"The Wiggles Movie" (released as "Magical Adventure! A Wiggly Movie" in North America and the United Kingdom) is The Wiggles' first feature film. Produced by Gladusaurus Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it was released in Australian cinemas on December 18 1997. Its soundtrack was released two months prior on October 20, 1997.
Synopsis
In the movie, The Wiggles embark on a journey to find Dorothy the Dinosaur since a amateur magician Wally the Great, steals Greg's magic wand in order to become a better magician. Meanwhile, Dorothy is sad because she thinks that The Wiggles and everyone have forgotten her birthday, while in fact they're all planning a surprise party for her by performing at a circus tent that night.
Prologue
The Wiggles greet everyone and tells the audience that they're about to watch the "The Wiggles Movie.". They say that you might see the Wiggly Friends and a new character known as Wally the Great who is a magician. Anthony's hand then starts to hurt after Jeff clicks a slate. He then looks embarrassed after Greg and Murray look at him. This introduction is only available on the VHS release.
Plot
Scene 1
Wally the Great (Tony Harvey), great-grandson of Waldo the Magnificent, is an amateur magician whose dream is to win the competition at the Magic Club for Best Magician. However, he is confronted with a rival, Roland the Remarkable (Dale Burridge), who believes Wally is a nobody.
Children's entertainers The Wiggles, consisting of lead singer Greg, guitarist Murray, drummer Anthony and pianist Jeff, are performing at a nearby school. Mrs Bingle (Joanne Samuel), the principal, had an accident with Anthony after she blew a whistle to wake Jeff up before the show, causing him to act extremely silly. The Wiggles start the show.
Wally, watching from behind a wall, sees Dorothy herself laying Greg's (who is a magician) magic wand on a table while sulking that everyone has forgotten her birthday but really they were trying to keep the surprise party for her a secret. Wally quickly snatches it but is caught by Dorothy.
The 2 have a tug of war and the wand breaks in half. Meanwhile, the Wiggles decide to go out looking for Dorothy in their Big Red Car. They visit Henry the Octopus.
They happen upon Brrrrrr Street where they get frozen.
Scene 4
Since they have no luck finding Dorothy, they go to Wigglehouse where they ace a test given to them by their talking door, mix up their skivvies, have a flashback of the first time they celebrated Dorothy's birthday, and do the Romp Bomp a Stomp. During the adventures that Dorothy and Wally have, their friendship grows more and more. Dorothy leaves and sits on a bench, sadly, complaining to Wally that nobody remembers her birthday. Wally then says "I didn't forget your birthday" which makes Dorothy a little bit better.
Scene 5
Wally begins to daydream about his grandfather, Waldo, saying to him to believe in himself. Wally forgets all about the Magic Competition and is almost late but thanks to Dorothy, makes it. However, Jimbo the Juggler blocks their way and say that Wally should put his vehicle in the full car park but Wally thinks quick and says "You find a spot" and tosses his helmet at him leaving Jimber pinch-faced. He then signs in and runs into Roland who clearly amuses the judges when his score is 9-9-9. Wally find his Grandfather's old chest of magic supplies and is confident in himself.
Scene 6
The Wiggles are waiting for Dorothy to come to the party but nobody shows up. After Wally does his magic act, the judges score him 10-9-9. He wins the competition which leaves Roland jealous but at the same time impressed. Wally takes Dorothy to her party when it is just about to be canceled and the party begins.
Epilogue
Dorothy is proud that she has found a new friend and that her friends remembered her birthday.
According to IMDb, the estimated budget for the movie is $31 million (AUD).
In the 2011 documentary Everybody Clap! Everybody Sing!, it's discussed that there were concerns about the profit, as Australian cinemas did not charge children ages three and under. It would eventually make a profit upon its successful home video release.
"The Wiggles Movie Soundtrack" is an Enhanced CD released on October 20, 1997. In addition to 22 tracks featured in the film, a 23rd remix track titled "Wigglemix" is included at the end of the album. It would later be used in The Dorothy the Dinosaur and Friends Video and the international version of Yummy Yummy. The "24th track" is a special interactive component, which can only be played on home computers. Among the features on "Wiggles Interactive" are a driving game with the Big Red Car, and interviews with The Wiggles and Captain Feathersword about the movie, filmed during the production of Wiggly, Wiggly Chistmas, which was released on VHS the same month. It also includes a video clip of a girl in Wiggly clothes painting and revealing the new Wiggles logo when you start playing the Big Red Car Game. (previously used as the introduction to Wiggledance!, and later used as the closing to TV Series 1), as well as a montage "trailer" set to Romp Bomp a Stomp.
The Wiggles Movie was first released on VHS in Australia on June 20, 1998. It contained an exclusive introduction by The Wiggles (on the set of Toot Toot!). It would later be re-released in 2000, without the introduction (despite it still being mentioned on the cover) or any previews. It was later released on DVD in 2003, with a bonus storybook and photo gallery.
The film was released on DVD and VHS in North America and the United Kingdom in 2003 and 2005 respectively, re-titled "Magical Adventure! A Wiggly Movie". The original UK release also contains Wiggle Time!, but the 2008 handle-case re-release omits it.
Trivia
The prologue was filmed while shooting the "Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car" music video in 1998 as the Big Red Car can be seen in front of a green screen in the background.
The version of Romp Bomp a Stomp that plays in the background of the Prologue is sourced directly from the scene in the movie where the song plays as you can faintly hear the sound of Jeff snoring and the sound the Wigglehouse clock makes when it moves its eyes near the end.
