Toy Story : Hors du Temps

And now this is end. I wish there was more short movie from Toy Story.

A super fun short that I had heard was fine, but I found it rather good. It´s a fun adventure from start to finish with a bit of a wonky ending but other than that just fun adventure.

A play date with a boy makes Bonnie go play videogames instead of playing with toys. The gang is thrown into a playroom and meets the Battlesaurs, action figures that have never been played with and has made their own society.

I think this adventure is really fun, I liked the Battlesaur characters and found the overall idea really good. What happens to toys that has never been played with in this universe? How do they react and do things, this is a fun way to see the "Buzz" era of toys staying in it. This together with a great and fun villain makes a fun adventure that works great. The ending is a bit bland and needed more time to really land since the message is good but not explored well. What is a toy to a child is a good explorational message in this universe. The battle part is fun, and done fine.

This is not really a Buzz and Woody focused short and their performances is a bit phoned in but that's fine to me as everyone else is doing a great job. Trixie is a great and fun character done great here and voice so well by Kristen Schaal. In general the characters are so fun and great here, Kevin McKidd as Reptillus Maximus, Steve Purcell as the Cleric. So well done. Also Angel Kitty is my new spirit animal, love it.

The battlesaurs are such a fun universe and we know exactly the franchise that we will compare to it in real life. It´s so nostalgic to see something like this.

The animation is a bit lacking here and I get you don´t use your A-team on a short but it´s okay here. But the blurry backgrounds to save some money are a bit too much. There are still some good detaining though, I love something like the paint scratch on Trixie, it´s a fun detail, but again lacking a bit in the animation department.

The humour is so good here, I laughed multiple times and found it very fun.

Overall I had a good and fun time with this one. Expected something fine but was overall entertained from start to finish. A good half hour spend.

Sometimes I'm so impressed with how much creative geniuses like the folks down at Pixar can do with such a limited running time, in this case 22 minutes. This time, they chose to focus on different characters and I appreciate that, with so many characters in the Toy Story saga, and new additions as well. It's a nice and warm story, the pace is comfortable, it wraps up in a good manner: Trixie teaching the dino toys (especially Reptilus Maximus) the delightfulness of play; a moral of how these toys need to know their actual place in this story, and not let themselves be misguided by a third party.

In my opinion, Trixie worked as the lead, for this short special at least, and I strongly favour the message of not spoiling your fun only with videogames, there's other things out there, in this case: toys and imagination. Oh and I know this was supposed to be a Christmas special, but to me, it didn't feel Christmassy at all.

Woody, Buzz and Rex got a bit of screen time and as usual they are great themselves as well as the interactions between them. So, in all fairness, it is a decent effort, not the best of course, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Am a big fan of Pixar, films and shorts, and the three 'Toy Story' films (the first of which being ground-breaking) are among my favourites from them as far as their feature films go. For me, none of their work is below mediocre (even my least favourite 'Cars 3'), though that is probably not going to be a popular opinion with the post-'Toy Story 3' films getting a lot of hate. Meanwhile their best work is masterpiece level, all three 'Toy Story' films being on that level.

'Toy Story that Time Forgot' has a very cheesy, corny title but the actual special itself is the opposite of that and it is not as muddled as it sounds. It is instead very charming, quite cute and has enough amusing moments, a good position to be for a special released around Christmas but not really one. It is nowhere near Pixar at its A-game, but there is nothing really here that disgraces them or the 'Toy Story' franchise.

Part of me did feel though that 'Toy Story that Time Forgot' could have been longer than it was, which could have been used to give the original characters more screen time, and the pace can be uneven here, at times rushed.

Bonnie also sounds rather mature for her age and it doesn't quite gel with her character design.

On the other hand, there is an awful lot to like about 'Toy Story that Time Forgot'. The animation is very good for a television special made on a lower budget. Such beautiful attention to detail in the backgrounds and the character designs and the colours are so vibrant. The music more than serves its purpose well, with the right amount of energy and charming orchestration.

Loved the writing, which saw some wonderful wit in the dialogue and it was both very funny and emotive. The story is very sweet and charming, and really liked that it showcased Trixie who had enough of an interesting, not annoying or too sugary, personality to be a worthy lead. The moral/message was delivered well, making its point without over-emphasising, and it was one that is relevant and important. Would have liked more of the original characters but they are still fun and likeable without being out of character at any point. The conflict is handled entertainingly and sensitively with enough tension without going over the top on it. The voice acting is very good excepting Bonnie.

In summary, worth a look if not essential. 7/10

It's just after Christmas. Bonnie has a play date with Mason. She brings along Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Trixie the triceratops, Rex, and Angel Kitty. Mason got a new video game and he has't play with his other new toy, the Battlesaurs. Bonnie's toys meet Reptillus Maximus who is taken with Trixie. The Cleric has set up a gladiatorial world where the other toys are smashed by the Battlesaurs. Trixie explains the joys of play to Reptillus Maximus.

The central message is to play more with imagination and toys, less with the video games. Trixie is the lead in this half hour special. She's alright to lead a special and the message is passable. There are a couple of fun scenes especially when Woody and Buzz are in it. Angel Kitty speaks with a child's voice which caught me off guard. She could be funnier. The show looks good, has some good moments but isn't anything particularly special. It's a reasonable showcase for Trixie.