Magical Legend of the Leprechauns is a 1999 two-part miniseries/Made-for-TV Movie from Hallmark Entertainment, about two couples who are dealing with very different romantic strife and yet have a large amount of impact on the others' stories.The first couple is a man from New York named Jack (Randy Quaid), employed by a developer company to look for land in Ireland to use for resorts, and Kathleen, the plucky (and surprisingly not redheaded!) Irish woman he meets there.
The second couple is a leprechaun named Mickey and a trooping fairy named Jessica, whose newfound love for each other is challenged by long-running blood feuds between their species. Their side of the story is essentially a Lighter and Fluffier retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but as a whole this film is not as Light and Fluffy as it sounds.
Contains examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: Jack first sees Kathleen while she's bathing nude in a pond. He ducks behind a tree for cover, then gets a rather abashed look on his face and turns to leave quietly. That of course, is when he steps on a dry tree branch...
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Both sets of the fairy lovers' parents, at the end of the film.
- Big Brother Instinct: Kathleen has four of them, and they'll attack Jack at the slightest provocation.
- Brick Joke: In the first half of the miniseries, Jack wins the local vicar a large pink stuffed animal at the fair. In the second, it sits in the front pew of the church while he's giving a sermon.
- Closest Thing We Got: Seamus recruits Jack to train his men since Jack, who's been through basic training, is the most experienced military man involved. It doesn't work considering all he manages to teach them is how to march in formation; it gives them a morale boost but doesn't actually make them any better in combat.
- Conflict Ball: Kathleen might have been justified in feeling mildly annoyed that Jack didn't tell her about his real reason for visiting Ireland (to scope out its potential for development), but she ends up being practically beside herself with rage: calling off their relationship, insisting she can't trust him, and informing him she never wants to see him again. It's completely over-the-top, especially since he's already told his employers the location isn't suitable, and is a reaction that only seems to occur in order to keep the couple apart for a while longer.
- Deadpan Snarker: The fairy Chancellor."That's a first: I made a good point. Mm."
- Disney Death: Every death turns out to be this at the end, even Grogan's (who will be kept dead for only "a hundred years or so, just to be safe"). Justified by the fact that the fairies are only mortal thanks to the Grand Banshee's decree, as punishment for the feud turning to violence. As soon as hostilities are ended, her decree is rescinded and the deaths are (or will be) undone.
- Duel to the Death: Mickey and Grogan.
- Everybody Lives
- Expy: As a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, many of the characters correspond to those in Shakespeare's play. Mickey and Jessica are obviously the titular lovers, their parents are the subsequent lords and ladies of Capulet and Montague, Sean Devine is Mercutio, and Count Grogan is Tybalt. At a stretch, the Banshee fills in for the Duke of Verona, Lady Margaret is Juliet's nurse, and Jentee is Friar Laurence (him being the character who comes up with the plot for the lovers to fake their deaths).
- Fairytale Wedding Dress: Jessica wears one for her wedding, which is unsurprising considering she's literally a fairy.
- Faking the Dead: Mickey and Jessica, as a last-ditch attempt to get their families to reconcile. It works, but only after they die for real. Then they get better.
- Feuding Species: the Fairies and the Leprechauns.
- Fiery Redhead: The leprechauns, especially Seamus' wife Mary.
- Genre Savvy: Jentee, who has apparently read Romeo and Juliet, as he suggests to Mickey and Jessica that killing themselves would bring their families 'round.
- Have I Mentioned I Am a Dwarf Today?: The Butter Spirits want you to know they are actually English, and will bring it up in near every conversation.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mickey and Jessica, twice - first their love (which doesn't work), then their lives.
- Large Ham: Pretty much every character gets their chance, but special mention must go to the magma-ish gatekeeper, who is a hammy giant.
- Leprechaun: Averted to a degree: while leprechauns are stereotypically Irish, wear green coats, and can turn invisible, they are only about a foot tall, are represented by all major genders (or at least one gender plus Mary and the female dancers), and are far from the only mythical creatures living in Ireland.
- Love at First Sight: It only takes one glimpse of Jessica for Mickey to fall head-over-heels in love, with Jessica not far behind.
- Masquerade Ball: Three guesses as to where Mickey and Jessica meet, and the first two don't count.
- Mighty Whitey: Lampshaded by Kathleen, who makes a snarky remark about how the American has come to save the Irish peasants from destruction. Jack insists this isn't the case.
- Naked People Are Funny: It's hard not to laugh at Kathleen when she gets caught swimming naked out in the woods.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Mickey discovers he can fly just as he and his friends need a quick getaway from the fairy palace — apparently any leprechaun that falls in love gains this ability. How convenient!
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The antidote vial breaks because Kathleen apparently couldn't be bothered to keep it somewhere safer than her hand.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Whoopi Goldberg plays an Irish Banshee with a distinct American accent.
- Outdoor Bath Peeping: This is how Jack first accidentally stumbles upon Kathleen. She and her brothers aren't amused.
- Painting the Frost on Windows: It's what the fairies do.
- Magical Underpinnings of Reality: And their job is so essential that when they become distracted from it by their war with the leprechauns, the world's natural weather patterns collapse into chaos.
- The Power of Love
- Princess Classic: Jessica checks every box: royal blood, spirited/innocent personality, Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold, Friend to All Living Things, and considered the World's Most Beautiful Woman (or fairy).
- Rule of Drama: The plot of the Star-Crossed Lovers just happens to threaten all of existence, or at least everything living, thanks to the war between the fairies and leprechauns distracting the former from their duties so that the world's weather goes haywire.
- Rule of Symbolism: The very last shot of the movie is Mickey and Jessica's wedding garlands lying intertwined on a rock. Who put them there? For what In-Universe purpose? Doesn't matter, they signify the love between the couple and the peace between their people.
- Scenery Porn: Oh, so much.
- Sealed with a Kiss: The story ends with two kisses: between the newly-wed Mickey and Jessica, then the watching Jack and Kathleen.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: The Leprechauns and the Fairies.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Again, Mickey and Jessica.
- Underwater City: Jessica is sent to one such a place by her parents after her relationship with Mickey becomes known and the tensions between fairies and leprechauns escalate.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Mary and the Queen.
- What the Hell, Seamus?:Seamus: "I can't [negotiate with the Fairies]. I have my pride."
Jack: "What's that against your son's life?" - Win Her a Prize: A variant is used. Jack is at the carnival, and nobody except the near-blind pastor likes him (he accidentally saw Kathleen bathing in a pond). The pastor is failing at the rigged ring toss game (the post is so close to the diameter of the ring that you'd have to drop it from directly above to have any chance of winning), so Jack volunteers to toss for him, hoping to win some brownie points with Kathleen. His invisible leprechaun friends make the ring land all the way down the post, and the pastor picks a stuffed pink elephant as his prize. Kathleen is not impressed, it'll take a few more scenes for her to warm up to Jack.
