The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

Adapted from a novella by Thomas M. Disch, this is a very peculiar enterprise indeed, a cartoon remake / parody / deconstruction of The Incredible Journey, in which a group of abandoned and neglected household appliances, led by the eponymous hero, undertake a perilous search for their lost master. By taking its own absurdity at strictly face value, and resisting the temptation to camp it up, it functions perfectly as an old-fashioned, amusingly stuffy kids' film, but it also has a very intriguing bleak side. You'll be stirred by the plight of the heartbroken electric blanket, the patriotic clock-radio, the sarcastic lamp and the grouchy vacuum cleaner, and you'll probably never throw out an old appliance again. Probably too sophisticated for its own good, but relishable nevertheless.
KIM NEWMAN

First Published In: Empire (issue unknown)

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