User Reviews

One of the standard cartoon plots of the 1930s was that people left their shops or a particular location, and things came to life. It might happen in a drug store or a book shop and often resulted in a series of puns or gags based on product names. It seems to have ended with Bob Clampett's BOOK REVUE (1946) .... but was revived very clearly with Pixar's TOY STORY. So it's been lurking around all along.

In this example of the genre we get a toy shop variation. The interest, such as it is, lies in the sole fact that the toys come alive. there is a soprano chorus going on about how much fun it is, and that spider who had been plaguing small things in Terrytoons for a decade also threatens the inhabitants of the store.

It's a fairly typical, slightly gooey Terrytoon, aimed at small, dull kiddies. Like far too many of them, you can skip this one.

The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.

1935, like all the other years for Terrytoons, saw a hit and miss batch. Of which 'Ye Olde Toy Shop' is one of the low middle ones ranking it in correlation with the rest of the Terrytoons, and one of the lesser ones of the 1935 batch. It is an unexceptional, nothing exactly special and somewhat lacklustre cartoon and has the same amount of problems as it has the amount of strengths. Completest sake is the main reason to see it.

Best asset is the music, which predictably is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The ambitious, elaborate detail in the backgrounds in places is still great to see and some synchronisation is neat.

A little charm here and there and the occasional mildly amusing touch.

Outside of the backgrounds however, the animation is primitive at best with a fair bit of crudeness, over-simplicity and choppiness. Especially in the drawing and designs of the characters. Limited budget and hasty time constraints show loud and clear.

Likewise, the story is paper thin and formulaic, a familiar story, being a typical-feeling Terrytoons and animation in general premise, with very over-familiar execution. It's also pretty dull, due to a lot of padding and not enough content. Very few of the characters are memorable, the conflict is stale and parts try too hard to be cute. The excitement and danger of the setting doesn't come through.

Gags are scarce, or at least nowhere near enough, and what there is is nothing to write home about, too much of it is very stale. The charm isn't enough either, neither is the tension, and some of it is structured in a choppy manner. Too much is too saccharine like at the start.

Overall, lacklustre. 4/10 Bethany Cox

One of Terrytoons' ho-hum cartoons depicts a toy store where the merchandise comes to life and puts on a show. There's no doubt that the Warner Bros cartoons did a cooler job with cartoons about inanimate objects coming to life (namely because of their caricatures of the era's celebrities). "Ye Olde Toy Shop" is a perfect example of why Terrytoons never attained the renown that the Bugs Bunny cartoons did. It'll be of interest only to completists.

PS: My review's title comes from the theme song of the 1973 movie "Billy Jack", about a half-Indian Vietnam vet forced to take charge when ranchers start threatening his people (it was very much a movie that came out of the '60s).

That's just my opinion! Nothing else to say! 9/10.