From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: TOYS
Date: 19 Dec 92 22:08:41 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Windows/DOS Users Ed Group

TOYS is a film directed by Barry Levinson, written by
Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson. It stars Robin Williams,
Michael Gambon, Robin Wright, Joan Cusak, LL Cool J, with
Donald O'Connor. It is rated PG-13, for mild profanity and
mature humor.

TOYS was a disappointment. I had hoped for something a lot
more energetic, if nothing else. There is no plot, merely a
skeleton on which to hang a dazzling visual experience.
Michael Gambon and Robin Williams were both too restrained,
too whimsical. They were both outshone by Joan Cusak, the
only member of the cast who really got the idea of what they
should have been doing. In fact, the rapper LL Cool J put in
a more interesting performance, even given his inexperience
as an actor.

Barry Levinson is to blame, of that there can be no doubt.
It was his idea nearly 15 years ago. He and his former
writing partner Valerie Curtin wrote the script then; their
collaborations include BEST FRIENDS and JUSTICE FOR ALL,
both inferior to his solo writing work (DINER, TIN MEN) or
to the films he only directed (RAIN MAN, BUGSY). Perhaps, he
should have asked Terry Gilliam to be his script doctor; it
definitely lacks (and needs) that kind of dark imagination.
Levinson is more interested in making a couple of rather
obvious points than in telling a story. For example, he
rathers earnestly pursues the idea that weapons are toys for
the bloody-minded, that we can choose whether we want our
toys to be life-affirming or lethal. He gives us some
wonderful visual effects, including a very pointed and
chilling scene of generals qua skeletons. But, are we to
suppose that Barry Levinson thinks that this is some special
vision, some unique insight, vouchsafed only to him that he
can squander so much talent to so little purpose?

If you want to immerse yourself in Robin Williams' genius for
improvisation, go back to ALADDIN or rent Levinson's GOOD
MORNING, VIETNAM. You get only a few really memorable
Williamsesque moments in TOYS and long stretches where he
has all too little to do. Williams gives his all to
promoting the film for Levinson and indeed the trailer, shot
in a Spokane wheat field, is vastly better than the movie it
advertises.

Of the other performers, Joan Cusak is the most memorable in
the role of Williams' sister. She is otherwordly, fragile,
the last word in gentle space cadets; when her big
denouement arrives, we actually can believe it as earned and
established both by the script and by her performance. It is
one of the few bright spots in the film. Michael Gambon, who
was so loathsome in THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE, AND HER
LOVER, is mostly addled here. His evilness become really
clear only too late in the film, a villain who consults his
invalid father and calls him Daddy; it does not suffice.
Robin Wright as the love interest is supposed to be a female
version of Williams, but she fails to convince. LL Cool J is
blunt and slightly amateurish, but earnest and direct in the
way of gifted amateurs. He plays Gambon's son and the facts
of skin color and lineage are entertainingly ignored.
Finally, Donald O'Connor puts in a charming cameo as the
dying owner of the Zevo toy company.

But the real and only star of TOYS is the visual effects,
the sets, the production design, the computer animation, and
the wonderful, wonderful toys. Everything that TOYS lacks in
the way of story it possesses in abundance in visuals. It is
this aspect of the film, a la Tim Burton, that gives it any
chance at all of surviving as something like the masterpiece
that Levinson clearly had in mind for himself. And there is
something about TOYS that lingers in the mind. I woke up
this morning thinking about it, having dreamed about it
during the night.

However, I really cannot recommend TOYS to most of you. If
you have a strong taste for Robin Williams, if you must see
every movie that Barry Levinson makes, if your primary
interest is in the visual effects, then you will go to TOYS.
A lot of non-specialists, however, will stay away, unless
they find themselves with no other movie and the possibility
of a discount ticket.


-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
	"Well, I'm a little muddled." -- Glinda
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies