Toys in the Attic by Jiří Barta

Mon, 01/18/2021 - 8:41pm by noelleb

In the attic of an old house, Buttercup, a bisque doll lives with her friends, Teddy Bear, Sir Handsome (a marionette), and Laurent (a plasticine head), in a vintage suitcase. The toys have an idyllic life, until Buttercup is kidnapped to be a companion of the dictator The Head, who rules the Land of Evil: a place populated by rotting vegetables with showgirl legs, a human faced cockroach, and a vacuum tubed eye which spies on everyone. Teddy Bear, Sir Handsome, and Laurent- aided by Madame Curie (a toy mouse) and the other citizens of the toytown- must now all work together to rescue their friend.   

Jiří Barta is a master of animation, and even his simplest figure is wonderfully expressive. He uses everyday objects like sheets and pillows to represent waves and clouds, and children’s drawings to show the view from the windows of a moving train. Done almost entirely by hand, the movie contains a wonderful mix of stop motion, clay, and hand drawn animation. Dark and strange at times, Toys in the Attic is mainly a magical and charming film, both for kids and adults.