Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Bonnie O'Connor I grew up with this movie since it was first released. I remember I would always see this with my older sister whenever we went to visit Grandma. Nostalgia aside, it's a harmless movie. The story is basically about the orphans Jack and Jill who are forced to live with their evil uncle Barnaby, who absolutely hates toys, which leads him to hating the toy factory run by Mary Contrary and Tom Piper. In the meantime, Tom and Mary must complete Santa's order to create a thousand soldiers before Christmas arrives, and Barnaby does whatever he can to shut down the factory and get rid of his niece and nephew at the same time. With the help of Humpty Dumpty, each other, and the toy soldiers, they foil Barnaby's plans. In reality, the film is not that strong as a film. Then again, I'm not sure if there's an actual Babes in Toyland adaptation that was able to stand strong as a film. It's really meant to be a fun adventure to enjoy Mother Goose cameos, and it kinda gives some adventure in this adaptation, but not very much. It's mostly kept to few locations, few explored stories, and over all is just weird and silly. But then again, what do you expect from Babes in Toyland other than strange and silly? As much as I enjoy the characters they aren't really that interesting. The kids don't have much of a personality, Tom and Mary are kinda fun but don't have much to add to the story, and surprisingly the villain's pretty boring. Even Christopher Plummer (voicing Barnaby) doesn't sound like he has much tow work with or enjoy and that laugh is a little too weird. Also, is it just me or are the two henchmen racially insensitive? However, Humpty Dumpty is the most interesting and enjoyable character. I don't know whether it's the voice actor giving so much life to him, or just the fact he's just so fun and lively. He makes Toyland fun to hang around. Of course the animation's really good and takes advantage of the environments, whether in Toyland or the Goblin Forest. Just looking at Toyland, you really believe you're in Toyland, even though Toyland should really be called "Mother Goose Village". Sometimes the animation can be a little choppy and skip continuity for some of the characters. The songs are pretty clumsy for the most part. The score is great, but the lyrics for the most part aren't really that great. Most of them sound like the score had been written first and the lyrics were forced. And yes, the score had been written first for the most part, especially the March of the Toy Soldiers score which thankfully has no lyrics. That music still sounds awesome, even if the toy soldiers themselves are a combo of weird, hilarious, and anti continuity (like were they all really installed with water hoses, boxing feet, punching hands, rocket power, and a flashlight each when being created?). So if this movie is so flawed, why do I still enjoy it so much? Well like I said before, it's nostalgic, so it's kinda hard for me to hate on it. On the other hand, Babes in Toyland (in general) is imagining if toys and Mother Goose characters lived and interacted with one another. It reaches into the child of the adult and brings a young child's imagination to life on screen. I guess that's one reason why most of the characters are almost never interesting in any of the versions. We're not meant to be just watching the main characters, we're watching toys and Mother Goose characters live and breathe in this fascinating world. I still enjoy this movie to this day and remember my childhood every time.

RKerekes13-1 Some people probably know about the several Babes in Toyland movies made throughout the years: the original 1934 Laurel and Hardy version (which I haven't seen in its entirety yet), the absolutely HORRIBLE 1961 Disney version, the just okay 1986 TV version with Drew Barrymore, and this 1997 animated version. To me, it is probably the BEST Babes In Toyland movie that anybody will ever see! Moving right along, I saw both the 1961 Disney version and this version at a young age and looking back now, I feel that this version is far superior to the atrocity made by Disney. I'll be happy to explain why and how. (And just to prepare you, I will be comparing these two versions through this review.) One review on here pointed out how this movie exceeds the Disney movie in character development, music, songs, dialogue, etc., and I have to agree with them. But I'm not gonna copy what they said. I'm just gonna put it in my own words.First off, whereas the Disney version lacks a certain charm that makes it all around believable, this version adds a charm all its own which makes it entertaining, fairly believable, and enjoyable to watch.Secondly, the characters in this film are more what you might say well-rounded in interaction and personality, meaning that they keep it all well-balanced as they provide some crucial contribution to the plot. The Disney film, on the other hand, has its characters more, um... monotone and straight-to-the-point in a bad kind of way.Third, there's the romantic subplot of Tom and Mary. Now this is more a of a neutral comparison. In the Disney one, their romance is dead-straight on, while in this one, their romance is developed from secretive to clear. No comment there.Fourth, Barnaby. The Barnaby in the Disney film played by Ray Bolger (The Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"!) comes across as just plain annoying with no sinister seriousness. The Barnaby in this film voiced by Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music"!) is fairly more sinister and serious with his motives, though I gotta admit, he does his share of annoyance, too.Fifth, comparing the songs in both versions, this version has songs which are all all-around worth listening to, while in the Disney version, some songs are better than others.Lastly, those who have seen all the Babes In Toyland movies probably know that all the movies' plots are different, but with that being said, I don't wanna spoil it for those who haven't seen this one. Forget all the other versions, ESPECIALLY the Disney one (!!!!!), get this version and watch it! It is, in my honest opinion, the most perfect Babes In Toyland film you'll ever see as long as you're living on this earth!

richard.fuller1 And oddly enough, omitted Mother Goose herself.This version of babes In Toyland didn't plagiarize, but obviously borrowed from Wacky World of Mother Goose, in which Jack and Jill were the hero and heroine, the villain was the Crooked Man (Hence Barnaby with the last name here as Crookedman) and the cat fiddling and the dish running away with the spoon all featured prominently, tho here they were minor supporting players.While no harm was done, I couldn't help but note this after watching Laurel and Hardy's version and recalling the '61 Disney offering as well.What this one also did was completely remove Mother Goose, which was interesting.Again, no harm done. They are all very delightful to watch back-to-back, I must say.Still, I can't help but note hair color in many of these cartoons, from Johan and Peewee in the Smurfs to various other offerings, where they are always fair-haired blondes and redheads.This one stands as about the first time I've seen both sexes covered; Jack was a redhead, Jill was blonde, Mary Contrary was a redhead and Tom Piper was blonde.So glad we are now a more racially open-minded society. Ah well.

kill-the-boxtrolls 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.