  We investigate the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, critical behavior, and
magnetocaloric effect in ferromagnetic-layered Cr$_2$Te$_3$. We have studied
the critical behavior around the Curie temperature ($T_C$) using various
techniques, including the modified Arrott plot (MAP), the Kouvel-Fisher method
(KF), and critical isothermal analysis (CI). The derived critical exponents
$\beta$ = 0.353(4) and $\gamma$ = 1.213(5) fall in between the
three-dimensional (3D) Ising and 3D Heisenberg type models, suggesting complex
magnetic interactions by not falling into any single universality class. On the
other hand, the renormalization group theory, employing the experimentally
obtained critical exponents, suggests 3D-Ising-type magnetic interactions
decaying with distance as $J(r) = r^{-4.89}$. We also observe an extremely
large uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) of $K_u=2065$
kJ/m$^3$, the highest ever found in any Cr$_x$Te$_y$ based systems, originating
from the noncollinear ferromagnetic ground state as predicted from the
first-principles calculations. The self-consistent renormalization theory (SCR)
suggests Cr$_2$Te$_3$ to be an out-of-plane itinerant ferromagnet. Further, a
maximum entropy change of -$\Delta S_{M}^{max}\approx$ 2.08 $J/kg-K$ is
estimated around $T_C$ for the fields applied parallel to the $c$-axis.
