Babes in Toyland

Marching Wooden Soldiers
DVD REVIEW
This DVD release at the time of my review of this film adds nothing to the VHS. No Widescreen, no re-mastering, and no extras. I will keep my VHS copy for now. Now on to the original film itself:

FILM REVIEW
In this 1961 film, the first true live-action musical from the Walt Disney Studio, Tommy Sands is paired up with America's girl next door who got her start with Walt Disney, Annette Funicello. Also the famous Ray Bolger and Ed Wynn are featured, and Ann Jillian was a child actor in this movie. There is more great talent from the Disney in-house stable of stars, Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran, who played brothers in both "Old Yeller" and "Swiss Family Robinson".

The story is simple enough, we are in Mother Goose land and the villain shrinks our heroes to toy size. They must enlist help from the toys in the Toymaker's shop to fight back. The effects were eye-popping at the time, and to see a toy army coming to life and fight the bad guys is...

Step back to yesterday!
Granted this was filmed on a Disney Sound stage for very little money, but this movie was the brilliant work of Walt Disney himself. I was a kid when this movie came out and how impressed i was with the colors, music, story and cast. Now i'm in my 50's and this same version still impresses me. This version is timeless and the colors, music, story and especially the cast mean more to me than ever. This is a great movie for the Christmas Holiday and a walk back into yesteryear for us baby boomers. It also would be a great idea to show this to the kids of "now and "me" generation. They might learn something. The special effects were state-of-the art back then and may seem a little campy today, but this movie with it's special effects has heart,,,something that lacks in many of the new Christmas movies. This Disney version is warm, creative, visually beautiful and has a wonderful cast.

a kitschy delight - but deserves better treatment
The opening sequence alone, a colorful song and dance in Mother Goose Village Square that could only have been designed and choreographed in the early 60's, is enough to bring a huge smile to faces of those of us who fondly remember the pre-digital days of Walt Disney.

The colorful production design is sensational and reminds me of the early days of Disneyland - whimsically artificial but gorgeous to look at. Sure, the story is Squaresville, and many complain that the set is too stagey, but those are main elements of the film's lasting charm. Dated and corny to some is a cool breeze of nostalgia and simpler times for others.

I am sad that this DVD is shamefully bargain bin. Apparently someone at Disney has deemed this delightful slice of early 60's pop culture woefully insignificant, so not only is the film greatly reduced to fit on standard televisions, but there are NO special features whatsoever, a shame considering that many of the original principals in...

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