Movie Review: Toy Story (1995) seen in theatres, on videocassette, DVD, Netflix and Disney Plus

Animated Comedy; suitable for all ages, cartoon violence

This movie follows a group of toys who come to life in the absence of humans only to revert back to being normal toys when human beings are present. The group of toys are lead by their leader named Woody, (played by Tom Hanks,) who is considered to be his owner Andy’s favourite toy among the group until Andy receives a Buzz Lightyear action figure, (voice by Tim Allen,) that he desperately wanted for his birthday. The arrival of Buzz Lightyear threatens Woody’s position as Andy’s favourite toy.

The movie opens with Andy playing with his toys. As his mother calls him downstairs to get ready for his birthday party, the toys come to life during which Woody calls a meeting to request that all of the toys find a moving buddy, (as Andy and his mother are preparing to movie within a week,) so no toy gets left behind. When the toys find out that Andy is having his birthday party a week early, they become nervous that he will receive a new toy as a gift which would threaten their position as Andy’s favourite toy. Woody assures them that no matter what happens, Andy will still play with them citing the fact that the same situation occurs on each holiday, (where they worry about Andy receiving a new toy and losing their position as Andy’s favourite toy,) and nothing ends up happening. As the children arrive for the party, Woody enlists some green army men to secretly hide within the furniture to tell the others toys what Andy receives. They achieve this action by talking into a walkie talkie. After Andy has opened all of the gifts, they are relieved to find out that he has not received any new toys as gifts, until his mother finds a gift hiding in the closet. The connection is lost as Andy is opening this one leaving the toys unaware of what the gift is. They then find themselves reverting back to normal toys as Andy and his friends find themselves back in his room.

As they are called down to continue the party, the toys come back to life to find that a new box has been put in Woody’s place on Andy’s bed, though they are unsure of what it is. Woody remains optimistic despite the gang’s reluctance and suggests that they welcome the new toy into Andy room rather than be jealous of it. Woody finds Buzz Lightyear on the top of the bed who believes himself to be a real space ranger rather than just a toy. He believes the box which he came in was his spaceship that was broken. He manages to impress all of the toys except for Woody with his ability to fly and shoot lasers, which Woody believes is not real and says that he is just saying this. After Buzz proves his ability to fly to Woody and the gang, Woody begins to feel like an outcast as a montage plays which shows Buzz getting to know the rest of the group while Woody is shown getting more and more agitated as it goes on. During the montage, it is shown that Andy has redecorated his room and replaced his hand drawn pictures of Woody with pictures of Buzz and space themed pictures as well as his bedspread which was cowboy themed to a Buzz Lightyear themed bedspread. Buzz also gets under Woody’s skin when Andy chooses to sleep with his Buzz Lightyear toy while Woody is forced to sleep in the toy box.

When Andy’s mom tells him he can only bring one toy out to dinner, Woody attempts to get Buzz to save a toy which had fallen into a small crack between the wall and the back of Andy’s desk so that Andy will choose him instead of Buzz. This backfires when Buzz is unintentionally hit by Andy’s lamp and falls out the window. This causes the other toys to turn on Woody as they believe he intentionally pushed Buzz out of the window out of jealousy over not being Andy’s favourite toy anymore. Though Woody tries to convince the gang that this is not true, they fail to believe him.

Through a series of events, both Woody and Buzz eventually find themselves at the restaurant, (which is also an arcade,) where Andy and his mother are. However, before they can get to Andy, they are stolen by a little boy named Sid who has an admiration for breaking and blowing up toys.

Meanwhile, Andy is still depressed after losing Buzz and Woody which leads to his mother reassuring him that they will be found before the move the next day.

While trying to escape from Sid’s house, Buzz sees an advertisement on the tv for the Buzz Lightyear toy where he hears the announcer refer to him as a toy. He is dismayed to see a caption that reads “Not a flying toy,” which causes him to be depressed. In a last ditch effort to prove he is not a toy. he attempts to fly out of an open window only to fall from the top of the steps as a somber song plays in the background. With help from Woody, Buzz is able to regain his self esteem as they attempt to make it back to Andy in time for the move.

Through a series of events, Woody and Buzz are happily reunited with the other toys by the end of the film. It concludes on Christmas morning where the toys have once again enlisted the green army men to communicate through a walkie talkie what Andy receives as a Christmas present, though Buzz is able to finally convince them not to worry about their place in Andy’s toy box any longer.

One of my biggest problems growing up was in terms of my likes and dislikes. I was never really into toys as a child but rather tv shows geared toward adults, (though nothing inappropriate.) Having said that, there were a few instances where I appreciated toys growing up. The very first toy I was into as a kid was a Woody action figure I believe I received for my 5th birthday, (the year of this movie’s release.) I found myself playing with the doll, (although probably not as excessively as Andy played with his toys in this movie, and certainly not like Sid,) and I have to say that this was one of my favourite movies growing up and I think it may have been one of the first ones I saw in theatres. I remember that when mom and I went to see it the first time, it was sold out and we had to go back another day to see it. When we finally did, I really enjoyed it.

In my mind, this movie sends a positive message to children who are about to experience the birth of their first sibling, which may cause them to worry that their place in their parent’s life would be threatened and that they would have been forgotten about once the new baby arrives. This movie serves as reassurance to those children in those situations…..that no matter how many new people may come around, your parents will always love you. As far as I’m concerned, they achieved sending this message through the lives of toys as Woody was constantly afraid that the addition of Buzz meant Andy no longer wanted to play with him but by the end of the movie, Woody realized that Andy still loved him despite Buzz being present.

This movie also came out the year of my brother’s birth. I remember when mom told me he was coming, I asked if I could pet him thinking he was a dog or a cat in a moment from my childhood that I’m sure mom has fond memories of.

As I have recently become an uncle for the first time, I believe this movie sends a good message to my nephew as well. At the time of this writing, he is less than two months old and the only nephew I have at this point. However, I believe that as he gets older, my brother may want to have more kids at which point he will no longer be getting all of the attention once the new baby arrives. As he is my brother’s first born baby, right now he is used to getting all of that attention and not having to share it. I’m not sure how he will respond to it when the new baby comes….whether he will worry about my brother no longer loving him or not or if he will accept his new brother or sister into his life as he will always know that my brother and I along with the rest of the family will love him no matter what. This should be one of the first movies that Joseph allows him to watch once he is old enough to start watching them. It’s just an all around good movie to watch. I would definitely recommend it.

Movie rating: 10 out of 10