Toy films are everywhere you look these days, a result of a film industry that is flooded with superhero films and franchises of every conceivable type – hence the endless range of action figures, fancy dress costumes, video games, and so on. But what about films in which the central premise revolves around toys? Having come to prominence in the 1980s, movies centered around toy ranges are now an integral part of the global film industry. Here are ten films about toys that you won’t want to miss.
10. Battleship
If the idea of a film based on the fun but somewhat limited strategy game where players take it in turns to sink each other’s ships by inserting pegs in a 10×10 board seems like a stretch, that’s because it is. Having no source material to work with, in Battleship director Peter Berg produced a military sci-fi film that attempts to meld the romantic subplots of Top Gun, the alien-whipping feelgood sequences from Independence Day, and the gee-whizz derring-do of Pearl Harbor, and mostly fails. Big hitters such as Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgård, and Rihanna all struggle to make anything compelling out of the flimsy storyline. All the same, the special effects are both spectacular and hugely impressive, and the action sequences offer some fun diversions for those willing to suspend their disbelief.
9. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
The critics gave it the thumbs-down, but good box office and word-of-mouth ensured that the second entry in the G.I. Joe franchise was, and remains, the best in the series ten years after its release. Starring Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis as hard-as-nails members of the “G.I. Joe Team” – a group of crack special ops soldiers assigned the riskiest, most important missions – the film sees their team attempt to nab nuclear warheads, but get branded as traitors in the process. The labyrinthine plot sees innumerable twists and turns, and Jonathan Pryce adds heft and gravitas as the President of the United States. Unfortunately, the fun didn’t last – the sequel, Snake Eyes, bombed at the box office on its release in 2021.
8. Masters of the Universe
The premise is tired, Dolph Lundgren’s acting is as hammy as it gets, and the dialog is cliched, but for sheer so-bad-it’s-good entertainment value, this 1987 curio has held up surprisingly well. Although the plot is thin, the cast are clearly having fun, particularly James Tolkan, then on a career high having just co-starred with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd as Strickland in Back To The Future (1985), and alongside Tom Cruise as Stinger in Top Gun (1986). Inspector Lubic, his flatfoot character, adds value here, as does a 23-year-old Courteney Cox as bewildered high schooler Julie, and none other than Academy Award nominee Frank Langella as Skeletor, whose presence adds far more luster to the proceedings than the project deserved.
7. Small Soldiers
Director Joe Dante claimed that his 1998 comedy Small Soldiers was savaged in the cutting room at the behest of executives who plumped for a more child-friendly film at the last moment. The result is a tonally uneven movie that moves along at a good pace, but never quite hits the mark. Teenage toy store worker Alan (Gregory Smith) develops a crush on next-door neighbor Christy (Kirsten Dunst), but discovers that the store’s new toy soldiers are sentient, having been accidentally fitted with military-grade artificial intelligence. The film also features long-time Dante collaborator Wendy Schaal and The Simpsons stalwart Phil Hartman in his final major screen role before his death, but Dunst and Smith command the attention. The pair give it their all, and lend their characters verve and likability. Listen out for the voices of two Academy Award winners in the guise of Tommy Lee Jones and George Kennedy as the soldier protagonists.
6. Transformers
The law of diminishing returns badly affected the five sequels that followed Transformers, but Michael Bay’s original 2007 action movie remains as watchable as ever with all of its mechs, guns, battles, and explosions galore. For all of its farfetchedness, the plot is surprisingly tight, involving an epic war between the Autobots and Decepticons for universal domination. It was notable for launching the career of Shia LaBeouf into the stratosphere – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would follow months later. There are also good showings from Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, and Tyrese Gibson in supporting roles, though Jon Voight’s scene-chewing performance as the U.S. Secretary of Defense saw him pick up a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor.
