Before Barry Levinson made his 1982 debut as a director with the memorable Diner, he and co-writer Valerie Curtin concocted a script about a military plot to use toys for war. No studio would touch it. Now after the box-office success of Good Morning, Vietnam, the cachet of Bugsy and the Oscar for Rain Man, Levinson has the clout to make his dream movie a reality.

To cut Toys a minor break, it is ambitious. It is also a gimmicky, obvious and pious bore, not to mention overproduced and overlong.…