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Babes in Toyland. A classic Holiday tale that was first shown on TV for FREE in 1986 and aside from a unwrapping on VHS, in the Home Video Stone Age, it never even came out of the toybox on DVD, and forget about a Blu-Ray / 4K version under the tree. Here is the very rare Directors Cut, from PDFU.NET (Your #1 source for Lost Holiday Classics!) Enjoy! UPDATE: Babes in Toyland was presented as evidence in the first-ever "Orphan Works" Trial in 2019
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WHAT DID YOU THINK OF "babes in toyland"?
Nod Review
The original “Babes in Toyland” story was a 1903 Victor Herbert operetta that had an extensive live performance run in the theatre arenas. The work has also been adapted into many other films and television programming (most notably the 1934 Laurel and Hardy version and the even more famous 1961 Disney version). This 1986 version was created to be broadcast on NBC and while the characters are the same or similar to the original story, the overall plot owes a lot more to the Classic Wizard of Oz.
The original “Babes in Toyland” story was a 1903 Victor Herbert operetta that had an extensive live performance run in the theatre arenas. The work has also been adapted into many other films and television programming (most notably the 1934 Laurel and Hardy version and the even more famous 1961 Disney version). This 1986 version was created to be broadcast on NBC and while the characters are the same or similar to the original story, the overall plot owes a lot more to the Classic Wizard of Oz.
Starring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Eileen Brennan, Richard Mulligan and Pat Morita. Written by Glen MacDonough and Paul Zindel. Produced by Bill and Pat Finnegan. Directed by Clive Donner.
The story plays out something like this: Lisa Piper (Barrymore), a young, pre-teen from Cincinnati, Ohio, takes care of her siblings and cooks for her entire family. She has absolutely no time for toys or fun, and refuses to be treated like a child. During a blizzard on Christmas Eve, Lisa is transported to Toyland. She arrives just before Mary Contrary (Jill Schoelen) is to be wedded to the very unpleasant Barnaby Barnacle (Mulligan), although Mary loves Barnaby's nephew, Jack Nimble (Reeves). Lisa stops the wedding and, with her new friends, finds out that Barnaby has grand plans to take over Toyland. Lisa, Mary, Jack, and Georgie Porgie (Googy Gress) go to the kindly Toymaster (Morita) for help, but he can only help them if Lisa truely believes in toys. Barnaby confronts them and the Toymaster, showing his true colors, and steals a flask containing distilled evil. And the rest of the movie centers around getting the flask back.
Now I always WANTED to like this movie, and I understand it’s appeal. But the film itself is very hard to watch, so many of the characters are too far over the top and frankly, they are downright obnoxious. Particularly the characters played by Brennan, Mulligan and Morita. I mean, usually, I like most of these actor’s work but this time it seems they were just there for the check and maybe they were paid scale. Like an annoying scale, the more annoying their performances the more $$$ they were paid. That’s why I’m giving this Babes 3 out of 5 Nods. I wanted to give more but I just ... couldn’t.
The story plays out something like this: Lisa Piper (Barrymore), a young, pre-teen from Cincinnati, Ohio, takes care of her siblings and cooks for her entire family. She has absolutely no time for toys or fun, and refuses to be treated like a child. During a blizzard on Christmas Eve, Lisa is transported to Toyland. She arrives just before Mary Contrary (Jill Schoelen) is to be wedded to the very unpleasant Barnaby Barnacle (Mulligan), although Mary loves Barnaby's nephew, Jack Nimble (Reeves). Lisa stops the wedding and, with her new friends, finds out that Barnaby has grand plans to take over Toyland. Lisa, Mary, Jack, and Georgie Porgie (Googy Gress) go to the kindly Toymaster (Morita) for help, but he can only help them if Lisa truely believes in toys. Barnaby confronts them and the Toymaster, showing his true colors, and steals a flask containing distilled evil. And the rest of the movie centers around getting the flask back.
Now I always WANTED to like this movie, and I understand it’s appeal. But the film itself is very hard to watch, so many of the characters are too far over the top and frankly, they are downright obnoxious. Particularly the characters played by Brennan, Mulligan and Morita. I mean, usually, I like most of these actor’s work but this time it seems they were just there for the check and maybe they were paid scale. Like an annoying scale, the more annoying their performances the more $$$ they were paid. That’s why I’m giving this Babes 3 out of 5 Nods. I wanted to give more but I just ... couldn’t.