BABES IN TOYLAND was an ambitous made-for-TV musical starring child sensation Drew Barrymore, and bankrolled by the Finnegan/Pinchuk Company. With a charming and whimsical score by Leslie Bricusse and featuring a very young Keanu Reeves, this updated version of BABES IN TOYLAND makes for charming family viewing, especially at Christmas.
One snowy Christmas Eve, a car accident catapults Lisa Piper (Drew Barrymore) into the enchanted world of Toyland. Once there, she quickly gets involved in the lives of it's inhabitants; joining forces with Jack (Keanu Reeves), Mary Contrary (Jill Schoelen) and Georgy (Googy Gress) to rid Toyland once and for all of the evil Barnaby Barnacle (Richard Mulligan).
The story is unashamedly sentimental; the screenplay by Paul Zindel seems to rip off elements from THE WIZARD OF OZ in that the main Toyland characters seem to resemble people Lisa knows back on Earth (Mary is her sister, Jack is Mary's boyfriend, Georgy is a family friend, Barnaby is a mean-spirited toyshop owner and Mary's mother is Lisa's mother).
It's quite horrifying to realise that this was around the time that Drew Barrymore started getting into drugs and alcohol (looking at the angelic girl on the screen it's even more shocking). Fans from the 80's will delight in seeing Jill Schoelen and Googy Gress in their heyday. Co-starring Pat Morita and Eileen Brennan.