Rating of
4/4
Toy Story
SteelCity99 - wrote on 04/22/18
Pixar Animation Studios is one of the most respectable and admirable animation studios I've ever known alongside with Ghibli. Its enormous creativity, style and originality was noticeable since this studio started to make short films, some of them cool and admirable because of their visual aspect, and some others masterful because of all of the elements they had accompanied by a fantastic story. I particularly loved Tin Toy (1988) (which deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Short Film, Animated) and Knick Knack (1989).
It may be something really interesting and odd, but I still remember when I was 5 years old (almost 6) and I got to see this on theaters. Although I wasn't fully aware of the fact that this was the first feature film that was computer animated (in fact, I still wasn't able to differentiate between types of animation), I remember that at some point I thought it was REAL, and I still loved it. I have grown up with Pixar since I was 5 and the magic of Toy Story came from the belief that everything was real. The concept itself was (and still is) magical: the toy world colliding with the real world. I was totally blown away.
This film is talented from wherever you see it. The effort put in this film for creating a breathing and living world full of people, believable places and very different toys full of life will never be paralleled. The three-dimensional feeling it has was what astonished the world. John Lasseter is a genius.
Whereas the first Pixar Animation Studios works focused on showing off their style of animation and amazing graphics, Toy Story literally had the enormous balls to try to make cinema in a whole new way, just like Disney did with its timeless classics. The good news is: it succeeded. The script is outstanding, and very careful with every single detail. The film does not only superbly create an outside world, but also a boy's room full of life, toys, and it is very Disney! The songs are amazing, being "You've Got a Friend" and "I Will Go Sailing No More" my personal favorites, in their respective Spanish versions.
The characters, which most of them are actually toys, are perfectly defined characters, all of them being very different from each other. All of them have very distinguishable personalities and physical characteristics and designs. I personally prefer the Mexican dubbing for this film, as I do for almost any animated film ever created. I'm glad that the Mexican dubbing is officially considered as one of the best dubbings worldwide. Honestly I've never heard the Tom Hanks version, and I honestly don't plan to. I listened to it and didn't like it as much as I did with the Mexican one.
Of course that the film has some pretty valuable lessons involving friendship, perseverance, self-acceptance and self-esteem. We should value ourselves out of what we are and what we have (emotionally speaking), and not out of what we don't have or what we are not. It is a film which can entertain people from all different ages and sizes, and has something special for each and every one of us. I saw this film 14 years ago for the first time and I still love it the same 14 years later. This film will definitely stand the test of time because of its charm, creativity, extreme originality, amazing dose of comedy and humor, unforgettable characters, astonishing animation and the valuable lessons that can be found throughout. Toy Story received 3 Oscar nominations for Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score, Best Music, Original Song (You've Got a Friend) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, which had the help of Andrew Stanton.
I even dare to say Toy Story is among the best films Disney ever created, and one of the most memorable. It is not only a timeless cute little masterpiece, but one of the must fun family films as well. A priceless treasure.
FUN STUFF: Did you know that this film has several references of past Pixar short projects, such as The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984), Luxo Jr. (1986), Red's Dream (1987), Tin Toy (1988) and Knick Knack (1989)? Most of them can be found on a bookshelf with some books that have those titles. Can you find the number A-113?
96/100
