Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well on this Friday afternoon. Today I'm going to be talking about the 1995 film that launched Pixar as a full fledged movie studio and launched 3-D Animation as a form of film making, Toy Story. So let's get into it.
Toy Story is one of the few movies that I was lucky enough to see in theatres when I was a kid. It's also the first of only two Pixar movies that I've ever seen in theatres. Going to see a movie in theatres was a really special occasion for me because we rarely were able to go. My paternal grandparents were often the source of this treat and Toy Story happened to be one of those times.
Every time I sit down to watch it I am amazed at how well Toy Story holds up after almost 26 years. Everything from the animation to the story holds up. Which is pretty good for Pixar's first full length movie. I mean there are a few scenes where you can tell that it's 90s 3-D animation but it isn't bad like half the movies that had CG effects in them that came out in and around this time. Both Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Batman Forever came out earlier in 1995 and both of those movies have REALLY bad CG effects in them.
We used to have one of those Yakbak recorders and ours was a Yakbakwards. Anyway, we got it for Christmas the same year we got Toy Story on VHS and during the scene that introduces us to Sid we recorded Woody saying, "Oh no! It's a Combat Carl!" with it and kept it on there for a few days. So that's why that short scene sticks out to me.
I watched it on VHS for this review, and during this viewing I actually had a hard time liking Woody. I get that jealousy can make you do really stupid things, but he was extremely mean to Buzz. And that was despite the production team dialing the character back from how unlikeable he was in the early concept for the film. Luckily that was nixed by Jeffrey Katzenberg before pre-production had ended. Of course there are times where Mr. Potato Head and the other toys are hard to like too, but I think that was intentional. Pretty much the only toy who is likeable throughout the movie is Buzz. I think that's because Woody doesn't change that much during the course of the movie, he simply learns how to be Buzz's friend. Buzz on the other hand, learns how to be a toy because he thinks he's the actual Buzz Lightyear at the beginning of the movie. As we end up learning in Toy Story 2 this is a flaw that every Buzz Lightyear has upon coming out of his box and coming to life for the first time. It's never explained why this is, but it doesn't really matter because it's really only a thing in this movie and in Toy Story 2.
The cast in this movie is phenomenal. Tom Hanks is amazing as Woody and Tim Allen is great as Buzz. The rest of the cast is amazing too. I mean you have Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, John Ratzenberger as Hamm the Piggy Bank, Wallace Shawn as Rex, Jim Varney as Slinky Dog, Annie Potts as Bo Peep, and Laurie Metcalf as Andy's mom to name a few. That's pretty impressive getting that much of an all-star cast for your first feature film.
Toy Story wasn't released on home video until October 29th, 1996, almost a year after it opened in theatres. I think it was the longest running film in theatres that year, since most movies have a much shorter theatrical life due to the presence of home video. My brother, sister and I got the movie on VHS for Christmas in 1996. We watched it all the time. I actually don't know how many times we watched it over the years. Before the pandemic hit I bought the original 1996 VHS at a thrift store and put it back in my collection. I also have the 2005 2-Disc 10th Anniversary Edition DVD in my collection as well. There are some great bonus features on that DVD set, though there aren't any on the original VHS.
Overall, Toy Story is still a great movie. It has always been one of my favourite movies of all time and remains in my Top 10 All Time Favourite Movies list. It's not overly complicated but it also isn't simplistic either. It's the perfect balance between a kids movie and a movie for adults and reminds me of many of Walt Disney early films like Snow White, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. I don't need to recommend this movie to you, because chances are, you've all seen it at some point in your lives. However I do recommend you rewatch it if you haven't seen it in a while.
Alrighty, that is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of the fourth Percy Jackson novel, The Battle of the Labyrinth and next week's movie review is going to be Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle which I've never seen before. I bought it on iTunes yesterday so I'm excited to see what it's like. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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