As a refresher, for those who might have forgotten the general plot of Toy Story, it follows the toys of a boy named Andy (John Morris) as he and his mother and sister get ready to move. Without question, Andy's favorite is an old wooden cowboy with a pull-string called Woody (Tom Hanks), and while he really enjoys his other toys like Rex (Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney) and Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), everyone agrees that Woody is the top-toy in these parts. That is, until Andy's birthday, when a new super-modern toy shows up called Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen).
Buzz is the latest rage, and as a space-ranger action figure, he has everything from lasers to karate action attacks and expandable wings. The odd thing is that Buzz also seems to think he is the real Lightyear, not just a toy. While Woody tries to convince the new plaything of his real identity, he also starts to notice that Andy is playing with Buzz more and more, and he begins to feel like his place as Andy's favorite isn't quite as assured as it once was.
When Woody's attempt to hide Buzz causes him to go flying out the window, the rest of the toys see it as an attempted murder, but before they can exact their revenge, Andy shows up and takes Woody to Pizza Planet (even though he was looking for Buzz). What Woody doesn't realize is that the misplaced Buzz sees Andy and Woody getting ready to leave and stows away in the family car, only to end up with both toys getting lost at the pizza place and ending up in the hands of Andy's next-door neighbor and known toy torturer, Sid (Erik von Detten).
The film culminates in the pair breaking free of Sid, teaching him a little lesson with the help of the other mutilated toys, and attempting to rejoin Andy's toys before the moving van leaves them behind.
Toy Story is a great movie for all ages that speaks of friendship and having to grow as individuals (even if those individuals are toys). While the technical feats this movie was able to pull off 15 years ago revolutionized computer-generated film, its ability to still tell a great story truly sets it apart from everything else at the time. As you would expect, the transfer to high definition does the movie justice as everything looks cleaner and sharper. On par with the visual upgrade, the classic music of Toy Story comes through loud and clear as Randy Newman's songs sound spectacular in 5.1 surround sound.
While the movie alone on Blu-ray might have been enough to convince most Disney/Pixar fans to re-buy Toy Story, the sheer amount of added content, plus the inclusion of a DVD version, makes it irresistible. Toy Story: Special Edtion comes with a sneak peek of the story of Toy Story 3, as well as tons of new features like Buzz explaining to Rex and Hamm (John Ratzenberger) about his trip to the International Space Station in 2008.
There is also a set of interviews with Pixar artists about how they got to work at Pixar and a featurette about the early pitches of Toy Story to Disney (as well as footage of the very different, and very dark, sequence they originally proposed). What's great is that all of the original DVD features are included as well. This segment has everything from retrospectives, making of's, galleries of designs, talks about production, a music video of "You've Got a Friend in Me" and all of the TV commercials and promos used to hype up the movie. There are also three short stories from employees at Pixar about the early days of the company. These include someone dressing up like the baby from their short "Tin Toy" for a Halloween party, the scooter races that occurred at their old building, and the old junky car that John Lasseter drove at the time.
Oddly enough, the list of extras include an explanation of how to use the "Disney DVD File" disc to download a digital copy, but said disc is not included in this release, it's just a Blu-ray/DVD combo and doesn't include a digital version like many Disney releases have in the past. Also missing from Toy Story: Special Edtion was the short that accompanied the movie in theaters, "The Adventures of Andre and Wally B.," but since that can be found on the Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 1 Blu-ray, I guess that can be overlooked.
Like I said at the beginning of the review, Toy Story: Special Edtion is nigh impossible to pass up. Even if you don't have a Blu-ray player yet, the inclusion of a DVD copy (that has all of the new special features on it, I might add), means it is still a plausible purchase now for when you do finally upgrade your home entertainment system. Little details like the lack of a digital copy or the accompanying short makes this release feel only slightly less like a complete package. Of course, it would have been nice to have a version that came packaged with Toy Story 2: Special Edition as well), but overall, it is well worth the purchase.
