Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

When Annette Funicello died a month ago, I suddenly had a jones to watch her movies especially this one which I first saw in bits & pieces on a Thanksgiving day in the '90s. So now I got the disc of this from Netflix and watched the whole thing. The verdict: While I prefer the Laurel & Hardy version, this one isn't so bad. Annette and Tommy Sands are cute as the leading couple but it's Ray Bolger as villain Barnaby and Ed Wynn as the Toymaker that are the real stars of this one. In fact, Wynn is such a joy to watch whether asserting his authority to his assistant Tommy Kirk or using delaying tactics in his officiating the possible wedding of Mary (Ms. Funicello) and Barnaby. Overall, this version of Babes in Toyland isn't great but it's still pretty good for what it is.

Walt Disney had great hopes for "Babes In Toyland", releasing it during the lucrative Christmas holiday season. But the critical reaction was just so-so, and the box office take, while not disastrous, was disappointing. Watching the movie today, it's pretty easy to figure out why there wasn't much enthusiasm for the movie. Its biggest flaw is that there is almost nothing done to make the main characters of Tom and Mary into REAL characters - we learn next to nothing about them, and Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello give performances that show their helplessness with their thin characters. Somewhat better is the character of Barnaby - he's given a lot of screen time and Ray Bolger gives a decent performance. Bolger gives some spark in his scenes, but additional problems with the movie defeat his enthusiasm. The songs, while not awful, are extremely unmemorable. Most of the sets come across as extremely stagebound and theatrical and feel phony. Is there anything else in this movie that might attract some viewers? Well, Ed Wynn fans might be charmed by his scenes as the toymaker. And the climax does have some stop-motion animation that might interest fans of the medium. But even these people might turn off their televisions before these moments come because the movie is for the most part so bland. I think even kids will be bored.

I grew up with the Disney "magic window" version of the album, and while I knew it was based on a movie, I never saw it till a friend brought it over on a lark last night. I loved the album as a child, but as the movie started, I realized the album featured re-recordings (probably to save money paying for Annette and Tommy). Well, the studio singers were BETTER than the performers in the film.This is a movie trying to figure out what to be... it felt like the practice session full of mistakes that they then corrected by the time Mary Poppins came around. Instead of Dick Van Dyke dancing with the penguins, you get Ray Bolger plodding through an overlong Pasodoble with a crudely fashioned flower fountain. Part teen romance beach blanket movie, part vaudeville slapstick, part fantasy, with none of the parts interfacing well.Don't get me wrong, I still found the emotional attachment I had to the music, got teary hearing the songs again, and seeing the characters that the album illustrations were based on, but I also could view the film with an adult critical eye and see that it was a mess.One thing that always perplexes me is that almost all the reviews for this film mention that it is excellent family fare. Of course, no violence or swearing , but the gender stereotyping is so extreme (even for Disney), that my 11 year old daughter was in shock.-Mary, who is done up in corsets through the whole film- 1) sings a song about how incompetent she is at math and finances. 2) is crooned to that she is "just a toy" by her fiancé, who then ties a ribbon around her and pulls her around ("oh look, now she's on a leash" my daughter laughed) 3) cringes behind a table during a "fight to the death" between miniaturized Tom and Barnaby, when she is the only full sized person in the room, and could have easily flicked the villain away with a finger. (Yes, I know that would destroy the tension of the climax, but they make such a ridiculous show of her terror that it bears mention.) 4) meanwhile, on the production line in the toymaker's factory, the boys only touch the cars and the girls only touch the dolls.Really people, are these the messages you want planted in the heads of your 4 year old daughters? We know this stuff is old and campy, but your little girls don't.The Laurel and Hardy wannabes are blatant and inferior. Almost as if the casting agent went out of their way to keep reminding you how much better Stan and Ollie are.Ed Wynne is fabulous as the toymaker, and his scenes, especially stalling during the wedding ceremony, are the highlight of the film. The sets and costumes are cheesy but lush and colorful, the dance and musical numbers are fairly standard for the time, and the bits of Victor Herbert that managed to survive provide some lovely lilting melodies, but overall, this film is a bit of a train wreck.

i love this movie and it's a terrific classic, all the movie characters are mother goose characters living in a town with such houses as the giant shoe and the pumpkin house. Little bo peep lost her sheep in the forest of no return causing mary contrary and tom piper to follow the kids after them when they attempt to locate the lost animals...instead they stumble upon the lost toyland and get pulled into a world of mishaps including a shrinking invention gone wrong, making tom piper no more than a few inches tall....also there are wonderful songs and dance scenes including a gypsie dance and beautiful serenades by the classic annette funicello...a must see kid classic!