Babes in Toyland
Tags: good versus evil, violence

Plot synopsis:
The film begins as a stage play presented by Mother Goose and her talking goose, Sylvester, about Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary and Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son, who are about to be married. The miserly and villainous Barnaby hires two crooks, dimwitted Gonzorgo and silent Roderigo. They are to throw Tom into the sea and steal Mary's sheep, depriving her of her means of support, to force her to marry Barnaby. Mary is unaware that she is the heir to a fortune, but Barnaby is aware and wants it all for himself. Gonzorgo and Roderigo decide to sell Tom to the Gypsies instead of drowning him, in order to collect a double payment.
Gonzorgo and Roderigo return and tell Mary, Barnaby, and the citizens of Mother Goose Land that Tom has accidentally drowned. They show Mary a forged letter in which Tom tells Mary he is abandoning her, and she would be better off marrying Barnaby. Mary, believing she is destitute, reluctantly accepts the proposal from Barnaby. Barnaby unknowingly arranges for the same Gypsies who have Tom to provide entertainment for the wedding. Tom, disguised as the Gypsy Floretta, reveals himself, and Barnaby pursues the frightened Gonzorgo and Roderigo, furious at their deception.
One of the children who live with Mary informs her of some sheep tracks leading into the Forest of No Return. The children sneak away into the forest to search for the missing sheep. The trees of the forest awaken and capture them. Tom and Mary follow and find the children in the forest, where they tell stories about the live trees. The trees seem just like ordinary trees to Tom and Mary. Tom, Mary, and the children camp for the night. In the morning, the trees once again come to life and explain that they are now in custody of the Toymaker in Toyland (who is also the Mayor and Chief of Police). Tom, Mary, and the children happily continue on, escorted part of the way by the trees.
Through the windows of the Toymaker's house they watch the Toymaker's brilliant apprentice, Grumio, present a new machine that makes toys without any manual labor. Overjoyed, the Toymaker speeds up the machine to such a high rate that it explodes, destroying every toy in the factory. Tom, Mary, and the children offer to help make more toys in time for Christmas.
Grumio presents another invention, a shrinking "gun" that reduces everyday objects to toy size. He warns that if it is used on anything more than once, the shrunken object disappears completely. The Toymaker is at first delighted at the idea of producing toys by shrinking life-sized objects, but then Tom points out the impossibility of finding enough everyday objects to shrink down into the large quantity of toys needed for Christmas. The Toymaker berates Grumio for his stupidity and throws the shrinking gun out the window in disgust.
Barnaby, who has been spying on them, takes the discarded shrinking gun and uses it to shrink the Toymaker and Tom. When Barnaby's henchmen see him threatening to shoot Tom a second time, they abandon Barnaby. They try to flee, but Barnaby shoots them and locks them up with Tom in a birdcage.
Barnaby forces Mary to marry him by threatening to destroy Tom, and he threatens to destroy the Toymaker if he refuses to preside over the wedding ceremony. While the Toymaker draws out the ceremony, Gonzorgo and Roderigo rescue Tom, and the three of them sneak away and return with an army of toy soldiers to fight Barnaby. Barnaby easily demolishes the toy soldiers. He is about to obliterate Tom with another dose from the shrinking gun, but Mary destroys it with a toy cannon. The liquid splatters all over Barnaby and shrinks him to toy size. Tom, after challenging Barnaby to a duel with swords, stabs Barnaby, who falls from a great height into an empty toybox.
Grumio presents another new invention, one that returns shrunken people to their original size. He immediately uses it on Tom, the Toymaker, Gonzorgo, and Roderigo, but not on Barnaby. Tom and Mary are married, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Review: I never saw the original "Babes in Toyland," so I can't say one way or the other whether this film is guilty of desecrating some legacy, as suggested by other comments.
I first saw the movie when I was about 4 years old, and I loved every minute of it.
I was literally on the edge of my brightly-colored plastic seat as Jack Nimble Jr. was hauled to jail by the giant teddy bear police, and was thoroughly emotionally invested in Drew Barrymore's journey to believe in Santa and Christmas and whatever.
"Babes in Toyland" still brings back fond memories, mostly because I remember the strong emotions that the movie evoked for me as a little girl.
If you want to see a cinematic work of art, why are you watching a low-budget TV movie from 1986?
If you want a silly, fun, and entertaining holiday movie, by all means, watch on..
