Babes in Toyland

I have seen many versions of Babes in Toyland. This is the best version I've seen. Like so many versions that preceded it it follows the Laurel and Hardy version. And like always they change things up a little.

The animation is good and the songs are great. It even has a good cast with Jim Belushi, Charles Nelson Riley, and the legendary Christopher Plummer.

I'll admit it does have some flaws. For instance there are times where the animation is inconsistent, even flawed. I'm guessing they made this movie on the fly. However I find it to be charming with the flaws. On top of that the story and the songs more than make up for it.

I recommend that if you haven't seen it you should check it out.

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.

There's no comparison to Laurel and Hardy's March of the Wooden Soldiers, but I do love watching the animated kids' musical Babes in Toyland every year. The songs are really beautiful, and you might recognize a couple of voices! Siblings Jack and Jill come to Toyland to live with their uncle, but he turns out to be Barnaby, the crookedest man in town. Voiced by Christopher Plummer, he gives off some hilarious one-liners that make you want to root for him. He also gets a very funny song describing why he hates Christmas. You've got to hand it to someone who doesn't sing a single note but manages to be so entertaining, you don't even notice he's not singing.

Meanwhile, the toy factory is run by Cathy Cavadini, who's being courted by Raphael Sbarge; they share some beautiful love songs that you'll want to listen to over and over. And in case you recognize the sweet voice of little Jill during her songs, it's Lacey Chabert! You'll also hear Charles Nelson Reilly sing "Toyland" in the beginning as the kids get welcomed to town.

Unfortunately, this movie doesn't end as well as it starts. The first half hour or so is just perfect, but once Christopher Plummer goes to Bogieland, everything goes downhill. It had the potential, given the lyrics to his song, to end a different way. I won't ruin anything for you, but just take the ending with a grain of salt and appreciate the first half of the movie, like I do.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. There are a couple of scene transitions filmed in canted angles, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

This was very very boring and lame, this should need some more happiness, kindness and entertainment to make it a great movie for all ages because it's about like 2 very clever kids who really know a way to save Christmas and escape a evil dark attic in an old crooked house and like every 10 or 20 minutes, the young kids keep returning to the attic. This movie is not really a Christmas movie, it's more like a dark nasty movie that makes it more like a Halloween movie like the attic and cave parts and stuff Even when I was 9 year old little girl I didn't like this. The music was great but the whole movie was just bad. The script was like out of the brain thing that even a 2 and a half year old probably wouldn't really like. I wasn't interested in the storyline either and some parts of the cover is unfair and incorrect, Jill had on a blue and white dress in the cover, but in the movie, she has on a type of Cinderella dress? Although she does look kind of cute in it and all she is one of my top cutest cartoon characters, but hey? Some of the characters look uncute and ugly, but whatever the movie is just plain weak and boring.

This mean-spiritied telling of a Christmas classic (!) is just plain bad movie-making--poor "acting," a confused and confusing plot, florid animation art, and a pack of goblin characters (what classic is this?) that will scare many a small child. Held to the Disney standard, this is a very poor stab at making movie magic.