Toy Story : Angoisse au motel

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.

Was on one hand quite excited for this television special 'Toy Story of Terror', with it being Pixar, that it has such great characters and some immense talent on board returning. At the same time, part of me was a little worried, with it being an under half an hour television special on a lower budget there was the worry of how it would fare quality-wise and it is hard to not question the point of it. The good news is that 'Toy Story of Terror' was great fun with some creepiness here and there. It is not in the same league as the films, though that was not unexpected, but in no way does it disgrace them or be what people would call a "cash grab".

'Toy Story of Terror' isn't flawless. Do agree with those who deemed it as too short in length. In terms of story, 'Toy Story of Terror' is pretty eventful and it would have leant itself well to feature film.

On top of being too short and having quite an eventful story, there is a crammed in feel at times and then it starts to feel rushed.

However, the animation is really quite great for an animated television special with the spookier visuals being imaginatively done. 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 maintains all the fun and charm present in the films, and it was great to have more focus on Jessie who is written in a way that makes it easy to root for her. All while retaining a vast majority of the original characters, excepting Bo Peep and Slinky Dog, and staying true to their personalities, nobody is out of character. The new characters make just as big an impression, especially Combat Carl, didn't really mind an awful lot that the villain's motivations were on the derivative side. The voice acting is terrific, especially from Joan Cusack and Carl Weathers as the two most interesting characters here.

Summarising, very enjoyable. 8/10

In this adventure, the toys find themselves in their own little horror movie. As Bonnie and her mum are on a trip they find themselves stopping at a motel and soon the toys start to disappear one by one. Jessie has to figure out what has happened to her friends and the cowgirl has to overcome her claustrophobia.

Woody and Buzz Lightyear have smaller roles, it is Joan Cusack as Jessie who has to sell these Toy Story short aided by Rex and Mr Pricklepants.

This television special shows there are still stories to be told in the Toy Story universe although I found part of the motivation of the villain reminiscent of Toy Story 2.

It is still a charming animation although you always sense that Pixar and Disney realise that this is still a cash cow that needs milking.

As a child who grew up on Toy Story, there is a special place for the toys in my heart. To this day I still consider the Toy Story trilogy some of my favorite movies. However, I stand by my original belief that there should not be another Toy Story movie mainly because I felt the movie series had the perfect ending with Toy Story 3. But who am I to turn down a nice 30-minute Halloween special with the toys especially one as good as this?

In this adventure, the toys find themselves in their own little horror movie. As Bonnie and her mom are on a trip they find themselves stopping at a motel to get car repairs. Once there the toys realize that something is making them disappear, one-by-one. In the end, it is up to Jesse to figure out what must be done to save her friends before it is too late.

This was definitely a nice way to see the toys again. After 18 years with the series, this TV special is a nice reminder that there are still plenty of stories for this wonderful world to tell.

I especially loved the focus of the special on Jesse. She has always been one of my favorite characters and she really has a chance to shine in this TV special. We get a deeper look at her fear of enclosed spaces as well as the opportunity for her to overcome her fears. It was very nice to see.

If I had any complaint it would be that it was too short. They could've very easily expanded this story into an hour long TV special and make it just right. Since it was so short, I felt a little robbed of very precious time with the toys. While a movie would be too long and feel unnecessary for this story, an hour long special would be just perfect without feeling unnecessary. If it was longer they would've been able to explore the horror themes a little bit longer as well as make the climax (as wonderful as it was) even more exciting.

However, these couple of complaints pale in comparison to the wonderful reunion viewers are given with the toys. The whole point of this special is to remind you why you fell in love with the toys in the first place (and remind you Jesse is the best cowgirl toy around). It does all of this while playing around with some of the best known horror movie tropes in cinema. It is great fun.

It succeeds on every level by creating a fun, beautifully animated, wonderfully written Halloween special that everybody in the family will enjoy. Toy Story might not feel right for future movies but it definitely feels right for future TV specials. Toy Story is still alive and I'm so happy for it.

After missing it the previous two years, I finally got to watch this Pixar/Disney special. While the voices of Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz are back, it's mostly Joan Cusack's as Jessie that serves as the main character in this one as she has to deal with her claustrophobia when she gets involved in a rescue of one of those two I just mentioned. Quite amusing throughout especially when Timothy Dalton voices a character who knows all the horror movie conventions and Carl Weathers does someone based on a character he played in Predator. Maybe it could have used a bit more time to make the plot more enjoyable but overall, Toy Story of Terror did what it was meant to do, entertain.

This is a really short film (I see it is labelled as a "TV movie," so probably aired as a 30 minute special) but it is a halloween classic for our family. Uniquely for a Halloween special, the children do not experience fear, but the sadness of losing their toys; the toys themselves, however, are picked off one by one, in the style of a classic "slasher" film like Halloween, but by a marauding lizard, facing the prospect of injury, dismemberment, and permanent separation from their friends as the hotel/pet owner auctions them off on e-bay. At least there's a happy ending!