Toys (film)

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Movie
German title Toys
Original title Toys
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1992
length 116 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Barry Levinson
script Valerie Curtin
Barry Levinson
production Mark Johnson
Barry Levinson
music Hans Zimmer
camera Adam Greenberg
cut Stu Linder
occupation

Toys is an American comedy released in 1992 . Directed by Barry Levinson .

action

Kenneth Zevo, the founder and head of the toy factory Zevo Toys , dies. His son Leslie is actually slated to inherit the factory. But he still has a much too naive and childlike character and is therefore not ready to take on so much responsibility. Therefore, Kenneth's brother, Lt. General Leland Zevo, temporarily in charge of the factory, and Kenneth's children, Leslie and Alsatia.

Leland Zevo, a lifelong soldier who has suffered from never being respected because of his British ancestry, has little use for toys, and even less for the supervision of two grown-up "kids". However, when he realizes that from time to time industrial spies manage to steal ideas, he decides in his own way to clean up a bit and to ensure discipline and order. To do this, he has his son, Captain Patrick Zevo, and some units of soldiers flown in.

Gone are the days of carelessness and fun at work. Many employees gradually leave the factory in protest of the rigid treatment. Nevertheless, Leslie tries at first not to show anything and to keep his usual funny demeanor. However, when Leland begins to take up more and more space in the factory, Leslie becomes skeptical. The conflict-averse Leslie first tries to talk to his uncle, but when that is unsuccessful, he sneaks into the cordoned off security area and has to find out that his uncle is trying out ideas that have to do with warfare. Leslie soon has to flee from the security guards and falls into a pit filled with water. An unknown creature, a mechanical sea pig, attacks him there, but Leslie escapes.

When Leslie speaks to his uncle the next morning, he explains that Leslie has misinterpreted everything and asserts that everything he designs is completely harmless. But Leslie soon has enough of his uncle's hustle and bustle. His sister Alsatia is on his side, as is the manager Owen Owens and Leslie's new flame, Gwen Tyler. But at first the four are pretty powerless.

The tide turns, however, when Patrick Zevo discovers that his girlfriend, the nurse Debbie, not only cheated on him with his father, but that Leland lied to him for years about the death of Patrick's mother. Leland had claimed that his wife died of appendicitis. In truth, she had been on a secret mission as an agent. Patrick changes sides and explains to his relatives and their allies what is really going on: Leland secretly has weapons-like toys produced with which he wants to cause a revolution in war technology. Leland has also become quite obsessed and reckless over time, which makes him very dangerous.

With the help of Patrick's inside knowledge, Leslie finally has the opportunity to stop his uncle, and the small group heads into the factory. Your goal is the control room, in which you can switch off all war toys in order to render them harmless. However, Leland discovers the intruders and activates his toy army consisting of tanks, helicopters and other weapons. War is fun for him, and on his monitor it looks like a computer game in which he scores points.

Leslie uses a ruse to lure the toy army into a warehouse where the old toys are stored. Leslie's allies are now tasked with using these toys against the toy army, and an incredible battle breaks out in the camp. Meanwhile, Patrick and Leslie head to the control room. Unfortunately, Patrick is shot, and Leslie has to finally take responsibility and end it all on her own.

Meanwhile, Leland has also activated the creature from the water pit, the artificial sea pig, his ultimate weapon. Leslie tries to fly to the control room in a giant model airplane that usually serves as a prop for the Christmas parties. Suddenly he is followed by a small toy helicopter, which uses retractable scissors to cut a wire on which Leslie's model airplane is hanging. Leslie then rams the large windows of the control room. When Leland attacks Leslie, they both crash into a large model city that depicts Manhattan in New York. The helicopter's final shot misses both and inadvertently destroys the control systems, so that all war toys are deactivated.

The water creature, however, has an emergency system through which it can continue to function and is moving towards the scene where Leslie now goes to the ground with his uncle. When Owen, Gwen, Patrick and Alsatia arrive, Leslie gives his uncle a lecture, and he tries to justify himself. The water creature has suffered damage and its target acquisition system is malfunctioning. As a result, she accidentally shoots Alsatia and then Leland before the creature fails. Everyone is shocked at first, but it turns out that Alsatia is just a robot that the father once built for his son Leslie, which is why Leslie does not mourn her at all. Owen promises to get the blueprints to fix them.

In the end, everything Leland has done will be undone. Peace and quiet return to the factory and Leslie is now in charge. Alsatia is being repaired and Patrick says goodbye because he has to go back to his unit. Finally, Leslie and Alsatia visit their father's or creator's grave.

Reviews

Lexicon of international film : The comedy is "contradicting its message", "striking" and "staged without a profile". The equipment is "expensive".

Georg Seeßlen in Epd Film : The comedy is "nonsense", but it is "wonderful to watch".

Awards

The comedy was nominated for an Oscar in 1993 in two categories : Best Production Design and Best Costume Design . In 1993 she received six nominations for the Saturn Award .

The film took part in the competition at the Berlinale in 1993 , but did not receive any awards.

Trivia

  • The film grossed $ 21,452,082 at the US box office.
  • The actor Jamie Foxx , who won an Oscar for the film Ray in 2005 for Best Actor , has his first feature film appearance here .
  • In the scene in which General Leland Zevo is shooting a fly with a silver pistol in the darkened control center, the musical aria Nessun dorma from the opera Turandot by the composer Giacomo Puccini can be heard in the background . In addition, the song The Happy Worker by pop singer Tori Amos provides musical accompaniment to the scene in which workers on colorful factory assembly lines in the Zevo Toys company produce various dolls, toy cars and clown figures.
  • The American guitarist Wendy Melvoin , who made a short guest appearance as a Christmas choir singer in "Toys", was the musical creative partner of the pop singer Prince for many years and appears in his video clip for the 1986 song Kiss .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Toys. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used