Toy Story
From FilmFile
Taglines:
- The adventure takes off!
- Hang on for the comedy that goes to infinity and beyond!
- Watch out for little green men.
- I'm a nervous Rex!
- Don't yank my string!
- Buzz off!
- Guts of steel
- Proud to be a vegetable
Contents |
Synopsis
Woody, a traditional pull-string talking cowboy, has long enjoyed a place of honor as the favorite among six-year-old Andy's menagerie of toys. Quick to calm their anxieties about being replaced by newer arrivals, Woody finds his own confidence shaken, and his status as top toy in jeopardy, upon the arrival of Buzz Lightyear, simply the coolest space action figure ever made. Woody plots to get rid of Buzz, but things backfire and he finds himself lost in the outside world with Buzz as his only companion. Joining forces to find their way home, the two rivals set out on an adventure that lands them in the clutches of Sid, a sadistic neighborhood kid who is notorious for dismembering and reassembling "mutant" toys in his bedroom. As "guests" of Sid and his dog, Scud, the two fugitive toys forge a genuine friendship and learn that only through mutual trust and respect do they have any chance of survival.
Review
When going back and rewatching Toy Story after all these years it is easy to see why it is classed as one of the finest examples of animated film of all time. The years haven't been exactly kind to the looks, and the animation (smooth as it is) does look dated when compared against the level of detail in later Pixar releases. However the story, cast, and heart of the film still all resonate with audiences, and this allows you to overlook the slightly rough exterior and connect with the plight of the toys in Andy's bedroom.
This new 3D release goes some-way to making the visuals stand out (or sink away) once more, and gave Pixar a great opportunity to release the film for cinema audiences again, as a cunning marketing gimmick for next year's Toy Story 3.
Toy Story cannot hold the title of 'best Pixar film' anymore, it lost that title to its own sequel before further losing to other films such as Finding Nemo, and more recently Wall-E. However, even the lesser of Pixar films are far superior to the output of other studios, making Toy Story one of the unmissable films of all time. Regardless of how many times you watch it, you still find yourself drawn into the tale, and imagining whether your own toys come to life (hey, even adults play with toys... well, some of us do). For the young who only know these films from home DVD, a chance to see the magic unfold on the big screen is unmissable. Make an excuse and take the kids along to see Toy Story in 3D - if you don't have any kids, just pretend you have and go and experience it yourself.
Trivia
- First fully computer-generated full-length feature film. Each frame took 4 to 13 hours (depending on the complexity of the shot) of time on a RenderFarm consisting of 87 2-CPU SparcStation 20's, 30 4-CPU Sparc-Station 20's and a SparcServer 1000.
- The animation team perfected the movement of the toy soldiers by gluing some sneakers to a sheet of wood and trying to walk around with them on.
- WILHELM SCREAM: When Buzz Lightyear is knocked out of the window.
- Whenever a character's eyes blink, they never blink together, but one at a time.
- The toy Shark, wearing Woody's hat, proclaims, "Look at me, I'm Woody! Howdy howdy howdy!" This references a cowboy-eating vulture in one of 'Gary Larsons "The Far Side" daily comic strips, from the early 1980s: "Hey everyone, look at me, I'm a cowboy! Howdy! Howdy! Howdy!"
- The filmmakers have indicated in interviews that the moving-van chase scene at the end of the film was partially inspired by the toy train chase scene from Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (1993). The Pixar animators considered the toy train sequence to have set a standard for action which they had to surpass in this full-length computer animated film.
- Early scripts for the film featured a Barbie Doll in a prominent role as Woody's love interest. The original ending sequence, in which Buzz and Woody chase the moving truck, was scripted to have Barbie drive her Corvette off the truck and rescue Woody and Buzz from Sid's dog, a-la Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Mattel, the company that owns the Barbie character, declined on the basis that they thought the film would be a failure and that they didn't want Barbie to have a defined personality, preferring to let children imagine Barbie's personality traits on their own. Thus, Barbie was dropped from the script, and her character was reworked into that of Bo-Peep. When the film proved a huge success, Mattel did allow Barbie to appear in Toy Story 2 (1999).
- Tom Hanks recorded his dialog during the breaks of Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and A League of Their Own (1992). He didn't want to record his dialog during the breaks of Philadelphia (1993) or Forrest Gump (1994) because he felt he shouldn't do comedic roles in between minutes of playing serious roles.
Cameos and allusions to other films
- Rex uses a few of George McFly's lines from Back to the Future (1985): "I don't like confrontations" and "I don't think I could take that kind of rejection."
- The license plate on the van (A113) is the same as the Master's apartment in Disney's The Brave Little Toaster (1987).
- Towards the end of the movie - when Woody and Buzz fly behind the car and Molly sees them on the side mirror - you can hear "Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King (1994) playing on the car radio.
- In the beginning when Woody is telling the toys to pick a moving buddy, the book behind him "Tin Toy" has the name Lassetter on it. John Lasseter is one of the main story board writers of Toy Story (1995).
- The carpet texture in the hallway of Sid's house is the same as the carpet texture in The Shining (1980).
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