YOU ARE A TOY!!!!!!!!!

Toy Story (1995)

Adam’s rating: ★★★★  (out of 5)

Director: John Lasseter

Rated: G. 80 min.

AFI 100: none

No. 99 on AFI 100 reissue

No. 149 on IMDB Top 250

Starring (voice): Tom Hanks, Tim Allen,
John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles,
Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn,
Annie Potts, Laurie Metcalf,
R. Lee Ermey

"Toy Story"; No. 99 AFI (2008); No. 149 IMDB Top 250

This really is the film that launched the Disney Pixar empire of movies. And because of that, I pay homage.

I think when I first got into movies, I wrote this one off in particular as being kind of dumb and for kids. But the fact of the matter is that having seen a bevy of Pixar movies over the last 16 years, I've come to realize that 1.) Pixar’s animation team is top-notch, so the effects are state-of-the-art when you are watching one of their films; 2.) the story is always one that is compelling, interesting, will make you learn something, whether it is about a subject or yourself (and makes you want to watch it until the end) and 3.) humor. These movies make me laugh because they always have a one-liner or something that just makes you laugh (like when Potato Head says that his instructions clearly state that he is for ages 2 and up or when Woody tells Buzz he can’t say what he wants to call him because there are pre-school age toys present).

I think what has really hooked me on this film – as well as Pixar’s others – is the amount of attention my son is willing to pay to this movie. He’s only 18 months and he’s already obsessed with the entire series of Toy Story films (in addition, he loves “Cars” and “The Incredibles,” but his infatuation with “Toy Story” knows no bounds). It doesn’t matter if it’s this movie, the second installment or the recently released third movie … he LOVES them all. And as an adult, it is fun to re-watch these movies – even if I’ve seen them 300 times -- and see how excited and how much joy they can bring a little boy. I think that’s the lasting legacy these films have on me is thinking back to what it’s like to be a kid and having a wild imagination and just enjoying something SO much. And I’ve become attached to it as well. (It took me a while, Megan, but I think you finally got me.)

I think sometimes animated films are overlooked as being for kids or for family. Certainly, that could be the argument for why Toy Story was left off the AFI’s initial 100 years … 100 movies list in 1997. But, where this movie makes the 10th anniversary edition of the list is in the technology and sales. This movie was obviously a hit as Pixar exploded into a subsidiary of Disney and started making a bunch of high-quality animation movies. And the technology of computer animation helped make the Pixar movies capture a more realistic feel, which if you look at the AFI list – and it’s a pretty good measuring stick for the best movies in American cinema – all of the movies are revolutionary in some way or another.

And certainly this is one of the most revolutionary films of the 1990s. It’s just a shame that I can’t get John Ratzenberger’s name – or voice – into every review I write.