Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Robert and the Toymaker’

Written by Scott Edwards

​It can be amazing to think about where some antiques have been before they have made it to you. While I am not huge on big items, I do have my coin collection that has become massive over the years, even after I slowed down and focused on only coins from my birth year. With almost forty years of history on these coins, just thinking about how many people must have handled it in the past really gives me pause, since there is no limit to how many states they’ve traveled through and it’s possible they’ve made it around the world at least once. Items can be a great conversation starter, especially if you have a passion to talk about to help get other people excited.
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As the night slowly moves in, Christophe Muller and his family are starting to get settled when he hears a frantic knock on his door. Seeing a man running for his life from the German army, Christophe is happy to let him into the house, even though he knows what can happen to him. With a book in hand that holds the key to Hitler taking over the world, the stranger is hidden while the house is checked by two German officers. Bidding the officers, a good night, Christophe finds out a little bit more about the book and his new friend Benjamin Hoffman and what his plans are for trying to help end the current Reich.

After a couple days have passed, the Muller family believes that they are in the clear, but when Brigitte spots the German Guard coming up the hill, she knows that the family is in for another visit. With Colonel Ludolf von Alvensleben leading the current charge in trying to locate Hoffman, he has a special skill set to tell if someone is lying to him or not. Keeping their cool while the house is searched again, the hidden Hoffman makes the slightest of sounds and the family’s secret is figured out. Listening to her parents being killed in the other room, young Esther Muller makes a run for town with the book that can wind up changing the world as we know it.

Arriving at a toy shop in the middle of the night, Esther is able to gain entrance thanks to the old Toymaker and gets her story out before dying on his floor. Hearing about the importance of the book and then spotting the German officers making their rounds trying to find the girl, Amos is able to hide what happened, especially the fact that he has the strange book. Opening the book and seeing that it can give life to almost anything, Amos has an idea to try it out on one of his favorite dolls, Robert. Seeing that the doll is brought to life, Amos does not hesitate to use the spells inside the pages again to build himself a new family. But time is not on his side when his employee rats him out to the soldiers and he is discovered with the book and must answer to the feared Von Alvensleben. 

This is a cool story with a focus on haunted items, that tells you how Robert the Doll got his chilling and appealing powers. While I am a hundred percent behind not having a creepy doll around me at any time, Robert might actually be one that I want to have on my good side if I get into trouble. I really liked Von Alvensleben’s character, as he is always on the hunt for the truth and will do anything to find it, especially kill if need be. The showdown between Amos and Von Alvensleben was pretty good when the old toymaker did not want to give up the information he had gained while in possession of the book and with his family coming to his aide, well, it was pretty epic. With a determined German force, a book of life, Robert the Doll coming to life, a double cross, plenty of bullets flying, some blood making its way on the screen and a creepy Clown Doll that I don’t even want to think about, this was a pretty good movie and it gives me all the more reason to keep creepy dolls in different area codes than where I live. Stay Scared.

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