Toy Story (1996, VHS)

Many animated movies have been made over the years. In the early 1990's, computers were being used more to create special effects in movies and even to help in some animated movies. In 1995, Pixar released Toy Story, the first full length computer animated movie.

Toy Story was set in a world where toys came to life when no people were around. Woody was six-year-old Andy s favorite toy and leader of the other toys in the room. All that changed when Andy received a Buzz Lightyear action figure at his birthday party. Buzz didn t realize he was a toy and thought he was an actual space ranger on a mission. Andy spent more time playing with Buzz, which made Woody jealous. The two ended up in the room of Sid, the boy next door who tortured toys for fun. Buzz and Woody had to try to escape Sid and get back to Andy before they were left behind when the family moved.

Toy Story was a very entertaining movie that has held up well over the years. It is considered one of the best animated movies by many people. The idea of making the movie about toys being alive was very clever. At some point in their lives, many children have probably imagined that their toys were really alive or would run around doing things when they were gone. In the movie, it was perfectly logical for the toys to be worried about their owner getting new toys that would replace them or to be afraid of a child that enjoyed torturing toys. The toys were intelligent and able to do things like open doors. A few things, like how Buzz and Woody felt about each other at first, weren t as original, but they worked. The movie was very family friendly since it is rated G, though there were one or two scenes that might bother younger children. I do think the movie can also be enjoyed by adults as well as children.

Pixar was formed in 1986 and they had been working on the technology for computer animation for years before Toy Story was released. The company did create some animated shorts, including Tin Toy, which won an Oscar before moving on to make full length movies. I believe that Tin Toy was the beginning of Toy Story since both had stories involving toys and a similar look. In one scene of Toy Story, there was a book in the background with the name of Tin Toy. Pixar has continued to add small references to their other projects in each new movie. I find some of them right away and for some I have to see the movie several times to find them. John Lasseter has been with Pixar from the beginning and been involved in writing several of the movies. Joss Whedon, the man who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, was actually one of the screenwriters for this movie.

Toy Story was a funny, entertaining movie. Much of the humor came from the different things the toys did. Buzz had no idea that he was a toy at first even though Woody kept trying to convince him. The two shared several funny scenes. Woody did have a few scenes when he panicked because he felt like Buzz was replacing him as Andy s favorite. There wasn t any gross humor used in the movie like has been done in so many other animated movies in the last several years. I do get tired of that being done so much in other animated movies. There were jokes that were aimed more at adults that would go right over the heads of the children.

When Toy Story was first released, it did have a look that was different from other animated movies because of the computer animation. That look isn t as unique any more since computer animation is more common. This movie had beautiful animation that I think still holds up now. Reflections were visible on different surfaces like the floors and when the characters moved, they had shadows. The movements of the human characters did look a little jerky and their skin looked sort of like plastic. That didn t keep me from enjoying the movie. The backgrounds didn t look really realistic, though they still looked very good. Pixar has continued to improve their animation with each of their new movies. As far as I m concerned, they have remained the best at computer animation.

Buzz and Woody were the two main characters in Toy Story. They were nothing alike and didn t have a good relationship at first. Woody was an older type of a toy cowboy while Buzz was a more high tech space ranger toy. The other toys in the room looked up to Woody as a leader and he was concerned about them. Once Buzz arrived, he did dazzle the other toys and seemed to be Andy s new favorite toy. Buzz thought he was on some sort of mission and kept trying to contact his star command. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks did wonderful voices for the characters.

The other toys in the room made up the majority of the characters though none of them were as developed as Buzz or Woody. Most of the toys were Andy s, though a few, like Little Bo Peep, were his little sisters. Rex was a nervous toy dinosaur that kept trying to act scary. John Ratzenberger did the voice of Hamm, a piggy bank. Ratzenberger has done a voice in every Pixar movie. Hamm has probably been the biggest part he s had in a Pixar movie. Andy, his mother, Sid, and Hannah were the only human characters that were around much. There were a few scenes away from the house that featured some other people.

Voice Talent

Tim Allen - Buzz Lightyear
R. Lee Ermey - Sergeant
Sarah Freeman - Hannah
Tom Hanks - Woody
Laurie Metcalf - Andy s mom
John Morris - Andy
Annie Potts - Bo Peep
John Ratzenberger - Hamm
Don Rickles - Mr. Potato Head
Wallace Shawn - Rex
Jim Varney - Slinky Dog
Erik von Detten - Sid

John Lasseter - Director

DVD Information

Toy Story has been available on DVD for several years now. I picked up my copy just before Monsters, Inc. was released in theaters. The version I have really doesn t have any extras. My DVD has the widescreen version of the movie and the animated short Tin Toy. That s it for this version. I was disappointed that there weren t more extras on the DVD when I got it. There is a two-disc version of the DVD that has more extras, though I don t know exactly what those extras are.

Toy Story is a wonderful animated movie that people of all ages can enjoy. The movie helped to launch Pixar as a highly successful computer animation studio and laid the ground work for their future movies. The movie is definitely worth seeing.

Pixar Movie Reviews
A Bug's Life ~ Cars ~ Finding Nemo ~ The Incredibles ~ Monsters, Inc. ~ Ratatouille ~ Toy Story 2 ~

Other Animated Movie Reviews
Beauty and the Beast ~ Brother Bear ~ Chicken Little ~ The Emperor's New Groove ~ Home on the Range ~ Hoodwinked ~ Ice Age ~ Ice Age: The Meltdown ~ Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ~ Lilo & Stitch ~ Looney Tunes: Back in Action ~ Madagascar ~ Over the Hedge ~ The Polar Express ~ Robots ~ Shark Tale ~ Shrek ~ Shrek 2 ~ Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ~ Sleeping Beauty ~ Tim Burton's Corpse Bride ~ Treasure Planet ~ Valiant ~ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ~ The Wild ~