Pixar Playlist #1 - Toy Story

Ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not: The Pixar Playlist

Whatever happens behind the scenes (and for the purposes of this review series, I’m going to ignore that) there’s one thing you can’t deny. Pixar have become pioneers in the animation industry. The dream of having computer generated animated pictures seemed a long way away back when the foundation of Pixar was being built, but today CG animation is everywhere, using computers to animate is practically the norm and hand drawn is saved for only the rarest of Japanese anime and some bits in Mary Poppins Returns.

Pixar’s first film is Toy Story, released in 1995, this film was made with a relatively small $30m budget. Disney handled marketing and distribution in return for profits and design rights. And boy was that a lucrative deal for Disney as Toy Story is an international phenomenon, making over 10 times its budget at the box office spilling into billions of dollars of merchandise, theme park attractions and sequels.

It’s well acclaimed, with a rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes Rating, so what do I think?

Toy Story follows the adventures of Woody the Cowboy (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Green). They’re the toys of one Andy Davis (John Morris) 6 years old and in desperate need of some real friends, not just ones that show up to your birthday party… I can relate

Buzz Lightyear’s arrival shakes things up as Woody, once Andy’s favourite toy, is instantly and immediately replaced, it doesn’t help that Buzz carries a cocky attitude and is completely aloof to what he really is. In an attempt to hide him, he accidentally knocks Buzz out of the window and shenanigans ensue.

The plot is relatively simplistic but the idea of toys coming to life when adults don’t see them allows for some great visual jokes. Although what 6-year boy keeps a bo-peep toy? Whilst the other toys don’t get as much screen-time, many of them do have personalities that shine through, Mr Potato Head’s anger, Bo Peep’s love for Woody (yeah, I know), the militaristic nature of Sergent and his army, and the general loyalty of Slinky, to name a few.

The world is kept small, with only a few major locations, partly I suspect to keep down costs as it means using fewer new assets, but it actually helps as this is a fairly small scale conflict. The toys are lost and need to find their way home, and possibly defeat the psychotic guy who lives next door by the name of Sid (Eric Von Detten).

Sid is fairly run of the mill as a villain. He is evil and enjoys being evil for no particular reason. They don’t develop him as a character and I suspect that might be the compromise of the incredibly short run-time. Again, CG animation was fairly new, and a risk, so the budget was important. My only point about him is he somehow is able to buy and use fireworks at the age of 10.

He doesn’t face any kind of conflict outside of what happens around the climax. He’s less a character and more just another obstacle, and the obstacle is directly for the toys and not at Andy, surprisingly. Andy and Sid never interact at all in the entire movie. That said, highlighting animosity between them could well have proven pointless since Andy was moving house.

Andy too suffers from lack of personality. He’s a generic excitable 6-year old and occasional plot device. I realise he’s not the focal character but the central conflict was about him so it would’ve been more effective if we’d known him better.

I understand that Woody’s character had to be rewritten to make him likeable enough that you root for him, whilst still having the flaws central to his arc. I think they did a fine enough job with that, Woody’s jealousy is built up for a bit and the flaws in Buzz’s personality shine there. Buzz can be a little annoying but because it’s built on his naivety about what he is and his place in the world, it comes across as charming.

Over the course of the movie, the two have to learn to work together and it’s a standard buddy cop routine. Both characters are reasonably entertaining and have great dialogue together. The two set-pieces that make up the climax of the movie, that is defeating Sid and catching up with the moving van are entertaining and well-animated.

The animation is decent, the choice to focus on the toys benefits this because the design has a very plastic-y texture to it that works well with toys, it works less well with the human characters, who don’t look right, and carry the same plastic-y texture. But it’s a great starting block and provides plenty for them work on in the future. Boy will they take that and run with it.

I won’t be scoring these movies, rather I’ll be ranking them, so without further ado

#1 – Toy Story

Well, where did you expect it to be?