When I think back to seeing the first 'Toy Story 4' trailer, I remember feeling disappointed. I felt like Pixar was just doing the sequel thing again, and 'Toy Story' just plain didn't need a fourth title. I felt like the way 'Toy Story 3' ended was the perfect way to end a long-lived trilogy, and this felt like Pixar running out of original ideas. I'll admit, I pretty much just rolled my eyes at the idea. Along would come a second trailer that gave us a bit more, and I decided that if Pixar had ever taught me one thing, I probably shouldn't judge this book by its cover. There had to be something more to it than I was seeing. Thankfully, I was right to think that. 'Toy Story 4' continues Woody's (Tom Hanks) story under Bonnie's (Madeleine McGraw) new ownership. Woody and the gang are all in their element with Bonnie, and have all become friends with Bonnie's other toys; among Bonnie's mainstays are a triceratops named Trixie (Kristen Schaal), a unicorn named Buttercup (Jeff Garlin), an elegant porcupine named Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton) and and the aptly named Dolly (Bonnie Hunt). Taking a moment to rewind to 'Toy Story 3', I appreciate the fact that Bonnie owned a Totoro, who sadly doesn't come up here. But I'll tell you who does show up - Bonnie's toys she leaves in the closet; Carl Reineroceros (Carl Reiner), Bitey White (Betty White), Chairol Burnett (Carol Burnett), Melephant Brooks (Mel Brooks) and Old Timer (Alan Oppenheimer). Also, two fluffy carnival prize animals, Ducky (Keegan-Michael Key) and Bunny (Jordan Peele). I still don't even know if I've covered all the great voicework, but we must move forward. The plot of the film starts with Bonnie's Kindergarten orientation. She's scared, so being the comforting toy Woody is, he sneaks into her backpack to keep an eye on her. Bonnie sits alone, not really knowing where to start on a class project. Instead, she finds some materials Woody tossed on her table without her knowing, and creates Forky (Tony Hale). I find this shines a light on a question I never thought of with these movies - if a kid creates a toy, is it alive. The answer turns out to be "yes", but Forky thinks he belongs in the trash, being that he basically came from there. Woody tries to convince him otherwise, and that he's potentially Bonnie's new favourite toy. Forky brought her joy when she was feeling sad and scared. I have to appreciate the analogy that sometimes we can consider ourselves useless and/or pointless, but there's someone on the side lines trying to steer us in the right direction, reminding us we're loved. After Bonnie gets through her first day of Kindergarten, the family (Lori Alan and Jay Hernandez as the parents) decides to go on a road trip, allowing Bonnie to bring along all of her toys. During the trip, Forky jumps out and Woody goes after him, promising to meet at the RV park they were headed for. On their way over, Woody and Forky happen upon an antique shop where Woody recognizes Bo Peep's (Annie Potts) lamp. They go to explore, only to find themselves amid creepy ventriloquist dummies (Steve Purcell) and a doll named Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) who needs a new voice box if she ever wants to be enjoyed by a child - even if it means taking Woody's. As for Bo Peep, they do manage to eventually find each other after Woody escapes his situation, leaving Forky behind. Bo Peep, along with stunt driving Canadian, Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) and a "Polly Pocket"-like character named Giggles McDimples (Ally Maki) help Woody try to get Forky back to Bonnie. As the plot unfolds, so does Woody's character development. While he remains used to the idea of playtime and loyalty to Bonnie (and once, Andy) he remains somewhat freaked out by the idea of being a lost toy. Bo Peep, on the other hand, tries to convince him that perhaps being lost isn't so bad. Her story is an interesting call-back to 'Toy Story 3' when Bo Peep is mentioned as a lost toy. Somehow, with the way Woody puts things in the scene, we all knew there was some untold story behind Bo Peep's disappearance. This movie fills in the blanks, namely with the opening scene. I always found that each of these movies speaks to a certain aspect of the life of a toy, which is very interesting. The first deals with going missing, and having to deal with that cynical kid we all knew who loved destroying toys. The second one deals with being stolen as a collector's item, and finding out you're part of a set. It further deals with the idea of being grown out of, and what will happen. This is all answered with the third film, showing Andy having grown out of his toys, and moving on to college. It deals with being donated, and whatever the next step in a toy's life might be, which brings Bonnie into the picture. Finally this film deals with the idea of a toy she creates, and Woody taking care of him. He also wants to take care of Bonnie, as he's loyal, but for once the film asks why he doesn't take care of himself. So while they all have to do with escape/break-out, they all have very different stories going on through the escape/break-out. 