Most of the time you edit to make it into time frame on TV...not cut to put on video after been on TV...Does anyone else remember the original, the song between Jack and Mary or Lisa singing before going in to the Forrest?I think this needs to be re-released in its original form!
We bought the VHS a while back and saw the edits, I decided to watch on Netflix online and there has been other times when it just seems that something is missing, a skip or something so you know there is stuff missing..
Tonight for the first time, I am watching this movie on TV with my nine year old.
I on the other hand am feigning interest while I'm amazed and entertained by the bad acting, tacky costumes cheap wooden toys and really bad sets!My 9 year old LOVES the whole thing.
It's a low budget made for TV movie, so you shouldn't be expecting the best sets and special effects.
Just watch the movie and enjoy the Christmas togetherness and fun nursery rhymes from your childhood.
Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, and Pat Morita, as well as the rest of the cast, do a great job.
Having said that, if you like to watch fun, silly Christmas movies, then there's a better chance that this is a movie for you!
This makes it a good choice to watch with the family...this is one of our favorite ridiculous Christmas movies to watch.
So, to anyone else out there whose family enjoys watching the silly Christmas movies, consider checking this one out!.
I enjoyed this movie as a child and I enjoy watching it with my children.
The acting was not amazing but let's remember a few things - it was a made for TV movie in the 80's, and honestly there were very few decent films that came out of the 80's anway.
For those who wish to over-analyse this film, I suggest you remember one thing - it's a children's movie, it was not meant to be broken down and analysed, it was meant to be simply enjoyed.
However, it still featured a convincing enough fantasy atmosphere,and what were then state-of-the art effects for the toy soldiers (set to a nearly full-length and beautifully played "March of the Toys"), as well as more of Herbert's music than was included in the L&H version, so it was good enough.But this third version is truly, truly amazing in its awfulness.
It looks as if it had been filmed in a cheap theme park for very young children, rather than in a dazzling fantasy setting.
His songs (NOT the ones he wrote with his former partner,the late Anthony Newley) have become synonymous with bad movie musicals.
The results in this film are truly excruciating-especially in comparison with the Victor Herbert-Glen MacDonough original score.See this only if you're either curious or a movie-musical masochist..
This version of Babes in Toyland is not quite as bad as it has been cited to be, but it is not really a good film(personal opinion of course, admittedly I did actually like it somewhat as a child) and it is easy to see why it was panned.
March of the Toys is actually a good song and deserved a better film or a better version of Babes in Toyland, the song is also nicely staged if not as memorably and inventively as in the Disney film(a decent film if one of the lesser Disney live-action musicals).
Richard Mulligan is a lot of fun as the villain Barnaby, he has great comic timing(but it has been put to better use elsewhere) and he is a convincing threat too.
Most of the production values look as though they've been done on the cheap too, that's even for a television film, the sets on the most part are garish and of theme park or re-used quality.
Drew Barrymore, a promising child actress and has done a lot of great stuff(Grey Gardens and Ever After: A Cinderella Story), has some moments of cute charm but others where she was too syrupy, so it was more an uneven performance than a bad one.
The script is uninspired, and the story- admittedly one of the weaker points of the Disney film and the operetta- has very little charm or wonder, partly because of the mix of real life and Toyland(and the whole only a dream premise), themes that seem rather mean-spirited for a fantasy/holiday film and also the unimaginatively staged musical numbers.
Clive Donner's direction throughout is unimaginative and bland, it's sad to see a director who did such a great job with one of the best versions of A Christmas Carol two years previously directs with seemingly little interest or enthusiasm.
Babes in Toyland has its moments(one really good song and two good performances especially) and has some curiosity value for Barrymore and Reeves early in their careers but overall it doesn't have a whole lot going for it.
I had the displeasure of watching this movie(becasue nothing else was on tv,on a Saturday) for the first time just days before Christmas last year.I couldn't believe how lame it was.Even for a children's movie.You know its bad when even kids watching the movie with you comment on how stupid it is.Was this suppose to be a comedy?The jokes kept coming from the mouths of viewers in my living room  all thru out the viewing..
Drew Barrymore, Pat Morita, Keanu Reeves, et al seem embarrassed to be part of this stinker--as well they should be..
Keanu Reeves, Drew Barrymore, and Pat Morita are all in it.
I don't know where people get off saying this is  a bad movie, because it isn't.
