Rating: 
Summary: This is a great movie. You'll probably hate it.
Review: This movie was panned, and disappeared from the theaters so fast it was a miracle I even saw it. The plot is kind of surreal -- almost like a fable. If you take the plot literally, you'll hate this movie, as did most people. If you're looking for a Robin Williams comedy, you'll definitely be disappointed.What you do get is a movie that is incredibly creative, visually and musically, with an incredible cast that all get it. It is a fun movie about good vs. evil (or joy and innocence vs. militarism), it can be very silly, and if you get into it you'll love it. I do.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it....
Review: I was quite surprised to see 48 reviews for this obscure movie. I know it is a "love it or hate it" film, but I have to admit I am in the former group. I first saw this movie while spending the night in a hotel in Garmisch, Germany; and I was so drawn into it I put off dinner (hard for me to do with the excellent food in Germany) until it was over. I can understand why a lot of people are disappointed with this movie, it isn't the normal Robin Williams performance. If you are expecting 'Mork and Mindy' then go rent 'Mrs Doubtfire.' I am sure some are appalled over the fact that there is a message in this movie as well, we want to see robin act like the clown prince, not tell us that violent toys are bad! However, if you can get past those two points, you are in for one of the best abstract movies of the past decade. I am glad a majority of the reviews are in favor of this movie, it may not have made a lot of money at the box office but it is cinematic art.
Rating:
Summary: Thank God for the Imagination!
Review: It is very difficult to believe this film is celebrating its 10th anniversary. TOYS was released in 1992 when I was seven, and I'm still devastated I never got to see the fantastic visuals and hear the utterly warped (yet fantastic) soundtrack ... ah well. This is unequovically my all time favourite film. I can see why TOYS generated such a lot of negative press. 20th Century Fox indeed took a gamble with Barry Levison's pet project and commisioned an enormous (even by today's standards) $80 million budget ... Sadly, it didn't carry the mainstream flag of "big guns, girls and perfunctory screenplay", and hence pulled in a dissapointing $21 million in the USA. Like the controversial Bond film "Licence To Kill", age has proved kinder to this film. I won't go to explain the backbone of the story, as many reviewers have done this already, but I will say, no matter what age you are, there is some mystical magic about TOYS that refuses to subside no matter how much you try and dislike it. Robin Williams gives a typically aloof and sensitive performance (note the similarities to him in Hook), and the support is fantastic. Joan Cusack, Michael Gambon, LL Cool J & Robin Wight Penn all deliver great performances also. Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Thelma & Louise, Hannibal) gives us a slightly militaristic score and the production design was more than Oscar material. The real deal though is how all these elements combine to make a dizzying comical farce that is intertwined with a real human backstory. In these modern times, when the world is as uncertain as it has ever been .. it's very comforting to see the subtle anti-war critique that oozes from Robin Williams performance. The pyrotechnic - heavy ending combined with the Frankie Goes To Hollywood tune is sheer masterpiece of NON MAINSTREAM Hollywood. The symbolism really rings out here, a chill still goes down my spine when the bear gets destroyed, and another comes over, as if trying to fix it. However, the Sea Swine is slightly disturbing ... As the film wasn't a huge financial success, wasn't a "re-imagining" of a better film, and didn't feature lightsabers, Fox has made next to no effort with the DVD. A good quality 1.85:1 anamorphic print brings the scenery to life with a lot more feel than VHS, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is well mixed (it should be as it was re-recorded in George Lucas' THX theater) but that's as far as it really goes. Fox includes a woeful featurette that is nothing more than an extended trailer, and the theatrical trailer to round things off. I do hope someday one of these clever DVD production houses, like Criterion do one of their ultimate editions with this film, as how it is made and what is says warrants more than Fox has done here. If you're still awake and have read this far ... go and buy one of cinema's most influencial anti war pieces! If you have an imagination, you'll agree you never have, nor will, see anything like it ever again.
Rating:
Summary: EYE CANDY
Review: Eye candy. Yet plenty of action, plot - even affection. The apocalyptic scene where the vintage baby boy doll escapes all the devastation, his pet dog dragging from the seat of his pants, still brings tears. And I'm a man! ...
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: This is one of my all time favorite movies - there are a few movies that I pull out and watch at least once a year, and Toys is one of those.
Rating:
Summary: Judge for yourself...
Review: If you haven't seen this movie, you really ought to take the time to see it once. Love it or hate it, the sets are visually stunning and the wind-up toys are definitely worth the time to see. Robin Williams has a couple of annoying moments in this movie, but they are brief and in the spirit of the character he is portraying. Don't miss the very cute 80's-ish music video with Robin W. and Joan C.!
Rating: 
Summary: moral fable gets in the way of the fun
Review: I felt cheated by this flick which billed itself as a whimsical comedy - a sort of funny fairy tale. All fairy tales have a moral, but that's supposed to be okay since you get to see wicked witches and big bad wolves get what's coming to them before you have to sit for the lesson. In "Toys", the bad guys are pretty much dead the minute they walk on screen. The movie starts when Mr. Zevo, the saintly head of a magical toy company (Zevo's offices and factories look less like places where people work than a playground, a sort of utopian industrial center where everybody sings while they work) dies leaving control of the company to his brother, Leland (Michael Gambon). Leland, an army general put to pasture by the end of the cold war, doesn't take to his job running a toy company or dealing with his brother's whimsical children, Leslie (Robin Williams) and Alsatia (Joan Cusack). That is, until he hits on the idea of building "war toys". At first making very realistic military toys, the general somehow crosses the line, conjuring up toy-like weapons guided by children convinced they are just playing games (and numbed by the repetition). When the General zealously tries to hide his secrets, he turns the factory into an armed camp. At first trying to accept the changes, childlike Leslie and Alsatia are forced to grow up, take charge and save the factory from the forces of evil. This flick is killed by Barry Levinson's compulsion to create a morality tale based on the end of the cold-war. The military helped us in our time of need, but that time is passed, and it's now the age of the "peace-dividend". Unregenerate war mongers like Leland can only coexist with the rest of us if they abandon their militaristic ways. To push this heavy handed fable, Levinson squanders the talent of Williams and Cusack, who become something like toys themselves, bereft of their usual vibrant personalities. In crafting a film aimed at the tyrannical forces who squander our nation's wealth and well being on military hardware, Levinson becomes something of a heavy-handed general himself.
Rating:
Summary: still good after all these years
Review: i loved this movie. i first saw this in 1993. taped it first thing it came on hbo and i still love this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Has Playtime ever been so void of fun.
Review: Barry Levinson takes a break from his Baltimore films (AVALON, TIN MEN, DINER, LIBERTY HEIGHTS) to bring us the film TOYS. Sadly, he seems to have taken a break from excellence as well. TOYS is a visual extravaganza, the film takes place for the most part inside a toy factory that would baffle Doctor Seuss. In fact, that is where this film fails. The visuals far outweigh the story: the factory is left to a military leader rather than the childlike son (Robin Williams). His only support comes comes from his understanding sister Alsatia (scene dominating Joan Cusack). But by the second hour of the film, the story has been abducted with no chance for return. So, this is probably a must for Robin Williams fans, but other than that, this movie about heart doesn't have one of its own.
Rating:
Summary: The First Hour Is OK...but The Rest Is Just ...
Review: Toys is unfortunely a bad Robin Williams movie. The first hour of Toys is however in a way pretty funny and some of the scenes are well-written and imaginative. But after that hour has past, the movie takes a turn for the worse, leaving the screenplay at the gates, and getting into a stupid subplot about an army cheif taking over the toy land.
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