'Toy Story 4' would go on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar, earning Pixar Golden Statue #10 for the category. I have to say that speaking for myself, it was probably my favourite animated film that year, and above all else, a very pleasant surprise. I remember leaving the theatre, wondering how the hell they pulled things off so well. It even gets kind of deep in a way we might not ever expect. In all honesty, I was kind of surprised by the way it all ended. With a very solid four titles under its belt, all being pleasant surprises for their time, the 'Toy Story' franchise may very well be the best series (including all sequels) in the Pixar library. One way or another, my generation has grown up with these movies. For me, it started when I was 13, and ended before the, shall we say, terror of 2020. There's a lot of nostalgia here, and I'm happy to have these films to refer to when I need the boost. 5/5
0 Comments
Up to this point, I have praised Pixar's quality again and again, offering a lot of great reviews for a lot of great movies. But in the summer of 2011, Pixar would release 'Cars 2'; a film that came out to some rather scathing reviews that suggested this animation company God has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. To this day, it's probably considered the biggest overall disappointment of the Pixar library, having lost that special touch of "deep" they have offered up until now. I completely overlooked it until only a few years ago, first reviewing it here as a 'Catching Up' review. Our hero from the previous film, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), heads to a race to compete against a new up-and-coming, trash-talking racer named Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro). He allows his best friend, Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), to come along with him, with the slight fear that he might mess things up. Meanwhile, however, Mater is mistaken as an American agent by an international spy named Finn McMissile (Michael Caine). He's then brought on a mission to help stop a group of "lemon" cars, who are plotting against Allinol; the fuel company keeping modern racers in business. The film is more about Mater than McQueen, and all in all, it ends up being pretty forgettable. I never really and truly thought this film was terrible, but it's easily on the weaker end of Pixar. This was a bit more of a merchandise-pusher than a good story with good characters, and most certainly aimed at a younger audience. On a personal level, I've always thought the 'Cars' series to be a little on the bland side, and more for others than myself. I was never really a gearhead or anything like that, and the most I've ever gotten from any of these was the first one's teachings on, shall we say, "slowing down and enjoying the view". This doesn't have a whole lot to teach other than a few basic friendship concepts that other Pixar films have frankly done better. This film pulls the whole thing where the sequel is based on the first film's comedic relief, thus knocking the quality down a notch or two. Comedy relief works in a movie because it's off to the side. It provides a laugh while other, more serious things are going on. Once that comedy becomes the plot, there's no comedy relief for that comedy relief, and it just ends up becoming lame. In this case, the comedy relief in question is Larry the Cable Guy, who feels like an incredibly dated act nowadays. But that's also speaking for myself. I think that while I criticize, the film is pretty much harmless for a young audience, and I wouldn't necessarily deter them from checking it out. It's not without its share of fun in that sense, but again, it's incredibly weak in the way of story, and feels very "straight-to-video", but it wasn't. It may not actually mean much to many, but this is the first Pixar film to earn no Oscar nominations at all. With that, it almost felt official that this was just a kids movie, lacking that typical Pixar magic we've really grown to love over the years. For my money, the company had reached its peak with 'Toy Story 3' and, in a way, this almost feels like them taking a breather from their typical touch. It's sort of as if they said "let's just throw our brains out the window for once." There's nothing about the movie I find insultingly stupid or anything, but I might suggest that this is what Pixar comes up with when they don't really try, and half-ass a project. Let's be fair enough and say we all do this, and no production company actually has a perfect track record. So, as far as this big, glamorous library of animated instant classics goes, I would probably go with this one being the overall weakest entry into the entire library. For yours truly, it's Pixar's answer to the MCU's 'Thor: The Dark World' - it's lame, it's forgettable, and basically every other title in the series is superior, even if only by a little tiny bit. This was the beginning of a strange dip in quality for Pixar, with more to follow. This was where one might suggest that Pixar officially lost its magic, and we started turning our attention to competing animation companies. In fact, if you can believe it, the Academy's Best Animated Feature category had no hint of Disney that year. Thankfully, we've since seen Pixar pic up the slack, but that was a heck of a time for us big-time Pixar fiends (me, truly joining the bandwagon with 'Up'). 