Babes in Toyland (1986)Childlike innocence is an important defense against evil. Babes in Toyland (1986) is a made-for-TV musical fantasy film about a young girl named Lisa Piper (Drew Barrymore) who is whisked away to a magical place called "Toyland" after being hurtled out of the back of a Jeep during a terrible blizzard in her home town of Cincinnati. Toyland is a realm where all sorts of fairy tale characters congregate and call home, and where the sagacious Toymaster (Pat Morita) crafts toys to be delivered to children every Christmas. But Toyland is in the midst of an upheaval of evil, courtesy of the black-hearted schemer, Barnaby Barnicle (Richard Mulligan). Can Lisa save this fantasy world from Barnaby's terrible plot, or will all that is good and innocent crumble like a cookie?
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Babes in Toyland is adapted from an operetta of the same name, released at the turn of the 20th century, and this is not the first rendition that has been filmed. The operetta was conceived in response to the successful musical adaptation of L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" for the stage, and featured many similar motifs. It is no stretch to say that Babes in Toyland is derivative by design, itself taking substantial cues from the silver screen classic, The Wizard of Oz; when Lisa is whisked away to Toyland, it is the result of falling victim to a terrible storm. After failing to adequately buckle up in the Jeep driven by the kindly toy store clerk, Jack (Keanu Reeves), Lisa is fired out the back like a bullet while Jack tries to navigate the inclement roads. The momentum propels her on the sled given to her as a Christmas present by her older sister, Mary (Jill Schoelen), and she subsequently clonks her head on a tree before losing consciousness, descending into Toyland from on high moments later. Toyland is largely populated by anthropomorphic manifestations of classic fairy tale characters, like Mother Goose, while many of the human beings she encounters are similar to their "real world" counterparts, also like The Wizard of Oz. Mary's sleazy toy store boss, Bernie, is also played by Richard Mulligan, and his detestable traits are augmented in Toyland. Therefore, as with The Wizard of Oz, the question becomes whether Babes in Toyland exists solely in Lisa's imagination. Toyland is a bright and pleasant place, where it is always day--the bizarre justification for this is that they saved up plenty of hours from Daylight Savings--and where cookies are used as currency. On the other hand, Lisa learns that Toyland is surrounded on all sides by the Forest of the Night, where it is always night and where surly trolls at Barnaby's command lie in wait to besiege Toyland. Also like The Wizard of Oz, Lisa's timely arrival in Toyland is fortuitous, since she interrupts a marriage of convenience between Barnaby and "Mary Contrary Hubbard" (also Schoelen), after learning from "Georgie Porgie" (Googy Gress) that Mary is really in love with "Jack B. Nimble, Jr." (also Reeves). This immediately makes Lisa a thorn in Barnaby's side--who frequently refers to her as "Lisa Cincy-what-ski"--placing Barnaby in the role of the Wicked Witch of the West with Lisa as his "Dorothy". Lisa becomes integral in undermining Barnaby's plans to bring this magical place under his heel, even when he misleads Justice Grimm (Walter Buschhoff) into believing that Jack is the real criminal. Taking a page from "Hamlet", Jack's father had intended to leave the control of the "Cookie Factory" to Jack, until his uncle Barnaby got a law passed that mandated that the inheritor must be at least twenty-one years of age and married...and Jack's birthday isn't until next Wednesday. Barnaby manipulates events so that Jack cannot meet his requirements to assume command, even going so far as to purloin "millions of cookies" from the factory--Toyland's version of a national mint--resulting in Jack being arrested under the absurd-sounding charge of "grand cookie larceny".
