For some reason I thought Toy Story was made in 2000, it was actually made in 1995. To me that kind of computer animation was not possible in the mid 90's. I associate that kind of technology to the millennium. No matter what year it was made it was still the first of it's kind. Toy Story was the first computer animated feature film made.1 It was the film that started it all. Like Snow White (1937) before it, Toy Story completely changed the medium of animated films. No one had every seen anything like it before.
Toy Story also changed the idea of what the animated film was. It took animation to another level in terms of the story. Toy Story was not a musical like all the other Disney films before it. The story did not stop in order for the characters to sing a song, rather the music worked to express the emotion of the scenes and characters.2
Toy Story was also the first contemporary film in the sense that it was not a fairytale and the characters were adult. They had adult personalities and had an intelligence that adults could relate to. Being Andy's toys was like a job to them. They had staff meetings and seminars to protect themselves from injuries at work and to help them better do their jobs (i.e. ''Tuesday nights plastic corrosion awareness meeting''). They were a team who's one job was to take care of Andy and make him happy.
It was an adult movie as much as it was a kids movie. The adults related to the characters and their adult personalities while the children were entertained by the toys and by their adventure in the adult world. The adults were also brought back to the time when they were children and could remember how they themselves played with their toys. Remember the Mr. Mike and the Mr. Spell toys in the film? I had those toys. Children and adults could all relate to the premise of the story. I know I am not the only person who thought their toys would come to life when I wasn't there.
I have seen Toy Story often enough that I know a lot of the dialogue before it even happens in the film. Even though I have seen it so many times I am never bored and I am always amazed by it. I am amazed by how the story is never overshadowed by the technology.3 Pixar really aimed do something different. The characters are likable, funny, and complicated. The characters were defined by their rolls as Andy's toys, by the world they lived in, and even the materials they were made by.4 Mr. Potato head, for example, was grumpy because his parts are constantly following off and is often left to be played with Andy's baby sister who would bang and drool on him.
Even though Pixar was under the supervision of the big Disney and at that time it was such a small company they managed to make the movie that they wanted to make and have been doing so ever since. It is no surprise to me that Pixar keeps pumping out hit after hit almost every year. This because Pixar has never wanted to compromise story over the technology. Since the release of Toy Story Pixar has managed to prefect and build upon what they created with their first feature film. It has done such a great job that it has created an entire new sub-genre in animated films and has inspired competing production companies to make computer animated films to much success. With the coming of the 3D computer animated film there is not telling what Pixar and even the genre itself is capable of.
References
1-4. Toy Story (10th Anniversary Edition)-(Making Toy Story). [DVD]. Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
Toy Story. Dir. John Lasseter. Pixar Animated Studios, 2000.
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Next up we have Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
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