Toybox (film)

Toybox is a Kuboian 1998 computer-animated family film, and the first film by Scopescreen Media. It was released in cinemas on 30th June, 1998, in Kuboia, with a theatrical release arriving in international countries on 2nd October, 1998. The film was distributed by BusyPaw Productions in Kuboia and Jetania, and was distributed by Universal Pictures elsewhere. Although Toybox was met with critical acclaim during its original release, modern audiences say that the film has not aged well.

Plot
Toybox has no central plot, instead it is divided into several different stories, like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The only central premise of Toybox is its settings - the toys of a toy shop, called Toybox, come to live when it closes down for the night. The film starts with a box, laying on a table, located underneath a spotlight in a pitch black environment, coming to life, and opening.

The five main stories of Toybox are:
 * A race between a toy monster truck, a toy tank, a tennis ball, and a remote-control race car controlled by a miniature robot, called Rascal.
 * A dance party, where Rascal plays the DJ, and an anthropomorphic domino, called Spots, spends the whole time tempering with the plugs.
 * Spots and his domino family creating a giant domino lane.
 * Rascal, Spot, a toy soldier and Copter, a remote-control helicopter, go searching for, Henry, a missing teddy bear.
 * A memorial for Rascal and the toy soldier, who “die” during the previous segment.

Cast
Since the toys do not speak, there is little voice acting in the film.

Development
Toybox had a development cycle of eleven years, starting in 1986.

Reception
During its original release, Toybox was met with critical acclaim, with critics praising the visuals, characters and charm. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 46 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". CinemaScore reported that reviewers gave the film an average grade of "A".

Comparison to Toy Story
In more recent years, mainly after the release of Toy Story 3, Toybox has been negatively conpared to the Toy Story franchise. It should be noted, however, that since development for Toybox began in 1986, it was in development long before Toy Story, or even its predecessor, Tin Toy, were conceived.

Trivia

 * Although human voices and shadows can be seen at the beginning and end of the film, no human models appear in the film at all.
 * The film has a very strange idea for how each toy behaves - some are completely anthropomorphic, whilst others are restricted to certain conditions, such as the race car in the first segment having no control over its movement.