Babes in Toyland (1997)

I grew up with this movie since it was first released. I remember I would always see this with my older sister whenever we went to visit Grandma. Nostalgia aside, it's a harmless movie. The story is basically about the orphans Jack and Jill who are forced to live with their evil uncle Barnaby, who absolutely hates toys, which leads him to hating the toy factory run by Mary Contrary and Tom Piper. In the meantime, Tom and Mary must complete Santa's order to create a thousand soldiers before Christmas arrives, and Barnaby does whatever he can to shut down the factory and get rid of his niece and nephew at the same time. With the help of Humpty Dumpty, each other, and the toy soldiers, they foil Barnaby's plans. In reality, the film is not that strong as a film. Then again, I'm not sure if there's an actual Babes in Toyland adaptation that was able to stand strong as a film. It's really meant to be a fun adventure to enjoy Mother Goose cameos, and it kinda gives some adventure in this adaptation, but not very much. It's mostly kept to few locations, few explored stories, and over all is just weird and silly. But then again, what do you expect from Babes in Toyland other than strange and silly? As much as I enjoy the characters they aren't really that interesting. The kids don't have much of a personality, Tom and Mary are kinda fun but don't have much to add to the story, and surprisingly the villain's pretty boring. Even Christopher Plummer (voicing Barnaby) doesn't sound like he has much tow work with or enjoy and that laugh is a little too weird. Also, is it just me or are the two henchmen racially insensitive? However, Humpty Dumpty is the most interesting and enjoyable character. I don't know whether it's the voice actor giving so much life to him, or just the fact he's just so fun and lively. He makes Toyland fun to hang around. Of course the animation's really good and takes advantage of the environments, whether in Toyland or the Goblin Forest. Just looking at Toyland, you really believe you're in Toyland, even though Toyland should really be called "Mother Goose Village". Sometimes the animation can be a little choppy and skip continuity for some of the characters. The songs are pretty clumsy for the most part. The score is great, but the lyrics for the most part aren't really that great. Most of them sound like the score had been written first and the lyrics were forced. And yes, the score had been written first for the most part, especially the March of the Toy Soldiers score which thankfully has no lyrics. That music still sounds awesome, even if the toy soldiers themselves are a combo of weird, hilarious, and anti continuity (like were they all really installed with water hoses, boxing feet, punching hands, rocket power, and a flashlight each when being created?). So if this movie is so flawed, why do I still enjoy it so much? Well like I said before, it's nostalgic, so it's kinda hard for me to hate on it. On the other hand, Babes in Toyland (in general) is imagining if toys and Mother Goose characters lived and interacted with one another. It reaches into the child of the adult and brings a young child's imagination to life on screen. I guess that's one reason why most of the characters are almost never interesting in any of the versions. We're not meant to be just watching the main characters, we're watching toys and Mother Goose characters live and breathe in this fascinating world. I still enjoy this movie to this day and remember my childhood every time.

I find some of the comments on here ridiculous. Are we really comparing this to the Exorcist?! REALLY? I'm sorry, but there isn't a child's movie out there that doesn't have a villain or an evil character. Otherwise, there'd be no point to it. I watched this when I was very little, and loved it. In fact, it was a favorite of mine. And my childhood wasn't "destroyed" or whatever you all are saying. I loved the songs and the characters. It's fun, and I recommend it for anyone. A great family movie. Kids will enjoy it, I can promise you that. In fact, I'm on this page today because I remembered how much I loved it, and I wanted to watch it again. But the reviews shocked me, and I had to comment.

This is animation at its best traditional "entertaining for kids and adults at the same time". There is so much in it, that I enjoy watching most of it with my son even for the 20th time in a couple of months. We both seem to get bored with one of the musical numbers. What hooked him initially was the opening train scene, which helped to get him into watching something other than Bob the Builder. Recently I loaned the disk to a friend whose toddler also went nuts for it. I highly recommended it. There is a part with goblins that might be scary for some kids, and there's a cat character that gets thrown around a bit more than I'd like to see presented as funny, and it's not as educational or ethnically diverse as it might be, but otherwise, it's great entertainment.

