Toy Story 1: Review # 86

  Toy story 1 is in my opinion the best pixar film and therefore the best animated Disney film. But really, comparing Pixar's and Disney's product on the same playing field is not fair. Even the highly acclaimed Beauty and the Beast just isn't that good if we are comparing it to great animation other companies and countries have done. But at least we have Toy Story I & II...and Nemo.


If we are talking about truly great animation then we need to go to Japan for most of that.


Toy story is the story of what toys do when their owners are away. They come alive and have adventures of their own. One of the things I love about this movie is there are multiple co-stars in this film and each has their own unique personality. The interactions of these secondary stars is great and is one of the things that makes this a great film. It is so hard to have so many people on stage and make them all meaningful, but Pixar has done just that. That I think is the greatest strength to this film, the many co-stars that really made it work. It makes it more social in the dynamics instead of just following one character from point A to point B.


But there are stars in this film. The first is Woody, a rag doll cowboy that is Andy's favorite toy. So he is always on the bed, not the floor like the other toys. Well the second star is a high tech toy (well sort of high tech) that is Andy's new favorite toy and Woody doesn't like that. This new toy is called Buzz Lightyear and he is from a made up children's cartoon (which was later made in real life. Disney sure does know how to milk this movie to the max.). This creates a bit of tension between the two that must be resolved if there is ever going to be peace in the bedroom.


The animation is spectacular for its day, but shows a little datedness when compared to today offerings. A definite must for Blu-Ray. The real exception here being the humans aren't very good, but I can overlook that. The toys look like the real toys and act like them too. Some of them bring back memories of my own childhood playing with these toys. This brings a bit of emotion to those of us that grew up with some of these toys. They are that well modeled and due to the detail that went into this film, I think it will be one of a handful of Disney movies (or Disney related movies) that will truly pass the test of time.


The story is the other part that makes the movie great. It is not a simple story of a conflict between toys, it is really two stories; a complex story of two toys learning to become friends and their adventure out of the bedroom and the second story is that of finding purpose to your life. So many metaphors can be made from this aspect of the film.


The voice acting is fabulous. Tom Hanks plays Woody and does a fabulous job of it. He has a character that has a wide range of emotions and Hanks pulls it out perfectly. A sign of a great actor. Woody's confidence and his weaknesses are clearly portrayed by his voice acting. The other emotions that woody feels are also expressed beautifully through Tom's voice. Add to that some very detailed animation and you great a believable character that you can relate to and feel for. I never viewed woody as the enemy, just someone that made a mistake that he is trying to rectify.


The voice of Buzz Lightyear is done by the Toolman Tim Allen. I think he was perfectly cast as a stupid and over the top space toy. His range of emotions are not as broad as Hanks, nor do we feel as emotionally attached, I find that he is rather superficial. This works well in contrast to Woody's role in the film. While I wouldn't award Tim for his role as supporting actor, I think he did an excellent job of it.


The interesting thing about animation is I find it is more difficult to do because you don't just have one person playing a character, you have many. The voice actor, the animators, and the initial designers of the character. This takes a small army to create. In this film they pulled out all three aspects perfectly. I've already said that the animations are very well done but so is the physical movement. This has to come from someone that does a wire skeleton and someone else to code in the movements. It is complex and I have a lot of respect for how well they pulled it off.


The pacing is nearly perfect in this film. While the pace does slow down in part, I cannot pick a part that I'm bored with. For me an my convoluted point scale, this is a big factor in the points and one of the reasons I feel it is the best from a technical story telling viewpoint.


I loved the writing and dialog, it just made the film flow so smoothly and logically. One of the writers is Joss Whedon, someone I find popping up in a lot of my favorite movies of recent years. He is an excellent writer and will continue to be a powerhouse in the industry. Him and his team did a great job in the writing.


Replay Value
Very high. In my opinion it is technically the best Pixar movie. While not the first children's movie I would want to watch, nor the first movie from Pixar I'll watch (it's actually the third behind Nemo and The Incredibles), I will always be willing to watch it with my children.


The key players
Director: John Lasseter
Writers: Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Alec Sokolow, Joel Cohen, John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Joe Ranft, Robert Lence, & Susan E. Levin
Music: Randy Newman


Ratings
Yahoo users: B+
Yahoo critics: A
Metacritics users: 8.7
Metacritics critics: 92
Rotten Tomato community: 96%
Rotten Tomato critics: 100%
My score: 4.52


MPAA rating: G


Running time: 81 minutes


Year Released: 1995


My End Line.
Technically the best Pixar movie. I always enjoy watching it and it all makes sense. While not the best children's movie or best animation out there, it is a strong movie worth owning.

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My favorite children's movies
Spirited Away
Shrek