Toy Story

Movie, 1995, G

Premise - When no humans are looking, all of the toys of the world come to life. Andy's favorite toy, a cowboy named Woody, is proudly in charge of all of Andy's other toys, until one day a new superior toy in the form of Buzz Lightyear comes into the family. The feuds between the two competing toys results in an unfortunate event that leaves them stranded from their owner's house, mere days before the family is expected to move away. The two toys must work together to find their way back home without alarming any humans to their animate nature.


Review - WHY DID IT TAKE ME TWENTY-THREE YEARS TO GET MYSELF TO WATCH THIS FILM I don't know. I'm sure I "saw" it when I was extremely young, but the movie first came out when I was born, so I had no memories associated with the film. I remember being in about high school when the third one came out and people were just dying over the nostalgia it caused, and I just couldn't relate. I think the problem was that when I was this young, I saw it as a boys' film. Which is dumb, because I played with all sorts of toys, boyish or girly. For some reason I was just put off by the movie. Also, I blame my parents because my mom always thought this was a weird one and never showed it to me. Weirdly, there were other aspects of this film that were nostalgic because there were classic Easter eggs, or even the origin of Easter eggs that would come up in later films. Also, I have lots of memories of eating at the Pizza Planet in Tomorrowland at Disneyland.

Obviously there are sequels, and now there is going to be a fourth one, but I think it's appropriate to write a review just for this first one and then update accordingly. I would like to get myself to watch all of the sequels someday. It's definitely time worth spending. This first film was less than an hour and a half and I thought to myself, "That's it??? There's no more story??" But yes, as the sequels prove, there are more stories to come.

The animation is mesmerizing to watch for two, contradictory reasons. On the one hand, the animation is really simple. Most of the humans look so ugly. The toys are alright, because we know they are fake, but seeing anything animated that has a real life, i.e. humans or animals, was cringy. Thinking about how far animation has come in the last 20-25 years is mind-blowing. However, on the other hand, the animation is out-of-this-world impressive. Just thinking conceptually about what it takes to go into the design of this film... it is beyond my own scope of intelligence. This is the FIRST full-length Pixar film. Therefore it is really the first of its kind. Animation, up until this point, was exclusively drawn in 2D, not 3D computer animated. Now of course there are many companies that create computer animated feature films, and Disney makes their animated films in this manner now too. But Pixar did it first and they were famous for it.

The story itself, no matter what form it may have been delivered, is magnificent. I've talked about this with The Lego Movie, but nothing makes me more giddier about my childhood than thinking about the lives of my old toys. I was thorough as HELL. All of my toys had life stories, of course, but they also had birth certificates, drivers' licenses, school grades, and other crazy detailed documents that I kept in a file that unfortunately no longer exists (you can blame my parents for that). The toys had career aspirations, colleges they wanted to attend or were currently attending (i.e. "bunkbed college", in which I would take that particular toy to my bed each day before school to make sure they were getting a proper education), differing music tastes, and so much more. I was an insanely detailed child, but that thorough imagination is what gave, for all intents and purposes, REAL lives to these pieces of plastic. And that is the spirit that this film is trying to tap into.

The toys don't only have lives when Andy is playing with them, they have lives and personalities that are beyond Andy's awareness, which is interesting. The story can also get quite existential as Buzz Lightyear has to come to terms with the fact that he is just a toy, and the ways he wants to save space won't really matter. Talk about existential despair. It's just a great film. (88/100)

Quote - "You've got a friend in me"

What to watch for - Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear are such heartwarming voices. But as far as watching, I'd give the animation the respect it deserves, as mentioned above.

If you enjoyed this film, I'd recommend The Lego Movie! I know that's not Pixar, but it's similar in theme to this film. Also, everyone knows they can go and watch other Pixar films.

Directed by John Lasseter
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
A Pixar Film