Pixar Reviews part 1: Toy Story

Okay, so the time has finally come for me to give the leap of faith, and I’m about to pee myself. I’m Javiera Gracia and I’m giving you a full special on the studio that has, for the most part, served us with the most memorable animated films in the past 17 years. That’s right: PIXAR

This charming team has managed to give us products that not only make children go crazy with its dazing visuals and memorable characters, but they dared to grow up with the audience, because, let’s face it, Pixar knows that those kids who saw “toy story” 15 years ago are still going to theatres to see their movies. They are the only animation studio, besides Ghibi, whose dedication to work never ceases to amaze me. And how that was possible, thanks to visionary people, including one that sadly isn’t around anymore. So as a lover of animation, I’ve decided to make a review special of every feature film made by our favourite computer geniuses.

So let’s start right from the beginning, all the way back from 1995, when we were first introduced with one of the most memorable duos in cinema history: Toy Story

Normally, when a picture features something new to the industry, it focuses so much on that ground braking element that the rest of the film is left unattended, and by so the final product only works okay or…(Avatar I’m thinking about you right now)

Thankfully, Toy Story wasn’t the case; everything in this movie was made with extreme care. It didn’t rest in its laurels and, aside of its ground breaking cgi, also went for a deep story, memorable characters and touching moments.

Okay, the story begins when the plastic residents of a bedroom, owned by a young boy named Andy, are shocked by the arrival of a brand new action figure named Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Tim Allen. This charismatic astronaut, who actually believes being an astronaut, not only becomes Andy’s favourite toy, but also quickly wins the heart of the other toys in the house, much to the dismay of our other protagonist, and the previous favourite, Woody, a pull-string cowboy doll voiced by Tom Hanks.

Tired of all the attention that Buzz is getting, and the fact that the later doesn’t accept that he’s toy, Woody tries to knock his rival behind a dresser, but he causes a confusing situation that ends up with both woody and buzz in the hands of Andy’s bully neighbour Sid, a kid who’s referred as a toy murdered. Now both protagonists must work together to escape Sid’s hands and go back to Andy’s house in time so they don’t get forgotten when the family moves to a new house.

So, let’s begin from the fact that Toy Story wasn’t the first film that featured talking toys. What sets it apart it’s its characters and the way they are introduced. The first half of this movie has a slow pacing, but that actually helps the movie. This gave us the chance of knowing and getting used to the characters and their no so conventional personalities. In any other movie rex would have acted like a terrifying dinosaur and ham more like a pig, but their personas almost doesn’t match their toy design and that makes them original; and a lot of that credit is thanks to the voice acting. Other kids’ movies just throw the main conflict at you without even establishing the characters to begin with, but Toy story managed to bring both the plot and the cast at a pace that was just enough to get us invested in what was going to happen to them.

The second part it’s all about Woody and Buzz, and their personal and mutual conflicts, and that’s where the most touching moments of this movie comes from, and I think I should take a pause to go deeper into these two, since their relationship is the main plot device.

Woody is a very likable character, he’s sort of a team dad, he’s concerned about the other toys, he’s easygoing, sarcastically, determinate, smart, and a very natural leader. He’s a bit of a jerk sometimes but in the end he makes choices in order to help the others. Sure, he’s selfish and has some childish moments, but his whole character arc is about him out growing that, so his actions in the first half can be forgiven. Besides the voice acting of Tom Hanks is great.

When I first saw Toy Story as a 6 year old I kind of saw Woody like a son who’s spot in the family has been taken by a new baby, and that vision is still stuck with me, for the most part, and as I’m an older sister myself, that made me feel a lot more connected to him.

Woody’s arc is about accepting Buzz presence as a symbol of change, he’s forced to accept that things in life will not remain unchanged forever or will as pleasant as he expects, for example at the beginning of the film he’s very sure that things will remain the same after Andy’s birthday, but then he’s proven wrong and he tries desperately to reverse things to their previous state, which get’s him into trouble. It’s an acceptance of the unpredictability of life.

Tim Allen as Buzz is great. He’s determinate, independent, and passionate, he doesn’t get intimidated easily, he tries to figure things out by himself even if he comes to wrong conclusions, he’s sure of himself, he’s normally polite to strangers, even those who clearly hate him, and it’s impossible to keep a straight face when he does his epic astronaut rants.

Like with Woody, Buzz’s character arc is about overcoming a flaw in his personality, which in his case is arrogance. He has to learn what his limitations are and how to live with them, which, as you remember, brings us to the most heartbreaking scene in this film ("You can't fly!", but god that's painfull). It’s the harsh realization that life isn’t about doing whatever you want, but rather about be at peace with what you are and what you do currently.

The relationship between those two, at first makes us side with woody, since he’s obviously right about his claims about buzz being a toy and we are effectively worried about him becoming isolated, but is the way their interactions are written that prevents us from seeing this as an antagonist relationship or seeing buzz as a villain, so when they start working together it comes out as a natural alliance. Any other movie would have put one of this two as a villain who had to be eliminated in order to get a happy ending. Most of the time, with one obvious exception,  they not even trying to eliminate each other, they just trying to expose their points or view at one other, which in the end helps them to overcome their own personal flaws..

I remark my previous statement about Buzz and Woody being one of the most memorable duos of cinema; the way their relationship builds is just perfect.

Cowboys and spacemans can get along. Got it Craig?

I think I should also address the art. Sure it was 1995, but I think that even today it holds up pretty strong. Pixar was fully aware that the real world wasn’t as clean and bright as the computer world, so they weren’t afraid to actually put dirt into their environments. The result is that some of these backgrounds actually look like photos. Sid’s backyard seems particularly real.

The designs look and animate very nice as well, Buzz big muscles go along with his personality, the movement of woody’s limbs is pretty accurate for a non plastic toy, specially when he’s tossed around, and I just loved the crazy look of the toys that had been modified by Sid.

If I have to chose one problem with the animation it would have to be the design and movement of some of the non-toy characters, particularly Sid’s pit-bull, well I guess that’s a pit bull, hell that looks even more plastic than Skinky, and he’s the toy, but then again, it was the first try and let me tell you, any animator will tell you of how nightmarish can be to make hair move in cgi or in any animated feature, so I guess it can be forgiven.

In the end this not only one hell of a first entry to computer animation in general, but also established the name of Pixar as studio that is always trying the best to give movies that are remembered, as a whole, as excellent. It a show of pure dedication that still impresses after 17 years, and that was just the beginning.

And is also the beginning for me, so leave your coments below or in my Twitter acount @javitagracia

Toy Story is owned by Disney