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The Toys That Made Us (2017)
Very Thorough AND Entertaining!
This is a great 8-part series of documentaries featuring various toy lines that have been popular over the last 60 years or so. The research is extremely detailed, the formula for each episode keeps you riveted and the editing is spectacular.
However, there is one reason why I did not rate 10/10 stars. This is because the people making the series limited themselves to just 8 episodes. This means only about 8 toy lines. I loved the episodes so far but I feel that they should do a few more. Some note worthy suggestions might be the My Little Pony franchise, Furby or maybe Raggedy Ann and Andy? Or maybe American Girl?
For me, particularly Furby. I would love to know who started the controversy on Furby in 1998 and why, for instance. As of right now, I have two original 1990's Furbies in my room that are fully functioning. They have just learned to sleep when not being played with... Would love to know more about them!
I also have some of the new Friendship is Magic toys from Hasbro because I admit that I am a Pegasister. But I did not just start collecting MLP toys. I LOVED having them when I was a little girl, so it would be nice to know more about MLP, too.
A Disney toy documentary might be nice, too. Specifically on the larger than life and ever growing Mickey Mouse toy line.
I also collect Raggedy Ann and Andy items and though I do know a LOT about the origins of the dolls, it would still be nice to finally see a documentary on it completed, as the efforts made by the Raggedy Ann and Andy toy museum were thwarted when no one helped them fund the attempt a few years ago.
What else would be interesting... Sky Dancers, maybe. I heard they were pulled from shelves because kids kept getting smacked, but my Sky Dancers NEVER smacked me. I was VERY careful with them.
Or... One of the world's first audio-animatronic toys??? Teddy Ruxpin??? I have often heard that there would have been no Furby without him.
Or how about Tamagotchi? Or the Pokemon franchise??? Those were both extremely popular when I was little, too. I got caught up by both of them and to this day, I still train Pokemon! (I'm 25. lol)
Escape from Tomorrow (2013)
The father of a family on a trip to the Disney Parks slowly catches a disease that infiltrates the mind...
Warning: This review may be strongly opinionated.
I did not like this film as a Disney fan, or even a horror fan. I was sort of expecting him to imagine this all out machine-uprising in the middle of one of my favorite parks, but instead it's just some weird cat based, sexual mental illness? I'm not even sure I understood exactly what this movie was about.
And I was heavily annoyed by the constant unclear cuts between shots filmed in DISNEYLAND and shots filmed in Disney WORLD. This may be just because I've got autism, but I am very particular about anything involving my Disney...
I was also very upset by the mother having such an issue with her man even so much as touching her arm in front of the kids, and I became really enraged with her as an annoying character when she denied her little girl just one freaking balloon and then slapped her across the face in public. I know she was anxious because she knew her husband was eyeing another girl, but still... What the fudge?? Why, just because of that, yell at your kid at a Disney park and tell her she can't have a Mickey balloon before hitting her? It's not her fault. At this point, the mom was BEYOND help for me, and I felt sorry for the kids when I saw their father died and they were left with mommy. The dad, even with his issues, seemed to be a way better parent. He knew when to be more firm, and when not to be, and he was really trying to make this vacation the best one his kids ever had. He was even willing to wait in the longest line ever for his son to ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The mom DID take the daughter on the Teacups and Dumbo, but that was about the most fun she ever allowed either kid to have with her around at the parks. Everything else almost was her controlling everything. (Except on the Three Caballeros, I could understand her making them look at things they weren't looking at already there.) Also, this didn't bug me really but I would be curious to ask the daughter why she thought Queen Grimhilde was so scary??? I wasn't afraid of her at that age. :/ As a matter of fact, I really liked her as a Disney villainess from a young age. I'm really glad they still made her go on the Snow White ride though- because in watching this movie I got to "go with them" on my favorite "deceased" ride once again, this time in a really cool looking black and white tint palette.
Anyway though, I'll give it to the movie directors for trying to make something bold. Maybe this movie just isn't my cup of tea. But I certainly won't recommend it to my fellow Walt Disney fanatics- the EPCOT ball catches on fire and explodes in an ugly vision, the mother forces the family to go to the non-classic fireworks that are not featured at Cinderella Castle, for the love of god if you love It's A Small World do not watch this movie, and if you're a die-hard fan and you know about Walt's issue with names... You may have mixed feelings about them referring to him as "Mr. W". He ASKED to be called WALT. Not "Mr. Disney", not "Mr. Walt", not "Mr. W". Just WALT.
Also, try not to let it annoy you that the Princesses at the parks are NOT wearing official Disney Parks Cast Member Princess gowns, if things like that do annoy you.
Looking at this movie from a horror genre point of view, the black and white was a nicely suspenseful item, but it did nothing to hide the fake special effects and makeup. But since this is a fairly new movie, I'm guessing those things were a deliberate move. Maybe for comedy relief. I often never realize it when a black comedy bites me in the rear end. The only time I've ever realized it was with Sweeney Todd... And maybe Beetlejuice. Tim Burton's been the only man ever to be able to help me know a black comedy when I see it. In that case, this movie is pretty bold, if it is a black comedy. It's a good try, and for the horror fans, worth at least one watch, maybe. But it is definitely not an award winner.