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Some might argue that Toy Story was the first computer animated feature-length movie. Those would probably be wrong. Toy Story is the first mainstream CG movie. The amount of money this movie made probably caused George Lucas to wish he hadn't have sold Pixar to Apple. Toy Story deals with a boy and his Woody (Tom Hanks). Woody is a rootin' tootin' cowboy whose hopes are shattered when the kid gets a new modern Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) doll. After accidentally offing Tim Allen, Hanks tries to win his master's heart back. But will the other toys let him? The plot of Toy Story really isn't very original and some of the characters are really bland. The only personalities that really shine through are Buzz Lightyear and Mr. Potato Head. One of the scriptwriters is Joss Whedon of Buffy fame, although I really can't see what he would have contributed to the movie besides the macabre villain. Toy Story has several slow plot points, although audiences were probably shocked enough by the CG quality that they didn't care. My complaint of CG is that it makes things look too perfect. Did they really have to spend hours to get the reflections on Little Bo Peep's skin right? Tim Allen and Tom Hanks give one note performances… It really isn't obvious why they hired such big name actors (OK, big name actor [Tom Hanks]) to voice these lead roles. Tom Hanks' character in particular could have been Joe Schmoe from down the street. Hanks probably did the role to pay for his kids' college tuition. The music in Toy Story starts a tradition that was used in Disney's Tarzan and Dreamworks' Road to El Dorado-music played like a music video instead of music being sung by the characters. The songs in Toy Story are breezy, occasionally catchy, and actually advance the plot. Randy Newman deserved an Oscar for this score! I give Toy Story *** out of ****. |