Toy Story

An absolute classic with not only groundbreaking animation but groundbreaking storytelling that proved that animation could be more than just fairy tales and could have sophisticated themes and complex arcs. The development the characters go through in this movie is very natural and believable, they don’t change just because the script demands it but rather because of what happens to them in the story. Instead of doing the typical “follow your dreams” message, this movie has a more mature message of finding meaning in life when your dreams don’t seem to work out. Woody learns it’s okay to not be the favorite and Buzz learns to accept a more mundane life instead of being an sci-fi hero. The story is very well paced and balances the sophisticated messages with good humor and chemistry. The voice acting is iconic, it casts celebrities who actually fit the roles they are given instead of just being marketable names. The animation isn’t great but it’s hard to critique it given the circumstances of the movie. My problems with the movie are that there’s a lot of weird plot conveniences. For some reason Buzz pretends to be a toy even though he thinks he’s a space ranger. The toys also have inconsistent strength. For some reason Woody can’t lift a big box but he can chuck Christmas lights across two houses with the same strength of a human and hold off a big dog. For some reason RC racer can go the same speed as a truck, and when the wrestler toy spins Woody it magically makes RC racer spin. Aside from the more technical issues I also found Randy Newman’s songs to be bad. You Got A Friend is decent but the two other songs are horrible and ruin their respective scenes. The scene where Buzz tries to fly is supposed to be emotional but it just ends up feeling stupid because of Randy Newman’s dumb voice. This movie definitely isn’t perfect like a lot of people say but I still think it’s great, and you definitely have to respect it for its impact on Hollywood and movies as a whole.

One of the greatest duo movies in history. Shows the importance of toys.