Whether it be family, friends, or a significant other… connection is a part of living. Of course, it’s perfectly fine to be independent, but as human beings, we have a natural desire for dependency, even if just a little. Rees himself has said that the film’s themes include, “the fear of being abandoned” and the desire to “reunit with someone that you love.” As a child, these deeper themes eluded me, but now I understand them more than I ever have. So, they set off to find their lost family. The film begins with a few household appliances getting left behind by their previous owners, and over the course of the first act, they begin to realize that no one is coming back for them. Because of this, I think I understand The Brave Little Toaster much better now. Over the last few years, and especially now post-college, in a pandemic, I’ve grown to have a lot of fears and anxieties about whether I have some sort of measurable worth. Between the characters witnessing deaths and violent maimings and the existential questions of one’s worth in society, I’ve come to realize that this Rees’ film may have subconsciously played a part in my own life growing up.

Because now, I realize this is far, far darker than I had first recalled. The animation caught my attention, all the characters were cute, there were catchy songs… What more could there be to it? However, upon revisiting it in as an adult, I’ve come to realize that maybe I only remembered the “fun” parts. I remember thinking as a kid that this film was a really happy, fun thing to watch. Jerry Rees’ 1987 animated musical adventure The Brave Little Toaster is a movie that for the longest time, I remembered quite fondly. The Brave Little Toaster isn’t how I remembered it.

Theme of the brave little toaster