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Here might be a good place to point out that of all the movies I've recently reviewed, it's not so much the other animated film, Spirited Away, that Brave Little Toaster resembles, but rather the Talking Heads video collection Storytelling Giant. In a surreal satire of advertisements they badger their antique cousins with an electronic song and dance. The story really finds its teeth when the appliances arrive in the city and are forced to confront their old master's newer, shinier toys, from massive stereos to computers to microwaves (all of which are, of course, equally outdated 20 years after the film was released). When the appliances are on the road, the concept is amusingly absurd but little more.
MOVIES LIKE THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER MOVIE
That the movie takes these consumer goods and uses them to deliver a heartfelt message about authenticity and the worthiness of the old and forgotten only adds to the charm and chutzpah. True, the animators made the toaster and his pals cuter than the appear on Disch's book cover, but the fact remains: we're made to identify with and feel for a goddamn toaster! Just repeat it to yourself and watch that goofy grin grow. They are, rather, just about the least inherently sympathetic protagonists one could put onscreen. Every now and then you have to stop and remind yourself that these aren't people we're rooting for, nor are they animals or even anthropomorphized robots.
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The story follows several appliances (a vacuum cleaner, an electric blanket, a desk lamp, a radio stuck in the 1940s, and of course the titular toaster) who tire of their lonely life in an abandoned cabin and journey through the woods to a big city, in pursuit of the child (now a young man, college-bound) who gave them love and affection in the good old days. That said, the film itself remains an original conception with some pleasingly rough edges. A quick glance at the Amazon summary of Brave Little Toaster (grumpily described by a School Library Journal critic as "lamentable idiocy") reveals that its plotline does not entirely correspond with the film and, given Disch's reputation for stubborn individualism, it would be interesting to note where allowances and modifications were made for mainstream consumption. I haven't read any of Disch's work, though after reading a few of his obituaries I may be inspired to. In addition to writing highly literary, much-acclaimed, but scarcely-read fiction, Disch was a poet, a playwright (whose work the Catholic Church tried to prevent from being performed), and, as it happens, the author of a children's book called The Brave Little Toaster, turned into an unusual animated film which inspired several sequels and still proves popular today. Disch had killed himself a few weeks ago. This evening I stumbled across the unfortunate news that sci-fi author Thomas M. Its eccentricity is apparent from the title, while the source material only adds to the general air of idiosyncrasy. Like yesterday's Spirited Away, The Brave Little Toaster was released by Disney without actually being a Disney film (a quick glance at the names of the animators reveals that it was largely a Chinese operation). Instead, I've reviewed the second animated film in a row. It will have to wait, because I want to watch the whole thing before writing on it and - at 3 hours long - I didn't get to it today. Griffith for a few days now a disc of Biograph shorts is sitting impatiently beside my computer.