seeing how last year went so well with
Disney cember I decided you know what
I'm gonna bring it back but what can I
do
I've doubles the 2d animated films well
it seemed like there was only one
inevitable choice let's dive into the CG
animated films and not just the Pixar
I'm talking about the ones that Disney
made on its own as well thankfully
there's not quite as many as the 2d
animated film but you know what a good
chunk of these films are still pretty
awesome and really have meant a lot to
us in our childhoods as well as our
adult ruins the evolution of the art
form has changed so much not just for
Disney but for animation in general CG
animated films are big box now and on
top of that they get a lot of good
people and a lot of good talent on board
to make it as good as they can the
stories are unique the characters
original they're funny they're emotional
they're heartbreaking they're everything
that Disney stood but in a brand new way
opening up the door for new storytellers
new different kinds of characters new
ways of looking at things and can't be
ignored and it deserves to be
acknowledged so sit back and enjoy all
throughout the month of December we're
taking a look at Disney's
computer-generated
well let's start with one of the first
CG animated movies ever made Toy Story
now for a little background let me tell
you exactly what CG meant in film at the
time with the release of Jurassic Park
Terminator 2 and other big blockbusters
CG was very much connected to well
action let me true it was used for other
purposes like him for his gum but for
the most part CG meant new effects for
new action scenes doing stuff that we
never thought could exist before making
any sequence any monster pretty much
anything we want to see come to life and
boy did it get old fast the film
industry really exploited the use of CG
some uses of it were creative and
inventive but mostly it was just used as
a dodge a way to save money and much
bigger effects a way to say hey we don't
actually have to put Tom Cruise on a
train we don't actually have to put a
helicopter in a tunnel we don't actually
have to have any of this stuff there
we'll just CG it and the audience will
never know the difference well yeah we
did even if a lot of people couldn't
explain why we could tell when something
was computer and when something was
really there oh we still saw the movies
but everywhere we turned there was
always CG and it was always for
explosions always for things flying by
always for action we got tired of it
really fast and the filmmakers seemed to
think hey if we have CG we don't need to
try that hard on the stories either
because anything we can want to make is
just there so we don't have to be clever
and subtle or anything like that we'll
just put what we want to show right in
front of them because of those films in
the mid to late 90s suffered pretty
heavily the reason I bring this up is
because it's all the more inspiring to
think that the first computer animated
movie was not an action film it didn't
have any explosions it didn't have any
big creepy monsters it was actually a
kids film at a time when kids films were
not doing very well heck even Disney
wasn't doing
so when Toy Story first appeared with
its bright colors and child-friendly
images and innocent story about a little
boys play things that are competing for
the most attention yeah we thought this
was gonna crash and burn but like any
kind of great creative product this film
wasn't changed by the industry the
industry was changed by this film now
everybody wants to be like Toy Story
everybody goes for the same formula a CG
animated film with bright colors a lot
of creativity dialogue that's very
modern almost like stuff you'd hear on
The Simpsons a simple story that
actually manages to rope in some comedy
and surprisingly even a little drama and
focusing more on the writing than the
actual effects themselves this is
everything that makes a great film and
Toy Story is a great film so what's the
plot woody the cowboy played by Tom
Hanks is the toy of a child named Andy
Andy's favorite toy in fact but when
Andy leaves all the toys come alive and
start chatting with each other and
they're especially concerned because
Andy's birthday party is today and
they're afraid that the new toys might
overshadow them even to the point of
having them be given away but woody is
there to calm them down because of
course he's Andy's favorite or at least
once a new toy named Buzz Lightyear
played by Tim Allen has all the latest
gizmos and technology woody inevitably
gets jealous and tries to fight for his
spot as alpha dog one day one of his
plans goes too far and he accidentally
max buzz out of the house would he get
stroked right along with him and the
rest of the film is a race to get back
home before Andy and his family move the
strength in this movie is the writing
these are just great characters and on
top of that it's a great setup buzz is
not the villain Woody's not the villain
it's just a form of jealousy that we all
know and that leads to great comedy in
my opinion some of the best comedy out
there is based on competition and seeing
these two constantly try to be good
people with their ethics but also get
drawn into the childish turmoil of who's
more popular is great to watch it's also
really clever that it's the spaceman
that out does the cowboy showing how
much fads
and go that's very much what happened -
as soon as astronauts went into space
Cowboys were suddenly seeming very passe
and space adventures were simply all the
rage
you can't blame Andy for it he's just an
everyday kid in fact the film for the
most part really doesn't have much of a
villain yeah well except maybe Sid Sid
is the next-door neighbor that loves to
blow up toys and yeah come on you either
knew this kid or even at points was this
kid again you can't look at him as the
villain because let's face it he's just
having fun with toys every character
even Sid is identifiable the writers try
hard to make sure that everybody has a
motivation and a backstory that actually
we can relate to and understand the idea
of toys coming to life is absolutely
nothing we've seen it a million times
but it's the new twist and spin that
they can give to it that suddenly makes
it wonderful the CG I actually think
still holds up pretty well in some parts
it's pretty clever that they made the
movie about toys because the plastic
textures actually worked very well in CG
animation little details like that spoon
that spoon still looks like it's really
there to me but then there's stuff like
the humans and the dog yeah they look
pretty awkward give them credit it was
the first CG movie ever made but yeah at
times the people look more plastic than
the toys do and yeah that dog sort of
looks like a Dalmatian that's well
impact it doesn't quite look right but
again this is really nitpicky the film
still works unbelievably well for a new
medium like this to take such a
different turn in such an old-fashioned
turn but to still throw all their talent
and all their great writing and all
their character development into it
makes it an animated classic one that
films continue to copy even to this day
this was the game changer and you can
see why in my opinion it's a classic but
this would only be the first in a long
line of big hits for both Disney and
Pixar
and the animated CG revolution has just
begun
you