Rock and Rule

The war was over . . . The only survivors were street animals - dogs, cats and rats. From them, a new race of mutants evolved. That was a long time ago. Mok, a legendary super rocker, has retired to Ohmtown. There his computers work at deciphering an ancient code which would unlock a doorway between this world and another dimension. Obssessed with his dark experiment, Mok himself searches for the last crucial component: a very special voice. —Opening Narration

In this gloriously insane animated film from Canada (The first entirely produced within that country), a dark magician aging rock star's wicked plan to summon a grotesque demon are thwarted by Furries who sing early 80's rock music about The Power of Love.

Yes, that is the actual plot.

Compare Jem and Kidd Video.

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Tropes used in Rock and Rule include:

• After the End - There's some jazz in the prologue about how a disaster killed off all the humans and now extremely anthropomorphic animals have taken our place as detailed in the quote above. Because why the hell not? It has absolutely no bearing on the plot at all, just go with it.
• Air Vent Passageway: Cindy Schlepper escapes this way every Saturday night, apparently, which is convenient for Angel.
• All Drummers Are Animals: Averted by Dizzy, The Smart Guy and the drummer of the Five-Man Band.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Angel for Omar, probably, though she's not exactly a saint herself.
• All Part of the Show: After the demon is sent back and Mok vanishes, Mylar states this, and claims that Mok's just backstage relaxing.
• Anti-Love Song - Born to Raise Hell ("You're so pretty / Pretty useless!")
• Badass Damsel: Angel doesn't put up with being kidnapped and refuses to cooperate with Mokk so much that he finally has her drugged and wired to a computer just to make her sing.
• Bald of Evil: Mok. Any hair he has is really a wig.
• Band Toon - Technically.
• Either Big Beautiful Woman or Brawn Hilda: Cindy. In-universe, likely the former.
• Big Damn Heroes: Omar's Crazy Awesome attempt at rescuing Angel.
• Big No: Omar's reaction to the sight of an Angel impersonator snuggling up to Mokk.
• The "B" Grade: Mok's motivation — no, really.

Mok: My last concert was not completely sold out!

