Welcome everyone to the first of a new, and long running series of throwback reviews I plan on doing. Yes I know Toy Story 4 came out already, but that’s not why I am reviewing the original. Then why you may ask? Well if you guessed to review all of the Pixar movies in celebration of the release of their latest original Onward in March, well then someone should give you a prize, because that is correct! Since I would consider Onward the start of a new original heavy era for the studio, I thought why not go ahead, and review all 20 of their films (excluding Toy Story 4 which I already reviewed) to celebrate this new chapter in the life of possibly my favorite animation studio. How I plan on scheduling these reviews is that I plan on reviewing them in chronological order from when they released, and I’ll try to get a review out every two weeks to get them all done before March of next year. So with all of that said let’s begin this marathon by playing in Andy’s room for the first time with the one that started it all in the year of 1995.
Andy is just a kid who loves playing with his toys, and likes making up exciting adventures involving them. Little does he know though that his toys are actually alive, and move around, and talk when he is not around in their own world. They are lead by Woody, a cowboy doll, who is also Andy’s favorite toy, and he really enjoys that having a very special connection with the boy. However just when Woody thinks his life is perfect as it is, one day everything changes for him, and his gang when Andy gets a new toy for his birthday. This new toy turns out to be a space ranger action figure named Buzz Lightyear who actually believes he is a strange ranger who crashed landed on a distant planet. While the other toys seem to be very impressed by this new addition to Andy’s room, Woody is a little unsure about this new guest seeing him to be very delusional, and sensing a bit of jealously when it comes to everyone’s enjoyment of Buzz, and his cool new features. That jealousy only continues to escalate once Andy starts playing Buzz more, thus becoming his new favorite toy. Not very happy with how things are turning out, Woody takes matter into his own hands and attempts to get revenge on Buzz but ends up taking things farther than he expected as he accidentally knocks him out of the house. Later Woody himself gets lost with Buzz, as they are taken by Andy’s next door neighbor, Sid, who loves to torture, and destroy toys for fun. Can the two toy put aside their differences, and work together to escape from Sid’s house before Andy moves to another house?
This is the movie that would kick off a brand new beginning for the fledgling animation studio, and boy what a heck of a way to start off! This film just knocks it out of the part in the writing department crafting a very clever world, with a touching story at the center. There is so much creativity in developing the world of the toys showing how they live, get along with one another, how they react to events like birthdays, and of course in Buzz’s case what would happen if a toy thought he was actually the real deal, and it shows these idea in a natural way, not shoving information down our throats explaining each, and every aspect of this world. As a buddy movie the movie fires on all cylinders thanks to the two characters being likable to audiences, and having many differences between one another but eventually learning things about each other, and try to bring the best in one another as well as friends can help each other through tough times indeed. When it comes to emotion the film has heavy doses of that with a lot of great scenes that leave a big impact on the film with Buzz learning that he cannot fly being a great example. Not only is the emotion effective but so is the comedy, which is hilarious with plenty of inventive visual gags, and plenty jokes that both children, and adults will enjoy (there is a surprising amount of adult jokes in this series overall). There is also some digging into the existential aspects of the toys existence, and how they worry about not being played with anymore, and in Buzz’s case whether or not being a toy is good or not, and it looks into these ideas quite a bit (though when we get to the sequels we will start seeing a whole lot more of these types of questions). With a sharp script, excellent pacing with no scenes being too short or too long, and a big heart this first Toy Story knew how to be a Great Story.
Recently I have been hearing a lot of people trashing the animation for this movie, calling it dated, and weird. First if all we should keep in mind that not only did this film release all the way back in 1995 , but it was also the first ever CG feature length animated feature, so naturally it was bound to age a little. Now this is not a criticism against fully CGI animation since I love that style about as any other, its just that those types of films tend to age faster than stuff like 2-D animation, or stop motion which is again nothing against this type of animation, its just an inevitability with age. Though even taking that into consideration, Toy Story’s visuals have never really bothered me to be honest. Maybe it’s because John Lasseter’s directing is so well done, and all of the lighting is very well lit depending on the setting. Or maybe because the designs, and movements of the toys are all very creative, with all of them capturing the feeling of what type of toy they are, plus they hold up pretty well visually. Its really the humans that look a little weird, but even then they don’t appear too much in the film, and the one with the most screen-time, which is Sid, doesn’t even look that bad. I also really like the backgrounds which capture what it is like to be in a kids room, and I love the contrast between Andy’s more welcoming, and colorful room, and Sid’s darker, scarier, and even creepy interior. The action is also a lot of fun, and is directed in a way that is surprisingly intense, with the climatic chase with Scud being a perfect example of this.
However we must remember that none of this would have worked if it weren’t for Tom Hanks, and Tim Allen who voice both Woody, and Buzz respectively who are the real stars, and where the true heart of this feature lay. Hanks captures both the dramatic, and comedic aspects of Woody here, as he gives one of his best performances here as a kind hearted individual who wants to do whats best for his group, who nonetheless has many flaws such as being faced with jealousy once this new stranger comes to take his world away from him, and thus he ends up making many rash decisions, but learns to make himself better, and learn to work together with Buzz so they can both make Andy happy. While Tim Allen does an equally exceptional job of portraying Buzz as someone who thought he knew who he was, but is faced with the hard truth that he is not who he thinks he is, leaving him without a purpose, until Woody shows hims how great being a toy, and having a kid loving you is. Together they make for one of my favorite dynamic duo’s in any media, and this film would not be the same without them. But that doesn’t mean their the only memorable characters here because there are plenty of other toys who leave a great impression such as Don Rickles as the cynical Mr. Potato Head, Wallace Shaw as nervous dinosaur toy, Rex, John Ratzenberger as the smart Alec piggy bank, Hamm, Jim Varney as Woody’s most trustworthy friend, Slinky, Annie Potts as Woody’s porcelain girlfriend, Little Bo-Peep, R. Lee Emery as Green Army Sergeant, Sarge, and Jeff Pidgeon, and Debi Derryberry as the little green claw loving aliens among others. Meanwhile Erik Von Detten did a great job as Sid who is a really fun antagonist, and its darkly funny how he has no idea that what he considers plastic to mess around with, are actual living being which makes for a funny dynamic. He also has one of the best comeuppances for a Pixar baddie yet which is really saying something since the studio is know for having a lot of satisfying ones. Also I really loved the “cannibal” toys in Sid’s room since they have very creepy designs, and are involved in a very well handled twist regarding their intentions.
It is very rare for an animation studio to get this good of a start nowadays, and yet Pixar was able to knock it out of the park! Toy Story is a classic buddy adventure comedy that works on many levels, and there are very few films like it today that have any luck successfully capturing what made this one truly special. It helped pave the way for many of Pixar’s future releases, helped bring in a brand new era of feature animation, and started what is one of the best movie franchises ever. So now that we are done looking at this masterpiece, look forward to next time in my Pixar review series where we will be taking a look at a small world right under our eyes in their sophomore feature which is one of their more forgotten features nowadays.
Rating: A+
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