Toys

Plot synopsis:
Kenneth Zevo, the owner of the Zevo Toy factory in Moscow, Idaho, is dying. He tells his assistant Owen Owens of his desire for the factory to be given to his brother, Lt. Gen. Leland Zevo instead of his son Leslie. Even Leland is unsure of this, pointing out how Leslie has been apprenticed at the toy factory most of his life. Kenneth agrees Leslie loves toys and his work, but his childlike demeanor would not help him to be a successful business leader. Kenneth had even gone to lengths to hire Gwen Tyler as a factory worker, believing Leslie would become attracted to her and she would help him to mature.
Kenneth passes away and Leland reluctantly takes control of the factory. Leland, who still aspires to meet his father's demands to be a 4-star General, allows Leslie and his childlike sister Alsatia continue designing new toys. However, Leland's interest is piqued when he hears about corporate secrets being leaked, and he hires his son Patrick, a soldier with covert military expertise, to manage security. From Patrick, Leland gets the idea of building war toys in the factory. Leslie points out that Zevo Toys has never made war toys.
Leland offers to drop the idea, but asks Leslie if he can portion off a small amount of the factory to develop toys of his own. He asks Leslie to stay out of the area for fear that his toys may not be good enough. Unknown to Leslie, Leland is using the space to develop miniature war machines that can be controlled remotely, aspiring to sell these to the military. However, the military leaders refuse to buy into his plan, and Leland, becoming unhinged by their refusal, moves ahead with his plan independently. He takes over more and more of the factory space and increases security on these areas. When Leslie sees children being led into one of Leland's secure areas, he finds a way to sneak into the space. Inside, he discovers Leland training the children to operate the miniature war machines with arcade-like interfaces so the children would not be aware they are actually operating real war equipment. Leslie flees before he is discovered, barely escaping the "Sea Swine" amphibious drone guarding an exit, and makes his way to Gwen's house to reveal what he saw. Leslie is unaware that Leland has seen his actions through spy toys monitoring the area, and prepares to defend his parts of the factory, becoming more demented and promoting himself to general of his own army. Patrick learns that Leland lied about the death of his mother, and quits to warn Leslie.
Leslie, Alsatia, Patrick, Gwen, and Owen go to the factory to fight against Leland, using the Zevo toys against Leland's war machines. Leslie manages to escape and disable Leland's control system for the toys. As Leslie and Patrick confront Leland, Alsatia is attacked by the Sea Swine, but she is revealed to be a robot built by Kenneth to be a companion for Leslie. As Leslie and Patrick tend to Alsatia, Leland tries to escape, but the Sea Swine stops and attacks him.
As Leland is hospitalized, Leslie takes control of the factory and continues his relationship with Gwen, while Alsatia is repaired. Patrick prepares to leave to take on further missions, but remains with Leslie and his friends long enough to attend a brief memorial to Kenneth.

Tags: anti war

Review:
You will never look at war toys the same way again.. Before there was Small Soldiers, there was this film that took something of same subject matter, but in a superior fashion.When the kids in the film see the toy soldiers in the display, the film presents them as a glamourous bunch with light music highlight how cool they are.  However, when these toys come to life, the music suddenly stops and the whole atmosphere becomes foreboding as these soldiers go through the motions of their roles.When the fighting erupts, the violence displayed is horrific as it is run with rapid cuts and stark lighting.  Nothing is untouched, there are scenes of explosions, hurled bodies, death spasms, soldiers being bayoneted and incessant gunfire.  All of it is contributing to a terrifying mess of imagery and sound that is all carefully calculated to deglamorize war.All of this culminates with the sequence of one surviving soldier inspecting the area with all its sickening plastic carnage that seems so authentic in an abstract manner.  Then the soldier is discovered and is hit with a flame throwing with a death scream.  You will be chilled to the bone, even if they are dolls.To this day, I cannot see 12" inch figures without those lingering images, which is the precise point of the filmmakers who intended to show what the real purpose of soldiers and war.. Still one of the most remarkably powerful films. I first saw "Toys" in 1966 or maybe 1967; I was 8 or 9, and very fond of my original G.I. Joes (the toy of the title). I can still recall the frisson created by the flame-thrower scene, and the power of the whole film. I saw the film again about 7 or 8 years later, as part of a film studies class, and I was still in awe of the power of the piece. Today, teaching film and video to high school students, I use "Toys" as part of a unit on war films; students still react.The most remarkable thing is how short this short is. I fully expected, as an adult, for it to be in 15 - 20 minute range; it is a mere 8 minutes. Every second of the film is pregnant with potential; Grant Monroe did not waste a single shot in this NFB classic. The stop-action animation is very good -- right up there with some of the classic stop-action material of the 60s, and surprisingly "life like" considering the fixed facial expression of G.I. Joes, and their limited hand positions.I give this film one of the highest ratings I have ever given, and I feel it earns every single star.