4. Toy Story 1, 2 & 3

DIRECTED BY JOHN  LASSETER (1 & 2) AND LEE UNKRICH

WRITTEN BY JOSS WHEDON, ANDREW STATON, JOEL COHEN & ALEC SOKOLOW (PART 1);  ANDREW STANTON, RITA HSIAO, DOUG CHAMBERLAIN & CHRISS WEBB (PART 2) & ANDREW STATON, JOHN LASSETER & LEE UNKRICH (PART 3)

STARRING: TOM HANKS, TIM ALLEN, JOAN CUSACK, NED BEATTY, MICHAEL KEATON, WALLACE SHAWN, JOHN RATZENBERGER, BLAKE CLARK, ESTELLE HARRIS, JODI BENSON, DON RICKLES, JIM VARNEY, ANNIE POTTS, JOHN MORRIS, LAURIE METCALF AND ERICK VON DETTEN 

RELEASE DATE(s): NOVEMBER 22, 1995;  NOVEMBER 24, 1999; JUNE 12, 2010

AGE RECOMMENDED: ALL

The Toy Story Franchise is one of the most resent classic in children, and it is of course the master piece of Pixar. Toy Story (1995) is the first movie made entirely using computer generated imagery. It is also a world wide acclaimed film. Toy Story franchise is one of the most seen movies ever, is smart and ingenuous; the movie is easily love for both children and adults. In fact Toy Story 3 had touch more deeply adults than children, when I saw it in the movie theater every single grown up in the the room were crying.  Toys story is the animated film with most award and nomination.

Toy Story is a timeless story that truly understand the magic and even the pains from growing up.  The franchise is a really an open letter to any trilogy how the things should do,  If you’re going to make a part three, you’ve got to aim at least this high.  Also it is a wonderful lesson for children about friendship, sharing and love.  The story of the “Toy Story” films is the story of the cycle of life, and to make a thrilling, emotional, visceral film trilogy of blockbusters that somehow doesn’t rely on the typical storytelling crutches of the modern blockbuster is a truly amazing accomplishment.   There’s no chosen one, no mention of destiny once in three movies, no “chase the doodad” plot where all the energy is spent on plot and none is spent on anything important.  BTW I truly believe that Toy Story it is the best movies for the 3D.

PLOT

TOY STORY

Woody, a cowboy doll, is the leader of a group of toys that belong to a boy named Andy Davis, and come to life when humans are not around. With his family moving to a new home and having a party, both one week before his birthday, the toys stage a reconnaissance mission to discover Andy’s new presents. Andy receives a space ranger Buzz Lightyear action figure, whose impressive features soon see him replacing Woody as Andy’s favorite toy. Woody is disappointed and resentful at his replacement, while Buzz does not understand that he is a toy, believing himself to be a real space ranger.

As Andy prepares to go to a family outing at the space themed Pizza Planet restaurant before they move, Andy’s mom let’s him bring one toy, and he chooses Buzz, Woody attempts to have Buzz misplaced, but ends up knocking him out a window instead. With Buzz missing, Andy takes Woody with him to Pizza Planet instead. Buzz, however, climbs aboard the car and confronts Woody as they stop at a gas station. The two toys fight and accidentally land outside the car, which drives off and leaves them stranded. Woody spots a truck bound for Pizza Planet and plans to rendezvous with Andy there, convincing Buzz to come with him by telling him it is a spaceship that will take him to his home planet. Once at Pizza Planet, Buzz makes his way into a claw game machine shaped like a spaceship, thinking that it is the ship Woody promised him. While Woody clambers in to try and rescue him, they get captured by Andy’s next door neighbor, Sid Phillips, who tortures and destroys toys for fun.

