Toy Story

Pixar's first feature-length film, an improvement over the awesome 'Tin Toy' and the first in a very famous animated trilogy, 'Toy Story' is something I'm sure everybody has seen at some point in their lives.

When the film starts, you are treated to an entertaining introduction where a child, Andy, is playing with his toys, including his favourite toy Woody, a cowboy action figure. It is a very inventive yet realistic entertainment act. But once Andy and his baby sister, Molly, are gone, all this realism is warped into non-existence. Just like the characters in 'Tin Toy', the toys of 'Toy Story' are alive, each with their own distinct and unique personalities.

It is Andy's birthday party and, as always, the toys are frightened that Andy will get some presents which will replace them. The only two peope... toys... who aren't afraid of this supposed threat are Woody and his pard'ner Slinky. However, Andy gets a new favourite toy, a space ranger action figure, Buzz Lightyear, sparking a rivalry with Woody.

This rivalry leads to betrayal, hate, vengeance, loss, danger, danger and more, intense danger and eventually results in friendship. For a concept as basic as toys coming alive, 'Toy Story' is actually a rather complex film, and sporting brilliant visuals and a very suitable soundtrack, should threaten most contenders in a "best films of all time" list.

Pixar have done a lot with 'Toy Story's potential. It's as humourous as possible, as intelligent as possible, as ridiculous as possible and as believable as possible. Pixar have also included all sorts of references (such as books in a bookshelf containing the titles of various Pixar short films like 'Tin Toy', 'Red's Dream' and 'Knick Knack') and used 'Toy Story's trademarks as references in other films (the Pizza Planet van can be seen in both 'Finding Nemo' and 'Ratatouille' while the gas station is seen in 'Cars').

Pixar have done a lot with this film and it owes that we, the audience, return the favour. If you haven't seen it, hunt 'Toy Story' down, watch its successor, 'Toy Story 2', and promise you will see the upcoming 'Toy Story 3'. Another favourable Pixar review, and I can understand if one might presume me to be a biased fanboy, but when a company's entire portfolio is complete awesomeness, you can't blame my praise. 'Toy Story' really is that good.

Five Out Of Five.