What young Andy (John Morris) doesn't realise is that whenever he is out of the room, his toys all come to life, and have their own adventures going on, quite separate from the adventures his vivid imagination has them enacting.
Led by Andy's long-standing favourite toy, cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks), the toys are all preparing for the big move, as Andy and his mother (Laurie Metcalf) and baby sister are moving to a new house.
Not only that, but after Andy's birthday party, there is a new toy in Andy's life: Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), who refuses to believe he is a toy at all.
And when Woody and Buzz go missing together, and end up in the clutches of toy-torturing neighbour kid Sid (Erik von Detten), it is up to the rest of the toys to save them and bring them back home before Andy moves and loses them forever.
One of the best things about this wonderful film is the array of toys, several of them toys you will recognise from your own childhood. Characters like Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), neurotic dinosaur Rex (Wallace Shawn), Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts) are some of the most wonderfully expressive and riotously funny characters you will ever see on film. And the inclusion of R. Lee Ermey as an army sergeant (remember those little green army men?) is inspired casting of the highest calibre.
The screenplay - written by Joss Whedon and Andrew Stanton and Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow - is incredibly clever, and is actually one of the very first scripts for an animated film that has more in it for adults to enjoy than children, a tradition that Pixar has maintained with all their feature films since, and which other animation studios have tried to replicate, though not always to the same high standard.
The interactions between all the characters (almost entirely Andy's toy collection as opposed to human characters) are all so cleverly written, and full of wonderful references and clever puns, the film doesn't even lose its appeal upon numerous repeat viewings; you will pick up different things every time. Again, this is very clever on Pixar's part, because naturally films like this probably are on endless repeat in many family homes, even twenty years after this was first released.
With the enormous proliferation of computer-animated films out in the world these days, it is important to remember that when this film first came out, audiences had never seen anything like it before. And audiences were blown away by the standard of the animation, and the quality of the animation still stands up today. While watching the film yet again for the purposes of writing this review, I continued to be amazed by the level of detail present on the screen in every single frame.
The music by Randy Newman - which largely consists of a handful of original songs which Newman has not only written, but performs himself - is quite good. Even the song 'You've Got a Friend in Me' which - to be honest - I have heard so many times I think I could sing it in my sleep still gets me every time; it's just a beautifully written and composed piece of music. Not only that, but it has a great message in it, too.
The voice cast are so perfect for their roles, especially Hanks and Allen as the two leads. The two of them share such an incredible chemistry on screen, it is hard to believe they recorded their lines separately of each other.
Director John Lasseter has made a wonderful film with this, Pixar's first feature. Of course, Pixar have made many wonderful films since this one, but if it hadn't been for this one, I don't know if any of the others would have seen the light of day.
A beautiful film to be enjoyed by audiences young and not-so-young.
9 out of 10.
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