Babes in Toyland (1997)

Wonderful character development!

To me, this movie is perfection.

Absolutely brilliant

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

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.

Judging from the low rating and some of the comments, as well as some scepticism of the idea working in an animated film, re-watching Babes in Toyland for the first time since goodness knows how long was either going to be better than remembered or be a disappointment. Seeing it, I was really pleasantly surprised, Babes in Toyland is so much better than anticipated and was actually a good movie, apart from the poorly drawn characters of Rodrigo and Gonzargo and the story dragging a tad in the middle. Of the four Babes in Toyland films, an unpopular opinion as this may seem this is second only to the wonderful Laurel and Hardy film, the Disney film was decent but one of the lesser live-action musicals and the 1986 version was mediocre at best overall with a lot of bad. The animation on the whole is bright and colourful- the backgrounds and colours are a treat for the eye. And none of the rest of the character designs being distractingly bad(Mary, Humpty Dumpty and Barnaby are fluidly drawn), Toyland just looks so inviting and full of life, with the goblin scene genuinely creepy-looking(but it is not that upsetting or traumatising).Regarding the songs they are just great with meaningful lyrics that say a lot especially the joyous and very catchy Toyland and the sublime duet It's You. March of the Toys was very rousingly orchestrated and served very well with the edge-on-your-seat finale. The only exception for me actually was A Crooked Man, which was rather forgettable and didn't tell or say very much(The Worst is Yet to Come did have its moments though it was slightly at odds with the style of the rest of the songs). Above all the singing is at the very least listenable(though Christopher Plummer basically speak-sings through A Crooked Man, though it probably did fit the song), Cathy Cavadini's amazingly beautiful voice in It's You deserves a big mention and Raphael Sbarge's is strong and sturdy.They also, unlike something like Quest for Camelot, match the speaking voices(helped by that the voice actors sing their own music), for example Lacey Chabert singing in Dream sounds exactly like Lacey Chabert when she's speaking. Mark Watters' score is dynamic, memorable and lovingly compliments the mood of the whole story, not all the films that he writes for are great but his music is always one of the best assets. The script is never cloying which considering one of the material here was a big trap to fall into but has its fair share of heart-warming moments. The conflict is clear while not being too over-prominent and without making the film uneven, if there were any mean-spirited moments they weren't obvious to this viewer, while the 1986 Drew Barrymore version was full of them. The story, a loose adaptation and with some influences of Mother Goose, structurally is not an exceptional one and is a tad thin on the ground, however the real sense of charm and innocence and the warmth and magic- you actually want to live in Toyland- as well as what the characters go through surprisingly really draws you in. The romance between Mary and Tom is sweet and takes its time to develop, none of the love at first sight stuff.In fact the characters mostly are very interesting, I found myself identifying every step of the way with Jack and Jill, they are cute but with enough backbone to not sugarcoat things, that they are determined and well-meaning makes them even more likable. Humpty Dumpty serves as a warm-natured narrator-character. Barnaby, looking like Moundshroud's(The Halloween Tree) long lost brother and acting like an even meaner Ebeneezer Scrooge, is a sinister villain but despite his appearance his villainy is far more subtle than in the Barnabys in the Disney and Barrymore versions(which veered to over-the-top, admittedly though in an enjoyable way). The goblins have a real creepiness. How the characters interact are also revelations, Mary and Tom's romance is the highlight though Barnaby is a very believable threat to Jack and Jill(who genuinely care for one another and also for Mary and Tom and the factory). Rodrigo and Gonzargo are the only not-so-interesting characters and that's mainly down to not enough screen-time, there's also the sense that they weren't even needed.The voice acting is terrific, everybody sounds like they're having a lot of fun, Charles Nelson Reilly and Christopher Plummer(though his voice-work for the Duke in Rock-a-Doodle is better) being the standouts. Raphael Sbarge and Cathy Cavadini are highly emotive as are Joseph Ashton and Lacey Chabert. Bronson Pinchot and Jim Belushi do what they can but deserved better characters. Overall, so much better than was expected and of the four versions of Babes in Toyland this personally was second-best, the Laurel and Hardy one taking the top spot. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

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.