At Sid’s house, the two desperately stage numerous attempts to escape before Andy’s family’s moving day, encountering nightmarish hodge-podge toys of Sid’s creation as well as Sid’s vicious dog, Scud. When Buzz sees a commercial for Buzz Lightyear action figures just like himself and realizes that he is a toy, he becomes too depressed to participate in Woody’s escape plan. Sid prepares to destroy Buzz by strapping him to a rocket, but is delayed by a thunderstorm and sleeps for the night. Woody convinces Buzz that life is worth living even if he is not a space ranger because of the joy he can bring to children, and helps Buzz regain his spirit. However, he is taken by Sid down to the backyard. Cooperating with Sid’s mutant toys, Woody stages a rescue for Buzz and scares Sid away by coming to life in front of him. However, the two miss Andy’s car as it drives away to his new house.

Running out on the road, they manage to climb onto the moving truck but Scud chases them and Buzz tackles the dog to save Woody. Woody attempts to rescue Buzz with Andy’s RCbut the other toys, who still distrust him, toss him off onto the road. Spotting Woody driving RC back with Buzz alive, the other toys realize their mistake and try to help them into the truck, by throwing Slinky Dog at them. Slinky attempts to pull RC back to the moving van, but fails, because RC’s batteries become depleted and accidentally let’s go. RC stops in the middle of the room. Woody ignites the rocket on Buzz’s back and manages to throw RC into the moving truck just as the duo go soaring into the air. Buzz then opens his wings to cut himself free before he and Woody glide safely into the car. Andy looks in the box and is elated to find Buzz and Woody.

On Christmas Eve at their new house, Buzz and Woody stage another reconnaissance mission to prepare for the new toy arrivals, one of which is a Mrs. Potato Head, much to the delight of Mr. Potato Head. Woody jokingly asks Buzz, who is worried that Andy will replace him too, “What could Andy possibly get…that is worse than you?”, but the two then share a worried smile as they discover that Andy’s new gift is a puppy.

TOY STORY 2 

Woody prepares to go to cowboy camp with Andy, but his arm accidentally gets ripped, forcing him to stay home where he is put on a junk shelf. When Woody saves a toy penguin named Wheezy from a yard sale, he gets stolen by an enthusiastic toy collector who Buzz Lightyear and the other toys recognize as Al McWiggin, the owner of a shop named Al’s Toy Barn, having seen him in a TV commercial. Buzz, along with the other toys, then set out to rescue Woody.

In Al’s apartment, Woody discovers he is a valuable collectible based on an old, popular TV show called Woody’s Roundup, and is set to be sold to a toy museum in Tokyo. The other toys from the franchise – Jessie the yodeling cowgirl, Woody’s horse Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector, are excited about the trip, but Woody intends to return home because he is still Andy’s toy. However, when his arm is repaired, Woody decides to stay when Jessie reveals that she was once the beloved toy of a child named Emily who eventually outgrew and abandoned her. She tells Woody that Andy may do the same to him.

Meanwhile Buzz and the other toys reach the Al’s Toy Barn. While searching the store for Woody, Buzz is captured and imprisoned in a box by a newer Buzz Lightyear action figure with a delusional space ranger persona. The new Buzz then joins the other toys as they make their way to Al’s apartment. Buzz escapes and pursues them, accidentally releasing an action figure of his archenemy Emperor Zurg who follows him.

Buzz rejoins the others as soon as they find Woody, and eventually convinces the initially reluctant Woody to return, who then offers the Roundup toys the chance to come with him. However, Stinky Pete prevents their escape and bitterly reveals that he wants to go to Japan because he spent his life in a shelf and was never sold, so he took measures to prevent Woody returning home after he arrived. Al then arrives and takes Woody and the Roundup toys with him, forcing the two Buzzes and the rest of Andy’s toys to pursue him. They follow Al to an elevator shaft where they encounter Zurg who fights the new Buzz, but is defeated when Rex knocks him off the elevator. As they reach the ground floor, the new Buzz remains behind to play with Zurg once he discovers that Zurg is his father.