• Bland-Name Product: Fold, Disa, Nuke York, Carnage Hall (Car-NAH-Gee).
• Brainwashed and Corny
• Card-Carrying Villain: Mok. ("My name is Mok, thanks a lot. I know you love that thing I've got. You've never seen the likes of me; why, I'm the biggest thing since World War III — girls?")
• The Caretaker: Toad seems to be this with his brothers and sister. It doesn't stop him from being a jerk to other people, though.
• Catgirl: Angel may be either this or a rat girl. Singing voice of Debbie Harry, no less! (Her speaking voice was Susan Roman.)
• The Chessmaster: Mok.
• City Noir: Nuke York.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Stretch.
• Cool Airship: Oh man, Mok's airship.
• Cool Old Lady: Dizzy's aunt Edith. How many aunties run their own tattoo parlors?
• Cyberpunk
• Disco Tech: Mok uses music and Angel's voice to conjure up a demon from another dimension.
• Disney Acid Sequence: Care of trippy early-80's CGI.
• Disney Villain Death
• Don't Think. Feel: Dizzy's advice to Omar when he refuses to save Angel from Mokk.
• Drives Like Crazy: Dizzy can't drive yet ends up doing so three times in the movie. Two of these end up with the car getting wrecked.
• Duck Season! Rabbit Season!: "No, you'll get the evidence!" It appears not to work...but then the heroes get the cop's car.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Dizzy mistakes a man for a woman in the club scene.
• Eldritch Abomination: Mok's demon. Made possible by the creative use of cow brains.
• Embarrassing First Name: Dizzy's real name is Alphonse. Only his aunt Edith calls him that.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": What's-Her-Face.
• Evil Laugh: Mok enjoys doing this so much he'll pull it randomly.
• Evilly Affable: Mok is not Affably Evil...
• Executive Meddling: Before releasing the film to US theaters, MGM redubbed the hero's part completely and changed the title to Ring of Power. Never mind that the only ring in the entire film appears, serves its purpose, and dutifully vanishes within the first 10 minutes...
• Expy: Mok's never-heard full name is Mok Swagger.
  • According to John K. and his analysis of the movie, Mok's character design was an inspiration for Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective, also a villain.
• Fan Disservice: Cindie Schlepper is only in a few scenes, yet she shows off more of her boobs and butt than Angel does in the whole movie.
• Fantastic Racism: Mutants. Never mind that the opening narration established that they were all mutants. In a more straightforward example, Toad calling a rat a fink.
• Final Love Duet: How Omar and Angel defeat Mok's demon.
• Five-Bad Band:
  • Big Bad: Mok
  • The Dragon: Toad
  • The Evil Genius: Mok's computer
  • The Brute: Sleazy
  • The Dark Chick: Zip
• Four-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Omar
  • The Lancer / The Chick: Angel
  • The Smart Guy: Dizzy
  • The Big Guy: Stretch
• Furries Are Easier to Draw: Justified. If you'd like to see Nelvana's skill at animating humans at around the time they started this film, check out the Boba Fett scene in the Star Wars Holiday Special.
• Furry Confusion: The scene where a Dog-Woman character gives a Rat-man a tattoo of a traditional mermaid (fish tail on a human lady) as a non-anthropomorphic cat looks on is practically a Lampshade Hanging.
• Funbag Airbag: Stretch turns right and his face wedges into a lady's chest in Club 666. She doesn't appreciate it.
• Genki Girl: Cindie. Toad forces her to leave the club. Then she disappears from the movie.
• Get a Load of That Square: Cindie's reaction to Angel trying to sound hip.
• Go-Go Enslavement: Angel's outfit during the finale.
• Gonk: Mok to high levels.
• Good Bad Girl: Angel is only really intimate with Omar, but she's not above using feminine charms to get her way.
• G-Rated Drug: The Edison balls. You wait and wait for someone to say "I'm trippin' balls!" though.
  • Considering Mok smokes marijuana and snorts cocaine, and at Club 666 they're selling 'ludes and uppers, the Edison Balls are more of a Shout-Out to Sleeper.
• Heel Realization: Zip, thanks to Uncle Mikey. It leads to his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Zip. Though in the original Canadian verssion, it's not permanent.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Mok is voiced by Lou Reed, appropriately enough.
  • Actually, Mok is voiced by Don Francks, who had previously done the voice for Boba Fett's first appearance in the Nelvana-animated segment for the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Francks is also the father of Cree Summer. Lou Reed did one of the songs sung by Mok in the movie, as did Iggy Pop.
  • Catherine O'Hara has a bit role as Aunt Edith, you little scumbag.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Cinderella might count.
• Humanity's Wake
• Indy Hat Roll
• Inferred Holocaust: The first concert burnt down the entirety of Nuke York. It was described as "Whoa Bad Karma, Man".
• Insane Troll Logic: "Evil spelled backwards is 'live', and we all want to do that!"
• Instrument of Murder: Omar uses his curiously-shaped, futuristic guitar as an axe to severe the power cables of Mok's machine and free Angel.
• Insult Backfire: Between Mok and Angel during a rather creative torture session with Omar and the others.

Angel: "You-you're totally crazy!" Mok: (completely unfazed): "Thank you. Shall we see them off?"