I was originally introduced to the "Babes in Toyland" concept via the Walt Disney soundtrack, which had the story and song, in Kindergarten. I liked the record a lot, but when I finally saw the Disney production it was based on when I was 8...well, I was horribly disappointed. It was stupid, spoofy, had lousy acting and was just plain awful. I wasn't surprised to learn that it was one of Walt's flops and was considered one of his worst failures. So, having had the concept ruined for me for a long time, I was not exactly enthusiastic when I was visiting my mother at Christmas and she recommended it to me. I said no way, as I was guessing it would stink as badly as the Disney version only worse (they just aren't making animated films well here in the USA these days). "No, you've got to see this one," she assured me. "I saw it just the other night and it puts the Disney production to shame." Being a professional cartoonist, I tend to be extremely picky about new animated material. So I was very suspicious as I settled myself into a chair and waited to see what I was in store from as I feared the worst. What I got was a fantastic surprise! This version of "Babes in Toyland" is genuinely charming, boasts nice animation and superb songs which actually WORK without being overly "showy" (the only bummer being the song sung in The Goblin Forest), fine character design and captures a special childlike magic and innocence that Disney's version simply never achieved. While Disney's was a bunch of adults who refused to take any of the material seriously and hammed it up through a shoddy production attached to a smirk, this one is smart and serious with its characters. It also features good character development (!!!) and a better script. Not being familiar with the original stage production, I'm not sure how much liberty has been taken here although I'm sure a lot has. Except for the classic songs "Toyland" and "March of The Toy Soldiers" and the basic concept of Toyland being a home for nursery rhyme characters, the villain Barnaby and a love story between a Tom and Mary, it is otherwise COMPLETELY dissimilar to the Disney version of the story. In this one, Jack and Jill (you know, "Jack and Jill went up the hill...") are being sent to Toyland to live with their uncle, who unfortunately happens to be Barnaby. Mary (and her little lamb) is the sweet, professional and kindhearted owner of Toyland's prized toy factory inherited from her father. Her top employee and main man in charge, Tom (the piper's son, who looks a LOT of Leonardo DiCaprio--I'd swear he was the character model if it weren't for the fact that this was made before TITANIC) is the loveable lunk of a genius who happens to be a personal friend of Santa Claus himself and is responsible for creating the toys to order and preparing them for delivery. Tom is crazy about Mary, Mary is crazy about him as well but isn't willing to admit it to herself yet. One of the things that is especially nice here is how the characters actually come across as being believable souls, and the script features all the little details as to why they feel and behave the way they do, such as Mary's comments which give away why she is so secretly smitten with Tom. (She affectionately remarks to him, "You're becoming more and more like my father all the time.")All except for Barnaby, of course... but hey, he's a villain who simply hates toys, does a children's cartoon NEED a detailed explanation for HIM? This version of Barnaby is far more threatening and sinister than Disney's klunky version ever pretended to be. But the wonderful thing about this one is how it captures a real feel for Toyland itself and what it could be like. I get the impression that everyone involved here had a lot of fun making it and that they all genuinely loved the concept enough to make it work. Toyland feels like a real place with real citizens, so to speak, and it truly does look like a child's fantasy come true. And hey, this feature actually makes children AND their parents genuinely *care* about the fate of Toyland when it's harassed. As though it's a real and beautifully precious place. That's not an easy feat to pull off. This one has become a annual holiday favorite within my household, and our children (who range from ages 5 to 15) all adore it. And so do I. It deserves a long life on both videocassette and DVD (if the latter is ever released...and I certainly hope so!).While I was able to recognize all the traditional characters from nursery rhymes and stories here, there's one that puzzles me... in the toy factory, one of the workers there appears to be a silver fox...well, at least he's far too sleek-looking and pointy-muzzled to be a wolf. I simply don't recognize who he's supposed to be!