Toy Story

This is as close to perfection as any animated film has come, entertained parents on a equal plane with their children, and set the bar to the top of the animation film industry. No film has yet come close to Toy Story in legitimizing animation as a film art on the level of movies with live actors. Great comedies are hard to come by - Toy Story strikes gold on that basis alone, but is so much more. One of the Top 100 Greatest Films of All Time, and currently resides on my "Top 10 Greatest Comedy Films (1960-Present)" list.

Though I am not a big fan of computer animation,I have to give the folks at Pixar credit.This brand of animation is nothing short of brilliant.The attention to detail,such as eye and body movement is quite remarkable.Computers allow them to make their characters as close to human like as possible,something we have never seen in traditional hand drawn animation,though the latter will always be the closest to my heart.Combine this excellence with a genuinely good story idea and a top notch voice cast and the result is good family entertainment.It's obvious that the people at Pixar are not only caring perfectionists when it comes to film making,but they care about our kids,something rarely seen today.Highly recommended for any home library.

Just in case you were also wondering what happened to all the toys that went missing when you were a kid, the answer is clear: They escaped.

"Toy Story" is the kind of children's movie adults can enjoy just as much, because it very cleverly mines deep deposits of nostalgia from the memory banks. That may be the reason the 1990s bedroom of young Andy is populated by playthings of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. If Andy was a real boy of his time, there would be a computer and a TV/Nintendo, and not much else.

The voicings of the various toys add to the enjoyability. Tom Hanks was the biggest star of the moment when "Toy Story" came out, and he works with that likeability by creating a stable center as Woody the cowboy doll. Don Rickles has the screen role of his career (not that "Kelly's Heroes" was Oscar material) as a prickly Mr. Potato Head, while Jim Varney and R. Lee Ermey are standouts in the supporting cast.

Tim Allen gives the movie's best performance, as a newfangled toy that takes Woody's place in Andy's heart but can't bring himself to accept that he's just a plastic plaything. It's the role of the story that gives him the best lines ("I don't believe that man has ever been to medical school"), but Allen delivers them with real panache. He more than holds his own, and you kind of see where he took off with that note-perfect William Shatner parody he perfected on screen in the underrated "Galaxy Quest."

While this movie's use of computer animation makes it a milestone, it neither represents the most innovative use of the technology or the cleverest Pixar-ated treatment of a story. "A Bug's Life" seems a more worthy apex; that story was funnier, worked better on its own merits, and used the animation to better effect. But given how novel all of this was in 1995, "Toy Story" could have been a lot less thought-through than it was, and still made gobs of money. The fact it is instead invested with real heart, and can be watched and enjoyed today just as easily as when it debuted nearly 10 years ago, is a tribute to the people behind it.

I like Randy Newman's music, just not here, and while the animation textures are surprisingly lifelike, there are places, especially with Scud the dog but also with the baby's drool, where it falls short. The story itself gets kind of rote with repeat viewings, though the transition to Sid's bedroom and its sad mutilated toys is a genius moment. So too are the vending machine aliens, who gape in rapt wonder at the judgment of "the claw." If it reached for pathos a little less often, "Toy Story" would be an undeniable classic.

As it is, it is very, very good, the kind of film that's only good for children, even (especially?) the inner ones.

I am a big fan of the animated movies coming from the Pixar Studios. They are always looking for the newest technological possibilities to use in their movies, creating movies that are more than just worth a watch, even when they were made a decade ago.

The movie is about toys that come to life when their owner is asleep or not in the same room. When the young boy's birthday is coming up, all the toys are nervous. They don't want to be ignored when the new one arrives. Woody the cowboy is their "leader" because he's the most popular one of them all. He's the only one that hasn't got to be afraid, but than a new favorite arrives ... Buzz Lightyear. He hates him and tries everything possible to get rid of him, but as the time passes by they learn to appreciate each other...

When you see Toy Story, you may think that the different human like characters (Woody the cowboy for instance) aren't always as perfect as we are used to see in todays animated movies. Perhaps that's true, but if you keep in mind that all this was done in 1995, when computers weren't yet as strong and the technology for creating such movies was almost unknown, than you can only have a lot of respect for what the creators did. I loved the story and liked the animations a lot. I give it an 8.5/10.

This is a very clever animated story that was a big hit, and justifiably so. It had a terrific sequel and if a third film came out, that would probably be a hit, too.

When this came out, computer technology just was beginning to strut its stuff. Man, this looked awesome. Now, it's routine because animation, which took a giant leap with this movie, has made a lot more giant strides.

The humor in here, however, is what made this so popular. There are tons of funny lines, issued by characters voiced by Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Jim Varney, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn and John Ratzenberger, among others. As good as Hanks is as "Woody" and Allen as "Buzz Armstrong," I think the supporting characters just about stole the show: Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, Rex the dinosaur, etc.

Multiple viewings don't diminish the entertainment, either. There are so many things to catch, audibly and visually, that you always seem to discover something new. The colors in here are beautiful, too. This is a guaranteed "winner" as is the sequel.