Disney's Babes in Toyland

Babes in Toyland was Disney’s first live-action musical movie, almost acting like a pre-courser to Mary Poppins.  Unlike Mary Poppins, Babes was a box office failure, and it’s understandable.  For Disney, it was a slightly poor production with a lot of camp but little “magic”.  At the same time, it’s colorful and entertaining; plenty of energy throughout the whole movie.  The songs aren’t so bad, except the ones shared between Mary & Jack (Annette Funicello & Tommy Sands) are rather boring.  When I think about it, Annette’s acting was also a little weak.  But then again her character Mary was pretty lame.  She was all “boo-hoo” and “oh no”, fussy-wussy.  She did have amazing dresses, nice tight bodices and big fluffy skirts in vivid pastels.  My favorite characters were the villains: Mr. Barnaby and his two henchmen, Gonzorgo and Roderigo.  All three are hilarious; Barnaby perfectly oily and slick and Gozorgo and Roderigo are entirely amiable.  Ed Wynn as The Toymaker is quite a delight!  His eccentric way of speaking and infectious laughter is always most entertaining.  Forever he’ll be the Mad Hatter!  The actual battle of the toy soldiers against Barnaby was rather lame, almost a joke.  You watch and think “Barnaby is literally laughing at them in their attempts.  He’s totally gonna kick their ass!” And Mary, though being a giant at the time, was completely useless in helping Jack and the soldiers in any way!  Stupid girl.  The movie ends with me feeling really displeased as well; there’s too many loose ends.  Doesn’t make clear of what happened to Barnaby after the battle.  Did the Toymakers factory get fixed, and how about all the destroyed Christmas toys?  Why was Jack and Mary’s wedding going to be a warm and sunny day, and then at the end it was a winter wonderland?  Did they randomly decide to wait months later to do it?  The children never found the lost sheep.  It being there only source of income, what then?  I’m very displeased.  Unless you don’t realize all these things until the movie is over, so up to then it’s easier to enjoy.

For info on this movie, click on the following link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054649/