About halfway through Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids there is a scene straight out of Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving. A frenzied rush of customers swarms through a store. Before long, children are crying, people are injured, and the store manager is trying to hold back the mob with a bat. Their goal? To buy a Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas.
The documentary is more than just the history of the iconic toy. It looks at the influence of Cabbage Patch Kids on modern consumer culture. The shortage of the Kids (they are never referred to as “dolls”) were a precursor to the holiday shopping crazes that were the subject of news reports and viral videos. The lack of stock led to them being sold back to stores and lucrative back market sales. The same thing would happen decades later with other must-have items like various iterations of the iPhone and PlayStation.
Billion Dollar Babies demonstrates how their impact was not just limited to commerce. Many of the interviewees are shown with their Cabbage Patch Kids, with many being bought during their height in the mid-1980s. When they speak of their “children”, it is with genuine love. Even those that take a more pragmatic look, speak fondly of the memories they have of the time.
The first half hour is spent reviewing where the Cabbage Patch Kids were birthed and how they came to take their place in pop culture history. It is almost too cute as Billion Dollar Babies shows the Disneyland-like Babyland General Hospital they were “born” in and the archival footage shown never goes beyond entertaining fluff.
Then comes the legal battle.
One of the biggest gets of Billion Dollar Babies is Xavier Roberts, the reclusive creator of the Cabbage Patch Kids. The film is the first time he has granted an interview in almost twenty years. He is soft-spoken and comes off as a hard working country boy who achieved the American Dream. He seems genuinely proud of his creation.
Except he may not have been the actual inventor.
Through tapes and interviews with those closest to her, Billion Dollar Babies introduces Martha Nelson Thomas. It turns out she had been making a similar doll called Doll Babies years before Roberts. She had even been giving out adoption papers when someone bought one of the kids. There are few hard feelings (except for a friend of Thomas who hilariously refers to them as Cabbage Trash Kids) and Roberts gives Thomas much credit.
The pace picks up at this point. The documentary races through the secondary market that was created for the Cabbage Patch Kids and the long term effects it had on holiday shopping. Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids just rehashes what the audience has already put together themselves. It is a lackluster ending to an otherwise interesting watch.
Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids comes to theaters Black Friday November 24
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.