Toy Story

The 1995 film, Toy Story, was not only the first Pixar movie and the first fully CG animated movie, but it’s also a film that set a bar that many other animated films either tried or failed to overcome. It set the standards for many films in the future to replicate from its likeable characters, clever writing, and its fair amount of heart. While kids entertainment at the time was not producing great material (even Disney had fallen behind with some of its movies), Toy Story proved that not only was kids entertainment a market that was capable of appealing to adults as much as it did to children, but that it was also a highly profitable market that could be utilized if effort was put into its films, and effort was definitely all over this picture. In the home of a typical young imaginative boy named Andy (voiced by John Morris), Woody the Cowboy (voiced by Tom Hanks) is Andy’s favorite toy and acts as the leader for the rest of the toys in Andy’s room. When Andy isn’t around, all his toys come to life and live their own lives outside of their child’s view, always wanting to help them have the best playtime they can have. They start to fear being replaced with Andy’s birthday coming up, all except for Woody, who knows he’s Andy’s favorite, and doesn’t have the fear of being thrown away or replaced. This all changes when Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) an astronaut toy unaware that he is in fact a toy, arrives and takes the mantle himself, which causes problems for Woody as now Andy and even most of the other toys seem to favor Buzz over himself. Feeling his place as favorite is now threatened, Woody accidentally gets Buzz lost and thrown out the window which results in the other toys believing Woody intentionally did it, causing him to become lost along with Buzz. Through some circumstances in the outside world, Woody and Buzz end up in the hands of the toy-killing next-door neighbour Sid (voiced by Erik von Detten) and now the two must put aside their differences and work together to get back to their kid before he moves away, and they’re left in the clutches of someone who loves blowing up toys for fun. With advertising that did this film no favours at all, audiences were surprised at how entertaining, colorful, and surprisingly touching the movie was. It took a concept that on the surface wasn’t anything that complex and turned it into one of the most recognized and beloved kid’s movies of all time.

A story with child-friendly imagery about toys that come to life and competes for a child’s attention seems like something that would fail very easily, especially with the market of kids’ films being pretty bad at the time of the film’s release. The idea had already kind of been done with animated shorts (even by Pixar themselves) so there was a fear that it wouldn’t result in anything that great given its past usage in smaller formats. But the film managed to instead change the movie industry it was made around because of how much effort was put into making it a great creative product that wanted to be more than just a tester for a new technology, rather evolving kids’ entertainment to a new level that is still being followed to this very day. It’s a simple story created by Pete Doctor, Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft and director, John Lasseter, that mixes in a fair amount of humor as well as a decent amount of drama, and neither clashes to the point of feeling unbalanced or poorly handled, it creates a fantastic atmosphere that feels remarkably mature, but is still laced in with this fantastic child-like innocence and imaginative thinking that has the ability to appeal to adults that are young at heart, as well as children that are growing up. Like most Pixar movies that would come later down the line, it captures the likability and enjoyment of childhood, but also stuffs in the grim or harsher side of growing up and facing reality, made evident by displaying it through the lens of two characters that while born from a child’s imagination and exists for a child’s purpose, are directed and written with an adult mindset, through writers that you would be surprised were attached to this film (like Alec Sokolow, Joel Cohen and even Joss Whedon). Seeing the two different generations of real-life bounty hunters (cowboys and spacemen) argue against the other, but from a situation that is far less serious and more understandable for a younger audience, gives a nice insight into the extremes that someone can take for something that is important to them while still remaining rather childish in spirit. It creates an environment where the characters demonstrate issues and problems that kids as well as adults can relate with and understand.

