By: Gavin Gonzalez

The ’80s were a wild time for children as the tensions of the Cold War were nearing a close and the popularity of new hobbies like video games and roller rinks ruled the school playgrounds. 

This could also have been said for children’s animated movies during that time, which aimed to not only tell a story, but also to let children know that the world is not “all sunshine and rainbows.” Examples include “The Secret of NIMH” and “The Black Cauldron,” which both possess dark undertones as seen through their graphic scenes and storylines. The latter of the two had 15 minutes of scenes cut from the final production due to how violent it was. 

However, when one dark movie from the era comes to mind, it has to be “The Brave Little Toaster.” Produced by Hyperion Pictures and distributed by Disney, “The Brave Little Toaster” tells the story of five appliances who travel the countryside and the city to find their beloved master (Wayne Kaatz, “Problem Child”) before he heads off for college. It sounds childish enough, but when you watch the movie for yourself, it is definitely not what you would expect. Dreary sceneries give you the feeling of something bad going to happen. 

The characters all have different personalities. There is Toaster (Deanna Oliver, “My Favorite Martian”) the leader and brave one who tries to keep the team together. Then there is Lampy (“Tim Stack, Castaway”), a desk lamp who is not the brightest mind of the bunch, but still tries to help. There is also Radio (Jon Lovitz, “A League of Their Own”), the hyperactive mischief maker, who speaks like a sports announcer. There is Blankey (Timothy E. Day, “Rags to Riches”), an electric blanket who is the most innocent, young and attached to the master. Finally, there is Kirby (Thurl Ravenscroft, “Alice in Wonderland”) a vacuum cleaner who is the grumpy old character who also seems to be the lone wolf of the group. The light bunch of characters are also supported by an interesting cast of side characters. 

This movie is well-known for the many dark scenes that are included within and their meanings. In the first 20 minutes of the movie, there is an on-screen death which involves the air conditioner of the house. Later on, they come across a meadow and Toaster runs off to avoid the critters and comes across a lonely flower who falls in love with its reflection. He runs away from the flower, but later peers again to see that the flower was wilting and eventually died. This scene has a strong meaning with the resemblance of abandonment and that without someone to care for them, they do not have a place in the world. 

Many other dark scenes come into play later on, including a scene where the characters almost die in a waterfall, Toaster’s nightmare which includes a scary firefighter clown and references to toaster-related suicides and even a parts shop where broken-down appliances are dissected and sold by a mechanic named St. Peters (Joe Ranft, “Finding Nemo”). The darkest scene occurs near the end of the movie when the main characters get sent to a junkyard against their will by the Master’s new cutting-edge appliances. Here, they come across several broken-down cars singing a song called “Worthless.” The fact that this already grim scene is being accompanied by a dark and very catchy song really goes to show how much went into this film. 

In the end, this movie is amazing and definitely worth watching. The animation is superb, the characters are well-written, and the soundtrack is a banger. Disney later made two sequels to the movie, but they were nowhere near as dark as the first. This movie does things that Disney has not done in a while. Recent films like “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Frozen II” and “Encanto” could not match up to this masterpiece. Most of the people who worked on the “The Brave Little Toaster” went on to create Pixar and the famous “Toy Story” series. If you are fan of Disney or Pixar, this movie will not disappoint.

Image from Walt Disney Pictures via IMDb