Although it mildly resembles The Wizard of Oz, and Drew Barrymore looks like a total geekette, it is still fantastic.
The story is timeless, the actors are or will be considered movie greats and I hope I'm not the only one who will remember this fantastic piece of film history..
Not having had small kids around my house for a few years I can't say how they would react to this little made-for-TV movie.
They secretly hate your guts and want to torture you.Conversely, if you know some parents of small children whose guts you hate, just give them a copy of this movie.
You'll be giving your feelings towards them away, but they'll be stuck watching this movie for years on end.Children love this movie.
Sure, they're bad, but there was no way they could be any good at all in this movie.
I caught this movie on TV when I was a teen during the Christmas season, and remembered being quite entertained with all the whimsical scenes and enchanted cast of characters.
Drew Barrymore stars as 11-year-old Lisa Piper, who is too busy taking care of her siblings and mother.
As a source of escape, she travels to Toyland in Wizard of Oz-like fashion during a Christmas blizzard and arrives just in time for a wedding.
Not the most exciting movie, though, but still an innocent, family-friendly film that is nice to watch over the holidays.Grade B-.
I LOVED this film when I was little and hadn't seen it in years and made my husband watch it recently lol.Needless to say he lasted 10 minutes but for me it brought back so many happy memories as I watched this film over and over when i was younger.
(Drew Barrymores character).Yes this had really bad acting etc but it is also very endearing and has some great moments in it.
I was around six when I first saw this movie with my best friend and we both almost had heart attacks, especially toward the end.
I can't recall ever having seen a children's movie this bad.To sum up, what I distinctly remember from the movie is that it gave me a fear of dark places for the longest time, and a hatred for toys..
This movie is so bad I actually created an account just so I could write a review.The acting is so horrible I honestly had a hard time following the story line most of the movie, seriously cringe worthy.
Despite being filmed in Bavaria, a place chock-a-block with fairytale villages and wonderful castles, the Toyland set looks like some corner of a minor suburban theme park, complete with rubber- tired miniature train and little cars obviously taken from a racetrack ride.
this is about the funniest christmas movie ive seen recently, its the funniest thing ever, drew and keanu before they hit it big.
this has got to be one of the most horrible movies i have EVER seen EVER.if keanu reeves gave out at least 1/10 of his work that he did in the matrix the movie would be great.
from the songs that make your ears bleed to the horrible acting to the fat guy that stuffs more cookies in hie hat than his stomach, this movie is garbage.
I am 23 years old and still love to watch this movie every now and then.
Forget the fact that it is one of the first movies that you can see Drew Barrymore in or that an actor like Keanu Reeves became the star he is, and just focus on the story.
My family tape recorded this movie when it was first on television when I was six-years-old and my sister and I have adored it ever since.
It's a wonderful romp through a Mother Goose world surrounded by the Forest of the Night and every evil thing imaginable, with an arch villian who lives in a bowling ball, and old Mother Hubbard who lives in a giant shoe.The songs are fantastic, memorable, and catchy, and even though you can probably only find the edited version, I strongly recommend it!.
True the music was corny, the storyline weak and the actors needed to go back to acting school but it was a nice 2 hour movie.
evil, the over-dramatic heroine, the friendship of strangers whom you met for the first time but feel like you have known them for a lifetime.I got Babes in Toyland when it came out on VHS and I was very disappointed with the release, the movie was shortened to a mere 94 minutes and key plot developments and musical numbers were lost, hopefully the filmmakers will release it on DVD in a fully restored uncut edition complete with a behind the scenes look at the making of the movie and exclusive cast interviews.Every actor in the movie industry needs a starting point, a movie that even they can look at and say, "Oh my God I was in that!" Also, it was a made-for-TV movie so what can you expect "Gone With The Wind?" I don't think so.
This one is pure kiddie stuff with Drew Barrymore starring as a little girl from Cincinnati (believe me this is important) who accidentally falls into Toyland where she meets all the Mother Goose characters, who happen to look exactly like her friends and family back home.
When i was like a year or seven, i have seen it for the first time, and my dad recorded it on a video so i can watch it everyday.
I like the way how Drew goes into toyland and meet all those amazing people.
my friend erin and i watched this movie as children, but it wasn't until adulthood that we truly understood what clive donner was really trying to say.
this movie is whimsical and magical and reminds us the precious gifts of Christmas, family, and most importantly, cincinnati.
