Toy Story

intro to toy story, music by Randy Newman


Toy Story, directed by John Lasseter was the first of Disney Pixar’s animated masterpieces. The main characters were rather big name actors at the time. Tom Hanks, voice of Woody and Tim Allen, voice Buzz Lightyear really take stage with their voices instead of there motions. Before these guys, big name actors didn’t work behind glass, they were on stage.

This story takes place primarily in Andy’s room. Andy is a young boy who really loves playing with his toys, especially Woody (Tom Hanks), a worn out cowboy who has a knack for saving the day. When the hot new toy comes out Andy gets it for his birthday. Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is an oblivious space ranger who doesn’t realize he is a toy. When Buzz comes Woody is put on the shelf and loses his spot as the top toy. When Woody’s plan to get rid of Buzz goes awry, He finds himself in a great deal of trouble and stuck in the house of the toy killing menace, Sid Philips.

This story is highly unbelievable because of the talking toy aspect of it. A very corny idea in itself really makes for a great movie. This film is targeted towards a younger audience however when watching it for my millionth time I picked up on clever jokes aimed at a must older audience. Woody purposely mistook Buzz’s last name with “Lightbeer” and “Lightsnack.” I also got a kick out of Sid’s terminology of a “Triple by-pass brain transplant on a toy.” These clever little jokes can be credited primarily to the director himself because he was also the head writer on the project.

Lasseter’s use of animation earned him the 1996 Oscar, special achievement award, for the first feature length computer animated film. The animation is truly exquisite in the way that everything is so life- like (as you can see in the clip above.) One example of this technology being almost scary good is the glare given off of buzz’s helmet. I appreciate this so much more now that I have aged enough to realize how easy that would be to look over. The life-like drawings are in part because of Bob Pauley. He is the head illustrator and also one of the drawers. Rich Quade and Ashe Braunon, the directors of animation, could be the most important part in the success of this movie, and movies as we know them today.

The cinematography of the film was obviously superb because of this new animation that had never been scene before. Outside of animation there were several types of camera angles used without any cameras. When Buzz first lands on Andy’s bed the shot start at a low angle shot and tilts up to close up of his face. This shows extreme dominance of the lens and power from beginning.

Music also played an important role in this picture. In the Opening credits as shown in the clip above, Randy Newman is singing his academy award nominated “You Got a Friend in Me.” It was nominated for best original music and song. His lyrics are talking about the over all theme of the movie, friendship. As Woody starts out jealous of Buzz, He grows to respect him and love him. The friendship of Andy and Woody at the beginning of the movie is a relationship all people should emulate.

I give this movie two thumbs up because it is genius in its new age technology and its great central theme is very heart warming. This is a great movie for the whole family to watch because its target audience is very braud and its down right funny.