Starring:
Tom Hanks as Woody (voice)
Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear (voice)
Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head (voice)
Jim Varney as Slinky Dog (voice)
Wallace Shawn as Rex (voice)
John Ratzenberger as Hamm (voice)
Annie Potts as Bo Peep (voice)
John Morris as Andy (voice)
Erik von Detten as Sid (voice)
Laurie Metcalf as Mrs. Davis (voice)
R. Lee Ermey as Sergeant (voice)
Sarah Freeman as Hannah (voice)
Penn Jillette as TV Announcer (voice)
Jack Angel as Additional Voice (voice)
Spencer Aste as Scratch (voice)
Special Features:
Disney/Pixar’s First Ever DTS 5.1 Audio Track
Newly remastered Dolby 5.1 EX Track Mixed By Seven Time Academy Award® Winner Gary Rydstrom
Highest Digital “Bit Rate” Ever Used For A Disney/Pixar Film
Hilarious Deleted Scenes
All-New “Legacy of Toy Story”
All-New “Filmmakers Reflect” Featuring Academy Award-Winning Creator John Lasseter
Exclusive Sneak Peek At Pixar’s Next Animated Feature CARS
All-New Game — “The Claw!”
All-New “Designing Toy Story”
New “Making Toy Story”
All-New Design Gallery Slide Shows
Commentary
Behind the Scenes Featurettes on Story, Production, Music & Sound, Publicity, and more
Other Info:
Widescreen 1.77:1 Aspect Ratio
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX
DTS 5.1 Surround ES
French and Spanish Language Tracks
Running Time: 81 Minutes
Synopsis:
This film was originally released in 1995. The following is from the DVD cover:
“Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the movie that changed the face of entertainment. Toy Story, the first full-length computer-animated feature film, is “a wonder to behold.” — People
Experience a hilarious fantasy about the lives toys lead when they’re left alone. Woody (Tom Hanks), an old-fashioned cowboy doll, is Andy’s favorite. But when Andy gets Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) for his birthday, the flashy new space hero takes Andy’s room by storm! Their rivalry leaves them lost with a toy’s worst nightmare — Sid, the toy-torturing boy next door. Woody and Buzz must work together to escape, realizing along the way that they’ve got a friend … in each other!
Now, in a magnificent special edition, Toy Story shines even brighter. With an all-new enhanced picture and a spectacular home theater mix as well as exclusive bonus features, including deleted scenes and a retrospective special with director John Lasseter, this modern classic is one you’ll enjoy to infinity and beyond.”
Toy Story is rated G.
The Movie:
Toy Story is a classic for a lot of reasons. It started the revolution of computer animated movies. It was the first big hit for Pixar. It features a touching and nostalgic look at a boy and his toys. Finally, it’s just plain hilarious. Whether you’re a kid or an adult, this DVD is worth adding to your collection.
The movie is released this time with a higher transfer bit rate, but to be honest I have a hard time telling the difference. Unless you’re a hard core DVD technophile, you probably won’t notice either. The same goes for the remastered Dolby 5.1 EX track. Only those with a keen ear will notice it. Mommies and Daddies playing it to keep kids entertained probably won’t. I think the bonus features will really be the deciding factor on whether or not to buy Toy Story yet again if you already own it.
The Extras:
A lot of the bonus features on this DVD were previously included on the “Ultimate Toy Box” set released in 2000. Since I missed out on that, I was glad to be able to get them in this 10th Anniversary Edition. Here’s what you’ll find in the new edition:
Hilarious Deleted Scenes There are about 8 deleted scenes and alternate scenes. One features an alternate opening that showed a clip from the Buzz Lightyear show. Another showed Andy playing out a shootout in his room with Woody. Other deleted scenes include a nightmare sequence (that reappeared in Toy Story 2), a different version of Sid being shown the light, and more. Most of these appear in storyboard or animatic form. The clips are introduced by the filmmakers.
All-New “Legacy of Toy Story” This retrospective features interviews with many of the cast and crew as well as comments from notable filmmakers like George Lucas, Peter Jackson, Brad Bird, and others. They all talk about why Toy Story is such a great film (though some of it seems to be a bit overanalyzed). It’s quite lengthy but it’s a lot of fun to hear about the making of the film from those originally involved.
All-New “Filmmakers Reflect” Featuring Academy Award-Winning Creator John Lasseter Lasseter and his fellow Toy Story crew reminisce about the making of the movie (from the lobby of Pixar Studios). It’s a surprisingly candid discussion where they talk about the pros and cons of working with the Disney Studio executives. It’s really interesting to see how they influenced the story for good and ill.
Exclusive Sneak Peek At Pixar’s Next Animated Feature CARS This is a fun, though brief, look at the upcoming Pixar film Cars. It doesn’t look anywhere near on par with Toy Story, but hopefully the final product will be impressive.
All-New Game — “The Claw!” In this game you activate the Claw and it grabs various characters out of the game from the film. It then plays an action packed commercials featuring the characters selected.
All-New “Designing Toy Story” This is a 6 minute video talking about the design of the film. This included the colors, the look of the animation, the environments, etc.
New “Making Toy Story” This is a 20 minute video talking about the making of the movie. It seems to contain older footage, so I believe this is a “making of” video from an earlier DVD edition.
Also included are a Commentary and Behind the Scenes Featurettes on Story, Production, Music & Sound, Publicity, and more. These can all be found on the previous versions of Toy Story. It’s also worth noting that there are Easter Eggs all over the place featuring little gags with the characters. I found one on almost every menu page.
The Bottom Line:
Toy Story is a required addition to any DVD collection whether you are young or old. If you don’t have it already then this is a perfect time to pick it up. If you already own it, you might want to look over the new bonus features before deciding if you want to purchase it again or not. DVD fanatics will probably want to go ahead and trade in for this new version with improved picture and sound.
