For an apt analogy, we'll speak in toy terminology. For one birthday, as a child, you receive the hottest franchised toy out there. In recent memory such examples would include a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, a Transformer, a Tickle-Me Elmo, or, going back a little further, a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. The present sits on your lap and you tear open the paper. Your face lights up. You just opened the gift that will be the envy of all your friends. You love this new toy. You take it everywhere you go. It's not an exclusively child-based phenomena, but that's when it's at its strongest. So a few years down the road, you open your toy chest and you see that toy that once excited you so. You pick it up, look it over, and cast it back into he box with a “Meh” and fleeting memories of what used to be. Everyone does it, but Toy Story has always been a plea to the contrary. It seeks to remind us what makes every toy special, whether it's the doll you took everywhere or the random trinket you got from an out-of-touch uncle, you still play with the toy, but it's a side character in your imagination. Toy Story says every toy has its place, and as Pixar's first feature-length animated film it's hard to imagine them doing any better.
Andy is the child who falls in to that starry-eyed category described above. He has a stash of toys he plays with every day pitting them in adventures that often take place in the Wild West world of his favorite character, Woody (Tom Hanks). He doesn't just play with Woody. Andy loves Woody. He takes him everywhere. His entire room is Woody-centric, from the wallpaper to the bedspread. The greatest fear of any beloved toy is the new, shiny one that is today's hottest commodity. That's exactly what Woody finds himself up against. After an unexpectedly early birthday celebration (to accommodate an upcoming move to another house), Andy receives Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), a space ranger toy that lights up, glows in the dark, and flies (or at least falls with style). The new kid on the block quickly becomes a favorite with all the other toys leaving Woody a jealous wreck. His envy eventually gets the best of him and he attempts to commit he equivalent of toy murder by knocking Buzz behind a desk – only to send the spaceman out an open window. To get back into the good graces of the other toys, who now despise him (a transformation that happens a bit too quickly), Woody must rescue Buzz and bring him back home. This process isn't nearly as easy as it sounds and leads them to a space-themed pizza place and into the undesirable clutches of sadistic neighbor Sid, who enjoys destroying toys. He really is a messed up kid.
What kid doesn't dream that their toys can talk? Isn't that the first thing they ever do with them? Imagine that they're interacting with one another by talking aloud in slightly altered voices? Yeah, you know you did it too. Even girls do it, as a comedic interlude with a tea party shows. It's a wholly natural thing for all children to want, and it's part of the magic of the imagination, something Pixar embraced wholeheartedly with their Toy Story franchise. There are lots of familiar faces in the toy crowd, with Mr. Potato Head and Slinky Dog being two of the more recognizable and Etch-a-Sketch, one of those short-lived super troll figures, and a generic RC car rounding out the rest.
Could you have expected that Tim Allen and Tom Hanks would have such incredible comic rapport? I don't think so. Furthermore, that Hanks could have such a dynamic range even as an animated character. Tim Allen gives Buzz Lightyear, who doesn't know he's a toy, all the bluster and self-importance. Tim Allen doesn't just play Buzz, he really does create him. The same goes for Hanks, Woody becomes more than just a throw away cowboy toy gag, he's a character more real for being a toy.
While the film was an animated glory in the days of is debut, you can't help but notice some of the rougher edges on the animation when presented in glorious HD. It's still a fantastic looking film, but it does show its age. Even so, it's a fantastically animated film and something every child and adult can love, because it both stimulates and reawakens the imagination. If only every film were so inspired.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The set comes as a combo pack with both a DVD and Blu-ray version. Beyond that it includes a healthy array of extras including a sneak peak at the upcoming Toy Story 3, a basic “making of” piece, and some deleted scenes and art galleries (though most of the art is paraded about as the disc's menu screen). The better extras on the disc include the first episode in a new, fun series of NASA-oriented shorts called the “Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs” (it's like listening to Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor talk about rockets in the body of Buzz Lightyear); three Pixar staff stories put to animated storyboards; “Paths to Pixar: Artists” where animators talk about how they came to work for Pixar; “Buzz Takes Manhattan” about Buzz's huge balloon debut at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; and a look at the initial, darker storyline planned for Toy Story that you never saw. The extra features of the original DVD release have been preserved and can all be accessed on the Blu-ray copy – if you're so inclined, they're worth it.
"Toy Story" is on sale March 23, 2010 and is rated G. Adventure, Animation, Children & Family, Comedy. Directed by John Lasseter. Written by John Lasseter & Pete Docter. Starring John Ratzenberger, Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Jim Varney, Don Rickles.
