This next movie takes us on a musical adventure to the Mother Goose Village, a place full of characters from well-known nursery rhymes. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
A Brief Summary
(Taken from D23)
Just as Tom and Mary are about to be married in Mother Goose Village, the villain, Barnaby, knowing Mary is to inherit a large sum of money when wed, has Tom kidnapped by his two henchmen who are to toss Tom into the sea. The henchmen then steal Mary’s sheep, the sole support for her and the children she cares for. Just as it looks as if Mary will have to marry Barnaby, Tom, who has not really drowned at all, reappears, and takes off with Mary and the children to find the sheep. Traveling in the Forest of No Return, Tom’s party ends up in Toyland, with Barnaby and his henchman not far behind. There Tom, Mary, and the kids help the Toymaker make toys for Christmas until the Toymaker’s assistant, Grumio, invents a gun which reduces everything to toy-size. Barnaby gets hold of the gun, reduces Tom and the Toymaker, and forces the latter to marry him to Mary. Before the ceremony is completed, Tom, who has mobilized the toy armies, attacks. In the furious battle, Mary reduces Barnaby and Tom disposes of him in a duel. Grumio comes up with a restoring formula and all ends happily.
What works
- The opening introduction number reminded me of Dorothy’s welcome to Munchkinland scene from The Wizard of Oz (to be fair, a lot of this movie reminds me of The Wizard of Oz.)
- Ray Bolger as Barnaby looks like the Count from Sesame Street
- Grumio, played by Tommy Kirk, is Ernst (Kirk’s character in Swiss Family Robinson) on crazy pills, but he was a lot more fun to watch.
- I really liked that this movie was so light-hearted and didn’t take itself too seriously. I also liked that it had a stage-show vibe versus a full-on fantasy world immersion.
- Gonzorgo / Rodrigo (hooligans)
- they were literally the best characters of the film
- The rhyming of the dialogue just adds to the charm
- “Won’t be happy till I get it” reminds me of music from Sword and the Stone (post-movie note: duh, written by the same guys)
- I applaud the great physical comedy from Gonzorgo and Rodrigo
- The lyrics from one of Mary’s songs include the line “the stove and rugs and furniture will soon be repossessed, this makes me feel quite insecure and mentally depressed.”
- While that song, in particular, had some crazy visuals, the lyrics were so fantastically relatable.
- Ed Wynn’s Toymaker character reminds me of Mr. Magorium
- The storyline is simple which made following along pretty easy.
- The timing is pretty good, each action is quickly followed by either a positive reaction or a new conflict that continues moving the story forward
- I loved that the stopping of Mary and Barnaby’s wedding was a team effort, what with the Toymaker procrastinating and the battle between Barnaby and Tom.
- I thought the ending was fine but like the beginning, it definitely gave off some Wizard of Oz vibes and even had a flying carriage (like the car at the end of Grease)
What may or may not work
- The duet from Tom and Mary early in the movie is a bit meh. It was fine, but not my favorite of the numbers from the movie.
- The use of “pussyfoot” (think tip-toeing) feels/sounds odd & out of place when it was used in the dialogue.
- Mary helps ONCE in the battle, effectively making Barnaby small and yet does not help when he & Tom have sword battle while toy size.
Honorable Mentions
- “He just tried to bite her” – Wee Willie (when the kids caught Tom and Mary kissing)
- There’s something borrowed, something blue” Mother Goose
- Uh oh – Sylly (Sylvester Goose)
- Good day friends” – Barnaby
- there’s something old and ugly too – Sylly
- “for lunch, I had roast goose” – Barnaby
- “that’s the way we lost mother” – Sylly (whoever voiced Sylly was on point with the humor)
- Gonzorgo and Rodrigo singing about Tom’s death is THE BEST song in the movie
- I love the fact that the twins (who help Bo Peep with her sheep) don’t have names
- “Who are you?” – The Toymaker
- “she’s my sister!” – one of the twins about the other
Side Questions
- For a place called “Mother Goose Village”, shouldn’t Mother Goose have more power in the village, aka over Barnaby?
- So Mary will inherit tons of money when she marries which is the motivation behind Barnaby’s scheme. But how does Mary not know and where’s the money coming from? Other than it helps the plot keep moving, the money is only ever mentioned by Barnaby and then never again.
- How does no one notice that all the children are gone until Mary and Tom find the note on the door?
- So what happened to the sheep after they were stolen? (the means to get Mary to marry Barnaby and cause the children to head to the Forest of No Return).
- How did Tom and/or the Toymaker bring the toys to life for the battle?
- But what about the sheep?!
- Even though technically we could say that the end of the Little Bo Peep rhyme says that the sheep would come home, the utter lack of care by the children for the duration of the second half of the movie is a bit odd. And they weren’t shown in the final scene.
- Why is it “the forest of no return” if it’s on Toyland property? The only reasoning I could come up with was that it would keep the ‘Toyland’ reveal a surprise, but still.
Would I watch this movie again?
- Sure I would. It was a charming and delightful movie to watch. I wouldn’t watch it all the time, but I would be happy to watch it again.
If you’ve seen Babes in Toyland, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
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