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What it's about:
Woody is Andy’s favourite toy, but is threatened when Buzz, a new action figure who believes he is real, arrives in the house. In Toy Story 2, Woody is kidnapped by a toy collector. Cue a rescue mission across town led by Buzz.
What we thought:
You can almost see the Disney accountants rubbing their hands in glee whenever Pixar announces a new project. New characters to merchandise, new rides to build at Disneyworld – all on the back of a massive box office profit. It’s a media cynic’s buffet table of greed and disgust, and it would be deeply upsetting if it wasn’t for Pixar delivering the goods every single time. As they did here, with two of the top ten animated features of all time.
Even so, it often takes a new perspective to appreciate achievements of the past. That’s exactly what 3D does for Pixar’s first full feature and its sequel. There are, therefore, two reasons to find yourself sitting in a 3D theatre watching Toy Story 1 and 2:
One, because you love the movies and you’d really get a kick out of seeing them look absolutely amazing in its re-rendered 3D. And it does look gorgeous. Plastic, wood, fabric and wall textures are insanely detailed, and that’s something you will not have noticed even on DVD before.
The second reason is that you’re younger than 17. Which means you will not have seen – or remember seeing - the two-dimensional Toy Story on the big screen. And even if you have – revert to the first reason.
Toy Story was and still is a master class in narrative and character over technological whiz-bang. They are films made with attention to the finest nuances of storytelling, and that’s why they’ve lasted so long in our memory.
There’s a healthy dose of visual gag-pulling (Mr. Potato Head enacts a brown-nosing behind slinky-dog’s back), and character-typing (Hamm the piggy bank is Cliff the know-it-all postman from Cheers. No, really.)
The sequel is slightly better than the first instalment to be overly nitpicky, but that’s hardly a reason not to see both. Woody and Buzz are such great characters, they could have drawn them in crayon and you’d still be a fan.
* Disney Pixar is releasing the first two Toy Story films in anticipation of the imminent Toy Story 3 in June. Toy Story 2 will be released in 3D cinemas on 26 February. Read the classic movie review here.
Toy Story production trivia [from IMDB]:
* Toy Story is the first fully computer-generated full-length feature film. Each frame took 4 to 13 hours to render on farm of 87 rendering machines.
* Billy Crystal was originally offered the chance to voice Buzz Lightyear, but declined.
* The realtor's sign on the lawn of Andy's house reads "Virtual Realty."
* Tom Hanks recorded his dialogue for Toy Story during the breaks of Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and A League of Their Own (1992).
* Toy Story is the only Pixar film to have full opening credits.
* The Life Magazine issue with Woody and Bullseye on the cover says "Doctors Say Americans Don't Eat Enough Fat."
