Review:

Well over twenty years later, Toy Story is still a benchmark not just for animated movies, but for film in general. The story is great, the voice-acting is solid with a great cast of actors, and the characters are so relatable. The only thing that doesn't hold up is the animation. Toy Story came out in 1995 and in 1995, Toy Story looked great. In 2019, the character models and locations look fine (not up to 2019 Pixar standards, but better than most Dreamworks and Illumination titles), but quite a few of the movement animations look jerky or just off. There are a few nit-picky little things (like how the RC car works in the last third of the movie and why some characters without mouths can talk but some with mouths can't) that aren't real issues, but I do have a problem with Randy Newman's soundtrack. Everytime we hear him come on, it's like the producers had Randy brought over from his trailer, put him in the sound booth and told him "Buzz just tried to fly and it didn't work. Sing something about flying" and Randy just improvs some ridiculous song off the top of his head. The only song that feels like a real song that was planned and written is "You've Got a Friend in Me". I like Randy Newman and his dopey singing voice, but his songs are too goofy for such a well crafted movie. Toy Story is still one Pixar's top three movies; even though the animation got better in every subsequent Toy Story installment, none have ever match the classic story of the first Toy Story.