To infinity and beyond!
Rating: 10/10
Running Time: 81 minutes
UK Certificate: U
On DVD
Forget Snow White its for losers. THIS is Disneys finest hour-and-a-half. Not only does Toy Story represent the birth of top quality wholly computer-generated cinema, its also one helluva funny toon.
It takes a simple, familiar idea that kiddies playthings spring to life when nobodys peeking and develops it into a wise-crack-packed adventure story to rival any adventure story. Im yet to meet anyone young or old who doesnt quite literally love this movie. And Im pretty sure I dont want to, either. For such people are clearly fools.
Tom Hanks provides the voice of Woody, the floppy cowboy doll who takes pride of place among the toy collection of a young sprog named Andy. But theres trouble in paradise when Andys birthday produces a brand new toy shiny laser-lighted space ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen). Suddenly, jealousy reigns supreme in Andys toy chest.
What really gets under Woodys Stetson is having to bite the bullet and work with Buzz as a team when the pair of them get lost in the big city, before ending up in the evil clutches of a local bully prone to performing Dr Phibes-style ops on innocent toys.
There are some cracking jokes along the way, more often than not related to Buzzs insistence that hes a REAL space ranger, and not just an action figure. In fact, this is worth buying just for the scene where the cold truth suddenly dawns on Buzz and he becomes Mrs Nesbitt. But theres much, much more in here worthy of a guffaw or three. Whatever your age, this is an all-time classic thats a must for your DVD collection.
It's Got: Some marvellous support characters, most notably Mr Potato Head, Rex the dinosaur and Hamm the piggy bank.
It Needs: For all of those toy stores to have ordered more Buzz Lightyear dolls for Chrimbo 95. There were a lot of miserable ankle-biters out there.
DVD Extras Tin Toy (an animated short from Pixar), The Making of Toy Story, and a sneak trailer for Monsters Inc. DVD Extras Rating: 6/10
Summary
With stunning animation and a fantastic script, this is quite possibly the finest feature-length toon ever made. Worth watching over and over again.