5. Mars Attacks!
For this 1996 comedy, Tim Burton cranked up the silliness to new levels, giving the ubiquitous Martians outsized green brains and protruding eyeballs. The basis was a set of trading cards produced by Topps in the 1960s: thin gruel for a movie. But Burton, alongside writers Jonathan Gems, Scott Alexander, and Larry Karaszewski, turned in a script that referenced 1950s alien invasion B-movies and satires on the end of the world such as Dr. Strangelove: a parodic antidote to the chest-thumping patriotism of Independence Day, which opened five months previously. The star-studded cast included Jack Nicholson and Glenn Close as the President and the First Lady; a young Natalie Portman as their daughter; and Pierce Brosnan as a po-faced academic. That’s to say nothing of countless cameos from A-listers desperate to get in on Burton’s latest project after the knockout successes of Batman and Edward Scissorhands. Critics were not so sure, and the film garnered mixed reviews, earning Mars Attacks! a reputation as a fun but flawed addition to the Burtonverse.
4. Jumanji
Based on the 1981 book of the same name that featured a supernatural board game, Robin Williams rejected the script at first sight, perhaps with memories of his appearance in a recent toy-themed box-office bomb – as the son of a toy factory owner in Toys (1992) – in mind. Fortunately, he eventually agreed, and the result was a smash hit: Jumanji took a then-impressive quarter of a billion dollars at the box office, wowing audiences with its story of a child who get sucked into a board game featuring the perils and pitfalls of jungle living as its key premise. Two recent sequels – the Dwayne Johnson-fronted Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) – provide ample proof of the franchise’s staying power; a fourth instalment is currently in development.
3. The LEGO Movie
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s 2014 animated comedy offers a whip-smart take on the toys-in-peril trope that worked so successfully for Toy Story twenty years previously. Emmet Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt) is working at his job in construction when he is mistaken for the Special, a mystical Lego figure who will find the Piece of Resistance that will save the LEGO world from the destructive powers of the Kragle. The Socratic irony is laid on thick when we discover that the Kragle is in fact a tube of Crazy Glue that can stick every Lego figure in place forever, and that the Piece of Resistance… is the tube’s cap. A glorious runaround follows, sumptuously animated and voiced by a panoply of Hollywood royalty, including Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Alison Brie, and Liam Neeson – and Star Wars fans will squeal as Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles as the LEGO versions of Lando and C-3PO.
2. Barbie
Who would have thought that the must-see film of blockbuster season in 2023 wouldn’t be Christopher Nolan’s magisterial World War Two epic Oppenheimer, but a fantasy drenched in dayglo-pink about a doll? But there’s no arguing with success, and Barbie has cleaned up at the box office this summer, taking a cool one billion dollars globally at the time of writing. The critics are (rightly) talking up the work of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and her hunky boyfriend Ken in the lead roles, but they receive more than ample support from the likes of Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, Saturday Night Live alumna Kate McKinnon, and Scott Pilgrim vs The World’s Michael Cera. It’s too early to say for sure, but with commentators already speculating about Gosling’s chances of an Academy Award nom for Best Supporting Actor – and maybe, just maybe, a nod for Best Picture – no-one would bet against the movie cleaning up at the Oscars next March.
1. Toy Story
There’s no getting away from this 1990s smash hit that put digital animation company Pixar on the map. Cowboy toy Woody and his friends come to life whenever their owner Andy is out of his bedroom, and all is well until a flashy new toy – ripped “space ranger” Buzz Lightyear – is given to Andy as a present. Add into the mix countless well-remembered toys from the 1970s and 1980s – think Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, and a whole battalion of green plastic soldiers. Pair the above with a Woody-Buzz rivalry and a misanthropic next-door neighbor who delights in destroying toys, and it’s easy to see why Toy Story became the second highest-grossing film of 1995. Boasting a top-notch voice cast including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, and John Ratzenberger, the film spawned a franchise that included three excellent sequels. Earlier this year, a fifth installment was reported to be in development.
