Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf is a Chinese animated anime-influenced television series created by animation director Leo Huang and produced by Creative Power Entertaining. The show is about a group of goats living on the Green Green Grassland and a clumsy wolf who wants to eat them.
The cartoon became enormously popular with Chinese schoolchildren after its debut in 2005. Cashing in on the cartoon's success, the producer made an animated feature film in 2009, which generated a box office revenue of 79 million yuan (approx. US $11.5 million) during Chinese New Year that year.
Toon Express Group, a subsidiary of Alpha Animation and a Creative Power Entertaining's sister company, owns the copyrights to the characters.
History Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf had 510 episodes when it premiered (2005–2007). After it became moderately successful, Creative Power Entertaining created more than 3,000 episodes, including 60 exclusive Olympics episodes in 2008 and an addition of 20 more episodes to the first season in 2009.
The first season was made using Adobe Flash, an obsolete video player.
In January 2009, its first movie Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf – The Super Adventure was launched in China. Based on the 530-episode television series, The Super Adventure stars the same characters but in a very different scenario with the goats joining forces with their old nemesis, Wolffy, to defeat their common archenemy – bacteria. It broke the domestic box office record for a Chinese animated film, collecting 30 million yuan (US$4.39 million) during its opening weekend. On the first day of release alone, the movie made 8 million yuan. According to Beijing News, the weekend's revenue was well ahead of the previous record holder for domestic animation, Storm Rider Clash of the Evils – the adaptation of the Storm Riders comic brought in 25 million Yuan in two weeks when it was released the previous summer.
Describing the Pleasant Goat movie as a "dark horse", Zhao Jun, general manager of China Film South Cinema Circuit Co. Ltd., predicted the film would make at least 60 million yuan in total box office revenue. A manager of the Beijing-based Stellar International Cineplex said the movie theatre's biggest hall, which had been scheduled to screen Red Cliff II, was reassigned to show Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The Super Adventure in order to meet popular demand.
In 2010, a second movie, Desert Trek: The Adventure of the Lost Totem, was released. One of the original tracks in the movie, "Left hands and Right hands" (), was sung by Yang Peiyi, who had previously sung at the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.
In 2010, Creative Power Entertaining Corporation (CPE) said that it had reached a television license broadcast agreement with Disney affiliate Buena Vista to air its products. With this deal, the popular Chinese cartoon show for children will be aired on Disney channels in 52 countries and regions and in more than 10 different languages, marking a milestone for China's animation industry.
The third movie, Moon Castle: The Space Adventure was launched in 2011. The fourth movie Mission Incredible: Adventures on the Dragon's Trail followed in 2012. The fourth film reached the highest box office of the film series at 167.619 million yuan.
The fifth film, in 2013, was The Mythical Ark: Adventures in Love & Happiness, the sixth film in 2014 Meet the Pegasus, and the seventh film in 2015 Amazing Pleasant Goat. All seven movies are themed on the Chinese zodiac of the year in which it was released, and incorporate the zodiac animal in their Chinese names; the animals, sequentially, are the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, and goat. In addition, all movies were released in the month of January, around Chinese New Year. With the box office revenue of each film decreasing and Amazing Pleasant Goat only reaching 67.815 million yuan, CPE decided to slow down the yearly release. The ninth film, titled Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 3D Movie, released in 2023.
Two live-action animated films of the series, titled I Love Wolffy and I Love Wolffy 2 respectively, were also released, but neither reached a box office of 80 million yuan. A third live-action animated film is not planned.
Investment banker Francis Leung, who planned to buy Toon Express Group, expressed the potential to make Pleasant Goat a television show that would, as stated by The Wall Street Journal, "parallel the popularity of Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty"."The Chinese Mickey Mouse?" The Wall Street Journal. Date not stated. Retrieved on November 12, 2012.
Premise In the year 3010 on the fictional Goat Calendar, the ancestor of the goat clan, Ruan Mianmian (or Old Mandy), arrives at Green Green Grassland to escape the wolves. The goats built a tall iron gate outside their village and called it 'Goat Village'. This leaves the wolves to try and break in any way they can. One day, a wolf suggests that they exercise until they are thin enough to squeeze through the bars. With this strategy, the wolf ancestor, Wu Dalang (Fitter), manages to get through, only to die after swallowing a huge rock covered in wool, mistaking it for a big sheep. After this incident, the wolves learned not to make the goats of Green Green Grassland angry, for there will be consequences.
503 years later in the year 3513, the descendant of Wu Dalang, Wolffy, moves to the opposite of the river separating the forest and the Goat Village with his wife Wolnie. Wolffy demonstrates poor hunting ability and is scorned, being regarded as not a proper wolf. They move there in hope of finding a way to eat the goats, as tales told by ancestors say that the goats there are the best and tastiest.
The goats live in the Green Green Grassland happily. The main characters are depicted as school-aged goats that attend school under the tutelage of Slowy, the village elder. Weslie and his friends are portrayed as playful primary school kids, each of whom has his/her own unique characteristic. Tibbie is a fashionable young female goat who is always worrying about her looks and esteem. Sparky is a young male goat who likes to work out; he has a crush on Tibbie. Paddi is a cute male goat who likes to relax. Paddi is one of the most popular characters in the series. There are many other young, anonymous goats, as well as their teacher Slowy, an old goat referred to as the "Village Chief", who is a scientist and develops machines to protect their school. He is slower than a snail and uses a walking stick.
