Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Purely Joyful Movie!

good back-story, and good acting

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

BABES IN TOYLAND is something of a departure for comedy stars Laurel & Hardy. Nearly all of their movies were contemporary comedies set in the real world, whereas this is an out-and-out fairy tale set in the magical world of 'Toyland' which is where all the characters from the famous fairy tales hang out. Our stars are playing thinly-disguised versions of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, but you'll be pleased to hear that they're their usual idiotic selves.Truth be told, the first half of this production isn't great. The humour feels a bit forced and the comedy routines just aren't as funny as elsewhere. In addition, the plot is slow and only the scheming villain Barnaby engages. The dated musical numbers don't help much either. The good news is that things pick up more and more as the film nears the climax, building to a lavish, large-scale action sequence which is quite jaw-dropping. It utilises dozens of extras, stop motion effects, and a lot of visual creativity and is one of the most exciting, amusing, and inventive things I can remember watching lately. In short, it saves the movie.

Funny, even though Laurel and Hardy are in this film, I don't think of it first as a Laurel and Hardy movie. It has all those memorable nursery rhyme characters in it that have a certain resonance for kids growing up in an earlier time, and I think that's part of the magic the picture has to offer. Charlotte Henry is just as enchanting in this story as she was as the title character in the prior year's "Alice in Wonderland". Here she has a romantic partner in Tom-Tom Piper (Felix Knight), while fending off the lecherous advances of the evil Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon). With Stannie Dumb and Ollie Dee on the case, you just know that the bad guy will be foiled in his attempt to foreclose on the Widow Peep's (Florence Roberts) mortgage.You know, I was kind of amazed with Stan Laurel's hand/eye coordination whenever he took up with his pee-wee craze. It's more than evident when it comes time to battle Barnaby's Bogeymen near the story's finale. With Stan batting a thousand during the dart attack, I had to wonder why he never made it as a big league baseball player. It seems he couldn't miss! Like a handful of other reviewers, I first came by this picture when it went by the name of "March of the Wooden Soldiers", and yes, I too remember when it was a staple offering on Thanksgiving Day in the New York television market, way before the age of cable. It's another one of those films that brings back a sense of nostalgia for a simpler time when life wasn't so hectic, even if Stan and Ollie made it seem that way. With any luck, kids will be catching this entertaining film for a long time to come.

Given its nature Babes In Toyland unlike most operettas from bygone days will have productions running forever. The Victor Herbert-Glen McDonough music will last forever and productions for Theater companies that specialize in youth will always be putting on this show.Hal Roach put on this one and it starred his two favorite comedy players Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy playing sorcerer's apprentices to the evil Barnaby played by Henry Brandon. Brandon wants to take over Toyland and he's got special designs on Little Bo-Peep played by winsome Charlotte Henry whose other big role was Alice in Alice And Wonderland. Those designs are of the Snidely Whiplash variety.Stan and Ollie play characters and for the most part eschew the normal shtick associated with them. Their characters don't stand out as they are well integrated in the story.The two musical numbers associated with this production are done quite nicely, Toyland and March Of The Wooden Soldiers. The latter is used to great affect in the climax.Walt Disney did a decent production of Babes In Toyland in the Sixties with Annette Funicello and Tommy Sands. But I'll take Stan and Ollie any day for a mystical journey to childhood.

While I think I previously watched several segments of this movie over the years, this might have been my first time watching the thing in its entirety. In summary, this was quite an enjoyable film, both as a Laurel & Hardy comedy and as a dramatic tale of the plight of the loving couple Tom-Tom (Felix Knight) and Bo-Peep (Charlotte Henry) and the villainous Barnaby's (Henry Kleinbach i.e. Brandon) attempts to marry the latter. And seeing Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs and Mickey Mouse (in costume form for those characters) was also a hoot to watch here. Really, in all my child-like wonder, I actually find this version of Babes in Toyland something really well worth seeing even in this more possibly cynical age we all seem to live in. So, yes, that's a high recommendation. P.S. I noticed a couple of times whenever Stan & Ollie point to something, they use the middle finger but the scenes are so brief and they're so innocent that I don't think they have any real malice when they do that. And their accidentally kissing each other also has no deeper meaning other than to get a laugh.