Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey
Written By: John Lasseter, Peter Docter, Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft, Joss Whedon, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow
Directed By: John Lasseter
Studio: Pixar/ Disney
Buy on Amazon.com link

Holy Moly, has it been 10 years already? Toy Story is one of the greatest animated movies ever in my opinion. The first ever full-length computer animated movie and boy does it look sweet on DVD! I’m glad to see it get a Special Edition treatment, but I was happy with the huge Toy Story Box Set that was already released. But I’ll take what I can get and enjoy some new extras.

If you never saw Toy Story, which I better hope you have by now, it’s about a bunch of toys who are really alive. It’s just us Humans don’t know about it. The story follows around, Woody, an old-fashion cowboy who’s Andy’s (his owner)favorite toy. Until one day, a new state-of-the-art toy named Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) comes into the picture. Buzz becomes Andy’s new favorite toy and gets Wood really jealous. Woody tries to get Buzz lost so he will be Andy’s favorite again, but the plan doesn’t exactly work out as plan. Because Woody feels guilty and tries to save Buzz, but they both get lost. So Buzz and Woody have to battle toy cranes, a demonic wild child who tortures his toys and a crazy dog. Meanwhile, when Woody and Buzz are trying to get back to Andy’s, the rest of the toys are trying to find Buzz but don’t really have much luck. Andy’s family is about to move away into a new house, so Woody and Buzz have to race against time and all those other things so they aren’t left behind.

I have to watch this movie and Toy Story 2 every once and awhile because it’s such an excellent story and funny movie. The film succeeded on so many levels and really raised the bar on animation and movies in general. Many filmmakers saw that movie and wished they either worked on it, or took notice on how to make an animated movie. People were fascinated with the way the movie look, which is an important factor. But when you take the shell apart, the film really is such a good, lovable story with characters that you actually care about. I know when I watched this movie back when I was in high school, it made me want to go to animation school. But I just took the easy way out and became a web designer instead haha. The film isn’t just for kids, but for teenagers and adults as well and that’s another reason why the film succeeded. I could relate to the movie because I was a huge toy collector when I was a kid and played with them a lot. Yeah shut up, you did too, don’t deny it! Legos were very big in my household, and I could play with that crap for hours. Everyone played with toys when they were kid, unless they were some sheltered kid who didn’t have an imagination, so everyone should have something to relate to in this story. I watch this movie and say, “yup I did that with my toys,” or “oh I had that toy,” and yes I was even like Sid a little. Let’s just say GI Joes went thru a lot of trauma in the battle field. Most of them didn’t make it. Which was dumb on my part because I’m sure those figures are worth something now. Thankfully I still have a million Star Wars toys saved away, probably ill sell them when I get into trouble with gambling or with the mob later in life. BUT ANYWAY, back to the movie…

The film looks great on DVD but I didn’t really notice the new sound and picture. There’s a lot of extras that were on the ultimate Toy Story boxset that are on here too but there are some new stuff to check out as well. There’s a nice 12 minute featurette about the legacy of Toy Story. Lots of interviews with filmmakers who were inspired by the the movie or people who had worked on the movie, or people who simply loved the film. Some of the filmmakers interviewed include George Lucas, Brad Bird, a thin Peter Jackson, Hayao Miyazaki and many more. That was a great featurette and it really shows how many people thought it was brilliant. The second disc is filled with some new extras and some old ones. There’s a new “Filmmakers Reflect,” where the Pixar crew who worked on the movie sit around and discuss the movie, which was nice to see. It has the late Joe Ranft discussing the movie as well. It’s so sad to see him gone because he was such an important figure at Pixar. There’s plenty to watch on here if you haven’t seen the extras on the other Toy Story DVD set.

Toy Story is such a good movie that will be consider a classic for another 50-100 years, though I probably won’t be around to find out if Disney comes out with a 50th anniversary DVD or whatever is the new thing to watch movies. Or if I’m around by then, ill be in diapers and eating pea soup through a straw. But if you don’t own Toy Story on DVD already, then this is the DVD version to get if you just want the first film.

Features:
The Definitive Home Theater Picture & Sound Experience
Hilarious Deleted Scenes
All-New “Legacy of Toy Story”
All-New “Filmmakers Reflect” Featuring Academy Award-Winning Creator John Lasseter
Exclusive Sneak Peak at Pixar’s Next Animated Feature
All-New Game – The Claw!
And Much More!

Audio:
ENGLISH: DTS ES 5.1
ENGLISH: DD-EX Surround
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Stereo
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo

Video:
Widescreen 1.77:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: the army scene, the crane/pizza planet scenes, the aliens around Mr Potato Head, the toys getting revenge on Sid
Rating: G
Running Time: 81 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: