Hello and welcome back. We are starting covering all the Pixar films with Pixar’s first film Toy Story. Revolutionary for graphics (not least for being one of the first animated franchises!!) and spawning three sequels let’s talk about Toy Story
Production John Lasseter first experienced computer animation when working at Walt Disney Animation when two friends showed him a scene from Disney’s groundbreaking 1982 film Tron. Lasseter later pitched The Brave Little Toaster as a fully computer-animated film. The concept was rejected and Lasseter was later fired (The film would be made hand-drawn and released in 1987) In 1986 Lasseter became a founding member of Pixar and they began attracting attention for their inventive short films the apex of which being when Tin Toy won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1989. This gained Disney’s attention and Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg tried to hire Lasseter back to Disney. After this failed Katzenberg began a plan to ink a deal for Disney to distribute Pixar’s films. It took a long time for the two studios (or parties!…..) to ink and agree a deal but on May 3rd 1991 they signed a deal for Pixar to produce a feature film for Disney (I’m skipping over lots of this part of this story because it is long and convoluted and I’m not typing it all out. If you want to know more I would definitely recommend reading Lawrence Levy’s book To Pixar and Beyond. It’s more about the financial aspects but it is definitely worth a read.) The original screenplay resembled the finished film in very few ways. It featured characters from Tin Toy and a ventriloquist doll. It evolved into Woody (whose name was a homage to Woody Strode a western actor) who was initially a villain who would rail against the toys. Woody eventually became a good guy as the film evolved into a buddy film akin to 48 Hrs and The Defiant Ones. Woody’s opposite would be space-themed and after having several names he was named Buzz Lightyear (after Buzz Aldrin.) Katzenberg approved the script so voice casting could begin. Paul Newman (who would later in Cars) was considered for Woody but quickly Tom Hanks was cast. Buzz Lightyear’s casting would more complicated. Billy Crystal , Chevy Chase and Bill Murray were approached for the film (Crystal would later say that it was the worst decision of his life!! But he is great as Mike Wazowksi.) Many more were approached but eventually Tim Allen was chosen
Opinions I absolutely love Toy Story. I’m a huge Pixar fan (I feel like that is no surprise to anyone) and I love Toy Story as a franchise (in my opinion it is the greatest film franchise of all time!!) but I hadn’t watched the first film in a couple of years so I wasn’t sure how I would think about the film but this film has held up remarkably well. In fact I think the Toy Story franchise are as close to universally beloved films as anything gets to that ultimately unattainable thing! Let’s talk about the characters. Woody and Buzz are classic buddy movie characters. The opposites that are annoyed at each other and by the end they are friends. They spar in very entertaining ways with the iconic “YOU ARE A TOY” from Woody and the response from Buzz “You are a sad strange little man and I pity you”!! But the thing with Toy Story is that there are so many great side characters! Hamm one of my favourite all time Pixar characters and obviously it was John Ratzenberg’s first Pixar role! Hamm has lots of great one liners and maybe this is an odd thought but I’ve always thought of Hamm as a Dad. I feel in all the films he makes a comment about like finance or cars or something similar that is quite Dad-like. OK that is kind of weird but comment if you agree with me!!! Rex is probably my favourite Toy Story character of all time. I just think the concept of a dinosaur who is bad at scaring people and is also the most scared of everything like maybe this is just me but I feel like every time there is a crisis in (Toy Storyworld????? well I know Andy lives on Elm Street which is pretty creepy!!) Rex is the most worried whenever something happens. Like in this movie when Buzz gets ‘murdered’ Rex is “We’ll get you out Buzz!!” and really anxious when the barrel of monkeys ran out (That would be explained in Toy Story 2 though!!!) Wallace Shawn was the perfect voice for his character and I just love his design and he’s probably the cutest dinosaur I’ve ever seen which is not usually a word I associate or use with dinosaurs!!! Bo Peep is a cool character and I really like her art design and voice performance by Annie Potts but maybe this is some weird Mandela effect nonsense but I really did think she was in the movie way more than she actually was. I think besides 4 this is the one she is in the most. I just think she’s a more important character and is in the films more than she really is but in the couple of scenes she is in she’s really fun! I know Mr Potato Head is a very popular character and I like him but he was kind of annoying and rude. Like I get Woody did do something wrong as a toy and he was getting a bit antsy and jerky but he wanted to literally hang him on a hangman’s noose. Like as I said I get Woody did something wrong but I don’t think it was enough for him to be hanged! I mean they are toys! I guess I am judging these on Human standards! I know Mr Potato Head is a very popular character among fans and I expressed some unpopular opinions about him but I do love Don Rickles’s vocal performance but I don’t know if he’s all that!! Let’s talk about the music by Randy Newman. I must say this is a really underrated soundtrack. Obviously knows You Got A Friend In Me and it is a classic and anybody who says it isn’t is (a) a liar or (b) a troll! But let us get to the hidden treasures in the soundtrack. Strange Things is probably my favourite song in the film. It’s got a really catchy melody and Newman’s vocals are actually really strong like I love his vocals they are fantastic! I Will Go Sailing No More completely like sums up Buzz’s mental and (Kind of?????) physical state and it’s a really delicate and maybe it’ wasn’t but it sounds kind of unproduced and raw. His vocals are kind of delicate and sounds like a man who has just had his heart broken you know what I mean!! Also I don’t like the credits version of You Got A Friend In Me. It feels like Lyle Lovett did the vocals on the telephone or something like that and it feels really staged! The score is really good and it sounds kind of westerny!! As this was the first 3-D full length animated film I must talk about the animation! I think it has aged quite well. Yeah it does look a little blocky and early 3-D and the humans are a little simplistic but it works for the story you know what I mean..
Conclusions I really enjoyed Toy Story. It’s a little simplistic compared to other Pixar for sure but it is really a certified classic!
Rating I’m giving Toy Story an A+
Cian's Film Reviews 