Now as a sucker for animated films, Toy Story is one of my favorites. It was the first fully CGI feature film that was ever released and became, somewhat of an iconic franchise ever since. Like with Wreck-It Ralph, it has some licensed characters from the world of toys in there and focuses on the toys themselves and what they do before and after playtime with their owner. As the feature film series of the franchise has more or less come to a close, I'm now going to review the films:
Toy Story
So the film takes place in a house that is home to a boy called Andy, who seems to have a lot of toys. When he leaves them so that he can do other things, the toys come to life and live a life of their own. The leader is Woody, a cowboy pull-string doll who is also Andy's number 1 toy. That is until he gets a new toy at a party which has more advanced features than Woody and is known as the space ranger, Buzz Lightyear. Despite the fact that he is a toy, Buzz believes that he is the real thing and tries his best to show people, which ultimately makes Woody jealous. On one occasion, Woody and Buzz, go with Andy to the restaurant, Pizza Planet (which is one of the many Easter eggs that Pixar have in all their films) and get themselves stuck in a grabbing machine with a bunch of green, 3 eyed aliens who obey their master, "The Claw". Woody and Buzz are then picked up by a boy named Sid, who lives across the street from Andy, and has a habit of making mutated toys from parts of other toys and its then up to Woody and Buzz to save themselves from his clutches and reunite with Andy while Woody continues to convince Buzz that he's a toy, even going as far as showing him, what a toy's purpose is. This film is great as it has (at the time) revolutionised the film industry with the animation it has and the story about toys was a great and original idea that works well all the way through. I know some of you will think the animation of the film is rubbish now compared to more recent films, but back when it first came out (1995 to be exact), this was the best animation you can get in any film of that decade. 10/10
Toy Story 2
Now from the get go, this was going to be a disastrous film for Pixar as it had many problems, such as all the data for it being deleted, a tight schedule that was literally 9 months and Disney not willing to move the release date. Despite that, here's what we got. The film takes place a year after the first film where in addition to Andy's toys from the last film, we get some new ones including a Mrs Potato Head and a squeaky penguin. Woody is getting ready for cowboy camp that Andy is going to, but when Andy causes his arm to rip, he is put aside and goes without him. His mother, then decides to do a yard sale which the toys aren't happy about and among the toys, only the squeaky penguin and some unused kart thing, is taken. Woody then sets out to save him, but is then caught by a toy collector and toy shop owner called Al, who says that Woody is the last thing he needs for his collection of toys which are being sent to Japan as part of a toy exhibition that they are going to run, which Woody isn't too happy about, but his round-up gang, consisting of a cowgirl named Jessie, a horse named Bullseye and a prospector named Stinky Pete (who doesn't go on of his box for the most part, due to being in mint condition as it were), say otherwise. Meanwhile, Buzz forms a group of toys and sets out to find Woody that consist of the springy dog Slinky, the piggy bank Hamm, the toy t-rex Rex, Mr Potato Head and Buzz himself. However, during their rescue, Buzz confronts a newer version of himself with a belt and his arch nemesis, Evil Emperor Zurg. Overall, this film has better animation than before, has a great story with a lot of action and some popular culture references throw in and it's even more funnier and intense than the last one. Another 10/10
Toy Story 3
After a 10 year gap, both in the story and after the release of the 2nd film, Andy is getting ready to go to college and has to decide what to do with his toys. Because some of the people that did voice work on the previous films and died before production of this one, they are written out of this film and were apparently either broken, damaged, lost or sold over the years (except for Slinky, who is being voiced by Blake Clark who was a friend of his previous voice actor who died before production), but what is surprising is that Bo Peep, who's voice actor is alive and well was among those toys. But let's get back to the story at hand now. So as the remainder of Andy's toys (Woody, Buzz, the three 3 Eyed aliens, Mr and Mrs Potato Head, Hamm, Slinky, Rex, Jessie, Bullseye and the green soldiers) prepare for the worst, Woody and Buzz try to lighten the mood and say that Andy will do the right thing. The green soldiers then leave as they want to move on and the other toys (except for Woody) are then about to be put into the attic, until Andy gets distracted and his Mum finds the bag of toys and put them on a curb, mistaking them for rubbish. Because of this horror, the toys manage to escape and put themselves in a box for donation to Sunnyside Day Centre and despite his pleas, Woody joins them reluctantly. As the toys get settled into their new home, they realize that the day centre, isn't what they call a nice retirement, all except for Woody who has managed to escape and is taken in by a girl who like Andy, loves her toys a lot. With the other toys in trouble and Buzz brainwashed (which happens later on, sorry for the spoilers), its up to Woody to help them get freed from the other toys' clutches. For the most part, this is more of a light hearted film than what the others were, but manages to give us a very dark, action packed and funny film that delivers on all levels. Visually, it's looks better than the last 2 films and story based, its one that will make you cry and one that will make you want more, and a film that makes you cry is always a good thing that makes a film very impressive. Another 10/10
So overall, the Toy Story series is great. They show just how much we love our childhood toys and throw in a lot of ideas that really do work and they show all the situations that a toy would get into at times, and whether the 3rd film, is the last film or not in the series, I loved every minute of them and can't wait for more. 10/10
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