Film Review #73: Toy Story

Pixar.  There really is no set amount of words that can describe how brilliant and excellent their movies are.  In a time when Disney was basically the only market for animated films (unless you liked A Troll in Central Park), Pixar rose from practically nowhere and became not only the dominant kings of animation technology, but also the dominant force in telling wonderfully engaging stories with great characters and fascinating stories and plot points.  And, much like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs impact on audiences in 1937, their first film release in 1995 brought about a shift in the paradigm of movie entertainment.  Toy Story is a spectacular movie that I've seen probably as many times as The Lion King or Aladdin.  So, I know this film pretty damn well.  The characters, the story, and the breathtaking realism of the animation still amazes audiences to this day, although some of the animation of the human characters is a bit dated.

Plot: In the bedroom of a boy named Andy, the toys are played with in a wide variety of roles.  But when Andy leaves the room, his toys come to life and begin to interact with each other like people in an office.  The toys are led by a cowboy doll named Woody (Tom Hanks), who is Andy's favorite toy.  But when Andy's birthday comes along, the other toys begin to worry about being replaced.  But the only toy who is replaced in the eyes of Andy is Woody, who is supplanted as the favorite toy by the world's coolest action figure, a space ranger named Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen).

Woody constantly tries to regain his reign as the leader of the toys, but Buzz's popularity begins to grow even stronger, making him incredibly jealous.  When one of Woody's pranks on Buzz goes too far and accidentally knocks him out the window, Woody is ostracized by his friends, prompting the cowboy to go off and find Buzz.  But it turns out that Buzz thinks he's actually a real space ranger who has crash landed on earth while on a mission.  To make matters worse, the toys are mistakenly left behind at a gas station when Andy and his mom go to a pizzeria called Pizza Planet.

When Buzz and Woody arrive, both are unfortunately captured by Andy's psychotic neighbor Sid, who likes to blow up toys for fun.  The two are taken back to Sid's house.  When Buzz finally learns the truth, he takes it horribly.  So it's up to Woody to find a way to make Buzz happy about being a toy, while also finding a way back to Andy before they become craters in Sid's backyard.

What's Bad?: The only flaw is what I mentioned above.  The animation of the people is a bit dated and not that good, but you have to give Pixar a ton of credit.  Not only was this the first ever completely computer animated film in history, but the film is also nearing it's 20th birthday.  Naturally, the technology is only going to get better.

What's Good?: What Pixar did right was one of the key elements that Disney failed on in Pocahontas earlier that year.  The relationships between the main characters is very strong.  Buzz is a deluded toy who thinks he's an actual space ranger.  One of the funniest scenes in the movie is when Woody opens Buzz's air helmet and Buzz think's he's going to choke to death.  As for Woody, he is a cocky yet lovable leader of the toys.  Put the two together, and you have some of the funniest banter and one of the strongest friendships in cinematic history.

While I'm no huge Randy Newman fan, these songs are just so good that I cannot find myself hating any of them.  The songs and score are so well known at this point that there is no point in going on any further.

While we had only seen CGI in films like The Rescuers Down Under and Aladdin before this, the total CGI environment that is created by Pixar's computer engineers and animators is just so beautiful that it still boggles my mind even when I first unwrapped the film for Christmas in 1996.

Overall: Toy Story is an absolute gem and a must have for any fan of film or practically any fan in general.  In fact, I own this film on VHS, DVD, and Blu Ray disc and am looking forward to buying it on another media form in the future.  Everything in this film is sheer brilliance and needs to be kept in the minds of any and all fans forever more.

Final Grade:       A+