Taro's Toy Train

太郎さんの汽車

5.38(1K votes)

Ranked #13512Popularity #12345

episodes

Type

Movie

Status

Finished Airing

Aired

Jun 18, 1929

Action

Synopsis

A combination of live action, traditional animation, and stop motion animation. A father buys his son a toy train, which he loves. When the boy goes to sleep, the train comes to life and crawls into the bed with the boy, giving him a dream about proper train etiquette.

2,203 Members

Worth Watching? — Global Verdict

7.7/10

Average Review Score

100%

Recommend It

Reviews Worldwide

International Reviews

NessaChan

Recommended

Tarou-san is a little boy who loves to play train with his friends. One day, his dad brings him home an electric train set. Overjoyed, he plays with it long into the night. When it is finally time for bed, Tarou cuddles up next to his new train set, and dreams he is on a train with many funny animals who cause various wacky hijinks. This delightful little silent short combines live action with animation. A novel idea, and it works well. The retro animation lover or silent film nerd will both enjoy it equally. Even if you can'tread the Japanese title cards, you can still understand the story. The wacky animals are enjoyable and the story itself is very charming. This is a good start to see where Japanese animation began. Also, seeing the clothes & household of late-1920s Japan is very interesting. It's well worth 15 minutes of your time to see this little piece of history.

12 found helpfulApr 10, 2014

karlyn__kei

Recommended

Community Discussion

At first, I was thrown off, since it began with actual film and didn't quickly transition into animation. But when the animation began, I was delighted to find that for once, I wasn't the slightest bit creeped out by it. Normally, very old animation scares me a bit, but despite the odd looking faces on some of the animals, the different things done with the very few resources I'm sure were available at the time are outstanding. The story was cute and funny, too, which caused me to really enjoy it. I even laughed a couple of times, which is more than I can sayfor some of today's intentionally comedic short series/movies. The music is basically a repetitive loop, but there are some breaks in it which are nice. Additionally, the historical aspect is appealing enough for me to recommend any fan of Japanese animation/film/culture to give it a go.

Sidewinder51

Recommended

Rate an 8 Seen via English Subtitled on just the cartoon everything else raw art film silent production Special Note: The cartoon itself is about 6 plus minutes. Story Memories, we have so many of them. The best memories one could have aside from their younger years is their children. More importantly making their day. A child has a strong desire for ___. He is reward with ____. As he is about to nod off his dream comes alive. To see that animation unfold along with that mini live show was a beautiful introduction to this cartoon. As for the ending it is what you would expect. Although, you get tosee the part the kid played which was an interesting idea. Art -black and white -From scenery to background no issues on clarity. Sound The version i saw had background music. Which blended well to the cartoon. Not sure if the original did as well. Character Bios are good for characters but was not needed here. Mainly because the cartoon played off the stereotypes cultures have brought on. Enjoyment A kind hearted piece. There is nothing negative about this film. A childhood dream come to true mostly.

7 found helpfulApr 10, 2017