good, loyal friend of Misi.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": Krokó the crocodile and Kacifánt the elephant.
- Misplaced Wildlife:
- Misi encounters Kaa the python in the jungles of what seems to be Africa. While pythons do live in Africa, this Kaa is explicitly said to be the same as in The Jungle Book, which takes place in India.
- Also applied to a cryptid: Ottmár finds a yeti skull in the Sahara, even though it's a creature associated with the Himalayas.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Krokó, the hungry crocodile attacks Misi, who outsmarts him by sticking a pole in his mouth.
- No Cartoon Fish: Implied. Krokó the crocodile swears he will only eat fish if Misi removes the pole from his mouth.
- Non-Mammalian Hair: Krokó has a tuft of blonde hair on the top of his head, despite being a crocodile.
- Palate Propping: Misi defeats Krokó with this trick - sticking a pole (specifically the warning sign held by Bumba) in the crocodile's mouth.
- Parasol Parachute: Misi has an umbrella he can use for gliding.
- The Promised Land: The land where trees always bear fruit is of the cynical flavor. There, the squirrels are so fat and lazy that they not only don't climb trees but barely move around. In the book, they're so slow they can't run away from predators. In both versions, Misi gets so upset and frustrated that he leaves the fat squirrels behind and returns home.
- Punny Name: Apa-pirra-soka-tir sounds like "A papírra sokat ír", which means "He writes a lot on the paper" in Hungarian.
- Race Lift: The book does not describe Apa-pirra-soka-tir's skin color (only that he has white beard), but considering that he's an African sage, he's likely a person of color. The series portrays him as a pale-skinned Wizard Classic.
- Road Trip Plot: The story is basically Misi's journey from home to the land where trees always bear fruit and back.
- Snake Talk: Kaa talks like this, of course.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Krokó the crocodile, whom Misi kills in the book. Here Misi forgives Krokó and removes the pole from his mouth after Krokó promises he'll restrict himself to a fish diet. Also, in the books, one of the fat squirrels gets eaten by a jackal (who is Adapted Out from the animated series).
- There's No Place Like Home: Misi, after learning that the squirrels at the land where trees always bear fruit are incredibly fat and lazy, decides that his place is back at home.
- Tuckerization: Ottmár the paleontologist is named after Ottmár Bayer, the series' director of photography.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: The Cavern of Singing Dragons, which Misi needs to cross, has little to no bearing on the plot. Misi and his friends enter the cave, encounter a bunch of singing frogs (who all have the family name "Dragon") and listen to their song, then continue their journey without ever mentioning the cave again.
- Wizard Beard: Apa-pirra-soka-tir, the wise old hermit, has long white beard, and has a Wizard Classic look in general.
