Toys

Plot

Kenneth Zevo is the owner of the a popular toy company, with a dedicated staff, and one of the chief toy-makers being his son Leslie.

On his deathbed, he begs his no nonsense three star general brother Leland, to to take over the company. After his death, Leland begins to make changes to the company, by beginning to manufacture war toys – and soon begins a ‘secret’ mission.

Leslie, believing his uncle is up to no good, plots to get the company back to the way things ‘used to be’.

Direction/Cinematography

Directed by Barry Levinson (and co written), with cinematography by Adam Greenberg.

It was nominated for two Oscars, Set Decoration and Costume Design, which are truly deserved. The sets are magical and stunning. Cusack’s costumes are a hoot too.

However some of the camera work, especially in the back half are almost nauseating with the movements, and I did not care for it one bit.

Cast/Characters

Robin Williams plays Leslie, who is introduced as a goofball – clearly not fit to run the company following his fathers death – but at times he is shown to be almost over dramatic – especially when he discovers his uncles plan.

Michael Gambon plays the no nonsense Leland, who also has daddy issues.

Joan Cusack is the standout as Alsatia. Her ‘reveal’ at the end of the film should have been led up better.

Robin Wright plays Gwen, a love interest for Leslie. She doesn’t get a whole lot to do. This is rather disappointing given her star power at the time

LL Cool J plays Patrick, Leland’s son, and a fellow soldier.

Other cast include Jack Warden (as Grandpa Zevo), Jamie Foxx (as one of the head soldiers) and Debi Mazar as Grandpas nurse.

Breakdown

The big problem I had with this film was the mixed idea it had with the narrative. It presented as a silly alternate reality world, where such a company exists (and hundreds of people happily sing all day while at work).

The characters are seem ‘unreal’ too, with Kenneth being the ‘nutty recluse’ owner of a magical factory, with an overzealous militant brother. when big brother takes over following his death, it starts to have ‘some’ form of realism. Its way ahead of its time with gen Zevo wanting to use small ‘toy’ airplanes in war-zones and using VR in some scenes too.

Leslie is a mixture of downright goofy (clearly written for Williams)T  and silly (his dad was right, he would have been terrible at running the company) – and then overly dramatic (when he discovers his uncle wants to use toy planes in the military, saving the government money and attacking enemies with ease)

There is a very early line about Alsatia, as well as a few lines about how she ‘doesn’t age’ with the end of movie reveal she is a robot. I wish we got more foreshadowing about this, as I felt this was a missed opportunity.

The final act in which Leslie et al plan an attack of the ‘bad toys’ with the ‘good toys’ is silly (wtf was with the ‘motivational’ speech?), over the top, and has nauseating camera movements. The score that plays over the enter film is a product of its time, and gave me a headache.

you don’t overly agree with either protagonist or antagonist (Leslie would be terrible at managing the firm, but general is apathetic towards business)

At a whopping 2hrs, this is far too long, with silly gags that are overdone (Yolanda and Steve). You don’t really view this agreeing with either Leslie (he’s too goofy) or the general (he destroys the business).

Overall

Good enough performances from the cast and some great sets don’t help A narrative mix match that doesn’t work, and some nauseating direction, and lead characters you don’t really root for.

Sit this one out, even die hard Williams fans might be disappointed

2/5

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