A Troll in Central Park (also known as Stanley's Magic Garden) is a 1994 animated feature-length film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, creators of films such as Thumbelina, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go To Heaven. It was released on October 7, 1994 by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment.
The film features the voice talents of Dom DeLuise as Stanley, Phillip Glasser as Gus, Tawny Sunshine Glover as Rosie, Cloris Leachman as Queen Gnorga, Hayley Mills as Hilary, Jonathan Pryce as Alan and Charles Nelson Reilly as King Llort.
Plot
Stanley is a kindhearted, non-conforming troll with a magic green thumb that can create flowers with a mere touch. In the Kingdom of Trolls, all beauty is forbidden and as a result, Stanley hides all the flowers he finds or grows from the other trolls.
In the month of September, Stanley heads to his home, carrying fresh dew in a water carrier for his flowers. He then accidentally grows a huge rose right in front of the other trolls outside, prompting them to take him to Gnorga, the Queen of Trolls, for his punishment. Llort, the King of Trolls, convinces her to banish him to Manhattan in New York City where "everything is rock and steel" and "nothing grows," rather than turning him to stone (which Gnorga enjoys). Stanley, however, lands in Central Park, where he hides himself away in a cave under a bridge from the rest of the outside world after many mishaps with New York residents.
In an apartment, a boy named Gus was getting ready to have some fun with Alan (his dad) at Central Park, but he tells his son that he has a trial he's preparing for in a court, much to Gus's anger. Gus, then asks his mom, Hilary, to take him, but she tells him that she's going to an open house on Park Avenue today. Both Alan and Hilary said goodbye and leave Gus and his baby sister Rosie with their nanny, Maria. Eventually, Gus quietly leaves the apartment, taking Rosie on his wagon with him to Central Park.
While playing with Gus's toy boat, the kids accidentally find Stanley hidden in the cave under the bridge in Central Park, and he befriends them. Once Gnorga, back at the Kingdom of Trolls, discovers Stanley isn't miserable, she puts a spell on Gus to cry a raging sea to drown them all. Stanley saves the kids and himself by carrying them in Gus's boat as a dreamboat he transformed motorboat of dream, through the utopia he created under the bridge and hoping to perfect it.
Back at the Kingdom of Trolls, Gnorga's political power is being called into question (according to the editorials in the troll newspaper 'The Wursta Times'), losing hold of many trolls because Stanley is in Central Park still surrounded by beauty and happiness rather than being drowned. Many want her and Llort's resignation as rulers, knowing that any troll can start being good. Gnorga takes Llort to go to Central Park to make sure Stanley's punishment is carried out properly. They travel inside a tornado that Gnorga creates, in which trashes up Central Park. Once the kids are heading home, she kidnaps Rosie. Gus comes back to the utopia (that Gnorga has now ruined) for Stanley's help, but Stanley is too scared, knowing that Gnorga is using Rosie as bait to trap him. Gus angrily tells Stanley that he will never have a dream come true if he's too scared to fight for what he believes in, just before he leaves, along with several talking flowers and animals who decided to face Gnorga.
They manage to find and distract her to break out Rosie, but Gnorga and Llort chase them. Gnorga transforms Gus into a troll, Rosie runs and accidentally falls into a gorge, much to Gus's dismay. Luckily, Stanley, who uses Gus's boat and wagon for a flying boat, saves her. Gnorga advances to turn Stanley to stone, but he stands up to her, and they press their magic thumbs together in a battle of wills. Stanley wins and Gnorga sprouts flowers all over her body. Stanley and the others escape, but Gnorga, not finished yet, manages to control the Troll-Gus and make him turn Stanley to stone by surprise. As he fully becomes a statue, Stanley barely manages to take the kids back to their apartment, just in time before Alan and Hilary came home. Gnorga laughs wickedly and celebrates her victory, only to realize that she is still transforming to the point where she becomes a rose bush and is swept away by her own tornado, much to her shock.
While authorities and officials try to find out about the cause of the tornado that trashed Central Park, Gus, heartbroken, finds Stanley in a trash can (in which he landed) and he and Rosie returned him to the destroyed park, accompanied by their parents, leaving his forlorn visage on a tree-stump. Gus's right thumb momentarily glows green, and he presses it to Stanley. Though this appears to have no effect, and they begin to leave, they turn around on their way out to find the troll revived and jolly as ever. The kids cheered for his return, waving goodbye to him. Restored to life, the troll revives Central Park, singing his song about the beauty the earth could obtain if everyone cared for it. All of New York City, perhaps metaphorically, is then covered with greenery. The film ends with Llort reading the paper that shows: "Gnorga, Queen of Posies." It also says that Stanley's case has been dropped and that Llort is now the king of Troll Kingdom, and all is well for everyone good and kind. However, for one last laugh, the dog bites Llort again, and continues attacking him into the credits.
The film is loosely based on Gary Goldman's childhood experience in Central Park. He drew inspiration from the natural beauty and green foliage in the park.
Reception
Once released, it turned out to be a flop both commercially and critically. Performance was extremely poor at the box-office, only grossing $71,368 domestically (less than a third of 1% of its budget), making it Don Bluth's lowest-grossing film to date. Gary Goldman has said the reason for this was because the film was released without any sign of promotion and release was limited. He also stated that its distributor, Warner Bros., did not have any confidence in the film. It currently has a "C" at Box Office Mojo which is much better than its score of 0% (with a bare minimum of five reviews) at Rotten Tomatoes, though the RT community gave it a score of 46% based on 102 reviews. Despite its lack of success critically and financially, it is considered a minor cult classic, due to its sincerity and appropriateness for children.
References in other media
In a comedy sketch in a 2001 episode of Saturday Night Live, Alec Baldwin played Charles Nelson Reilly in a parody of the show Inside The Actor's Studio. During the course of the sketch, host James Lipton (as played by Will Ferrell) comments on how he loved A Troll in Central Park and asks if he can "speak to King Llort". Reilly accommodates by holding index cards to his ears and saying, "Well hello, James Lipton! I'm King Llort! There's a troll in Central Park! I'm King Llort!"
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