Toy Story

I rewatched Toy Story last night; I was hanging out with a friend when his roommate came back with a bunch of people and pulled us to the lounge to watch an old childhood favorite.  It was a weird experience.

First thing I noticed was that I could barely remember what happened on a grand scale, but that I could remember each and every shot of the film as it moved on.  I always knew exactly - EXACTLY - what was going to be on the screen next.  Apparently I saw this movie a lot of times.

Second thing was how much Pixar has improved over the years.  I remember Toy Story looking amazing when it came out, but this... This was okay.  Everyone moved just fine.  Sort of.  There was a little bit of uncanny valley going on, and some weird blinking.  The backgrounds were very... barren.  Not much on the walls, and every shot was from very low to the ground.  That makes sense since all the characters are toys, but it made it seem like they'd created a bunch of walls, put wallpaper on them, and then left the world as this bunch of flat surfaces to be populated only with key props as needed.

Third thing was that that next door neighbor kid Sid had a seriously crappy childhood.  I remember being terrified of him, but in retrospect I just feel bad that his dad is an alcoholic, his mom is never around to help her children, he only has one shirt, he sleeps in his bed with all his clothes on and no blankets, eats breakfast in his room (old Froot-Loops)... And he takes out all of his anger on his toys.  Imagine, then, this kid that clearly needs help, a tortured soul, imagine his TOYS - the one outlet that he has - literally RISE UP AGAINST him, tell him he's a bad person, and threaten to kill him.  Yeah.  He's not going to grow up to be okay.  At least his sister might break out of the trap her family has set for her.  She seemed pretty smart, and her abusive older brother stops being abusive by the end of the movie.

Watching the movie with a bunch of physics majors, I also was treated to the many impossabilities of Buzz Lightyear's exploits throughout the film.  Turns out he is a magical space hero after all, because that's the only way you'd be able to trash Newton's laws as thoroughly as Buzz does!

Overall, though, fun times.  Pixar has come a long way since the 90s.