"
The Christmas Toy"
*** (out of ****)
Do children have a universal suspicion that when they leave their bedrooms, their toys come to life? What exactly would their toys be up to, if they did come to life? Director Eric Till and renowned puppeteer Jim Henson explore such a scenario in the 1980s television Christmas movie, "The Christmas Toy" (1986).
It is Christmas Eve in the Jones house. The children - Jamie (Marsha Moreau) and brother Jesse (Zachary Bennett) - head off to bed, in eager anticipation of Santa's arrival and all the new toys he will bring them. The wise old Teddy Bear in the playroom however needs to remind the toys of what Christmas means for them. Not only the presence of new toys but the sad consequence that some toys may be disregarded and no longer a child's "favorite toy".
The two toys considered Jamie's favorites are Apple (voiced by Kathryn Mullen) - a kind of cross between Kid Sister and a Cabbage Patch doll - and Rugby (voiced by Dave Goelz) - a stuffed animal tiger. Rugby was the favorite toy last Christmas, replacing Apple. That Christmas, the happiest day of Rugby's life, was the saddest day of Apple's. Apple understands the concept each Christmas the children receive new toys, Rugby however believes each Christmas repeats itself and he will always be wrapped up and opened each year by Jamie, thus remaining forever her favorite toy. Rugby must find a way to get back under the Christmas tree and wrapped up. He leaves the playroom, putting his own life in danger, as well as the other toys that try to rescue him. You see, in the toy world, if a toy is found by a human. and not in the last place the human left them, the toy becomes "frozen", never coming to life again when humans aren't around.
After Rugby makes his way to the Christmas tree, he realizes there is no empty box waiting for him. Instead he opens another box, with a different toy inside, that immediately comes to life. Meteora (voiced by Camille Bonora), a kind of futuristic She-Ra action figure, doesn't realize she is a toy but has landed on another planet. This crushes Rugby, who has come to the realization he too will be "replaced" and most likely Meteora will become the new favorite. Somehow Rugby, Apple, and the rest of the toys, must convince Meteora to go back in the box to be opened by Jamie in the morning.
Through this experience the toys, Rugby in particular, come to learn valuable lessons in friendship, love, and acceptance. The toys will always be loved and around for a child to play with. No toy is really forgotten.
Of course many viewers will notice similarities between this movie and the Disney / Pixar animated movie, "Toy Story" (1995). Obviously "Toy Story" stole, er, I mean was inspired by "The Christmas Toy". There are too many connections for it all to be a mere coincidence. "Toy Story" is the better movie however if for no other reason the running time of the movie allows more opportunity to flesh out its story and create characters that become enduring to the audience. None of the characters in "The Christmas Toy" - with a 50 minute running time - are memorable and made a positive impression on me.
Rugby is going to be the character to go through the biggest arc, becoming a different character than at the start of the movie. There are times I found the character insufferable. Even after the lesson is learned, Rugby wasn't lovable to me. I believe a lot of this was due to the constraints of the running time for a TV movie. A lot in Rugby's growth feels rushed. The conflict with Meteora, which should have been central to Rugby's development, ends too abruptly. It also gets side tracked by Meteora's delusions, which could have inspired a lot more comedic possibilities, as we saw with Buzz Lightyear in "Toy Story". The motivation for Meteora to return inside the box, felt out of character.
Apple is meant to serve as the movie's conscience, and fares better than Rugby on the annoying meter, but gosh does Apple look slightly creepy. Appearances aside however, it is the supporting characters that are the most enjoyable to watch and provide most of the movie's humor. In addition to Apple, the best character in the movie is Mew (voiced by Steve Whitmire, the distinguished voice actor behind such famous Muppet characters as Ernie (of Bert & Ernie), Rizzo the Rat, and in later years Kermit the Frog). Mew is a cat toy, that isn't really recognized as a real toy by some of the other characters, Rugby included. For whatever reason, Mew wants to believe Rugby is his friend and is the first toy to go after him after he leaves the playroom, and remains by his side until the end. Mew will be the character children will get the most enjoyment watching.
I also must mention what an odd choice to make Rugby the lead character. Why on earth would a stuffed animal become a young girl's favorite toy? Especially when compared to the much more interesting toys she has. I should also mention, Jamie is about an 8 or 9 year old girl. Maybe its been too long since I was a child but stuffed animals never had much appeal for me. Although I admit as a child I did love my Popples doll. But I was younger than the Jamie character.
Despite the word "Christmas" in its title, "The Christmas Toy" has not endured as a classic Christmas movie. Growing up I personally had no connection to it. Because it was a made-for-TV movie, it must have went unseen for years. In the days before DVDs and Blu-Rays, made-for-TV movies were usually not seen again after their initial TV airing. Although some years later - 1993 - this movie was released on VHS.
I would also be reluctant to call this movie a "Christmas movie", again, despite the appearance of the word "Christmas" in its title. However it does offer a nice message about togetherness that the best Christmas movies make a commentary on.
The real reason to watch "The Christmas Toy" is for the work done by Jim Henson's puppeteers. Despite a few slip ups here and there - the appearances of strings, and some shots of Mew - everyone does nice work. I wouldn't however say this ranks among Henson's best movies. "Labyrinth" (1986) - released in the same year - for example is for more impressive, just on the puppeteering work alone. And although it received mixed critical reviews, "The Dark Crystal" (1982) has some stunning moments. Even episodes of "Fraggle Rock" were far more exceptional. Because "The Christmas Toy" was produced on a smaller budget it can't really compete with these other Henson efforts.
I hate to sound too critical of "The Christmas Toy". It can be a pleasing and mildly amusing movie for children. Unless you are an adult that watched this as a child, I don't believe it has that universal appeal the best family movies do that can entertain both parents and children. Still this is a moderately entertaining movie considering the limitations of made-for-TV movies. Some years later this movie was spun off into a TV show, "The Secret Life of Toys", one year before "Toy Story" was released.
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