The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue

Those fun-loving electrical appliances from the acclaimed animated hit THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER are back in an action-packed adventure with four all-new songs! This heartfelt and humorous full-length feature reunites Toaster, Blanky, Lampy, Radio, and Kirby the vacuum cleaner -- the beloved household gadgets of college student Rob. When Toaster and the gang spark friendships with the playful animals at the veterinary hospital, they soon discover their new pals are about to be sent to a testing laboratory! Through teamwork (and combined voltage), they embark on a hilarious rescue to save all the animals, including Sebastian, a wise monkey, and Maisie, a doting mother cat with kittens. Treat your entire family to THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER TO THE RESCUE ... an imaginative film bursting with colorful animation, high-energy music, and characters that'll warm your heart at the push of a button!

1 A very worthy part 2 of the trilogy.
This movie is good on several counts. First, it may be the third installment in the Brave Little Toaster trilogy, but it's obviously intended to be inserted between the original and "Mars," to tie together the Master's departure for college and his marriage to Chris/fatherhood to Rob, Jr. in "Mars." That development seemed to come much too soon, leaving us to wonder just what occurred in between. This movie carries a wonderful message about animals and their rights, focusing rather heavily on a snake named Mergatroid, a devoted white mother cat named Maisie, a disaffected rat named Ratzo, an elderly ape named Sebastian, and a sweet Chihuahua named Alberto. Despite the fact that the film often borders on corny, with "animals in danger" for some reason flashing on the computer screen when they're taken away by the evil Mack, to be shipped to a lab, the music in this movie isn't too bad, considering it's a sequel. We're introduced to some new appliances as well; a modem, female computer, some printers, a security camera in the police Dobermans' pen. On the whole, the main characters retain their personalities true enough to form, but don't have quite enough funny or poignant lines to allow this to come close to matching its original. Not that anything ever could. This is a worthy sequel. The Master is studying to be a veterinarian, a suitable profession. The interaction of appliances and animals is interesting.

Oh, and let's not forget Wittgenschtein, the old super-computer! This movie was obviously planned before "Mars," because it explains how he came to live in the museum. Brian Doyle-Murray does a great job as the voice of this funny, nice guy. And it's a touching moment when Radio sacrifices his own WFC-11-12-55 tube to save him. The Toaster hasn't been the only brave one throughout these movies. The others have done some pretty brave things themselves.

Overall, not a bad sequel. Cheesier than the first, it might not satisfy older viewers, but the younger ones should find most of it cute if nothing else.

2 Disney's animal rights message?
I was enjoying this movie until I noticed that part of the plot involves villains stealing animals to be sold to an animal research lab (that Toaster and his friends rescue). This not only perpetuates the myth that scientists walk the streets trying to steal your pet for experimentation, but conveys the message that animal experimentation is wrong. If you are are an animal rights supporter, then this movie is for you and your kid. Instead, if you support the responsible and humane use of animals in medical research avoid this movie at all cost.

I can't believe Disney's writers didn't notice the underlying message in this movie. I can only conclude this represents their opinion on the subject. Very sad.

3 Entertaining but not up to the original
Looking for something to entertain the kids on a wet night? This installment of the Toaster series will fit the bill quite nicely. Although it's not as well written, directed or produced as the first film (or even the second), To The Rescue does deal with a number of moral issues and difficult decisions that the Toaster and his pals have to make to save the life of some lab animals.

More of a slapdash affair than the first film (or, in my opinion, the convoluted sequel), Rescue is a poor relation to the original film. THe characterizations and conflicts are still strong and suspenseful but the plotting is sloppy. Most younger children won't notice but a few older ones might. Luckily, kids can suspend their disbelief a lot easier than adults.

Kids won't pay attention to the quality of animation as much as adults and the gaps in the plot probably won't be an issue. The songs are entertaining and almost to the quality of the first film. The best vocal performance comes from Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill Murray's brother and another Saturday Night Live/Second City alum) as the computer. His distinctive gravelly voice and performance add quality to this average sequel.

Just a note for parents this is the second film in the Toaster series. It was planned and written after the third film Goes To Mars and is the only one in the series not inspired by Thomas Disch's children's stories.

4 Radio to the Rescue
Taking place when the master Rob is finishing his university thesis, this is the second installment in the Toaster saga. As a discerning teenage fan of the Toaster series, I was expecting this to be a crass, contrived money grab capitalizing on the first two movies that were based on Thomas M. Disch's books.

Well, I was wrong. This movie probably does have the weakest plot line of all the Toaster movies, but the themes of friendship, teamwork and caring for animals are well illustrated. The songs are fun and the animation is much better than the cover art would lead you to believe (esp. in the song about the internet).

My only complaint is only that the story focusses more on the animals than I would have liked to see. The Toaster takes less of a role in this movie than Radio! It was nice however to see the usual cruel and sarcastic Radio following the example of Toaster.

If your kids liked the other Toaster movies, they will most likely enjoy this one too. And for those of you like me who used to watch the first one over and over again when you were 6, you'll find yourself smiling as you watch this one too.

5 The only Toaster sequel worth watching
Like many other grown-ups who are kids at heart, I am a big fan of the Brave Little Toaster. For the completely uninitiated, it's a series about anthropomorphic appliances, and other mechanical things (are computers and streetlamps and giant evil magnets etc. really "appliances"?), who come to life a la the "Toy Story" toys when people aren't around. For good measure, traditional Disney-style anthropomorphic animals are included in a bit part in the original movie, and in "Rescue" the animals can talk and are in effect the "human" equals of the appliances.

