YMMV / Miracle in Toyland

• Accidental Innuendo:
  • "I really need a screw."
  • When Jesse sits crying in the tent, his offscreen hand is positioned near his crotch area, and the awkward animation makes his arm move in a rather suggestive manner.
  Bobsheaux: Whoa! I know you're frustrated, kid, but save that for when you get home!
• Angst? What Angst?: The toys get over the apparent death of one of the toy soldiers (caused by Jesse) rather quickly.
• Anvilicious: The film is too adamant that you should care for the welfare of others.
• Ass Pull:
  • Jesse's time in Toyland is essentially a Random Events Plot of adventures and action scenes with no coherence or even transition between them. The toys' song about caring is randomly cut off and they're suddenly in the middle of a battle with "the enemy", and this battle is forgotten about even more abruptly in favour of getting the pirate's treasure back.
  • Jesse spots the star on top of the Christmas Tree in Toyland and immediately thinks it's made of chocolate for reasons that are never explained. He flies a toy plane up to it, grabs the star, and throws it at the propeller, causing it to be shredded into perfectly-shaped chocolate chips.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: A toy bear hugs Jesse when he wakes up in the tent, and the same bear later shows up again and hugs Jesse and all of the toys before they go to sleep, but fails to do anything in the movie beyond that.
• Fridge Horror: Super Duper Guy tells Jesse he cares about him, because he was designed to, giving the impression that the toys helping Jesse and teaching him to not be selfish is just their programmed purpose instead of them actually trying to be altruistic. The fact that most of the toys, especially the elf girl, clearly have their own materialistic and self-centred desires only further supports this implication.
  Phelous (as Super Duper Guy): Believe me, if I actually had free will, I wouldn't give a shit about you, you snot-nosed brat!
• Harsher in Hindsight: Jessie's relationship with his father and his resulting behavioral issues are a lot harder to watch after the September 11th attacks the following year, as many kids with actively serving parents saw them absent for most of their childhoods because of the resulting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Jesse's Anger Montage (wherein he knocks away pictures while demanding, "WHY?!") brings to mind Johnny's similar but lengthier tantrum in The Room (2003), to the extent that both Phelous and Bobsheaux inserted jokes about it in their respective reviews.
• Narm: Jesse's breakdown after learning that his father is missing due to his plane getting caught in a bad snowstorm.
• Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: Jesse and Gabriella's interactions resemble those between significant others, even though they're cousins.
• The Scrappy: Jesse's unlikable and unsympathetic personality is one of the most common complaints levelled at the film by its detractors.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The falling snow during the outdoor scenes later on is incredibly distracting and covers up most of the footage that it's haphazardly pasted over. In several shots, the snow effect also starts below the top of the screen, making it seem like the snowflakes are randomly appearing in midair.
  • During the "Lift Up Your Eyes" song, a line of identical soldiers are seen dancing, with them being shown from largest to smallest to give the illusion of perspective. The larger soldiers, who are supposed to be closer to the camera, move behind the smaller soldiers that are supposed to be stood further back, making it look like the soldiers really are all different sizes instead of just being in different positions.
  • An even more egregious perspective shot occurs later in the film when Jesse speaks to the still toy-sized Admiral. When Jesse comes in from the side, the Admiral becomes blurrier to give the illusion of depth. This probably would have worked fine were it not for the fact that Jesse appears in front of him, which makes the Admiral look like a normal-sized human facing away from Jesse instead of a smaller character speaking directly to him.
  • During the growth sequence, the camera zooms in on the pirate toy to make it look like he's growing... only problem is, the background is zoomed in on with him.