The Brave Little Toaster

The Brave Little Toaster
You know what they say, all toasters love adventure!
Genre: Animation Musical Comedy Directed by: Jerry Rees Produced by: Donald Kushner Thomas L. Wilhite Written by: Jerry Rees Joe Ranft Brian McEntee Based on: The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas M. Disch Starring: Deanna Oliver Timothy E. Day Jon Lovitz Tim Stack Thurl Ravenscroft Wayne Kaatz Phil Hartman Joe Ranft Editing: Donald W. Ernst Music by: Van Dyke Parks David Newman Production company: Hyperion Pictures The Kushner-Locke Company ITC Entertainment Distributed by: Hyperion Pictures Release date: June 19, 1987 (Orlando) July 13, 1987 (Los Angeles) Runtime: 90 minutes Country: United States United Kingdom Language: English Budget: $2.3 million Box office: $2.3 million (estimated) Franchise: The Brave Little Toaster Sequel: The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars

The Brave Little Toaster is a 1987 American animated musical fantasy-comedy adventure film adapted from the 1980 novella of the same name by Thomas M. Disch. The film is set in a world where household appliances and other electronics come to life, pretending to be lifeless in the presence of humans.

The film was produced by Hyperion Animation along with The Kushner-Locke Company. Many CalArts graduates, including the original members of Pixar Animation Studios, were involved with this film. While the film received a limited theatrical release, The Brave Little Toaster was popular on home video and was followed by two sequels: The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.

Synopsis

Five sentient household appliances -- Toaster, Blanky, Radio, Lampy and a vacuum cleaner named Kirby -- living in an abandoned cabin have grown lonely. Longing to reunite with their owner, a young man named Rob, the appliances set off on a harrowing trek through the wilderness, surviving as best they can despite limited sources of electricity. Worse yet, when they arrive in the big city they discover they may no longer be useful because of new, modern appliances.

Good Qualities

1. It was the start of the legacy of Hyperion Pictures' animation division, Hyperion Animation Company, Inc.
2. The film has a wonderfully beautiful soundtrack, thanks to the New Japan Philharmonic and composer David Newman.
3. The epic heroic scene with Toaster rescuing his owner, Rob, from being killed by the crusher.
   • Toaster's most heroic sacrifice was extremely emotional.
4. The film has brilliant animation, which was done by a mixture of ex-Disney employees and CalArts graduates, including some of the original members of Pixar.
5. The film has incredible vocal performances from Deanna Oliver, Tim Stack, Jon Lovitz, the late Joe Ranft and Phil Hartman.
6. The film has a wonderful story that's loosely faithful to the original novella, which used only four pieces of the dialogue from it.
7. Some funny moments like Radio quoting Moby Dick and a frog making faces with Toaster's reflective surface... as Toaster grows increasingly annoyed.
8. The film has some amazingly pleasing musical numbers, for example, "City of Lights", "It's a B-Movie", and "Worthless".
9. The characters were very likable, such as the Toaster himself, the very funny Radio, the grouchy but good hearted Kirby (especially towards the end), the bright but irascible lamp Lampy, and of course the adorable Blanky.
10. Despite being received a limited theatrical release, it became popular as a direct-to-video release.
11. It was the most popular animated feature film of 1987.
12. The appliances' designs look pretty cute and appealing.
13. Pretty good direction by Jerry Rees.

Bad Qualities

1. The cranky vacuum, Kirby, was a very unlikable character, that was true until the last scenes of the film and got himself redeemed to a more nicer vacuum.
2. The nightmare sequence with the scary clown in a fireman outfit, The Main characters going to the trashcan & going the junkyard and the scene where Rob almost gets killed by a car crusher might be too intense for younger viewers.
3. The part where Robert (aka the Master) fixes and shows his toaster to Chris was a little bit lame because it was short, even the part where he almost gets crushed is also short.
4. The movie is sometimes too scary/mean-spirited for kids and too childish for adults, so it's rather difficult to know who the target audience was.
5. The musical number "It's a "B" movie" was considered as too frightening and completely dark for younger audiences. Making the soundtrack version much better.
6. The Toaster getting crushed near the end is a little sad.
7. Some of the soundtrack is a little sad or scary sometimes.
8. In 1998 "The Brave Little Toaster: GOES TO MARS" came to America after this movie when it should've been "The Brave Little Toaster: TO THE RESCUE" thus creating some confusion over what movie was to come out next.

Critical Reception

The film has garnered a 77% rating on the reviews website Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.31/10.

External Links

• The Brave Little Toaster at the Internet Movie Database
• The Brave Little Toaster on Rotten Tomatoes

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