For some bizarre reason known only to Disney and whoever else produced the Toaster movies, "To the Rescue" was released AFTER the other direct-to-video sequel, "The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars." So "Rescue" is often referred to as the third chapter in the series, or Toaster III, etc. But as should be pretty obvious to anyone who has watched all three movies and paid minimal attention to the plot, "Rescue" is clearly the SECOND chapter in the series, with events taking place directly after the theatrical release. In the original movie, Rob McGroaty, the "master" of the appliances, is going away to college. In "Rescue," he's a college senior wrapping up his thesis (titled "The Secret Life of Animals," humorously enough... oh, how little Rob knows!) in veterinary medicine. In the god-awful bad "Mars" movie, Rob has married longtime girlfriend Chris and is an established veterinarian with a baby on the way.

I don't think that "Rescue" is on the level of the original movie, but it's definitely worth a look. (When it comes out on DVD, I think I'll actually buy it!) Its failings could best be described, I think, as "sloppiness." Whereas the first movie was pretty groundbreaking with the totally non-organic cast, who were NOT familiar, human-shaped playthings like the Toy Story toys, in the 10+ years between the original and its sequels the producers must have realized that Hey, kids love the Toaster, so why not make their parents buy some slapped-together sequels!?

Despite some jokes and references clearly meant for adults - nothing DIRTY, people, so chill out - and some songs that are actually pretty good, "Rescue" has a slap-dash feel to it, with TV cartoon-quality (as opposed to movie-quality) animation, and plot holes you could drive a truck through. Or maybe, I should say plot *discrepancies.* (Grown-ups use big words, you know!) Once you get over silliness like Rob losing a 600 page thesis due a power outage - he typed the entire thing in one sitting, without saving to disk ONCE?! - or the notion that Eville animal vivisection people will pay lots of dough to acquire any old collection of miscellaneous animals, there's an enjoyable and even exciting story to be found, very much in the spirit of the original movie. Unlike "Mars," which totally runs off the rails with its cockamamie stupidity and creepy extension of human sentience to seemingly everything (like balloons, yikes!!), "Rescue"'s shortcomings never threaten to tank the whole movie.

Aside from the appliances saving some cute talking animals, "Rescue" brings Radio, Lampy, Kirby and the gang into the Information Age. In the first movie, "high-tech" is pretty much synonymous with evil, with the "evil appliances" at Rob's parents' apartment (who have replaced the old gang left at the summer cabin) singing their hilarious "cutting edge of technology" song, infomercial-style. "Rescue" carries over the stern disapproval of rampant consumerism, and also acknowledges that even "cutting edge" machines are quickly abandoned by the always-looking-for-something-better masses.

By way of a crash course in modern technology, singing and dancing computers, servers, and modems perform a musical number ("Information Superhighway") for the benefit of Rob's elderly appliances. It's a catchy, goofy tune, and yet it has a genuinely moving message about the power of the internet to bring isolated people into a larger community. Even more affectingly, this song is reprised by an abandoned pre-transistor (1st gen) computer that Rob's appliances discover in the university basement.

The abandoned computer - named Wittgenstein, as in the polymath philosopher for some unexplained reason - is actually one of the highlights of the movie. Wittgenstein has, hands down, the best songs, and the sub-plot to bring him a new part helps prevent the movie from being all about the cuddly wittle animals and what a dweeb Rob is. "Rescue" eschews much of the emotionally tough material of the first movie, and as such I expected that every character who needed to be rescued or repaired in some way would get help, but I was still very happy to see Wittgenstein (Brian Doyle Murray, in one of his better voice roles IMO) get his due. Not to mention, it's refreshing to see a NON-EVIL sentient computer for once! :)

Alack, the comically brilliant Jon Lovitz does not return to reprise his role as Radio, my favorite character, but his replacement is pretty good. And the voice of Tony the Tiger (I'm not going to try to spell his name) happily returns as Kirby the vacuum cleaner. If you haven't seen the original Toaster, go rent or buy it ASAP! If you like the Toaster, chances are you'll like this sequel as well.

6 We love the toaster!!!
Ok. Well, I'll admit it! The toaster rocks! My son and I dance to the songs and he asks to watch it on a daily basis. What a cute movie, with fun songs and a good story. The animation is well done and the voices are perfect! Enjoy!

7 That Loveable Little Toaster!
I recently purchased the Brave Little Toaster for my son who begged for the movie. He has watched the other "Toaster" movies and has loved them! After receiving the movie from amazon.com, my son has watched this movie every day for about a week and has not stopped talking about it! He loves the animals and the song the animals sing about meeting Rob. I also have watched the movie and find in it many examples of how to be considerate and caring to humans, animals, as well as your appliances! It rocks!

8 Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue
My niece loved this video and requests a viewing about 4 times a week. She was particularly drawn to the Lamp and the Blanket characters. She is almost three years old and could follow the storyline very easily. I would recommend this video to any parent how is looking to teach children about respecting animals, the bond friendship and appreciating the value of older and 'outdated' objects/people!

9 It's for kids...
The first movie was cute, and my boy liked it a lot. Within a few minutes into this sequel, we have: a save the animals song, a save the appliances song, a boyfriend forgets anniversary, an evil co-worker, a lost dissertation, lots of talk. The thing is about a talking toaster, for heaven's sake! After a few minutes, my 3 year old boy asked me to put on The Iron Giant, which he has seen about 30 times now. We never went back to BLT to the R again...

10 The Best!!
I have to say that this is the best Brave Little toaster ever! It's sad, funny, very sad,hilarious,hopeful,very very very sad, happy, and very very emotional all rolled into one. This is a GREAT childrens movie but even better to watch with the whole family!