Toy Story In 3D
Once a year, Pixar tantalises us with a new computer-animated offering and this year's masterpiece, Up, released on October 9, is the first feature to be presented in Disney Digital 3D.
Once a year, Pixar tantalises us with a new computer-animated offering and this year's masterpiece, Up, released on October 9, is the first feature to be presented in Disney Digital 3D.
To whet our appetite for the new format, we're treated to an eye-popping revamp of the studio's 1995 adventure, which brings to life the contents of a boy's toy cupboard.
Almost 15 years later, colours are just as vibrant, the script still breathtakingly sharp, laden with hilarious asides and one-liners plus myriad visual gags like the estate agent's sign which reads Virtual Realty or the inclusion of characters from Pixar's early short films.
Toy Story was so far head of its time.
As Andy's birthday draws nears, his toys - especially cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) - grow increasingly nervous about new arrivals usurping them in Andy's affections.
Woody's fears prove well founded when action figure Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) takes pride of place on the bed, leaving the poor cowboy out in the cold with no one to activate his pull-string voice.
Buzz dazzles the other residents of the toy chest including Mr Potato Head (Don Rickles), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney), Bo Peep (Annie Potts), Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and scaredy-dinosaur Rex (Wallace Shawn).
Woody reacts by attempting to push Buzz out of an open window but his toy brethren turn against him.
It isn't long before the two rivals have to bond to escape the clutches of demented next-door neighbour Sid (Erik von Detten) and find their way back to their pint-sized owner (John Morris) as he prepares to move house.
Toy Story In 3D dazzles and amuses just as much now as it did 14 years ago and the crisp visuals are still leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, apart from Sid's dog, which doesn't have realistic fur.
The new technology is used to startling effect in key sequences such as the climactic chase on a remote control car, with Slinky Dog stretching into the distance, while the script is an embarrassment of verbal riches.
The interplay between Hanks and Allen is glorious, like when Woody famously tries to get it into Buzz's plastic head that he is merely a toy from Taiwan.
'You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear! You're an action figure!' screams the cowboy with all his might.
'You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity,' replies the spaceman.
A 3D version of Toy Story 2 will be released on January 22, 2010.
The New Year can't arrive soon enough.
Release Date: Friday 2 October 2009
Certificate: PG
Runtime: 81mins
