Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

smilefumble While watching a short documentary on Disney's association with L. Frank Baum's world of Oz, I heard that while experimenting with the possibility of doing a live-action musical film featuring its characters in the late 1950s, this film was what he ultimately made instead. Upon seeing the clips from Babes in Toyland that they had included in it, as a long-time Disney fan I thought "Hey, why have I never heard of this before. So, I quickly went out and bought the movie and within just minutes of sitting down to watch it, I saw exactly why I'd never heard of it before.Throughout the entire film, you get the feeling that the major concern of everyone involved in the production was how it looked because it appears that they spent more time on that than anything else, but there are even times where that isn't very good.It's springtime in Mother Goose Village and sweethearts Tom Piper and Mary Contrary (Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello) have named their wedding day. However, unbeknownst to Mary, she will inherit a fortune upon getting married (from whom we are never told) that the miserly Barnaby (Ray Bolger) wants for himself. So, he instructs his two bumbling henchmen (Henry Calvin and Gene Sheldon) to kill Tom. However, the two decide that they want a little extra money, so after kidnapping him, they sell him to some gypsies that eventually return him to his beloved. However, all is not yet well as Mary's five children...wait no, they can't be her children, she's too young...brothers and sisters...wait no, she wouldn't be left to take care of them by herself... foster children...wait no, how does a 25-something-year-old woman get those...ah, forget it! Anyway, five children go wandering into The Forest of No Return and Tom and Mary go to try and retrieve them. However, some menacing-looking singing trees who work for a neighbouring toymaker, played by Ed Wynn (why?) send them off to his workshop where they agree to help him make toys because he has only one assistant (again, why?)So, as you can tell from that summary, there are some major plot holes, but that is not the film's only shortcoming. Many of the characters are so underdeveloped that as you watch, you find yourself very uninvested in what is happening to them. Mary only takes a stand once in the climax of the film. The rest of her screen time is spent either crying, being confused or singing dull romantic duets with her lover. Speaking of Tom, he does get a delightfully goofy number in which he re-enters the town dressed in gypsy drag, but other than that, we see nothing of his personality, other than the fact that he's suave and handsome. As for the kids, the fact that they are what they are is all we know about them.Barnaby is always fun to watch as he twirls his cape and tap dances his way through his scenes, but the problem is that by doing so, he does not present himself as much of a threat when he's supposed to be the main villain of the piece. His two henchmen get a giggle here and there, but not too often. The Toymaker should be really enjoyable, considering who plays him, but he comes across as extremely unlikeable, because he always insists on doing everything himself, making a huge mess in the process. Although, as previously stated there is a lot of creativity to be seen in this movie. The various storybook-like houses featured herein look really imaginative, as do the costumes and several of the effects look very convincing. However, there are exceptions to that statement, as there are times where the visual elements look like they could have been worked on a little more and other effects look really fake. For example there is a scene where one of the henchmen magically disappears underneath a puddle but the movements of the stop-motion toy soldiers used in the climax look extremely choppy. As for the music, Babes in Toyland's numbers range from extremely catchy (Castle In Spain, I Can't Do the Sum) to totally bland and/or forgettable (Just a Toy, Toyland.) On a final note, the choreography looks as though it were lazily thought out, what with the dancers repeatedly jumping from left to right and vice versa.All that said, I feel profuse pity for this film as it had capable actors, great visuals, a previously wildly successful operetta to adapt itself from...all the ingredients that could have made it a masterpiece. Sadly though, in the end my final verdict is "watch only if you're a hardcore Disney fan like me."