Wolffy and Wolnie live in a castle far from the village and are constantly trying to hunt the goats for food. However, the goats in this time are intelligent and powered with technology. Each episode, Wolffy concocts a plan to catch the goats. Among the goat students, a smart male goat named Weslie always finds a way to ruin Wolffy's plans and save the goats. With the effort of Weslie and his friends, Wolffy never captures any goats. At the end of each episode, Wolffy always promises to come back, each time shouting his catchphrase: 'Darn goats! I will definitely come back again!'
The conflict between Wolffy and Weslie never ends. Although Wolffy fails all the time, he never gives up. While he is mean to the goats, he is a nice and timid husband to Wolnie and a great dad to his son, Wilie. Wolnie is somewhat impatient and enjoys making her husband do all the work. She rarely tries to catch the goats herself (failing every time as well), but always yells at her husband. She likes fashion, is fixated on eating goats, and loves to hit Wolffy with her frying pan. Despite this fact, deep down Wolnie still loves her husband.
Characters
Goats Weslie"Franchises." (Archive) Toon Express. Retrieved on August 4, 2012. () Voiced by: Zu Liqing Weslie is the main protagonist of the series. He is a school-aged goat living in the Goat Village of Green Green Grassland and the son of singer Lily (). He wears a blue ribbon around his neck with a bell, which is a present from his parents. Weslie is an archetypal hero character; he is positive, intelligent, and always supportive of his friends. He takes a leadership role in his class and among his peers and is Slowy's assistant. Weslie is observant and intelligent, and in general, is the often the first to detect danger and see through Wolffy's plots and traps. He also seems to be quite calm and forgiving, as he forgives Wolffy and his family at the end of the first movie for betraying them by sending them a trap-gift. He loves to play pranks, much to his friends' agitation. He also enjoys being treated with offers by Tibbie. He and Wolffy become friends in the "Mighty Little Defenders". "Characters' Profiles of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf." (Archive) Creative Power Entertaining. Retrieved on August 4, 2012. () Voiced by: Gao Quansheng Slowy is an adult goat that serves as a village elder. His name is pun on "slow and steady", implying that while slow, he also harbors a steady wisdom. He functions as the only adult figure in the story, and not only serving as the head of the lamb village, but also as the schoolmaster. He often uses trickery to teach his students valuable lessons about life, and often sends them on assignments. There is a small plant on top of his head that grows whenever he thinks. Outside of the school yard, he is shown as a goat of many pursuits, creating wacky inventions and performing questionable experiments with humorous results. In addition, when he thinks too hard, his head will begin to grow leaves. His character design is partially inspired by Albert Einstein, with wild frizzy hair, a mustache, and a pair of spectacles.
Paddi () Voiced by: Liang Ying A small, gluttonous goat wearing a yellow drool bib. He hates working and likes to sleep, and due to his lazy nature, he is often the first caught by Wolffy. He is also very greedy and is often either sleeping or eating. Paddi is one of the most intelligent of all of the goats, although this is concealed by his laziness. He also has a habit of falling asleep whenever Wolffy kidnaps the goats. He is sometimes a bit selfish. He has been revealed to hold a varying number of hidden talents throughout the show, such as diving. Wolffy's son, Wilie, has an attachment to him, and will often address him as "Brother Paddi". Originally, Paddi was intended to be the main protagonist of the show, but due to "Lazy" having a negative connotation, Weslie was made the main protagonist instead.
Tibbie"Imagi Int'l Business Review – For the year ended December 31, 2011." The Standard. Retrieved August 27, 2012. () Voiced by: Deng Yuting A female goat in Green Green Grassland, who always wears pink bows on her horns and pink shoes and a pink scarf with a white line. She is one of Slowy's students and is generally liked by all the goats in Green Green Grassland. Tibbie is shown to be the most emotional goat and often cries, needing to be calmed down by her friends. Tibbie is shown to dislike caterpillars, roaches, or bugs, but she likes applying make-up, cooking and crafting flower wreaths, attracting other animals to her beauty. Tibbie is usually gentle, kind, and sweet to her friends, but is serious when she is angry. Her best friend is Jonie and likes to do various activities with her, such as dressing up in pretty clothes.
Sparky () Voiced by: Liu Hongyun, Yan Yanzi Sparky is the only dark-skinned goat. He is a school-aged goat that attends the same school as Weslie. Sparky is depicted as a jock character. He is the strongest of his group and enjoys sports and showing off his strength to others. He is quick-tempered and quick to act, often charging headlong into dangerous situations. He likes to pick on Paddi, but occasionally still treats him as a friend. Sparky's best friend is Weslie and likes to help him get rid of Wolffy when he tries to attack the goats. Despite his strength, he is still physically weaker than Wolffy. He is very afraid of cockroaches.
Jonie ()