I grew up with the Disney "magic window" version of the album, and while I knew it was based on a movie, I never saw it till a friend brought it over on a lark last night. I loved the album as a child, but as the movie started, I realized the album featured re-recordings (probably to save money paying for Annette and Tommy). Well, the studio singers were BETTER than the performers in the film.This is a movie trying to figure out what to be... it felt like the practice session full of mistakes that they then corrected by the time Mary Poppins came around. Instead of Dick Van Dyke dancing with the penguins, you get Ray Bolger plodding through an overlong Pasodoble with a crudely fashioned flower fountain. Part teen romance beach blanket movie, part vaudeville slapstick, part fantasy, with none of the parts interfacing well.Don't get me wrong, I still found the emotional attachment I had to the music, got teary hearing the songs again, and seeing the characters that the album illustrations were based on, but I also could view the film with an adult critical eye and see that it was a mess.One thing that always perplexes me is that almost all the reviews for this film mention that it is excellent family fare. Of course, no violence or swearing , but the gender stereotyping is so extreme (even for Disney), that my 11 year old daughter was in shock.-Mary, who is done up in corsets through the whole film- 1) sings a song about how incompetent she is at math and finances. 2) is crooned to that she is "just a toy" by her fiancé, who then ties a ribbon around her and pulls her around ("oh look, now she's on a leash" my daughter laughed) 3) cringes behind a table during a "fight to the death" between miniaturized Tom and Barnaby, when she is the only full sized person in the room, and could have easily flicked the villain away with a finger. (Yes, I know that would destroy the tension of the climax, but they make such a ridiculous show of her terror that it bears mention.) 4) meanwhile, on the production line in the toymaker's factory, the boys only touch the cars and the girls only touch the dolls.Really people, are these the messages you want planted in the heads of your 4 year old daughters? We know this stuff is old and campy, but your little girls don't.The Laurel and Hardy wannabes are blatant and inferior. Almost as if the casting agent went out of their way to keep reminding you how much better Stan and Ollie are.Ed Wynne is fabulous as the toymaker, and his scenes, especially stalling during the wedding ceremony, are the highlight of the film. The sets and costumes are cheesy but lush and colorful, the dance and musical numbers are fairly standard for the time, and the bits of Victor Herbert that managed to survive provide some lovely lilting melodies, but overall, this film is a bit of a train wreck.

Look.I'm tired of defending this great movie all the time to everyone, if you don't get it you are a mean scrooge.It is time to acknowledge this film for all the great qualities it has. A high standard of professionalism,amazing retro special effects and true faithful rendering of Victor Herbert and Mother Goose. Christmas time would be empty without this charming,quaint, film. It's educational value? It teaches kids about more refined subjects like musical operetta and cultural history rather than what is the latest blow em' up and kill your neighbor video game trend. The music has history rather than flash in the pan theatrics of a current trend (kids raised on this are more likely to be eclectic and informed in their musical taste than kids who stick only to the latest trends)you can tell I am not big on trends. Kids need education and brains, not trends. If I had known that when I was younger I would be better off now.I love all kinds of music. But I love opera(what's opera Doc?)and classical music. This movie can inspire small children along those lines. Plus it is'nt just a fuddy duddy film, it's very populist and quaintly oddball, which is fun.The film is also,like most classic Disney,Very safe, and family friendly(I don't even think there is any cigar smoking here which could be common in older kiddie flicks). Annette Funnicello is also a very clean,safe popular icon image for kids to like, unlike many of the juvenile role models they have today who are constantly getting into trouble(I mean,God,who wants to explain the reckless behavior of a Lindsey,Hilary or a Miley to their kids).But alas,fans of this film,we are alone and out-numbered.Even the Disney studio does'nt care enough to enhance and restore this beautiful gem(still looks great nonetheless).The Hal Roach comedy is incredible and wonderful, but it gets all the accolades and acclaim.This film deserves better treatment. The Hal Roach film is essentially a comedy. Disney's film is what Victor Herbert intended. An operetta.I see more and more people are speaking up on behalf of this much neglected film classic. Keep up the good work. Maybe we can inspire a movement and fight all the boogeyman scrooges who hate this adorable little treasure.God Bless.

This version seems low on Disney magic... Too much of the movie revolves around Ray Bolger's burlesque villain and his henchmen. (One's skinny and one's fat - but they're a poor substitute for the real Laurel and Hardy, who'd done their own version of Babes in Toyland in 1934.) The second half is better - when the characters arrive in Toyland, with Ed Wynn as a bumbling Toymaker and Tommy Kirk his helper. The super-lightweight plot is a weakness and a strength, with twists that are unpredictable and occasionally odd. The movie culminates with a bizarre battle where the villain is attacked by animated toys...Some of the dialog rhymes, but no one seems enthusiastic about it. Annette isn't particularly winning in this one, and even the dancing is hard to see, because the dancers' legs are covered by long storybook dresses. (And bad lighting, casting a few extra shadows.) On the plus side: Tommy Sands has a great voice, and the Disney chorus sings lush harmonies. And young Ann Jillian, as Bo-Peep, sings her few lines wonderfully...

Babes in ToylandWonderful classic family musical adventure about a mystical land where a bunch of children find themselves lost in a forest and eventually stumble upon a strange toy factory run by a weirdo. I haven't seen this movie in years and it's hard to remember the entire motion picture! I remember scattered images--such as the bad guy trying to get the beautiful princess to marry him, and the singing trees haunting the children in the woods, and the inside of the toy factory.Marvelous stuff for the kids and their parents.**** / *****