Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

mark.waltz Severely dark and filled with little to laugh at, this black comedy would upset children, more than amuse them. Toy factory prince Robin Williams looses his legacy by his father's bequest of the ownership to his military general brother. Bit by bit, out go the cute fluffy toys and amusing novelties and in come video games made to turn kids into variations of Hitler's youth. What could have been a biting commentary on mass marketing of inappropriate children's playthings becomes "Dr. Strangelove meets the babes in Toyland" and ends up being "Nightmare on Chuckie Street" with Williams overdoing his usual schtick and surrounded by a ton of oddballs.This wouldn't even be a nightmare in the mind of then young fantasy director Tim Burton who knew where to draw the line. Michael Gambon is the evil uncle who happens to have a black sin (rapper L.L. Cooljay, accompanied by a young Jaime Fox) who learns almost too late what an evil father he has. Legendary Donald O'Connor has a brief role as the father of both Williams and zany Joan Cusack. Lovely Robin Wright really is misused as Williams' love interest. Veteran character actor Arthur Malet is solid support as O'Connor's assistant who stands by Williams. Jack Warden has a pointless role as the elderly patriarch, bed ridden and believed long dead. While the sets are impressive at first, after a while, it's just too much. This just gets far too outlandish and later demonic which just makes this ugly and disturbing.

billkincaid It insults the intelligence of adult viewers with its preposterous mess of a story, yet has far too much sex and ultra-violence for more innocent young audiences. The ham-handed anti war message seems like a cheap way to try for credibility. It has so little wit, so little heart in its dull script, it seems like an amateur production, or perhaps something slapped together during a writers' strike. Yet it has some real talent both behind and in front of the cameras. Although one would hope for at least "so bad it's good" status to salvage some value from the rental cost, the many long, dry, humorless scenes make the two hours wasted on this mess at best regrettable. Apparently Barry Levinson leveraged his hit-making track record to get $43 million to make this utter bomb, scorned by audiences and critics alike. The studio execs were probably horrified when they screened it but not surprised when it failed to bring in $24 million in tickets before it slunk out of the theaters. If Barry Levinson had made this stinker before he made his box office successes, he would be working at Taco Bell right now.

Jeff Hoy This movie will be many different things to many different people.As a kid I found Toys traumatic. It starts with creepy clowns, a minor-keyed "happy workers" song, and goes downhill from there. I had always considered it a welcome death knell for 80's-style dark fantasy films.But twenty-two years later, it has aged very well. The visuals and music are excellent. The atmosphere is pervasive. The messages are as relevant as ever. The difficulty for the movie, and the cause for such mixed reviews, is that the film tries to combine at least eight themes into one:1. A surreal fantasy about innocence and childhood2. A reality about death and family expectations3. A social commentary about war and industry4. An upbeat comedy, and Robin Williams does have some great moments5. A sarcastic dark comedy, which also has some great moments6. An exposition of toys, Willy Wonka-style7. Romance8. ViolenceSince all of these are adult themes, naming the movie "Toys" could be reason enough to pan it. But if you can get past the shifting themes and the 42-minute plot introduction, there are amazingly bright spots to be found. For me it was watching Robin Williams enjoy a world he helped create, sort of akin to Michael Jackson at Neverland, with all its dire fascination.

Maz Murdoch (asda-man) I decided to watch "Toys" as it was missing from my childhood, I remember seeing the trailer on the "Mrs. Doubtfire" video (that was never out!) And I thought it looked good. So it was on TV and I recorded and thought it was definitely something different and which definitely does not LACK imagination! The visuals are the most impressive things in "Toys", it's as if life is inside a Dhali painting. Everything is surreal and tongue-in-cheek which is quite refreshing to see through the midst of countless films that all start to look the same. Films like this don't come around very often and maybe some of you think this is a good thing? But it's important that you open your mind when watching this and just enjoy the imaginative images that flourish before you on the screen.The visuals and directing style reminded me of a Tim Burton film, such as "Big Fish", it was very colourful with Burton-esque ideas and I really liked that. Although the film did sort of fall apart during the evil toys vs not evil toys due to the lack of direction and not focusing on the editing.Hans Zimmer's score was also very impressive. It lifted the child-like atmosphere. Robin Williams was mis-used however, he did have some very funny lines (the Mother Teresa bit is worth watching for those few seconds) but his talents weren't used to the extent.Weird and wonderful, "Toys" is unlike anything I've ever seen, and i also think that underneath this child-like exterior is quite a serious metaphor. The story-line is simple, the directing is driven and the visuals are stunning. "Toys" is definitely worth a watch if you have at least some imagination.