Overall Rating:***
Toy Story @ IMDB
Synopsis:
Andy got a toy for his birthday. It walks, it talks, it…..has an identity crisis?!?! Jealousy rages when a new toy becomes a young boys favorite. This is the first installment of the Toy Story franchise. It is the fillm that introduced us to Woody, an old school cowboy who’s used to being number one; Buzz, a futuristic spaceman who’s not quite sure who (or what) he is; Hamm, a pushy porker with a pension for pennies; Rex, a domesticated dino in need of therapy; and Mr. Potato Head, the opinionated hot head.
Review:
I should preface this review with a qualifier: most of my comments are about the DVD, not about the movie. The virtues of Toy Story as a film are worthy of another review. Though the fact that it is celebrating its 10th anniversary, makes such a review pointless. But I should do one, so here it is: the movie is great. That sums it up.
Now to the DVD: There are two things that make a DVD a good one, choices for watching the movie and bonus material. I was a little dissappointed with the format choices on this DVD. Despite the two discs, you only get the widescreen version of the movie. I personally prefer widescreen, but I also like having the choice. I have the Finding Nemo: Collector’s Edition and it has both the widescreen and fullscreen versions of the film. Surely the 10th anniversary is a bigger deal and warrants both versions of the film. It has the standard audio and subtitle options as well as commentary tracks. I guess it is worth mentioning that the disc does come with a 5.1 surround sound track. Sadly my sound system isn’t quite there yet.
Now the bonus features make up for what the film options lack. My favorite feature (found primarily on disc two) is the crayon sheriff’s badge. By selecting star with your remote, you get minute long sequences that were not part of the movie. They’re pretty good, especially the little green aliens. The scenes are fully rendered, but I’m not sure that all of the voice talents were used. Sometimes Buzz and Woody seem a little off. It could be my imagination, but then again maybe not.
The next fun feature is the claw game. Its a replica of the game Sid plays when he finds Buzz and Woody at Pizza Planet. Now, I’m kinda partial to claw games. For some reason, I have a knack for the claw game at the local theatre. I wasted a fair bit of time trying to find all of the outcomes for the game. A pretty good addition. The game could be a little more smooth, but then again you can’t expect much from a DVD player. Its no XBOX.
Last little bonus I wanted to mention is the deleted scenes. This is something they tend to tout when promoting DVDs. The annoying things is that for most animated features, its simply the storyboards that the writers sketched while the movie was in pre-production. I hate to say it, but they’re generally not that impressive. I was pleasently surprised when I found two rendered deleted scenes on the bonus disc. They were not fully rendered but they were better than still-frames.
Overall a decent DVD. I hesitate to suggest going out an buying it. I do own it, but I bought it second hand for less than half the retail price (currently $18-$23). Disney DVDs unfortunately are overpriced and stay overpriced, regardless of how old the movie is. If you just want the movie (like I did), get it second hand or online. If you want it for the extras, they are seriously not worth the current price tag. And in case you’re wondering, Toy Story 2 is being re-released to DVD on December 26th and Tarzan is being “released from the Disney Vault” on October 18th.
October 7th, 2005 at 6:55 PM
Easter Egg:
In the scene where Woody is trapped under the milk crate, there is a tool box on top of it. If you pay attention, you’ll see that the tool box says Binford on the side of it. Binford is the tool company that sponsors Tool Time on Home Improvement, Tim Allen’s popular 90’s sitcom.
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:39 PM
[…] Plot: This film follows the basic animals on a mission kind of scenario. Its mildly predictable, but there are a few surprises and all of the things that happen aren’t formulaic. I’ll be honest, I didn’t reallize from the trailers that the plot would be so conservation-themed. It carries a great message, I just didn’t know it was coming. A lot of people I spoke to about this before I saw it said the movie wasn’t funny. I disagree. There were plenty of laugh out load moments and when I wasn’t laughing, I was distracted by the incredibly cute penguins. It definitely appealed to the (very large) kid in me, but it isn’t as funny as classics like Toy Story. […]