 | Imagine a TV Christmas special, featuring the screaming brat from E.T., Ted from (Bill & Ted) as the handsome prince, Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi as Santa Claus, and all filmed in a German theme park in summer. That'd be the 1986 TV Christmas special Babes In Toyland then. Rarely aired since it premiered on NBC, this weird and at times creepy TV special was soon resigned to the discount bin of video stores around the country. A take on The Wizard Of Oz, Drew Barrymore plays Lisa, a kid growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has to take care of her siblings and cooks for her family, has no time for childish things like toys and fun. Until on Christmas Eve during an accident due to a blizzard, she is magically transported to Toyland full of weird and often wooden characters. |
| With the help of Mr. Miyagi, sorry the ToyMaster (and it turns out Santa Claus), Lisa must save Toyland from evil Barnaby Barnacle (played by Richard Mulligan), who lives in a giant bowling ball. And in among all that you have Keanu Reeves singing, including the infamous deleted scene of him and Jill Schoelen singing a duet in prison. But we do have to suffer him singing Cin-cin-nati at the beginning of the film. Which probably caused the car crash that sent poor Drew to Toyland. | |
Babes in Toyland is based on an operetta composed by Victor Herbert, from 1903. There have been a number of adaptations of the operetta over the years, most well known are the 1934 Laurel and Hardy version and the 1961 Disney version starring Annette Funicello (of the Beach Party movies).
