The Toys Room

It is easy to see why the animations of Dingo Pictures are relatively obscure, though those who have had the misfortune of seeing any of their output (which along with their equally low-budget computer animated counterpart Video Brinquedo have not once made anything worthwhile) cannot forget their awfulness. It is even easier to see why they are universally reviled.

Whether 'The Toys Room' is one of Dingo Pictures' worst is debatable, the list of contenders for that title is very long. It is however one of the strongest examples for the studio of target audience being called into serious question and it is one of their most inappropriately creepy. That it's unoriginal is the least of 'The Toys Room' problems, being derivative of 'Toy Story' (which has actual quality to it), those two above problems and its cheapness and laziness are far less easy to forgive. As was said before, it is hard to know where to start when there are no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and even for a studio with next to nothing worthwhile 'The Toys Room' is just an abomination, an almost unheard of word for me to use these days but this deserves it.

The animation is some of the worst there is, so awful it's unacceptable even for low-budget animation. It has flat colours, very simplistic backgrounds and lack of detail and derivative, shoddy, unfinished recycled (some lifted directly out of previous Dingo Pictures efforts and have no relevance to the story whatsoever) and creepy character animation as well as a style that makes art of primary school children who draw and paint in half an hour or less seem more accomplished.

Music always sounds misplaced and never fitting with what's going on, not to mention that it has little breathing space even in scenes that are in dire need for it. The opening music is actually the least bad asset of 'The Toys Room' but somehow didn't seem like it belonged, more like opening music for a video game. The script is incredibly repetitive and juvenile, some of it making one question who the target audience was meant to be, that it will insult any adult is bad enough but even young children will feel dumber after hearing some of the dialogue here.

The story feels incredibly stretched and 'The Toys Room' is not even that long at all. It also has incredibly plodding pacing, is very disjointed, goes nowhere a lot of the time and some of it is so aimless and jumpy it's incomprehensible, usually have no trouble following storytelling but had real trouble making sense of the story here. Target audience is also a big problem, with 'The Toys Room' containing some wildly out of place creepiness and a darker, more violent tone that just jarred and would leave younger audiences scarred.

Characters are excruciatingly irritating and a few irrelevant to the story. Not a likable or interesting character among them, most of them being nerve-gratingly annoying or too sugary that it makes the teeth hurt. Toys should be inviting and make a child want to play with them, these toys would push them away and make them traumatised.

Meanwhile, the sound effects are bizarre and randomly placed and the voice acting throughout is ill-fitting, constantly depressed-sounding and just grates on the nerves.

Overall, a mess that may turn children off from playing with toys. 1/10 (one of the most deserving recipients of this very rarely given out rating these days for me) Bethany Cox