2/5 I still remember seeing the teaser for 'Toy Story 3' and thinking to myself something along the lines of surprise. At that point, we were in 2009, watching the trailer ten years after 'Toy Story 2'. It made me wonder what it was gonna be about, and of course, the eventual trailer would answer that. I was immediately fascinated because it looked like it was going to be a pretty deep movie, telling us whatever would happen to Andy's Toys. Andy (John Morris - and huge kudos to him reprising his role) is 17 now, and getting ready to go away to college. All of our favourite toys make one last effort towards playtime with Andy. Of course, it falls through, and soon every toy but Woody (Tom Hanks), who Andy decides to take with him, is put into a garbage bag, headed up to the attic. Mistaking the trash bag as actual garbage, Andy's Mom (Laurie Metcalf) takes them out to the curb, giving Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Slinky (Blake Clark, replacing the late Jim Varney), the Potato Heads (Don Rickles/Estelle Harris), the Pizza Planet Aliens (Jeff Pidgeon), and Barbie (Jodi Benson) the impression Andy thinks they're trash now. The toys escape, and Jessie suggests they climb into the donations box Andy's Mom is about to take over to Sunnyside Daycare. Woody, having seen everything and knowing they were destined for the attic tries to convince them not to go, and accidentally ends up in the box with them. The toys are donated, and find themselves amid what could be a paradise, however Woody remains loyal to Andy and tries to go his separate way, eventually meeting Bonnie (Emily Hahn) who finds him and takes him to her house to play with a whole new group of toys. Meanwhile the other toys are shown around the Daycare by Lotso-Huggin Bear (Ned Beatty), and are shown the Caterpillar Room where they'll be staying. Soon, the toys figure out just how much of a nightmare playtime can be when the room is flooded with toddlers, and just to cut down on more exposition, things eventually kinda-sorta turn into our third "escape and get back home" movie - but this one is so much more fun in my opinion. As for Woody, despite the idea that he could have a new home with Bonnie, he chooses to go back and help his friends and get back to Andy. The whole movie ends up being a fun parody of 'The Great Escape' (or at least that's how I take it), and parts of it have certainly grown up with the audience. My ages upon the release of each movie at this point were, respectively, 13, 17 and now, approaching 28; so I was certainly in the older area of the audience, but it's interesting how these films become a bit more reflective for me than watching them in more of a real-time situation, growing up with Andy. Still, this was a film that once again hit me right in the feels, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the combination of moods it had going through it. It's got dark fun, it's got cute fun, it's got joy, it's got sadness, it often has a sense of dread, adventure and dammit, it's got a Spanish-speaking Buzz Lightyear. Maybe it's just me, but dammit, Spanish Buzz Lightyear cracks me up. Anyway, of the three films, it was easy for me to see this one as the tip-top of the pile. The first two were always more on the fun level, but this had a certain "grown-up" style to it I couldn't help but appreciate, and at this point, Pixar was very high on a pedestal for yours truly. Their track record was just amazing at this point, and 'Toy Story 3' would be their sixth Best Animated Picture Oscar winner, and second nominated for the Best Picture category. I tote the Oscar history of these films more to keep track of the stereotype that says "Pixar will win the Oscar indefinitely". Up to this point, a fairly accurate assumption considering their track record since the Best Animated Picture category came into play. They have only lost the Oscar twice, first 'Monsters, Inc.' to 'Shrek' (which was the first year of the category, 2002), then 'Cars' to 'Happy Feet'. Otherwise, Pixar seemed untouchable, and with good reason. Watching Pixar meant watching a quality story that had humour, adventure, and above all else, a deeper meaning. They could be a kid's movie that any adult could still get a lot out of, but more than just something cute and fun... but then again... we have what Pixar cranked out next. But just to dwell on