johnstonjames Look.I'm tired of defending this great movie all the time to everyone, if you don't get it you are a mean scrooge.It is time to acknowledge this film for all the great qualities it has. A high standard of professionalism,amazing retro special effects and true faithful rendering of Victor Herbert and Mother Goose. Christmas time would be empty without this charming,quaint, film. It's educational value? It teaches kids about more refined subjects like musical operetta and cultural history rather than what is the latest blow em' up and kill your neighbor video game trend. The music has history rather than flash in the pan theatrics of a current trend (kids raised on this are more likely to be eclectic and informed in their musical taste than kids who stick only to the latest trends)you can tell I am not big on trends. Kids need education and brains, not trends. If I had known that when I was younger I would be better off now.I love all kinds of music. But I love opera(what's opera Doc?)and classical music. This movie can inspire small children along those lines. Plus it is'nt just a fuddy duddy film, it's very populist and quaintly oddball, which is fun.The film is also,like most classic Disney,Very safe, and family friendly(I don't even think there is any cigar smoking here which could be common in older kiddie flicks). Annette Funnicello is also a very clean,safe popular icon image for kids to like, unlike many of the juvenile role models they have today who are constantly getting into trouble(I mean,God,who wants to explain the reckless behavior of a Lindsey,Hilary or a Miley to their kids).But alas,fans of this film,we are alone and out-numbered.Even the Disney studio does'nt care enough to enhance and restore this beautiful gem(still looks great nonetheless).The Hal Roach comedy is incredible and wonderful, but it gets all the accolades and acclaim.This film deserves better treatment. The Hal Roach film is essentially a comedy. Disney's film is what Victor Herbert intended. An operetta.I see more and more people are speaking up on behalf of this much neglected film classic. Keep up the good work. Maybe we can inspire a movement and fight all the boogeyman scrooges who hate this adorable little treasure.God Bless.

bkoganbing It was sixty years since Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough's magical musical for kids premiered on Broadway when this version came out and now it's nearly 50 years since the film was in theaters. It doesn't rank up with the one that Laurel&Hardy did in the Thirties. For one thing the Victor Herbert score was cut, but not added to. Secondly Stan and Ollie were the center of things even though they are supporting characters. That in itself made their March Of The Wooden Soldiers memorable.Still this version that Disney did featured several of his stable of young stars like Annette Funicello and Tommy Sands as the young lovers of Toyland who want to wed. But evil Barnaby reprised in this version by Ray Bolger is going to put a stop to that. He's got designs on Annette's virtue and more important on the inheritance he knows she will get upon her wedding day. Bolger is having a great old time hamming it up as Barnaby.Stan and Ollie are saluted by Disney with Gene Sheldon and Henry Calvin, fresh from the Zorro series. They're funny, but are clearly relegated to supporting players as Bolger's inept stooges. As Stan Laurel was still alive when Babes In Toyland was in the theaters, I've often wondered what he thought of Sheldon and Calvin.Tommy Kirk who was barely out of his teens got a real treat to work with one of the great funny men of all time. Babes In Toyland is a great example for those of us to see the zany humor in the character of Ed Wynn as the Toymaker with Kirk as his assistant. The two of them work very well together.Even Tommy Sands gets into the humor of things when he dons an outrageous gypsy drag persona to foil one of Bolger's schemes. A scheme that goes awry when Calvin and Sheldon don't precisely obey orders. You just can't get good help, even in Toyland.I even think Victor Herbert would have approved of the way his numbers were done though he probably would not like the Disney interpolations that were made. He was a stickler for such things in his life.Viewing March Of The Wooden Soldiers back to back with Babes In Toyland doesn't make this version look inferior by any means.

Pilar Garcia I have been looking for this movie for so long! I have to say that this is probably my ALL-TIME FAVORITE movie! Every time I would watch it as a little kid, I seemed to always be mesmerized. We always checked it out from the library. It was probably at our house more often than all of the other library patrons combined! My older sisters loved it and so did my younger brother. I grew up on this movie, it gave me expectations on how a movie should make you feel. Every time I watched it, I would sit on the couch and not get up until the movie had finished, at that moment, nothing was more important than Babes in Toyland. My mother promised to get the movie for me for my birthday a few years ago, but by the time she went to go buy it, they had already sold out of it. I was so disappointed, but now that I am going to be able to get it off the net, I am so overjoyed, I can't even put it into words!