Babes in Toyland is one of many productions designed as a sweet and simple Christmas feature with children as its intended audience. Lisa is a nice girl who has a good moral compass; if there is one character flaw about her, it is--as she often proclaims--that although she is eleven, she "isn't a child". Lisa is deliberating what to make her family for dinner at the beginning of Babes in Toyland, since her scatterbrained mother (Eileen Brennan) is in the middle of having chains put on her tires so that she can come home to her family in time for Christmas. (One thing Babes in Toyland nails is how brutal winters in Ohio can really be.) Even when Mary gives her the sled as a Christmas gift, there is the sense that Lisa is putting on a happy face to be polite--she's "grown up too fast" and doesn't really believe in the magic of toys. Babes in Toyland doesn't dwell on the details, instead favoring the childlike simplicity of Lisa's personal journey to rediscover her innocence. Consider when the blizzard hits Cincinnati and knocks out her TV antenna and the phone lines, but the electricity miraculously remains on. Or that the store where Jack and Mary work at looks like a warehouse filled with junk, and yet somehow remains packed with last minute Christmas shoppers. (Seriously, who would want to buy any of the stuff there?) Babes in Toyland has copious camp appeal, from the unlikely and bizarre chase in glorified bumper cars at the climax to the musical numbers themselves--some of the actors are visibly dubbed over with other singers. As is often the case with campy movies, there is a lot of unintentional entertainment to be had in Babes in Toyland. It's shocking when the Toymaster literally paints over the eye of a dwarf troll lackey of Barnaby's named Trollog, and hysterical when ridiculous lines of dialogue are delivered without irony, like when Jack proclaims, "he's got trolls...hundreds of ugly trolls who ate all the cookies". There's also something ironic about the way that Lisa regales Justice Grimm with stories about her home town and the legend of Pete Rose, unaware that he would be banned from the MLB following accusations of gambling a few years later. (Could've been worse...she could've picked former Cincinnati mayor, Jerry Springer.) Despite its contrived plot and presentation, something about Babes in Toyland makes it stand out as a sweet and silly Christmas movie that stuck with me through the years, hearkening back to the innocence of my childhood--as it is with Lisa.
Recommended for: Fans of campy, light-hearted musical that thrives on the nostalgia of made-for-TV Christmas movies from the Eighties, in all their delirious charm and silliness. Babes in Toyland borrows liberally from The Wizard of Oz, while a talented cast gleefully hams it up, including a very early role for Keanu Reeves.
Babes in Toyland is one of many productions designed as a sweet and simple Christmas feature with children as its intended audience. Lisa is a nice girl who has a good moral compass; if there is one character flaw about her, it is--as she often proclaims--that although she is eleven, she "isn't a child". Lisa is deliberating what to make her family for dinner at the beginning of Babes in Toyland, since her scatterbrained mother (Eileen Brennan) is in the middle of having chains put on her tires so that she can come home to her family in time for Christmas. (One thing Babes in Toyland nails is how brutal winters in Ohio can really be.) Even when Mary gives her the sled as a Christmas gift, there is the sense that Lisa is putting on a happy face to be polite--she's "grown up too fast" and doesn't really believe in the magic of toys. Babes in Toyland doesn't dwell on the details, instead favoring the childlike simplicity of Lisa's personal journey to rediscover her innocence. Consider when the blizzard hits Cincinnati and knocks out her TV antenna and the phone lines, but the electricity miraculously remains on. Or that the store where Jack and Mary work at looks like a warehouse filled with junk, and yet somehow remains packed with last minute Christmas shoppers. (Seriously, who would want to buy any of the stuff there?) Babes in Toyland has copious camp appeal, from the unlikely and bizarre chase in glorified bumper cars at the climax to the musical numbers themselves--some of the actors are visibly dubbed over with other singers. As is often the case with campy movies, there is a lot of unintentional entertainment to be had in Babes in Toyland. It's shocking when the Toymaster literally paints over the eye of a dwarf troll lackey of Barnaby's named Trollog, and hysterical when ridiculous lines of dialogue are delivered without irony, like when Jack proclaims, "he's got trolls...hundreds of ugly trolls who ate all the cookies". There's also something ironic about the way that Lisa regales Justice Grimm with stories about her home town and the legend of Pete Rose, unaware that he would be banned from the MLB following accusations of gambling a few years later. (Could've been worse...she could've picked former Cincinnati mayor, Jerry Springer.) Despite its contrived plot and presentation, something about Babes in Toyland makes it stand out as a sweet and silly Christmas movie that stuck with me through the years, hearkening back to the innocence of my childhood--as it is with Lisa.
Recommended for: Fans of campy, light-hearted musical that thrives on the nostalgia of made-for-TV Christmas movies from the Eighties, in all their delirious charm and silliness. Babes in Toyland borrows liberally from The Wizard of Oz, while a talented cast gleefully hams it up, including a very early role for Keanu Reeves.