the wonderful movie that is 'Toy Story 3' a bit longer, and more on my personal take, it was fascinating to watch this now, with the knowledge of 'Toy Story 4'. At this point, I was convinced they were done with the way things end here, and I still think that it makes a very well-rounded, almost perfect trilogy. I really did love 'Toy Story 4', but in a way, its existence makes the ending of this a touch less impactful than it once was. They go out on a high note here, and I'm fairly convinced that when I saw this in theaters, there wasn't a dry eye in the audience. Regardless, I still hold this film close to my heart, and yet again, it makes for one of my all-time Pixar favourites - a category that now feels redundant but true. 5/5 So far, Pixar has given personality to toys, bugs, monsters and fish who, as far as we can tell, live in a sort of "real-world" setting. For this reason, when the idea of these anthropomorphic cars and trucks came along for Pixar's next movie, I turned my nose up at it. I didn't have a problem with it, per se, but it was very clear-cut this time that it was gonna be for kids (in other words, I still hadn't learned my lesson when it came to Pixar's storytelling quality). What I thought this film was going to be was what 'Cars 2' became, but more on that with that review. 'Cars' tells a story that takes place in an alternate world where vehicles take on human qualities while maintaining most aspects of cars we know about. Here, we meet racing rookie, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) who goes up against retiring legend, Strip "The King" Weathers (Richard Petty) and pro racer, Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) in the final race of the Piston Cup. The race ends un a three-way tie, however, and a tie-breaking race is scheduled for one week later at the Los Angeles International Speedway. McQueen maintains a cocky attitude about his skills, and doesn't seem to want or need anyone's help to become a new racing legend. He becomes desperate to get to LA quickly to shmooze with Dinoco; the oil company representing Hicks, in the hopes to switch to them over his less glamorous Rust-Eze sponsors. McQueen insists that his transport truck, Mac (John Ratzenberger again) drive straight to LA through the night, which results in Mac dozing off and a near-accident that sends McQueen falling out of the trailer, finding himself lost, and soon in trouble with the small town of Radiator Springs after accidentally ruining their main road. McQueen is tasked with fixing the road before they allow him to leave, making him stress about the big race. However, McQueen also meets a group of locals, primarily featuring a Porsche named Sally (Bonnie Hunt), a tow truck named Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and an experienced Hudson Hornet known as Doc (Paul Newman), who might collectively be able to teach him that winning and fame aren't all there is to life. My opinion on the 'Cars' series has been more or less the same throughout the trilogy (so far) in that these movies are nothing special, and Pixar doesn't exactly strike the same chord here as with other films. For my money, however, I would lean towards the first film probably being the best of the three (at least easily over 'Cars 2'). When the location of Radiator Springs is seen as an aged and forgotten place that once looked awesome in its heyday, it does provoke a certain nostalgia. I think it's safe to say that many of us live fairly close to an area that would have been a lot of fun in a certain time, but now it's old and forgotten just because people have moved on. That aspect of the film is actually pretty moving, and does tug at the heartstrings a little. So it was good to see that the film certainly still had that Pixar heart behind it. The film's overall emotional impact hits a touch harder when we see that it is dedicated to the late Joe Ranft, who ironically died tragically in a car crash during the filming of 'Cars'. He has several credits to his name in the Pixar collection up to this point - where he would get his credit for co-directing. One has to appreciate that 'Cars' brings the name to the viewer's attention, as if to say "this guy had a hand in everything we've done" (quite literally). He may be best known as a voice actor, but the man worked in the art department and penning scripts as well. Because of this memorial, I end up liking the film more; not just because an important person passed away, but because it makes you take a second look at the film's message of enjoying more of life's simple pleasures and not constantly focusing on one thing, and heading in one direction, as you could be missing something great. I enjoy 'Cars', but it's unfortunate that it's responsible for launching a whole somewhat failed universe of both Cars and Planes. This series has three movies, and Disney (without Pixar) saw some money to be made by spinning off of the universe with 'Planes' (1 and 2). This was one of