The Toy Shop

The Toy Shop is a 1996, Canadian, straight-to-video, animated film. It was co-produced by Blye Migicovsky Productions, Phoenix Animation Studios, and Bedtime Primetime Classics with the financial participation of Catalyst Distribution, and produced with the participation of CFCF-TV (as CFCF 12). It is one of the originals in the Blye Migicovsky Productions VHS series rather than being an adaptation of literature.

Plot
In early 20th century England, a girl named Katherine goes to live with her Aunt Haggis after her parents passed away. Katherine always seeks fun and adventure. Later, she meets her cousin, Matthew, and their lives change after they decide to wander away from their car, in which they were waiting for their aunt to come out of a bank one day. They look around the various businesses before entering a toy store and find that it's enchanted. They meet an assortment of toys who come to life in front of them and the kids are amazed. A jack-in-the-box known as Master Jack rules over the other toys to take it out on them, because of the love he never received and he takes a liking to Katherine, wanting her to become his queen. When she refuses, he responds by magically shrinking her to doll-size, then the same happens to Matthew. Now their newfound friends must find a way to save the kids and get them back to their normal heights before sunrise or they'll be doll-sized forever.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The illustrations may not be the best due to being stylized and somewhat crude, but the animation flows nicely.
 * 2) The writing is original enough to more than make up for the art style. The story is mostly well-written.
 * 3) Many of the characters have their likability and memorability, especially Katherine for her eloquence, strong will, and courage, and Matthew, who starts out being cowardly, but later finds valor within himself when he comes to the rescue, and defies expectations.
 * 4) The character designs are alright, despite their crudeness.
 * 5) The musical numbers are another compensation and are great, including Master Jack's villain song, "I'm The Master" and the poignant flashbacks of the relationship between Katherine, and her mother, during the former's song, "When I Think Of Home, I Think Of You", tug at the heartstrings.
 * 6) Well-done, pleasantly decent-sounding voice acting.
 * 7) Good usage of jokes and dialogue.
 * 8) One message it points out is standing up for what's right, what should be done, and believing in it while find the courage to do so. Another is to let kids be kids, as shown when Katherine's formerly strict Aunt Haggis has a change of heart.
 * 9) The backstory of Master Jack is well-conceived.
 * 10) A lot of great, engaging moments.
 * 11) It represents everything that is great and precious about childhood.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Once again, the art style may not be the most perfect, but other things about this film make up for it.
 * 2) It is never mentioned nor explained just how and why Katherine's parents died.

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