Tuesday Movie Review: Toy Story

In this week's edition of Tuesday Movie Review, I'm going to review a movie that made a monumental impact on the Walt Disney Company...this week's movie is none other than Toy Story! As always, I'm going to look at the storyline, soundtrack/score, acting, and the movie's presence in the Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts. So let's shrink down to toy size and visit Andy's house as we review Toy Story!

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On November 22nd, 1995, audiences around the United States were treated to a new story that would be treasured for years and years to come. With a box office of $373 million, Toy Story was an instant classic. To this day, Toy Story is still many people's favorite animated movie, and in some cases their favorite movie of all time period! Currently, it ranks 94th in IMDB's Top Rated Movies of All Time. Toy Story brought us many new things including Pixar Studios, John Lasseter as a director, and was the first feature length computer animated film! Toy Story is tale of Sheriff Woody and his jealousy of his owner's, Andy, new favorite toy, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. We follow the two toys through troubling situations, but in the end, they discover that they'll always have a friend in each other.

Randy Newman composed and conducted all of the score for the film, along with singing a few songs for the film and soundtrack. After listening to the soundtrack, it's easy to why many people consider this Newman's best work.The score is amazing, legendary actually, and blends perfectly with the film; however, the real work of art is the soundtrack including the iconic "You've Got a Friend in Me" (and now you're humming this, and that's okay) along with the underrated "Strange Things" (and now you're singing this at the top of your lungs, once again okay).While the soundtrack isn't full of amazing songs like Moana or The Lion King, the Toy Story soundtrack holds it's own against other great film soundtracks. So much so, that the soundtrack itself was nominated for 7 awards including the Academy Award for Best Music (Original Song), Best Music Score, and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

The cast of Toy Story is headlined by Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz), but they are joined by the likes of the late Don Rickles (Mr Potato Head), Jim Varney (Slinky Dog), Wallace Shawn (Rex), John Ratzenberger (Hamm), and Annie Potts (Bo Peep). This cast is easily one of the best assembled for an animation movie and many people consider it not just Tim Allen's best work, but also Tom Hanks' best work as well. Hanks and Allen were nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best On Screen Duo, and even though they didn't win, it's almost impossible to imagine Woody without Buzz or Buzz without Woody.

Tim Allen (far left) and Tom Hanks (far right) bustle.com

Aside from the awards Newman, Allen, and Hanks received, Toy Story was nominated (and won) some pretty impressive awards during the 1995 awards season. John Lasseter won the Special Achievement Award at the Academy Awards and was nominated for Best Writing and Best Screenplay at the Oscars. Toy Story was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, the Kid's Choice Award for Favorite Movie, and swept the 1996 Annie Awards winning Best Individual Achievements for Writing, Directing, Producing, Production Design, Animation, Technical Achievement and Best Animated Feature. Everyone knows how great of a movie Toy Story is, but I think what is often overlooked is how instrumental it was for many of the films we enjoy today. Toy Story brought together Pixar and Disney, it gave us John Lasseter, and it changed the way animation would be done forever. But for the purpose of the blog, I'll only dive into one of those things. 

Without Toy Story, one could argue that there is no Pixar Studios. While Disney Animation Studios has produced some gigantic films (Lion King, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, etc.), Pixar isn't just some no name studio either. Films like A Bug's Life, Cars, Monster's Inc., Wall-E, Up, Finding Nemo, and Coco very well could have never happened, or not been as good, without the success Toy Story brought the company. To me, Toy Story changed the way I thought about a lot of things; like, I would never leave my toys in a mess after watching Toy Story and I would be a lot more careful in the care I gave my toys. 

Toy Story has a pretty prominent role in the parks, deservedly so. At present time, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin can be found in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom; however, the attraction is more based on the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command cartoon series, but if you're lucky Buzz can be found outside of the attraction by himself doing a meet and greet. Over at the LEGO Store at Disney Springs, you can find a giant Woody and Buzz made of LEGOs! Also, at Hollywood Studios there is currently Pixar Place which is a whole area of the park that is devoted to Pixar, but mainly features Toy Story things including Barrel of Monkeys, Toy Story merchandise, the current location of the Woody and Buzz meet and greet (which has arguably one of the best queues in the parks in my opinion), and one of the best rides in the parks: Toy Story Midway Mania! Along with these attractions, there is also a ton of places to grab Toy Story merchandise, and at most table service meals, you can request a Buzz Lightyear drink topper for your child! In years past, you could meet Woody and Jessie outside of Splash Mountain; however, that meet and greet no longer exists. In earlier years, there was even a dance party in Frontierland hosted by Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye. At present time, the only times you can really see Jessie and Bullseye is during the Move It, Shake It Party or during special parades like Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade or Mickey's Boo to You Parade. Coming this summer, will be the highly anticipated Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. The new land will include the Slinky Dog Coaster, an spinning attraction based on the little green aliens, and a quick service eatery called Woody's Lunchbox. The theming of the land is set up to make guests feel as if they are in Andy's Backyard and the size of toys. Overall, the concept art of the land looks very exciting and I for one, can't wait to visit this summer!

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Toy Story is one of the most iconic movies Disney has ever made, and there is a really strong argument it's the best Disney movie made. It contains everything you want to have in a great movie: lovable characters, great music, a scary villain, and a storyline that has your attention from the get go. I love Toy Story very much, and love that it's now a 3 (soon to be 4) movie series. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll do shorter movie reviews on Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, but this review was for the original Toy Story. Because of how great of a movie this is, and the impact it made on the Walt Disney Company, I'm going to give this my first 5 of 5 stars. If you haven't seen this cinematic masterpiece, I feel sorry for you, and you really should go to your local Target or Wal-Mart and pick this up!

Kevin Scott is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. He is self proclaimed Disney addict and oftentimes annoys his family with how much he talks Disney. He enjoys walking around all Disney Parks and taking as many pictures as he can in one day. When he isn't at Walt Disney World, he is working to get back or re-watching Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars movie. His spirit animal is a mix between Simba and Kylo Ren with a dash of Tony Stark. You can find him on Twitter @doubleoh_kevin and on Instagram @waltdisneyduo.