In the 90s, Disney owned animation. They were already releasing hit after hit during what’s called “The Disney Renaissance”, it only seemed appropriate for a studio to revolutionize animation by doing it again. This time with computer generated images as the only next evolutionary leap. Toy Story is a beloved film in animation, and as they say “The rest is history.”.
1. Child’s Play
It’s obvious that you and I have watched this film more times that you think you know. The film is my personal favorite animated film. I guess because I liked toys so much that the film really resonated with me. So, let’s just skim through the plot. Woody is Andy’s favorite toy. A western cowboy who is the leader of the toys. When Woody realizes that his owner’s birthday party is earlier than expected, he tells his friends, who proceed to freak out.
Woody tells the Green Army Men to do reconnaissance on the party. As the presents are opened, a surprise from his mom throws the soldiers off. The kids then go to Andy’s room and places Buzz on his bed, unintentionally knocking off Woody. Buzz Lightyear is a space ranger toy who thinks he’s real. The sheriff is jealous of him, and hilarity ensues.
The best part of the film are the main characters. Woody is the eyes and ears for us, while he intends to be the good leader, he is easily jealous when Buzz comes in and spends more time with Andy. Buzz is the oblivious type who thinks he is an actual space ranger. The funny moments are Woody just giving Buzz a hard time. Like, it would have been one thing to make Woody just a dick, but it serves a purpose since he is scared to not be the favorite.
Like, the whole studio is prided itself on just great characterization of their characters that they’re well rounded instead of being one dimensional token types. Toy Story manages to really go there when for example Woody and Buzz are at a gas station, which prompts Woody to panic that he’s a lost toy. I might as well just talk about my favorite scene.
Both our heroes are in Sid’s house. They see his dog Scud, Woody hides in a closet while Buzz hides in Sid’s dad’s room. He sees a toy commercial of himself, with the moments of them highlighting the toy’s abilities. Buzz starts to realize he isn’t real. The heartbreaking thing is when he tries to fly. I think the Randy Newman song really helps drive that emotional moment. Everything about him is a lie, with his arm being detached. Eventually, it takes Woody to really pep him up by saying Lightyear isn’t just a toy, he’s a cool toy.
Just the evolution between them is fascinating since they didn’t tolerate each other to being the most beloved duos ever in film. It’s something where it’s hard to replicate since you need the actors like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen to really have that synergy and chemistry to really nail the camaraderie.
2. Groundbreaking Animation
For 1995, this was impressive for its time. The only moment when there was early CGI was in Disney’s Tron, but that was only used when the main character was in the video game. This film managed to make it work without it coming across as creepy or just hastily put together. The characters are animated well enough that Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, actually invested into Pixar.
Nowadays, the complaints that are lodged at it is that it doesn’t look good. The dog looks weird, and the humans are just Andy but with different looks. I’m willing to suspend that since no one has ever seen something like this, ever. There have been talks or rumors from Pixar to update the look of Toy Story. Just upgrading the look of it to make more presentable, I feel that the animation is like a time capsule since it shows just how far the technology has come. Since, if it were updated, most of the charm would be lost on just the animation and how quaint it felt.
3. Legacy
Not a lot of people were aware but, Pixar was not under Disney’s corporate umbrella. They were their own company who had a deal with Disney to distribute their films. It managed to rake in loads of money for the company and make a name for Pixar. That’s why Disney wanted to make more sequels of Toy Story since its now a high Intellectual Property. I’m glad that the sequels are all equally good.
With its success, a new competitor to challenge them emerged, Dreamworks animation. They got the first award for Best Animated Feature with Shrek. From then on, Pixar has been homing in their own raking of that award. It felt only natural that with Toy Story success, the traditional hand drawn animation had met its fate. Disney Animation still made traditional animated movies, but it just didn’t get the same reception as Pixar’s due in part I guess was their willingness to be bold. Now that Disney has updated their studio with CGI, they own animation.
4. Overall
This is a classic. In every stretch for the word. No other variation can accurately describe just how great and influential Toy Story is.
Toy Story gets a five out of five.
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