All these characters are distinct and incredibly likeable. They are all perfectly acted and have a lot of charm to them, introducing a generation to a lot of iconic characters that will be remembered for years to come, as well as highlighting older talent that adults can appreciate, and children can be introduced to early on. Woody and Buzz are both fresh and endearing main characters and considering the two were directed to be far more different in the original version (Woody was actually the villain to begin with), it manages a nice middle ground with these two that makes neither evil but neither flawless either.  Woody’s contemptuous and sarcastic elements could be considered quite selfish and mean, but it never goes too far to make him unlikable, and Buzz’s naivety and insistence on being something that the audience knows he isn’t could easily become annoying, but through great writing and a great performance, it showcases more of the charming side to this mindset as well as makes for surprisingly decent drama when he discovers the truth about himself. Seeing these two characters try to maintain their good nature and stick to their ethics but fall victim to the childish turmoil of who’s better is great to watch and leads to a great naturally created friendship between the two of them. Both Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are famous for voicing these two and it never feels like they’re talking down to the audience due to it being a kid’s movie, every voice actor is believable in their roles, and it sucks the audience in more because of it. The side characters are all given varied looks, voices and personalities that make them stand out easily and it helps that they do have well-known older actors like Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts, and Jim Varney voicing these roles, all of whom can bring a mature edge to these characters and bring so much life and uniqueness to them regardless of screen time.  All the characters have understandable goals and views that it doesn’t become too distracting when they act a certain way. The film makes it clear that there is no real one bad guy, rather just a form of jealously that anyone can understand, especially kids. Sid, for example, is a great threat and antagonist for the film, but he isn’t evil or anything malicious, he’s simply being an overly imaginative slightly extreme kid from the viewpoint of a person, but a psychotic monster that takes pleasure in torture from the perspective of the toys.

At a time when CGI was brand new and was mostly being used in disaster movies and for big action scenes, having the first fully CG film be a bright colorful kids movie seemed strange but also pretty ingenious, especially with how its executed here. The plastic texturing on the toys helps it escape the uncanny valley because of how well it incorporates into the computer-generated world. Along with some great expressions and movement, it gave the movie its own unique look. Granted the people look more doll-like than the toys and other real-world elements look like something that would come out of a video game (that dog is the most lifeless thing in this movie), but for the first attempt, it can be given a pass and a good chunk of it still looks strong by today’s standard. The colors also have a strong influence in this film. Despite the overly simplistic and child-friendly palette, it’s used at appropriate moments where it can either establish an environment’s mood or show a character’s emotional state. Considering the ability to make more than one location wasn’t something they could do easily, they did something creative and used those techniques to give separate locations a new atmosphere despite feeling alike (both Andy and Sid’s rooms are pretty similar, it’s just that one is very bright and the other one isn’t). The biggest strength to this film is the writing, not only in creating great characters, but also in terms of their humor. It has a cynical side to it along with a strong current edge that feels similar in tone to The Simpsons. This gives the film a unique form of comedy that separates it from other kid’s films at the time, making it more timeless and appealing to multiple demographics instead of pandering to a select few. It visually had the quirky designs and colorful layouts to satisfy the kids, but the dialogue was very mature, intelligent, and ahead of its time in a way that could be appeal to both kids and adults. The whole premise is focused on competition, which is prime for comedy and is an element either can relate with (the extremes they go to can lean towards a child’s mentality, whereas the reasons for their jealously can be felt by the adults). The songs, sung by Randy Newman, are repetitive and slightly generic, but there is at least an attempt to incorporate them into the story so it could have been done worse, the vibe and sound of them do match the style and tone the film is going for, and the main theme has become synonymous with the franchise, so it clearly worked out for him.

Toy Story stands on its own as being a classic because of its hilarious and clever writing, charming and unique characters, bright colorful environments, and the extent that it took its simple premise. It grew to not only become a staple in an animation company that would grow to become something much more meaningful in the lives of those who grew up with them, but it created its own franchise that equally impacted kids who grew up with them. Seeing toys come to life is nothing new, but the new twists and spins that they add to the formula is what makes it wonderful. The old fashion style of storytelling coupled with great writing and character development makes Toy Story an unbelievably well-crafted movie. It’s still being copied to this day and it’s easy to see why it’s still such a classic.