Themes of change, jealousy, and friendship make these toys feel human. And to say toys animated with CGI from 1995 from the first feature film from a fairly new studio feel human. Well, that's a tremendous compliment to the film. The Toy Story franchise has some of the most impactful themes of changing and growing up film has to offer. And those themes are born in this film.
Toy Story is a monumental film. Especially in the animation medium. The first feature-length film produced in full CGI and unlike a lot of first things in media still holds a place as one of the best of it's kind. The animation still for the most part holds up today. They knew their limit, and they pushed it as far as they could when animating this movie. It shows the amount of care that went into this movie. The character animation stands out among everything else. Although The human models do look very dated compared to everything else. Although I personally find it charming that every child at Andy's birthday party was just a copied version of Andy. But all the toys benefit from the plastic-looking animation. And I don't think it's an accident that they made their first first movie on Toys to compliment the artform.
I wish I was alive to see this in theaters. It would've blown my mind, I know it would've. As it was it took me into my teen years to watch this movie from start to finish at an age that I could actually remember viewing it. I had watched and rewatched the 2nd film but was not fortunate enough to watch this at a younger age that I can actually remember from. Nevertheless, the Toy Story characters are something that I grew up with and have strong nostalgia for. And that first shot of the clouds as it pans down while You've Got a Friend in Me plays will forever be planted in cultural nostalgia.
I don't rewatch a large number of movies, just the ones that stick with me. I find myself rewatching the Toy Story franchise more than a lot of other films. There is something, so sweetly magical about this world. And there is plenty of movies that have tried to achieve what this did. And very few have come close.
I love Toy Story. And any chance I get to rewatch these films I take the time to enjoy them. If you have not seen Toy Story, watch it. If you haven't seen Toy Story in a long time, rewatch it.