those cases where it didn't quite work out in their favour due to rough reviews and poor box office returns, and I'm glad they didn't draw it all out by coming up with something like 'Boats' or 'Trains' next. But if I were to recommend any of the titles from this world, it would easily be this one (followed somewhat closely by 'Cars 3', but again, more on that later). It's a film that teaches us about the highway of life and the idea that every once in a while, you've just got to pull over and enjoy the view. 4/5 While I admire the 'Toy Story' saga being so good altogether, this is probably the one I manage to get the least out of. It's still a great movie, but I'll get to my various nitpicks about it later. It otherwise introduces new characters who develop with the rest of the toys we already know, plays with new ideas, and certain things follow through from the original. For example, Andy now has a dog, and Mrs. Potato Head has now come into play. One of the best things about the writing of these movies is the way things stay consistent, and for that, I admire this one along with all of the others in their own way. It all starts when Andy (John Morris) starts getting ready for Cowboy Camp. He's playing with Woody (Tom Hanks) and accidentally rips his arm. As a result, Woody is left behind, and placed on a shelf where he runs into Wheezy (Joe Ranft); a penguin squeeze toy with a broken squeaker. He talks to Woody about being a "forgotten toy", and when Andy's Mom gathers some of Andy's old stuff up for a yard sale, she takes him, prompting Woody to try to rescue him. In the mix-up, Woody is discovered, and stolen by a greedy collector named Al McWhiggin (Wayne Knight), who the other toys actually recognize from an ad where he dresses up like a chicken. The other toys, lead by Buzz (Tim Allen), then begin a search and rescue mission for Woody, using the "Al's Toy Barn" ad to help them find where Al probably took him. Meanwhile, at Al's apartment, Woody meets the rest of a set he had no idea he belonged to; "The Roundup Gang". Said gang includes Woody's horse, Bullseye, a cowgirl named Jessie (Joan Cusack), and Stinky Pete, the still-in-the-box Prospector (Kelsey Grammer). Jessie has a real problem with claustrophobia; a fear triggered when Woody expresses his desire to get back to Andy. As a set, they are to be put on display in a museum to be admired, but if Woody leaves, that means being put back into storage for Jessie and the others. She also suffers from the trauma of being a forgotten toy, so Woody's desire to get back home is much to her chagrin. Woody is now faced with a choice; find a new home as part of a display collection, or get back to his home knowing the day will eventually come when Andy has to move on. This choice of Woody's is actually part of my issue with this one. He can eventually be forgotten, donated or left behind in some way as an eventuality that may not even really come to pass, or he can be shelved permanently anyway with his Roundup gang and live a life behind glass forever. The choice seems pretty obvious to me, but to the film's credit, Buzz does point out how silly the latter choice seems. Beyond that, I do have a certain pet peeve when it comes to animated family films like this involving a closing musical number. 'Shrek' did it, and suddenly "everyone" seemed to have to follow suit. I think this is the one and only time Pixar does it, but they also do it here along with the animated outtakes we got from 'A Bug's Life' which nowadays seems kind of corny to me. To be fair, however, this was still very early for Pixar, and they were trying new things. With all of that said, there's still so much to like about it. The good absolutely outweighs the bad here as far as storytelling and character development goes, and I won't deny that when Jessie sings her song about being forgotten, it provides the old Pixar heartstring puller - and probably the first one that really exists in the library. We all know that Pixar has a way of getting to your emotional core, but the previous two movies in the collection were much more fun than they were deep. This was something that actually made you think and even feel for the characters involved. Although it follows the infamous "Toy Story Escape" trope, the underlying ideas here are very different. While the first film is very much about getting back to Andy, this one, though basically the same idea, actually offers Woody a choice in the matter, and has him think about his potential future as Andy's favourite toy. 