You've Still Got a Friend in Me!

Reliving History with the Toy Story Double Feature

I doubt many people my age realized it when they first saw it, but Toy Story was not just another animated film from the aging House of Mouse.  As I sat in a small Oregon theatre with my brother and grandparents on a New Year's eve in 1995, little did I realize that the vivid, fully realized CG world flooding into my wide, awestruck eyes was the herald a new age of animated film.  Fourteen years later, as I again sat in a theatre reliving that moment, only now with a funny pair of glasses and a bit more stubble on my chin, it occurred to me that I wasn't just watching a brilliantly remastered, 3D version of one of the best animated films ever made, I was rewatching, in a theatre, the Snow White of my generation.  I was in a theatre reliving the birth of computer animated film, and hey howdy hey, it's never looked better!

It would be ludicrous of me to review the only two films produced by the already flawless Pixar animation studios to also receive a 100% from rottentomatoes.com, but I can't help but try to make a case for why to see them again in their limited theatrical, double feature engagement.  My biggest concern, and I imagine a concern of many others, was whether or not the shiny plastic sheen that I remember so vividly from my childhood would look faded and dated in comparison to razzle-dazzle, eye-popping wonder of recent animated film technology.  Additionally, while I don't count myself among them, I have heard some concerns about the transfer of the films to RealD 3D format, as the films were not originally made for such a venue.  Lay your concerns aside, as you will be astonished by how well the 14 year old animation has aged, and with the addition of RealD's stunning 3D depth, the films felt practically brand new.

I have to say that I am becoming more and more sold on this RealD technology and its use in animated film.  The entire time I never felt like my eyes were having a difficult time adjusting or focusing, or felt like I was developing that oh-so-common headache associated with traditional stereoscopic technology.  And with a total running time of just over three hours, if you could get a headache in a film, this would be it.  But quite frankly, ever since Coraline, I've been consistently impressed with the RealD technology, and I find the arguments of the remaining 3D-griefers to be rapidly diminishing in real objections.

I actually feel that there is an additional layer of appreciation the 3D make over has added to these beloved films.  When I rewatch a film that I already know by heart, I, like many, tend to watch for details in the frame rather than just focusing on the action in the focal point.  This usually would mean scanning the length and width of the periphery of the frame for interesting homages, allusions, and easter eggs, but with addition 3D, I was actually able to scan the depth of the frame, looking through layers of the scene for interesting content in way they feels wholey unique.  For example, during the scene in the first film when Woody is holding a meeting with the toys to discuss surprise arrival of Andy's birthday party, I never really took notice of the books lining the shelf directly behind him.  Now that the film's depth placed the books literally behind the character in the scene, they far were easier to notice, and I found several fun easter eggs including an entire row of books with the titles of Pixar's previous animated shorts like Tin Toy and Knick Knack.  Also, during a scene in the room of the sinister toy-abuser Sid, I was able to spot a copy of the army field guide manual for "improvised interrogation," an easter egg which I noted with no certain amount of irony with today's current "torture" debates around that very manual.  Truly a film ahead of its time ;).

Besides from apparently being politically prophetic, there's something about the Toy Story...story, that seems important at this stage in animation's history.  Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are in some ways a lesson in cherishing the things that have past, yet ironically, Toy Story was the "Buzz Lightyear" to traditional animation's 50s cowboy doll.  But perhaps we can learn the lesson that Toy Story is trying to teach.  Don't cling to the past, but don't disregard it for a fancier, flashier future.  Embrace both.  Watch Toy Story 3 when it comes out, but also watch Disney's new traditionally animated film The Princess and the Frog.  Watch the new computer animated Clone Wars series, but go back and revisit the stunningly 2D animated Clone Wars shorts by the brilliant animator Genndy Tartakovsky.  Watch films like Persepolis which prove that 2D animation can still be artistic novel and politically relevant.  Now more than ever when "children's films" seems like an excuse for inanity, it's important to ensure both genres continue thrive and produce content to high standard that Disney animation has laid down in the past.  And as our 3D technology continues to improve, both in CG wizardry and screen-depth mastery, we the audience should make it our goal to continue to support traditional 2D animation as an art form, less it become the forgotten toy in tomorrow's yard sale.

To end with where I began, it still astounds me that I just finished watching these films in a freakin' theatre considering where they sit in history.  When the Shark Tales and Ice Ages and Cars lay long forgotten, and your children are being treated to the next generation of full-body-emersion 5D RealLife-toons, and their grandchildren eventually write the 23nd Century edition of the history of animated film, it will go something like this: In the beginning, Disney created the Snow White, the first ever cel animated film.  The Snow White begat the Toy Story, and the Toy Story begat all the rest.

It's not too late to pay a visit to a living legend in your local theatres.  Don't regret missing it while you still have the chance.