TOY STORY
A film review by Thomas Wheeler
Copyright 1995 Thomas Wheeler
Disney
A lot of hoopla has been made about the fact that this film is the first one ever done entirely on computer. Fine and well, but I am one of those people who remains decidedly concerned about computers becoming too much a part of society (so naturally I'm writing on the Internet, right?!). Computer technology is a *tool*, in essence and basic form no different than a screwdriver or a hammer just a little more sophisticated. Ultimately, by its very nature, computer technology is mindless, heartless, and soulless and so are many of the people, I suspect, whose lives revolve completely around it. I don't care how advanced the technology gets (and the producers of this movie are already claiming that within two years it will be outmoded, and I don't doubt it), this basic aspect of the technology will NEVER change.
Will the fact that within a few short years the technology that made this movie possible make this movie any less enjoyable? I hardly think so. The writers and producers of the film have prepared a story with a good deal of human warmth, conflict, drama, and no shortage of humor, centering on a world which we have never seen before the hidden world of toys.
Yes, maybe those toys of yours that seemed to have lives of their own--really did! What we have here are intelligent, adult characters whose occupation is essentially to be a toy! The conflict comes from the fact that the favorite toy in Andys Room, a talking pull-string sheriff doll named Woody, has some new competition, a sleek, push-button talking science-fiction character named Buzz Lightyear. Buzz has a few problems of his own, though. Its not until well into the movie that he realizes he *is* a toy, and it throws him into a deep depression, until Woody convinces him that being a toy is actually a pretty good job.
Of course, by this time, the two have been captured by the neighbors kid a sadistic whelp named Sid who likes to blow up his toys with firecrackers, and rebuild the parts into horrible plastic abominations. Worse still, Buzz and Woodys kid, Andy, and his family, are moving the next day! The remainder of the adventure, and I wont give it away for those of you who haven't seen it, focuses on Buzz and Woody getting away from Sid and making their way back to Andy. Its a great adventure that I highly recommend.
Just one word of warning: don't go to see it just for the technical aspects of it. Sure, the computer animation is highly impressive. And maybe it *will* be outmoded in a couple of years, but this movie *won't* be, and neither will the very *human* talent and imagination that *really* made this movie possible, and thats something no computer will *ever* be able to accomplish!
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