The story begins at an old cottage. At first it just seems like a regular, old cottage that hasn't been used for a while, but then we begin to see objects around the house come to life. A toaster, an electric blanket, and clock radio, a desk lamp, and a vacuum cleaner are the main appliances in the story. When they wake up they all go about their chores, stopping every time they hear a car coming, because they are constantly waiting for their master, a young boy, to come retrieve them and use them again. Well on one fateful day, they realize that the cottage is going to be put up for sale, and that they might never see their master again. Instead of just sitting to rot and waiting for their next masters to take possession of the cottage and them as well, the toaster convinces them to go off in search of their master. They travel through many forests and fields, and actually fall into a swamp at one point and are found by a man who repairs broken appliances. He takes them back to his shop, a scary place where appliances apparently go to die under torturous circumstances. Just as the radio is about to go, they create a diversion and make their escape and miraculously find their master's apartment in the city. When they get there though, the new furniture is jealous of the old furniture and tells them that their master doesn't need them anymore and throws them into a dumpster, and they are taken to a landfill. Little do they know, their master drove to the cottage to retrieve them, only to find them gone. When he returns home his old tv (friends with toaster and gang) direct the master to the dump, in hopes that he'd find toaster and bring the gang back. Things at the dump get a bit dangerous when a magnetic machine spots our appliance friends and tries to crush them. What will happen I wonder.
This is a great movie. And actually this is a terrifying movie. I can't believe I didn't notice the sheer terror this movie should have caused me when I first watched it, but kids are always stronger than we give them credit for.. and maybe it's adults who are more susceptible to fear, or knowledge of fear anyway. If you want to preview some of the scenes look up the clown scene, or the scene with the air conditioner. They're on YouTube. It's a really interesting movie to watch, and it has catchy songs too.
Another quality that is good about this movie is it really pushes the idea that you have to cherish and take care of the things you buy. So often we develop the mentality that everything is disposable, everything has an expiry date, and you don't need to care for what you have because if it breaks, you can buy another one just like it. Instead, if more people developed the habit of caring for and taking pride in what they own, we would waste less money on useless purchases and reduce our garbage.
An interesting scene in this movie takes place when Toaster and gang take a break from their journey in field and all of the animals and flowers start interacting with our friends, especially with the reflection they see in Toaster. There is one flower that sees it's reflection in Toaster and falls in love with it, but there's no flower there, and the reflection can't love it back, so the flower begins to wilt and die. It's a depressing part of the movie that doesn't immediately fit in. Of course it could symbolize the other side of the 'love your things' theme, where you can't actually love your things because they'll never love you back, because they're not alive. But it, like the whole movie, is really interesting in it's lack of fear to go to darker places, for a children's movie.
Each of the characters grow a lot in this movie, too (just keeps getting better and better, I know). Characters who begin afraid of everything find an inner strength, characters who don't show a lot of emotion really open up, etc. They all do their own part to complete their journey and make their own sacrifices to achieve a greater happiness.
I really recommend you watch this film. Okay, maybe not the most amazing children's film ever made, but a definite watch.
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