Quickie Review 
Part 6 of The Disney Binge-a-Thon Vol. 2 continues with a movie that forever changed the landscape of animation as we know it. Without this movie, things might’ve been the same in the animation world but regardless of anyone’s beliefs that CG animation killed traditional hand-drawn animation (which is NOT true, by the way), you can’t deny that this movie made one hell of an impact that cannot be understated. Oh, and it’s also celebrating its 25th anniversary this year so happy anniversary to this movie! Anyway, for those who have been out of the loop for 25 years, Pixar’s inaugural feature film shows what happens when toys come to life when no one is looking and the de facto leader of these toys, cowboy doll Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), loves being the favorite toy of a boy named Andy (voiced by John Morris). Then on the day of Andy’s birthday party, things change when Andy gets a new toy for his birthday, an action figure of space ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) and this slick new toy that doesn’t know he’s a toy and thinks he’s an actual space ranger becomes a favorite of every toy in Andy’s room except Woody, who grows jealous and tries to get rid of him but the plan fails and soon, the dysfunctional duo find themselves away from Andy’s home and at odds with each other. In trying to get back to their owner and Woody trying as hard as he can to convince Buzz that he is a toy, they are put into the hands of Andy’s destructive next door neighbor Sid (voiced by Erik Von Detten), a sociopathic kid who destroys, alters and mutilates toys just for the fun of it and he plans to use a large rocket he just got on Buzz. Can Woody save Buzz in time to reunite with Andy while also uniting long enough to thwart Sid’s sadistic plans? The restoration of the film, which was done for the 2009 3D double feature theatrical rerelease with Toy Story 2 (which y’all will see soon in part 6), really helps showcase the details of the animation and you have to respect how the team just worked to refine and fine tune the technology usually meant for other short-term means of filmmaking like visual effects for years until it was perfected enough to be used to produce feature films. Add to it, the infamous “Black Friday” where the whole film almost got shut down because they had to start from scratch after they rejected Woody’s initial nasty behavior. These guys really worked with advanced technology and against some challenges so you have to admire and respect them for their hard work because they really changed things forever. Technical stuff aside, the story, the characters, the humor, the emotions and the music are firing on all cylinders and the voice work by the cast, especially from Hanks & Allen, is simpatico with all those elements. Also, the scene where Buzz finally realizes that he is a toy is probably the first time we witnessed Pixar emotionally gut-punching its audience and it wouldn’t be the last time they would do it either. The original Toy Story is the jump-off for computer animated films and still one of the most entertaining animated films ever made. And yes, we’ll be going to infinity and beyond with Woody, Buzz & friends for the rest of the deep dive.

Next up: While You Were Sleeping (Sandra Bullock falls for a coma patient AND his brother....did I mention that this is a PG-rated romcom on Disney+?)