Hyperbole is a wonderful thing, and listening to a filmmaker talk about “their vision” and showing their film “the way it was meant to be seen” you can almost believe them for a minute. And aside from the obvious benefit of seeing a good movie on the big screen again, just what exactly is the point of going back and making a film suitable for 3-D projection anyway? Is there a point? Is it because 3-D is the cool, new thing? As much as I love the Toy Story movies going in, I was pessimistic about the reasons why I was seeing it. Was 3-D really going to enhance these movies in some kind of significant way?
Well, the answer is kind of. But as a bonus the film’s themselves still hold up remarkably well, like the true Disney classics we’ve always known them to be. As both a 10th anniversary re-release in honour of Toy Story 2 (Has it really been 10 years?) and as a friendly reminder in preparation for next summer’s Toy Story 3 (The legend continued or Kingdom of the Crystal Skull redux?), it was great to re-engage these films again. Yes, I have them both on home video, but there are only so many hours in a day unfortunately, and given the constant state of expansion of my DVD collection, hey, sometimes stuff falls through the cracks. Even beloved children’s classics.
The story remains the same; what we have here is no George Lucas hatchet job with Woody shooting first, or whatever. The look of the films is basically the same as they were in 1995 and 1999, respectively, and if the good people of Pixar don’t mind me saying, the evidence of their evolutionary learning curve is very apparent. Although Toy Story 2 was technologically leaps and bounds over Toy Story 1, there’s still a vastness in the difference in what the company’s managed to accomplish with recent hits like WALL-E and Up. So the only enhancements are of a 3-D nature, and there’s also a 10 minute intermission piece that features trivia and lost clips including some bizarre looking test footage of Woody and Buzz.
Fortunately, the 3-D isn’t as jarring as seeing a pudgy marionette Woody and a Buzz Lighter covered in a lot of right angles. Naturally, the 3-D effect comes across a lot better in the sequel than it does in the original, but the 3-D had its moments in Toy Story 1, particularly during the scene of Buzz trying to escape by flying through a window at Sid’s house, and Buzz and Woody’s great rocket flight during the film’s climactic chase. Perspective is what works in Toy Story 2 as the gang heads out into the real world to find a kidnapped Woody; the interiors of Al’s Toy Barn, the elevator in Al’s apartment and the luggage conveyors at the airport seem bigger somehow, as if you’re seeing from the toys’ perspective.
Strangely though, as much as Toy Story 2 is technologically superior, the real excitement and enchantment remains in the first film. I feel it was, and is, a more cinematic experience. In typical sequel fashion, the climactic action scene of Toy Story 2 was certainly bigger, it didn’t quite hit all the notes that Toy Story 1 did. You can’t help but smile outwardly as Woody and Buzz, with rocket taped to the spaceman’s back, lift off towards the heavens and glide back towards the ground. “Buzz! You’re flying!” exclaims Woody. “This isn’t flying, it’s falling with style,” Buzz replies in half-mockery of Woody’s earlier jest, but at this point the cowboy doesn’t mind. “To infinity, and beyond!” he cheers, and in the audience we’re thinking the same thing. You believe a toy spaceman can fly, cowboys and astronauts can get along, and there’s always a place in a kid’s heart for his favourite toy. Welcome back to Andy’s room everyone.
