I like Pixar movies. Shocking, right? Pixar falls in the same category as John Green, elevating to a higher plane a genre that I adore but that is often dismissed as immature fun (animated films and YA lit, respectively). Simply, if you’re interested in well-told, mature, compelling stories and you’re interested in animation, then Pixar…
Toy Story (1995) Kevin: Whenever one great civilization falls, another one rises up in its place. It’s no different in cinema history. The Disney studio released their 33rd animated feature, Pocahontas, in 1995. Pixar released their 1st. Toy Story was heralded at the time for innovation and novelty. It is remembered today for giving us…
100 Film Favorites – #17: Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, 1999) “When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful. Every hour we spent together lives within my heart.” And so we come to the highest-ranking (fully) animated film of the Countdown. Let me be clear: I love animation, and could talk at length about many animated…
100 Film Favorites – #41: Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) In the last post I mentioned a relative shortage of Disney so far (well, except for Dead Man’s Chest, Holes, Ernest Saves Christmas (through Touchstone), Atlantis, Wreck-It Ralph, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Darby O’ Gill & The Little People, and National Treasure) Okay, so maybe there…
In the past I have praised the Annie Awards for providing a lens into the most important animated features from each year of the past couple decades. The largest mark against the awards came in 2008, when Kung-Fu Panda won Film of the Year against Wall-E, which was by far the most recognized and important…
Over in that house is a kid who thinks you’re the greatest, and it’s not because you’re a space ranger, pal. It’s because you’re a toy. You are his toy! – Woody Rating: 4 stars (out of 4) The success of Toy Story was almost unprecedented: Critics made it the fourth best-reviewed film of all time.…
On February 3, 1986, Pixar became an independent company by LucasArts selling the organization to Steve Jobs. (Little known fact: Jobs’ first billion actually came from Pixar, not from Apple.) Pixar spent its first decade exclusively releasing shorts before it partnered with Disney to bring you Toy Story in 1995. The rest, as they say,…
Rating: **** (out of 4) Sorry, Shutter Island. Toy Story 3 is my favorite movie I’ve seen this year, and it’s not even close. I’m an unashamed Pixar fanboy, so you should probably take my reactions with a grain of salt. But here is my attempt to persuade you to see Pixar’s latest masterpiece, in…
[out of four stars] Toy Story (1995) – 4 stars A Bug’s Life (1998) – 3.5 stars Toy Story 2 (1999) – 4 stars Monsters, Inc. (2001) – 4 stars Finding Nemo (2003) – 4 stars The Incredibles (2004) – 4 stars Cars (2006) – 2.5 stars Ratatouille (2007) – 4 stars WALL•E (2008) –…