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Toy Story, a review by Dragonfire

Toy Story

Before Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc. and Cars, the creative minds of Disney/Pixar introduced you to Toy Story and an astonishing world where toys play while their owners are away. Rediscover acclaimed filmmaker John Lasseter's directorial debut with Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and all their friends in an adventure filled with humor, heart and friendship – in a must-have Special Edition.

This groundbreaking computer-generated classic started it all and set the stage for the equally amazing Toy Story 2. Enjoy all-new bonus features – including an exclusive sneak peek at Toy Story 3, the next chapter of this exciting adventure. It's nonstop fun for the entire family, and now on Blu-ray™ featuring Disney enhanced high definition picture and sound, it's an essential part of any collection!

My Thoughts

I decided to watch this one for the first time in a few years the other night.

I thought the idea of toys coming to life when no one is around was a good idea for a movie when it first came out and I still feel that way. The story makes sense and is entertaining and it has held up really well. The characters are interesting and while they are likable, they also have issues and flaws..even Woody. The story isn't overly complicated, but there is still more than enough going on to keep things interesting.

The animation has held up well, though it doesn't look as good as the new movies that Pixar makes..which is understandable considering how long ago it was made and how much Pixar has continued to improve since then. Even though it doesn't look as good as the new Pixar computer animation, the animation is still wonderful and looks great. The people look a bit off and some of the characters move a bit jerky at times, but those are minor issues. The backgrounds don't have the same level as detail as the later Pixar movies, but some of the details are there..nicks and scratches on furniture or baseboard to give the house and room a more lived in feel. I never noticed all that before.

The movie looks wonderful on Blu-ray. There are extras about the making of the movie that are very interesting. A decent amount of information is shared about what the animators at Pixar call Black Friday when the first version of the movie was shot down...after they incorporated all the notes they got from Disney and Eisner into the movie...which changed everything so it wasn't the same movie any more. Black Friday was covered in A Pixar Story, but there is a bit more about it here, including showing some of the rough footage they had at that point. Thankfully they were able to quickly start over and get back on track. It is really interesting to see the reel or whatever from that screening. Lasseter is right..it was horrible. If they had kept going in that direction, the movie wouldn't have been anywhere as good. Sure it would be known as the first computer animated movie, but it wouldn't be the well loved movie it became. Woody was awful and if I'd had to watch much more of that version of the character, I would have wanted to feed him to a wood chipper or run him over with a lawn mower. The extras from the DVD that came out about 5 years ago are included as well. Those were new to me since my DVD of Toy Story basically had no extras. The one with the Lasseter, Peter Doctor, Andrew Stanton, and Joe Ranft sitting around talking about the movie is really interesting. The extras are definitely worth watching.

I did post a longer review on Epinions a few years ago.

Toy Story

Yes it was worth upgrading to the Blu-ray..though I still blame Jon. Wink

(From Toy Story on June 12th, 2010)

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