"At the hands of careless humans, our wheels came off and our bodies were smashed into walls countless times," says Bella (Jeon Sook-kyeong), the queen luxury car in Ryu Jung-woo's and Paik Anna's animated children's pic Tayo the Little Bus Movie: Mission Ace. She's right of course. We humans are notorious for mistreating dolls and matchbox cars, rubber ducks and stuffed animals. The three-wheeled, handheld hatchback and the one-eyed, unstuffed teddybear are as representative of childhood as bibs, bonnets, and baby booties. If these damaged toys could talk, no doubt they'd have a strong word or two about their thoughtless owners.
Insert Counterargument Here: Now just one second! Not everyone is so disrespectful!
And yet... Duri (Chong Hye-ok) has forged a real bond with his flashy, red mini-sportscar Ace (Kim Yeong-seon) even if his negligence has accidentally landed his plaything abandoned on a city street. So is the retrieval of this beloved racecar really enough to substantiate an entire feature film? Not really. A big-screen spin-off of the Tayo series, this 45-minute cartoon drags despite its abbreviated running time and has only one major message to impart: The toys that you'd associate most strongly with mankind (pro or con) are the ones most likely to be deadly forces of annihilation!
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