A New Year, A New Resolution

Hey kids, how's January treating you? Thus far mine's been insane. I'm really looking forward to it being over. In fact, if we could just skip over to May I'd be pretty satisfied.

Anyways....

As many of you who read my blog know, I had a goal to watch all the Disney Feature Animation movies in chronological order and critic them over the course of 2013. It was amazing (ish). Mostly it gave me a great sense of accomplishment. Granted, in the grand scheme of things watching 53 movies is not the most impressive thing to do in a year but I still enjoyed myself. Toward the end of the year I started to feel a little sad that I wouldn't have something like this to look forward to for 2014. So (with a lot of coaxing from my brother-in-law) I've decided to watch all the Pixar feature length animated movies in chronological order...etc. Of course, there's only 14 Pixar movies to date so once I've watched all those I'm going to explore Japan's Disney animation studio. Although I think they refer to it as "Studio Ghibli" over there. There are 21 Ghibli films. So that makes for a total of 35 movies. I also plan on watching the Pixar shorts that accompany their feature length movies; it feels wrong not to. I'm not going out of my way to watch all the shorts they came out with prior to Toy Story though....mostly because they're weird and boring. Also, I didn't watch all the shorts Disney produced before Snow White so there!

Let's get started!

Disclaimer: I recognize that I have a HUGE bias in favor of traditional animation. I love it A LOT more than I do computer animation. I think traditional animation looks a lot more timeless and engaging than its computerized sibling. In my most humble opinion computer animation has a tendency to look dated a lot faster than traditional. I also don't have nearly as big of an infatuation with the potential of a computer as I do with that of a pencil. Let me explain: all my life I've watched cartoons with wide eyes wondering "How do they DO that?!" I've always wanted to understand the process behind animating. It's like magic to me and every time I see an animator pull some clever little trick out of their hat I'm mesmerized all over again. Computer animation, for me, is like someone sitting me down and explaining all the magician's secrets and then suddenly the magic isn't as interesting anymore. Basically, it's like little wide eyed Virginia just asked "How do they do that?" And some know-it-all-nerd comes out from behind a curtain and says "With a computer." BORRRRING!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I making any sense?

So, now that my extreme bias is out in the open, here are my thoughts on Toy Story:



I'm always amazed that Toy Story came out in 1995. I turned seven in '95 and for some reason I think that this movie is a lot newer than it actually is. I mean it's coming on 20 years now. I constantly forget that computer animated movies have been around that long. Of course, Toy Story's age is starting to show big time. It looks super dated. I mean, it still looks impressive. Just not as impressive as it used to.

Of course, the magic of Toy Story is really in the plot.

I feel like this movie perfectly embodies what it was like to be a kid in the 90's. So it resonates pretty clearly with my generation (am I alone in my opinion? Children of the 90's speak up!). I could make anything out of a cardboard box and some crayons as a kid. And going out for a pizza dinner was a big deal! And let's not forget the heightened status of the toy on the bed. I mean, the toy you'd snuggle up with in bed was a pretty big deal! And that high-tech new toy that you wanted since the first time you saw a commercial for it while watching your favorite after-school cartoons was so cool! Not to mention your psychotic neighbor who was a few years older than you and who you were more than a little terrified of (I secretly think the reason why Andy's family moved away is solely because of Sid). Birthday parties, sharing a room with a sibling, loosing stuff, posters on the wall....my whole childhood is neatly arranged in Andy's room.

When talking about this movie I could read into all sorts of symbolism about computer animation supplanting traditional. Or the ominous dawn of the digital age taking over everything. Sure, those things are probably in there, but I choose not to dwell on them (too much). This movie is a little too nostalgic for me to do that. Because in spite of my extreme bias against it's medium and how horribly, horribly dated this movie looks I still Toy Story. It's a great story about friendship and loyalty. So good job on your first try Pixar!