A Troll in Central Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids A Troll in Central Park
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed by	Don Bluth Gary Goldman
Produced by	Don Bluth Gary Goldman John Pomeroy
Screenplay by	Stu Krieger
Story by	Don Bluth Gary Goldman John Pomeroy T. J. Kuenster Stu Krieger
Starring	Dom DeLuise Cloris Leachman Charles Nelson Reilly Phillip Glasser Tawny Sunshine Glover Hayley Mills Jonathan Pryce
Music by	Robert Folk
Editing by	Fiona Trayler
Studio	Don Bluth Ireland Ltd.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	October 7, 1994 (1994-10-07)
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Money made	$71,368

A Troll in Central Park (released in some countries as Stanley's Magic Garden) is a 1994 animated musical fantasy-comedy film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The film features the voice talents of Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman, Charles Nelson Reilly, Phillip Glasser, Tawny Sunshine Glover, Hayley Mills, and Jonathan Pryce. It is the last Don Bluth film to star Dom DeLuise.

Released in the United States on October 7, 1994, by Warner Bros., the film received extremely negative reviews from critics and grossed $71,368 at the North American box office, becoming a box-office bomb. Many professional critics have regarded it as Bluth's worst film.

Plot

Stanley is a troll with a magical green thumb, able to bring flowers and plants to life at a touch, which is forbidden in his home, the Kingdom of Trolls. When he is discovered doing so, the other trolls arrest him and take him to Gnorga, the queen of the trolls, who concludes that Stanley "gives a bad name to trolls everywhere" and demands that he be transformed to stone with her dark thumb (which is also purple when it glows). At the behest of her consort King Llort, Queen Gnorga instead banishes Stanley to Central Park in New York City where, after a series of mishaps, he ends up in a cave under the bridge.

The next day, in a Manhattan apartment, two young siblings named Gus and Rosie learn that they cannot be taken to Central Park, because their father Alan has to go to court for an important case, and their mother Hilary has to attend the open house on Park Avenue. While left alone with their nanny, Maria, Gus takes Rosie to the park himself. While playing with Gus' toy boat by the river, Rosie chases a butterfly to the bridge where she mistakes Stanley for her own troll doll. Realizing Stanley is a real troll, she follows Stanley into the cave and befriends him.

Gus goes after Rosie, only for his toy boat to be accidentally smashed in the process. After becoming surprised to meet Stanley and his crew of talking flowers, Gus tries to force Rosie to come home with him. Stanley then gets into an argument and struggle with Gus over Rosie which causes her to cry. At the Kingdom of Trolls, Gnorga enjoys her amusement of Rosie's sadness on her crystal, but when she discovers Stanley, she becomes furious. Having also witnessed Gus' frustration towards Rosie and Stanley, she decides to have an advantage and casts an evil spell on him, making Gus cry a gigantic flood of tears to drown Stanley along with his flowers and Rosie. Using his green thumb, Stanley enlarges Gus' toy boat which he repaired, transforming it into a "dream boat" to save the kids, and they escape together.

Determined to suppress Stanley herself, Gnorga sends a tornado to transport her and Llort to Central Park while it destroys the park and everything green on it. Meanwhile, Gus and Rosie wake from their nap and decide to get back home. Gnorga and Llort then pursue the pair, intending to use them to bait Stanley. Gnorga succeeds to kidnap Rosie, but Gus manages to elude her, thanks to Llort's incompetence. He returns to the cave in the bridge and tries to persuade Stanley to help him to save his sister, but Stanley, frightened of the reign of Gnorga, refuses and claims that his magic is no match for Gnorga's. Gus angrily accuses Stanley of cowardice and tells him that his dreams will never come true if he's too scared to fight for what he believes in.

Gus leaves to face Gnorga himself, with the flowers and animals as his back-up. Arriving at the abandoned building where Gnorga and Llort are waiting for Stanley, Gus finds Rosie in a kennel and frees her, while the flowers tie up Gnorga's dog. Seeing the children escape, Gnorga and Llort chase them out the building, leading to a battle. During the fight, Gnorga transforms Gus into a troll with her dark magic, and Rosie falls into a chasm. Stanley appears on Gus' toy boat; now transformed into a flying boat with leaf wings, having saved the uninjured Rosie. Then he steps forward and challenges Gnorga to a thumb-wrestling match. Stanley manages to win, planting roses all around Gnorga's body. As Stanley, Gus, and Rosie escape and celebrate their victory, Gnorga uses Gus' thumb to transform Stanley to stone. Gus' toy boat transforms back to normal, sending the two kids falling through the open window and into their apartment room, while Stanley (in his statue form) lands on top of the nearby trash can. As Gnorga declares her job done, the last of Stanley's power changes her into a rose bush. Then the tornado reappeared and sucked Gnorga, Llort, and their dog back to the Kingdom of Trolls in defeat, while Gus returns to his human form.

The next morning, Gus, Rosie, and their parents visit Central Park, where Gus and Rosie place the petrified Stanley on a makeshift pedestal. Gus attempts to revive him with his temporarily green thumb and appears to fail. As they prepare to leave, he and Rosie look back to find Stanley gone. Then hearing Stanley's whistle, they see Stanley standing on the tree with his flowers; restored to life. Stanley revives Central Park and covers the whole city in vegetation and flowers.

Back in the Kingdom of Trolls, the powerless Gnorga is dethroned and planted, and Llort is welcomed as a much kinder ruler. He is reading the newspapers describing his wife as the "queen of posies", and laughing about her humiliation, right before he gets constantly attacked by Gnorga's dog just as the screen fades out and the credits roll.

Cast

• Dom DeLuise as Stanley
• Cloris Leachman as Gnorga
• Charles Nelson Reilly as Llort
• Phillip Glasser as Gus
• Tawny Sunshine Glover as Rosie
• Jonathan Pryce as Alan
• Hayley Mills as Hillary
• Neil Ross as Generic Pansy
• Will Ryan as Boss, Guard
• Pat Musick as Snuffy

Soundtrack

The music for A Troll in Central Park was composed and conducted by Robert Folk, who previously provided the soundtrack for Rock-a-Doodle (1991), and was performed by the Irish Film Orchestra. Although a commercial soundtrack was not released alongside the film in 1994, a limited edition CD containing 15 tracks from the movie was made available on February 12, 2012, by Intrada Records as part of their Intrada Special Collection. The tracks were taken from the original digital session masters, with three songs written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Norman Gimbel and Robert Folk ultimately omitted due to being permanently wedded to sound effects and dialogue from the film.

See also

In Spanish: A Troll in Central Park para niños