Babes in Toyland (1961) is a Misguided Spectacle

Babes in Toyland (1961) is a strange film in some very 1960s ways. I came across the wider Babes in Toyland cinematic universe, or rather, the Babes in Toyland sequence of three movies all thirty years apart, via the somewhat charming but basically dull 1990s version, which features a young, puppy-ish Keanu Reeves, and a very small Drew Barrymore.

Cuties.

I would ultimately conclude that that instalment was the best of the three, but recently I watched the other two, accidentally starting with this extremely saturated 1961 venture.

The visuals here are a spectacle, and the movie knows it. For much of it, we're focused on a beautifully coordinated ensemble of dancers in eye-wateringly bright costumes. You can feel how close in time this thing is to West Side Story from the similarity in dance aesthetic - but West Side Story is a thrilling movie with arresting music and clever little lyrics. This movie is not that. The twirl of a green petticoat, the Top Cat style set, and the precise shock of synchronised movement is what this movie has to offer. And it's not quite enough.

It massively relies on its visuals, and they are, to this day, fantastic. But what this movie lacks is coherence, and good songwriting.

At one point, Mary, our protagonist, sings a short song about not being able to calculate her accounts. It utilises some fun effects - she has some colourful shadow-selves to accompany her - but it's still kind of low-energy and lacklustre. This was a prime opportunity for goofy, hammy performance, but instead it's subdued.

My favourite musical number, and the only one that really excited me while watching, is the one sung by a gang of sinister trees to a group of children wandering in the woods.

The trees look gorgeous, they flap their little tree mouths, and they sing about how the children shouldn't have come here...

Sadly, it's not a very good song. None of the songs in this movie are. Which is not really ideal for a musical. It's also pretty devoid of character, aside from potentially the villain, Barnaby, who is a Gargamel type guy, and later, the toymaker. His cartoon villianry is enough to make Barnaby one of the most fleshed-out personalities in Toyland, and yet he's not very interesting either. If you've ever seen an episode of Wacky Races or The Smurfs, you already know about this guy.

The toymaker, though, is played by Ed Wynn, who I know from the wonderful Twilight Zone episode, 'One For the Angels'. Here, he's not playing such a dazzling role as in the T Zone, but he brings a bright light to the movie as the goofy toy man. His presence is a breath of fresh air so tasty that it feels like being awakened from a long slumber. And he's literally just doing his baseline wide-eyed goofy character. But he's just so good. This man is an expert at being the goofster in a movie. And I love him for that.

Babes in Toyland is a stilted, Hanna-Barbera-esque live action Disney movie at a time when Disney were making tons of these vague family-oriented movies. It doesn't have that magic quality that makes a good, juicy movie, but it does have some interesting elements of spectacle that serve as a valuable look at film history. The technicolour is screaming here, but the muddled, dull scenario leaves much to be desired.

One goose out of five. 

★☆☆☆☆