By Daniel S. Levine, Staff Writer
When was the last time you went to the movies just to have fun? You know, the last time you went into the theater and you weren’t trying to evaluate the film the whole time. You just sat back, watched and immersed yourself in the film.
Going to see the “Toy Story” double feature is just like that, because, let’s face it, who has not seen “Toy Story,” (1995) and “Toy Story 2” (1999) a million times?
Disney and Pixar re-issued both films into theaters as a double feature to get the “Toy Story” name back out there in preparation for the release of “Toy Story 3” this summer. The two films are presented in theaters in Disney Digital 3D through October 15.
While Pixar could have just used this as a way to make a quick buck, they went above and beyond to make seeing this an experience. Before “Toy Story,” starts, a hand-drawn Woody reminds us to put our 3D glasses on to watch a few 3D trailers, including a brand new one for “Toy Story 3” that reveals a lot more of the story than anyone knew before (although, we still haven’t heard Michael Keaton as Ken yet).
Then, more brand new animation explains that there is a ten minute intermission and then goes on to tell you what you’re supposed to do during it, since Pixar assumes that today’s movie-goers have no idea what an intermission is. More new animation is shown during the intermission, intercepted by trivia and hilarious quips from the characters (for example, after a question on the first film, we hear Jessie say “I got that and I wasn’t even in that one!”).
As to how the 3D rendering of 15 and 10 year-old movies turned out, Pixar did a wonderful job, to the point where you even forget that it’s 3D. It certainly helps that the stories for both films are so magnificent, that the medium doesn’t matter to anyone. Since “Toy Story 2” is the newer film, there aren’t many scenes that jump out to you in 3D more than they did in 2D. However, “Toy Story” in 3D makes scenes like Buzz Lightyear’s flight around Andy’s room and the little green aliens getting pulled from the claw machine all the more powerful.
This is definitely a film event that no one should miss because it’s just so much fun.
(Photo Courtesy of moviecarpet.com)
