‘Toys’ Wages Battle Between Fun and Violent Games

The TV promotion had not impressed them, so brothers Tyler and Travis were not expecting too much.

But Tyler, an 11-year-old who likes solving complicated riddles, had more complaints than Travis, an exuberant 9-year-old who came out of the theater playing imaginary video games, strumming an air guitar and twirling.

“I can hardly wait till the video,” Travis told his mom. He thought the movie was an almost perfect five stars. “I thought it was a really good movie. It had a lot of action and excitement and drama.”

Tyler’s enthusiasm was more subdued, but he still gave the film 3 1/2 stars. “It was an OK movie,” he said. “I’ve seen better movies. There was a lot of--how do you say it?--unnecessary violence.”

“That’s exactly what I thought,” I told him. “I would have called it gratuitous, which means the same thing.”

“There’s a lot of imagination in it, but maybe a little bit too much. Like in the end, when the girl’s head comes off and she talks. It was kind of weird.”

Among Tyler’s other criticisms:

* In the fight scenes, “there was no clear vision, just all these sparks and explosions.” * Too many loose ends and unexplained plot twists. “How did he jump that high and hang on to the ceiling when there was nothing to hang on to? It’s aggravating.”

On the other hand, they giggled while remembering the funny parts, such as:

* “When they were doing that music video,” Tyler said.

* “When they were examining those big blobs of things and the room closes in,” Tyler said. Travis laughed. “That was funny. And he says, ‘What’s that?’ And he says, ‘That’s diarrhea.’ ”

* “The big room and all those kids are playing those war games,” Travis said. “It looked like fun.”

* “When the ‘spy-bot’ shot out the window and it got run over,” Tyler said.

* “When they showed the skeletons and the doctor had left the scissors inside,” Travis said.

The high-tech toys featured in the movie made Tyler wonder how toys such as the remote-controlled camera robot could be built. The possibility of reality goggles intrigued them both.

“It’s like that dome you go in,” said Travis, referring to Cinerama. “It puts you in an airplane and it’s like you’re really turning and stuff.”

“What about the sexy parts? Did you think that was too old for you?” I asked.

“No,” said Tyler, who changed the subject.

Their mom, Estee, wondered how they felt about the good toys warring with the bad toys. “Did you feel bad for the good toys? I got real emotional about that,” she said, laughing. “They were such sweet, innocent little toys.”

Geez, Mom, Tyler told her. “They’re just toys. “

In “Toys,” the heirs of an eccentric toy maker fight for control of his company, with the good son marshaling the windup toys against the evil brother’s high-tech war games. (Rated PG-13)