Although I was probably ten or eleven when I saw this movie for the first time, I thought it was very cute and enjoyable, and even now, being nineteen, I can still watch it and enjoy it.
I understand how someone could not like it, watching it for the first time thirteen years after it came out, especially since peoples views on movies have changed drastically.
I'm sure if I had never seen it before, and I watched it now, being nineteen years old, my views might be a little different, but you never know.
Anyway, it was a very cute movie, and I think it's still suitable for anyone, even over the age of ten, it just depends on the person..
Although this film has many talented names including Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, and Richard Mulligan, these performers were not quite developed when this movie was filmed.
In both films, the audience is immediately introduced to a young girl who is unhappy with life as she knows it; Lisa Piper (Barrymore) in `Babes in Toyland' and Dorothy (Judy Garland) in `The Wizard of Oz.' And so what better way to teach them a lesson than to throw them into a world of fantasy that isn't at all what it seems?
Also, all of the characters in each film play two different people who are paralleled between both reality and fantasy.In their search for happiness, both Lisa and Dorothy find themselves making friends with talking animals and strange looking people.
I definately don't think this movie should be so over-anylazed, as it was a movie for kids, not for sarcastic 30-year olds who can't appreciate the wonderment of childhood.
I think Drew Barrymore is a great actress and person, and she is so cute in this movie.
No matter how bad movies are, they have a special place in your heart.
If everyone looked at the movies and TV they watched when they were kids, they would be disgusted.
You don't think about details when you're a kid, you feel the emotion, and that's what this movie has.
All of the actors are wonderful in this film (especially Keanu:) and Drew Barrymore is adorable.
Lisa Sheolen was fantastic as Mary Contrary, Drew Barrymore was at her sweetest as Lisa Piper, and Barnaby was played to perfection.
A great movie for children and adults alike!.
Babes in Toyland is a perfect movie for children.
Early eighties, cheesy, low budget, badly dubbed, yes, but Babes in Toyland still has the power to entertain and fill with the joy of toys, childhood and Christmas.
No-one in the film was brilliant, even Drew Barrymore and Pat Morita struggled in places and were a little acting-by-numbers but there was also some great chemistry on screen and Barrymore, Reeves, Schoelen and Gress looked genuinely like they were enjoying themselves and given the subject matter were pretty committed to role, even if it was a bit hammed up.
The bad guy Mulligan was good at being bad and Eileen Brennan brought a little of comedy in her familiar style to the film.Definitely a children's film, although not nervous children as the bad monsters were pretty awful looking, but it was light, fun with lots of familiar characters to recognise.
Drew Barrymore (even badly dubbed to the point of jet lag) is always good to watch and Keanu Reeves swashbuckling around as Jack be Nimble (jnr) when he was in his early twenties is...
With a very colorful art direction and the presence of Keanu and Drew, this film is a worthy update of a classic.
However, Mary is in love with Jack Be Nimble (Keanu Reeves) and is desolate that Barnaby holds great power over the village.
In early roles, Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore add greatly to the film's enjoyment.
Nevertheless, with a sweet story and a fine musical score, this movie will remain a holiday classic for the years ahead..
Babes In Toyland is a fun movie for everyone.
Blah blah Drew Barrymore blah blah Keanu Reeves...
I laughed when Barrymore (Lisa Piper), Reeves (Jack Nimble), Scholen (Mary Contrary), and Gress (Georgie Porgy) acted like monsters to get out of Barnaby's jail.After seeing Keanu in Speed, Matrix, and A Walk in the Clouds, it was nice to see him do something different--singing.
It was also nice to see him as a teenager again.However, I did see the Babes in Toyland with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and was disappointed that Keanu's character wasn't more heroic like Frankie's character..
I first saw this film when I was 6 and I remember thinking it was fantastic.
Man, it's been years since I had even thought about it even though the Cincinnati song goes through my head all the time.
I love the Victor Herbert operetta and all the Babes in Toyland movies, but this one is horrible.It is not so bad it is good.
if you like this movie you know nothing about the origins of the story.
I like Reeves and Barrymore as actors, but after this it took me a long time to be able to handle watching them again.
Those people will probably like it.All the versions of 'Toyland' can be a little cheesy, but they're fun.
Ample screen time is spent showing the characters running around town in kiddie cars instead of advancing the plot.The movie hands out promises like it's Christmas and breaks every one of them.