The opening to the 1998 VHS includes
Australian 20th Century Fox Warning Screen
Copyright Protection Information
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Logo
Ferngully 2: The Magical Rescue VHS Trailer
Welcome To The Movies/Fox Night At The Movies intro
Anastasia: Theatrical Trailer
Anastasia: Adventures with Pooka and Bartok CD Rom PC/MAC Trailer
The Wiggles Movie Soundtrack Trailer
Video Rating
Greg, Murray, Anthony and Jeff's Introduction to the Movie
The 2000 re-release has no previews, it only retains the Warning Screen, Copyright Protection Information, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment logo, and Rating, with the addition of a Feature Presentation logo.
The copyright on the North American DVD reads 2002 since the DVD was released early in 2003 and was prepared for release at the end of the previous year.
The Australian DVD release, despite having "The Wiggles Movie" on the cover, uses the "Magical Adventure! A Wiggly Movie" title during the film, and contains the Hit Entertainment logo at the end of the credits so it uses the same version made for the American DVD.
On the 2005 UK release with Wiggle Time!, the 20th Century Fox logo is cut out and skipped straight to the title and the 1995-2009 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Logo and 2001 Hit Entertainment logo is cut out at the end as well, However, they're still intact on the 2008 handle-case re-release except for the 2001 Hit Entertainment logo without Wiggle Time!.
On the Warner Bros. re-release, the 2001 Hit Entertainment logo is cut out at the end.
Wiggles World has a notably different layout in the movie.
The Big Red Car was redesigned as a real mechanical car. It was a Volkswagen Beetle Shazi.
The tempo for the songs are slightly faster in the movie presentation than in the soundtrack on both the VHS and DVD, because the Movie was filmed to the Film industry standard frame rate of 24p and is being played back at 25p but without the pitch shift applied.
The Movie's Theatrical Trailer is the same case but has the pitch shift applied to it.
The theatrical and VHS releases open with Wally at the Magic Club office. For the DVD release and all international releases, this scene is moved after Hey There Wally and The Wiggles' first scene at the school.
Greg sings "Hey There Wally" and "Ooh, It's Captain Feathersword" although he does not appear in the Scenes where those Songs play.
Guitars used in other videos, such as a Yamaha (from Wiggle Time! andBig Red Car), Classical guitar (from Wiggle Time!), Fender Telecaster (from Yummy Yummy and Big Red Car), and Epiphone Casino (from Wake Up Jeff! and Wiggledance!) are seen in the guitar racks at the school.
The scene of Greg singing "Me-me-me-me" and the other Wiggles singing "You-you-you-you" is similar to a backstage clip that takes place in New Zealand in 1996.
Anthony says, "Everything seems to be ready, are you ready?! Well, let's bring on stage The Wiggles!", before they go on stage.
At one point, the Wiggles say "Christmas Day" and Jeff says "Chinese New Year", a possible nod that his family is from China.
What appears to be the same hankies from Yummy Yummy are re-used in the movie for Greg's magic box of mystery trick.
The instrumental for the version of Quack Quack used in this movie would later be re-recorded in a higher pitch.
This is the only time we see Officer Beaples try to stop someone who has broken the law.
The Wiggles sing a part from We Like To Say Hello when they arrive home at Wigglehouse, and Fruit Salad when they doing "the test" to enter Wigglehouse.
This is the first time The Wiggles wear mixed up shirts.
The quote "Let's rock this place!" is used by Anthony, both young and adult.
Dorothy's favorite dance, the Romp Bomp A Stomp, is performed without her, and as a result, does not have her comments throughout like in the previous year's Wake Up Jeff! video and album.
When the Awake Wiggles do the Romp Bomp a Stomp, the original design of the "Big Red Car" can be seen in a picture frame between the doors to Anthony and Murray's rooms.
Nya Nya Nya is presented as an instrumental song. It is based on a traditional playground song in Ireland called I'll Tell Me Ma.
The instrumental version of Let's Have A Party has been used in The Wiggles' concerts as closing music.
The "Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle!" phone call is the sped-version of the children saying the line.
In a promo picture of The Wiggles in Big Red Car, Murray is sitting in the front and Anthony in the back seat.
This is the only time that the Red Starry Guitar is seen using a black guitar strap. It usually uses the Red one.
Goofs
During the song Rock-a-Bye Your Bear, Murray is playing his starry electric guitar but the music presented features an acoustic guitar.
In Quack Quack when Murray wakes Jeff up his seatbelt falls down he fixes it.
The pool moves a bit between Greg and Murray's jump into the water. This is likely the fault of it being moved accidentally after those particular takes.
The camera wobbles just before Jeff comes out of his room wearing Murray's red shirt and says "Nope, no Dorothy".
When Captain Feathersword is talking to Wally, one of the pirates in the background is mouthing Captain Feathersword's words.
When Captain Feathersword is talking to Wally when he says "I will be seeing you tonight." his right arm bumps the actress next to him.
In the Theatrical Trailer, a rope is seen pulling the Big Red Car when the Wiggles leave Sandlot backwards and then forwards. This is cropped out of frame for the movie itself as the movie was filmed in an open matte ratio and it isn't meant to be shown.
When Murray was getting ready for the concert the guitar strap for the Red Starry Guitar placed on the correct way but during concert performance, it was placed on backwards.
The Wiggles videography
Murray, Jeff, Anthony and Greg (1993-2006, 2012, 2018)
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