A Wish for Wings That Work

• Directed by Skip Jones
• December 18, 1991
• CBS

Voice Cast

• Opus-Michael Bell
• Truffles, The Ducks-Joe Alaskey
• Bill-John Byner
• The Chicken-Tress MacNeille
• Ronald-Ann-Alexaundria Simmons
• Santa Claus-Andrew Hill Newman
• Additional Voices-Frank “I’m In Everything” Welker
• The Kiwi-Robin Williams
• Milquetoast the Cross-Dressing Cockroach-Dustin Hoffman

Opus the flightless penguin writes a letter to Santa Claus with a request to just once fly like a real bird.

For years I had wanted to see A Wish for Wings That Work because I was a fan of the comic strip Bloom County. It was an odd world filled with even odder characters that appealed to me. I may not have agreed with their general point of view of Berkley Breathed, but the strangeness and that point of view was well done. I do not recall ever coming across the sequel strip called Outland. It never made it into my market and any collections that may have been available for purchase never crossed my path.

I came across this particular DVD a few years ago in a discount bin a few months after Christmas at my local Kmart. It was sitting right on top and perfectly lined up with my eyes as I hurried out. I took a few seconds out though to dig through the bin with the hopes that there were a few more left because I was in a hurry and the lines were not short. I wanted to be sure I could swing back later to get a copy. Finding none after a halfhearted effort I decided to risk being late.

What I discovered that though they did a fine job of translating the humor from page to screen in a near one-to-one ratio, that humor does not necessarily translate from page to screen well. I know this was inspired by a book released the same year as the special but I’m talking about the whole Bloom County/Outlander universe.

As I recall the punchlines to jokes came in the last frame of the strip and that was it until the next day in the newspaper. And while the set up and the execution of the jokes are very similar here, that 24 hour break becomes apparently necessary. Why? Because much like in the strip that punchline did not have much to do with what came next and even in the most screwball comedy a joke and its punchline usually connects in some way to what is going on. For example a joke about Congress really doesn’t connect to anything else before or after it.

A Wish for Wings That Work is a beautifully animated film. It just looks wonderful. It has been approximately 30 years since it came out and it still looks good. But you need more than enduring looks to make something great and this television special only gets to okay.

It is supposed to be a Christmas magic story where there just doesn’t seem to be too much Christmas magic. It is more like people took pity on Opus and decided to do something nice for him.

A Wish for Wings That Work is a probably a nicer watch for fans of Bloom County or Outland than it is for someone looking for a fun Christmas special. If you are one of the former this is a watch it but if you are one of the latter keep moving.