User Reviews

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."

Has there ever been a film in which you want the villain to win? Did you ever want to see the Wicked Witch of the West get her hands on those ruby slippers and shove Dorothy inside the crystal ball so she would be forced to watch the witch tap dance for eternity? Did you want the Baroness in "The Sound of Music" to throw Maria back to the convent and marry Captain Von Trapp? Well, put yourself through nearly two hours of torture with this second film version of the 1903 Victor Herbert operetta and see if you can escape it without hoping that Barnaby wins, forcing Annette Funnicello's Mary to marry him, then teach her some acting lessons before realizing his mistake and sending her back to Tommy Sands.

Decently made in 1934 by MGM, this color version of the operetta is about as fun as a dental visit. Overly sweet and gooey, this is as nauseatingly irritating as Disney films could get. Even in their later musicals, there was an adult element that older audiences could enjoy, and by modern standards, I don't even think pre-teens could get into this film without praying for a dental emergency to take them away from it. From the moment that Mother Goose comes out with her introduction, you want to see her plucked, stuffed and cooked, and with one of the most obnoxious production numbers to open a musical, if your kids don't look at you and say, "What is this crap?", they deserve all the sweets they can handle to try and get through the rest of it.

While there are some magical moments ("The Forest of No Return", "March of the Wooden Soldiers"), they are few and far between and surrounded in molasses and honey that can make the most innocent of movie viewers cringe. Henry Calvin and Gene Sheldon are a poor imitation of Laurel and Hardy, their comic relief dated vaudeville schtick, even by 1960's standards, especially with the banal "Slowly He Sank To The Bottom of the Sea". Ed Wynn does provide some amusement as the toymaker, but it is Ray Bolger's mustache twirling "Snidely Whiplash" style villain that seems to be having the most fun. Bolger shows off his dancing talents which were still energetic more than 20 years after "The Wizard of Oz", giving spark to "Castle in Spain". A young Ann Jillian is a vibrant force as Bo Peep, but I much prefer her in sultry roles like Mae West.

"Babes in Toyland" does not seem like the type of show that can be revived, and even by 1960's standards, it seems that 50+ year old songs like "I Can't Do The Sum" and "Go To Sleep" were best left in the old trunks of old songs that express one era but are better left unexpressed in others. Sometimes the overly cuteness of Disney films just seemed out of step with the turbulent 1960's even if they were also delivering a lot of magic to children of that era like me with classics like "Mary Poppins" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks".

I decided to watch this on Disney + as I have never seen it before and thought hey might as well give it a shot. The story is about a young man who loves a girl called Mary while a male villain also wants to marry her. Packed with corny forgettable songs and a storyline that you can't make head nor tail of.

Watch something else instead.