'Toy Story 2' is a very good balance of serious and silly, balancing Woody's more dramatic side of things against he comedic mission of Buzz and the other toys from the original. The search and rescue mission gets very funny at points, some of which includes Andy's Buzz Lightyear facing off against a store-shelved Buzz and even his nemesis, Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton). We get more of the other toys here than we got in the first, and they really add to the fun of it all. It's interesting to think of 'Toy Story 2' being the peak of emotional response in the Pixar library at one point, but it would have nothing on its eventual sequel, ten plus years (and eight more reviews) down the line. In the meantime, Pixar would expand its universe into some really memorable moments - many of which completely dethrone Jessie's song here as the big emotional Pixar moment. We can, however, at least give Jessie credit for being Pixar's tear-jerking pioneer! 4/5 I tend to be a little bit disconnected from this particular Pixar title for some reason I can't quite put my finger on. It's not by any means "bad", portrays plenty of likable characters, and it's an underdog story, which I usually tend to eat up. I can't very well argue that it's more directed at kids, because so was 'Toy Story', which I obviously have a love for. Perhaps it's just a simple matter of not being able to reach me on that deep level, as there's nothing particularly deep about this one. It doesn't really make you think so much as it's a simple underdog vs. bully story, which I've obviously seen done before. Taking place on "Ant Island", a bustling colony works to gather various bits of food to appease a gang of grasshoppers led by Hopper (Kevin Spacey). Everything is going okay until an outcast ant named Flick (Dave Foley) knocks over the offering, resulting in the grasshoppers demanding twice as much food for compensation. It all must be done before the last leaf drops in Fall, or the grasshoppers will destroy the colony, including the Queen (Phyllis Diller), her eldest daughter, Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and youngest daughter, Dot (Hayden Panettiere). With no hope in sight, Flick makes the suggestion to seek help from stronger bugs who dwell in the neighbouring city. Seeing it as more of an opportunity to get rid of their "problem", the colony gladly sends Flick on his merry way, not believing he'll be able to come through. On his journey, Flick comes across a group of recently fired circus performing bugs; Slim, the walking stick (David Hyde Pierce); Francis, the ladybug (Denis Leary); Manny, the mantis (Jonathan Harris); Gypsy, the moth (Madeline Kahn); Rosie, the spider (Bonnie Hunt); Dim, the rhino beetle (Brad Garrett); Heimlich, the caterpillar (Joe Ranft); and two fleas named Tuck and Roll (Michael McShane). Flick mistakes these circus performers as tough bug heroes, and brings them back to the colony to fight the grasshoppers. However, the performers are under the impression Flick is a talent scout, looking for an act. It could turn out to be the dumbest thing Flick has done yet, but it could also turn out to be a happy accident, with the right mindset. I've always enjoyed this movie for the fun, underdog adventure that it is, but there's nothing all that special about it to me. To try to find a deeper meaning to this one is like trying to find the gold at the end of the rainbow. As mentioned earlier, it's quite simply your average underdog hero vs. bully, or 'David and Goliath' story, and the big takeaway is really just that the smallest person can make a difference, or not to judge people too quickly as they may serve a bigger purpose than you think. To be perfectly fair, however, Pixar was still a very new thing, and as it's trying to speak to a whole new generation of kids, so my "brush-aside" opinion on the film should be taken lightly. If you want a good underdog story you can show your kids, I'd still consider this a good place to turn. Regardless of the old idea behind the plot, there's still quite a lot to enjoy about this movie. The voice acting is well-played, and the side characters here are generally likeable. By the way, I forgot to mention John Ratzenberger (who we recently say play Hamm in 'Toy Story') comes back to play P.T. Flea (head of the circus who initially fires the performers). Beyond that, however, technically speaking, this pushed what CG animation could do forward a little bit. One interesting thing about exploring early CG titles is their somewhat ground-breaking takes on environment, and if there's anything I can really give to this movie, it's the world these bugs live in. If you were to zoom out, it would only be a few hundred square feet, according to sources; yet in the movie, it's a whole world. It's interesting to think of things taking place in an area no bigger than say, perhaps your living room. At the end of the day, 'A Bug's Life' isn't as impactful as 'Toy Story' was, and it's not as impactful as a lot of the titles to follow, but it is still a lot of fun for what it is. I very much appreciate the environments, and a lot of the different and interesting ideas that take place in a bug world - for example, using lightning bugs to light up billboards (I hope they get paid well). I believe this was also the first animated film to contain bloopers in the end credits for a funny way to cap things off. At times it's just dumb