Buzz and the others use a truck to follow Al to the airport where they enter the baggage processing area and find the Roundup toys. Stinky Pete tries to stop them, but is defeated by Buzz and the others, who blind him with flash photography and stuff him into a little girl’s backpack. While Woody and Bullseye are saved, Jessie ends up being loaded onto the airplane to Japan. Woody, Buzz, and Bullseye save her just before the plane lifts off and the toys return home. Andy returns home and accepts Jessie and Bullseye as his new toys. The toys also learn from a TV commercial that Al’s business has suffered due to his failure to sell the Roundup toys to Japan. As the new toys delight in having a new owner, Woody tells Buzz that he is not worried about Andy outgrowing him, because when he does, they will always have each other for company “for infinity and beyond”.

Toy Story 3

Andy is now 17 years old and packing for college, and his toys who have not been played with in several years feel forgotten and abandoned. Andy decides to take Woody with him to college and puts the other toys in a trash bag for storage in the attic. The toys are accidentally thrown out, though, when Andy’s mom finds the bag and puts it on the curb with the trash, causing the toys to think they are no longer wanted. They escape and decide to climb in a box to be donated to the Sunnyside Daycare. Woody, the only toy who saw what really happened, is forced to follow the others and tries to explain they were thrown out by mistake, but they refuse to listen.

Andy’s toys are welcomed by the numerous toys at Sunnyside, and given a tour of the seemingly perfect play-setting by Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear (simply known as Lotso), Big Baby and Ken, whom Barbie falls for. All of the toys are quickly enamored of their new home, leaving steadfast Woody alone to attempt to return to Andy. However, Woody’s escape attempt fails and he is found outside the daycare center by Bonnie, an imaginative little girl. She takes him home and plays with him along with her other toys, who are well treated, happy, and readily welcome Woody. Woody is elated until he hears about Lotso from Chuckles the sad clown. Lotso, along with Big Baby and Chuckles, were once accidentally lost by their original owner, Daisy. The three found their way back to Daisy’s home, but Lotso saw that he had been replaced with an identical toy bear. Though Chuckles realized the truth, Lotso, embittered, convinced Big Baby that they were all replaced, and took over Sunnyside, making it like a prison. Worried for his friends, Woody hurries back to the daycare and finds that they have been put on task to be played with by the rambunctious youngest toddlers. They are also kept under guard at night by Buzz whom Lotso has reverted to demonstration mode, restoring his original “Space Ranger” personaand allying with him.

Woody rejoins his friends and they work out an escape plan involving the garbage dumpster. In the process, Buzz is accidentally reset into a delusional Spanish-speaking mode during an attempt to restore him to normal, but he does go back to allying with Woody’s friends. The toys reach the dumpster, but are caught by Lotso and his gang. As a garbage truck approaches, Woody reveals what he knows about Lotso, leading Big Baby to toss him in the dumpster. Seeking revenge, Lotso pulls Woody in with him just as the garbage truck collects the garbage. Woody’s friends board the truck to rescue him, during which Buzz is hit by a falling television while saving Jessie, finally returning to his normal self. The toys find themselves at the dump and are soon pulled onto a conveyor belt leading to a trash crusher. Lotso is saved by Woody and Buzz just as he’s about to be crushed. Woody and others find themselves pulled onto another conveyor belt leading to an incinerator. They help Lotso reach an emergency-stop button, but he leaves them to their deaths. Thinking that this is the end, the toys grasp each other’s hands. The toys are eventually rescued by the squeeze toy aliens using a giant claw. As a comeuppance, Lotso is found and strapped to the grill of a garbage truck, while the toys board the neighborhood truck back to Andy’s house.

In Andy’s room, Woody climbs back into the box with Andy’s college supplies while the other toys ready themselves to the attic. Remembering his time with Bonnie and her toys, Woody has an idea, and leaves a note to Andy on the toys’ box. Andy, taking it for a note from his mom, takes the box to Bonnie’s home, introduces his old toys to Bonnie and gives her the toys to play with. In the end, Bonnie recognizes Woody, who is lying at the bottom of the box, to Andy’s surprise. Andy is initially reluctant to give him to her but eventually does so and then spends some time playing with her before he departs. Woody and the other toys find themselves wanted and played with again, and learn through notes passed in Bonnie’s backpack that Barbie, Ken and Big Baby have improved the lives of all the toys at Sunnyside.