• "I Want" Song: Angel's song qualifies. It's essentially about her faithfulness to Omar, despite his apparent coldness.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Omar. At first he seems to be an all-out Jerkass, but then he gets better.
• Large Ham: Mok
• Latex Perfection: "Get me... Whatsherface!"
• Mad Scientist: Mok. He's even got an outfit for it.
• Manipulative Bastard: Mok.
• Master of Illusion: Mok.
• Mushroom Samba
• Never Say "Die"
• Nipple-and-Dimed: Several times in the club.
• No Man of Woman Born: Mok's computer predicts that the demon can only be turned back by "the magic of one voice, one heart, one soul," but then adds there is "no one" who can stop his plan. Mok doesn't count on Omar and Angel singing together as one voice, one heart and one soul.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Angel tries thwarting Mokk's plans by seducing him, but he catches on too quick.
• Nothing Can Stop Us Now: Mok. This lasts about two seconds before the computer calls it cliché and explains that he can be stopped.
• Obviously Evil: Mok. He's so incredibly creepy in everything he does, it makes one wonder how he can be popular enough for an album to go "from gold to platinum to plutonium(?) in one day".
  • Affably Evil: Need I say more?
  • We don't see anything of what Mokk was like when he started his career, he could have been considerably more appealing and his long career having resulted in his ego expanding to the point of his decay into the evil he became. This would explain his ratings dropping to the point he can't sell out his concerts anymore, he simply couldn't conceal his evil enough anymore and only the most blind fans remained.
• Off-Model: Quite a bit of the animation doesn't sync up with the soundtrack, along with occasional bits of delayed reactions. But then again, it's not much of a surprise considering these are the same people who created the animated segment in the Star Wars Holiday Special.
• Panty Shot: There are none of these, as it's easier to describe when you can't see Cindie's underwear.
• People Puppets: What Mok does to Angel.
• Petting Zoo People: Most of the cast. The exact species of several of the characters is up for debate.
  • And the movie forgets it most of the time anyway — characters still refer to each other as "men", "human beings", etc.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Stretch, and two of the three Rollerskating Schlepper Brothers.
• Police Are Useless: Officer Quadhole and the Nuke York border guard.
• Police State: Ohm Town has ridiculous laws against things like "improper swimwear". And then when Nuke York has a blackout, it means the city is put under martial law.
• The Power of Love
• The Power of Rock: It is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Prepare to Die: "My brother's dead!"
• Redemption Equals Death: Zip, temporarily.
• Rollerblade Good: The Schleppers are always wearing roller-skates for some reason.
• Screaming Warrior: Omar
• Shout-Out: Mok does look a bit like either Steven Tyler or Mick Jagger.
• Slow Doors
• Smug Snake: Mok borders between this and a Magnificent Bastard due to his extreme narcissism.
• Sophisticated As Hell: The news anchor.
• Take That: The "Uncle Mikey" scene and the conversation between Mok and his minion afterwards, in addition to being one of the best scenes in the movie, is a straight-up slam on moral relativism.
• This Cannot Be!: "You can't do this to me! I! AM! MOK!"
• Those Two Guys: Stretch and Dizzy
  • Those Three Guys: The Rollerskating Schlepper Brothers, Toad, Sleazy and Zip.

Mok: Mes assistantes stupide. Sleazy: I just love it when he speaks French.

• Tim Taylor Technology
• Token Good Teammate: Zip serves Mok primarily because he doesn't know better. When he starts to question Mok's actions, well...
• Troubled but Cute: Omar
• Unexplained Recovery: Zip in the original version.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Mok has several costume changes in the movie. This even extends to his hair, since it's all wigs.
• Villain Song: 'My name is Mok' and its attendant Disney Acid Sequence. Plus there's the fact that it was sung by Lou Reed which only adds to the awesomeness.
• Villainous Breakdown: Mok goes beserk with outrage as Omar and Angel banish his demon.
  • He also has a more minor freakout earlier in the movie after another defiant speech by Angel. He goes into his costume room and goes completely beserk for a little while before one of his henchmen find him.
• Watch It Stoned: For example, this movie.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
• What Is Evil?: The aforementioned "Uncle Mikey" scene.
• Wicked Cultured: Mok.
• Wretched Hive: Club 666.
• You're Insane!: Angle to Mok. Mok doesn't mind.