Rewatch Review – Toy Story

This is, ultimately, where it all began. Pixar’s first feature length computer animated film. I suppose a lot of people, nowadays, may wonder what all the fuss is about. Let’s be honest, as an animation, it was decades behind traditional techniques. I don’t want to make a big deal about it because Toy Story was genuinely groundbreaking in an awful lot of ways.

The toys all work but that is mainly because they are supposed to be made of plastic or ceramic. When you see the human characters, you can see how primitive 1995’s Toy Story actually is. The big stand out here is hair. You may notice that a lot of the action, conveniently, takes place at toy eye level or around knee height. This manages to avoid paying too much attention to the hair of the human characters. And the hair that is on show is short, in the cases of Andy, Sid, and Molly, and stylised in an easy to render pony tail for Andy’s mum.

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It’s… It’s Bedsheets!

Hair aside, the rest of the film is totally watchable. It is funny, engaging, and, most importantly for a film aimed at children, eminently rewatchable. Those little buggers will happily watch a film over and over all day long.  When you’re tasked with watching over the little darlings the overuse of Benadryl and gaffer tape is frowned upon…your best bet is that a film you can both enjoy becomes available.

And this is where Toy Story was a winner. It was a favourite of my granddaughter and, five years later, became a favourite of my grandson. While writing this review I’ve watched it another couple of times and still managed to find new things! The kids love the bright colours, mad action, and general silliness. The adults like the hidden bits and pieces that you only notice after a couple or three watchings. I believe they are known as easter eggs.

Who Invited That Kid?

I feel an example may be called for here. I have watched this film, literally, dozens of times. As much as three or four times a day when the height of popularity coincided with a bad weather day. But earlier today I noticed something for the first time. Part of the story is that Andy, Molly, and their mother are moving house. There is a scene when we see the “For Sale” board outside the house. The name of the estate agent is “Virtual Realty” which, for a computer animated film, is quite amusing. I thought so, anyway!

So Toy Story is a lovely film for all ages and proved all the nay sayers wrong by making an absolute mint for Pixar. All the voice cast who refused a part because they were “worth” too much and the companies who wouldn’t give permission to place their products were proven wrong and came scurrying back for other Pixar works including the inevitable sequels.  So hats off to Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), and all the other toys and bring on the sequel!

Movie Grade: A

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Rob Williams

Former teacher, lecturer, homelessness administrator, pharmacy dispenser now happily retired, happily married, and a very happy granddad. I live next to the Mersey but on the side Daniel Craig and Taron Egerton come from rather than the side the Beatles came from!