Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

TheLittleSongbird Babes in Toyland may not be a "great" film, but it does have a lot of charms, well at least for me it did. The direction is at times lacking in pizazz and comes across as stodgy, making the film drag a bit in the less eventful parts. The story is rather thin, sometimes uneventful which bogs the pace down(but this is not in the entire film), and while Tommy Sands does have moments where he shines like in his gypsy drag scene at other points he's dull. Babes in Toyland looks colourful and the production values are simple and very pretty. Victor Herbert's score is a very pleasant one, it's not one of his greatest scores but it has songs that are both melodious and catchy. The choreography is light-on-its-feet and enough to tap the toes, so there is some liveliness to be had. The story is nothing really special, but there is a wonderful weirdness and wondrous fantasy atmosphere. That can especially be seen in the March of the Wooden Toy Soldiers sequence, which is the prime example of where you can find the film's clever special effects. There are some nice funny moments, and some slapstick(from personal perspective it wasn't that misplaced though it did have a Laurel and Hardy feel) and a lot of heart-warming charm. Don't expect fully developed characters, particularly with Tom and Mary, but they're hardly shallow either, the most colourful of them are Barnaby and the Toymaker. The performances are entertaining. Annette Funicello is a beauty and gives a charming performance, Ann Jillian doesn't have much to do but shows off her beautiful singing voice and child stars Kevin Cocoran and Tommy Kirk pop up too and are similarly appealing. The best of the lot go to Ed Wynn and particularly Ray Bolger. Wynn is both zany and warm-hearted, some of the film's most entertaining moments are with him. With Bolger, when you think of him you don't usually think of him playing a villain, but he does here and is delightfully wicked and seems to be having fun without over-compensating. In conclusion, as far as Disney live-action musicals Babes in Toyland is not as good as Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks and lacks both films' magic, but it is still a nice fun film that shouldn't demand too much. 7/10 Bethany Cox

tavm When Annette Funicello died a month ago, I suddenly had a jones to watch her movies especially this one which I first saw in bits & pieces on a Thanksgiving day in the '90s. So now I got the disc of this from Netflix and watched the whole thing. The verdict: While I prefer the Laurel & Hardy version, this one isn't so bad. Annette and Tommy Sands are cute as the leading couple but it's Ray Bolger as villain Barnaby and Ed Wynn as the Toymaker that are the real stars of this one. In fact, Wynn is such a joy to watch whether asserting his authority to his assistant Tommy Kirk or using delaying tactics in his officiating the possible wedding of Mary (Ms. Funicello) and Barnaby. Overall, this version of Babes in Toyland isn't great but it's still pretty good for what it is.

Pilar Garcia I have been looking for this movie for so long! I have to say that this is probably my ALL-TIME FAVORITE movie! Every time I would watch it as a little kid, I seemed to always be mesmerized. We always checked it out from the library. It was probably at our house more often than all of the other library patrons combined! My older sisters loved it and so did my younger brother. I grew up on this movie, it gave me expectations on how a movie should make you feel. Every time I watched it, I would sit on the couch and not get up until the movie had finished, at that moment, nothing was more important than Babes in Toyland. My mother promised to get the movie for me for my birthday a few years ago, but by the time she went to go buy it, they had already sold out of it. I was so disappointed, but now that I am going to be able to get it off the net, I am so overjoyed, I can't even put it into words!

Amanda So, this movie isn't the best movie ever made. Frankly, it does not come close to even being considered the best movie ever made. Heck, it's a bit of a stretch to call it a good movie, but I say, it was one of my favorites when I was a child. My mother had a tape of it from when it played on Wonderful World of Disney, and my sisters and I would stop everything and be completely engrossed in it. The songs were fabulous, it had bright colors, and you really did want everything to work out in the end, which, it being a Disney movie, was inevitable. So, we would watch it over and over again if we could, and we would never tire of it -- the same way we would watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People, The Three Lives of Thomasina, The Happiest Millionaire, Summer Magic, The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band, and other Disney favorites. How any child can survive without the magical world Walt Disney created is beyond me, and I hope that every child has the chance to see this beloved, family favorite.