toilet humor, but others are fairly clever in their execution. Either way, animated outtakes were something new and different for the time, and still pretty entertaining. For as much as this one is only just "decent" to yours truly, there's bound to be plenty here others might like more, so I still recommend giving it a look for yourself, if only for a fun time. 3/5 Back in 1995, at the age of 13, I was pretty fascinated by CG animation. It all started for me with 'Reboot' on YTV, circa '94. Coincidentally enough, the show was generally preceded with a bumper series called 'Short Circutz', among which was my first glimpse of Pixar animation; Jon Lasseter's 'The Adventures of André & Wally B'. At this point, Pixar was still known as The Graphics Group, originally under Lucasfilm, but would eventually break off and create cinematic history with 'Toy Story'; the very first in an eventual long line of full-length CG animated films. 'Toy Story' starts out on a kid named Andy's (John Morris) sixth birthday. Much to the dismay of Andy's favorite toy, Woody (Tom Hanks), Andy unwraps a new action figure known as Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) who poses a potential threat to replace Woody as Andy's new favorite toy. In an attempt to try to get rid of Buzz, Woody knocks him out of Andy's bedroom window, and when Andy grabs Woody to go with him to a restaurant called Pizza Planet, Buzz hitches a ride (having fallen outside). Eventually the pair's squabbling leads to their disappearance from the family car, and capture from Andy's neighbor, Sid; a kid who delights in torturing, disfiguring and destroying any toys he can get. Now it's up to Woody and Buzz to set their differences aside and try to work together in order to get back to Andy in time for moving day, so they won't get left behind. This would admittedly become the beginning of the 'Toy Story' formula in that they all seem to involve an escape from somewhere, and the need to get back home. Although there's a truth to that, I wouldn't say it stifles the creativity too badly. Each time these toys are trying to "escape", although it's for the same reasons, there's always a difference in what fuels their need to escape. In the first chapter's case, it seems as simple as survival. It's quite literally "get back to Andy, or die." It's topped with Woody's love for Andy, but it doesn't seem nearly as obvious here as it is in the sequels. Of course, we're also introduced to a handful of other toys along the way. Among the favorites are a Piggy Bank named Hamm (John Ratzenberger - who will be in a lot of these reviews), a T-Rex named Rex (Wallace Shawn), a Slinky Dog named Slinky (Jim Varney), Mr. Potato Head before he became a problem (Don Rickles) and Woody's apparent love interest, Bo Peep (Annie Potts), an Army of little green soldiers (lead by R. Lee Ermey), and a group of Pizza Planet aliens (Jeff Pidgeon). Pretty much all of these characters are mainstays throughout the series, each representing various strong personality types, and they all add a little something to the mix. It's neat to know I actually had some of these toys in my childhood, like Mr. Potato Head, and most kids my age had some sort of toy dinosaur. In a way, that expands the nostalgic factor of the movie beyond it just being from my youth. One of my reasons for the big Pixar marathon is to see if there's a deep, personal takeaway from each of them like I found with 'Soul', late last year. In the original 'Toy Story', I think the trouble they run into is basic enough that the takeaway isn't necessarily deep or profound. Woody has to cope with his jealous feelings for the "new kid in town" and Buzz has to really come to terms with reality, but while realizing reality can be a good thing too. He even ends up doubting himself, thinking he's insignificant, but Woody has to convince him he's still loved and wanted by Andy. We all have moments like that, especially in our youth, and this is a film that gets the right message across in that regard - you are not as insignificant as you might think you are, because someone out there still loves you. Speaking for myself, I still don't find this one quite as deep as any of the three chapters that follow it, but in many ways it's still a very solid film. On a technical level, it's a massive achievement, and something like plastic toys was a great way to go when it came to early CG. I'd say this is one of the more fun movies in the Pixar library, and it doesn't leave you thinking and pondering so much as leave you with a smile on your face. It brings a lot of nostalgia to the table for me, in more ways than one. In fact, of the Pixar library, I would probably consider this one the go-to for nostalgic purposes altogether. Sometimes you just need to take a trip down memory lane, and between the portrayal of one's carefree childhood days, and simply being there for something cinematically groundbreaking, it serves that purpose well. 5/5 |
Writers and Directors
All
|