Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head, Hamm, Rex and the others are coming back. Before Toy Story 3 is released on June 18, the movies are making their way to the world of High Definition. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 go on sale (separately) Tuesday, March 23. Will the Blu-ray make it worth buying again?
Watching both these movies on Blu-ray and an HD-TV, you really get a treat. Despite the first Toy Story having been released in 1995, I couldn't help but be blown away again. I found myself really noticing things like the grain of wood on the door to Andy's room, the floorboards, the threads on the bedsheets and the reflection on Buzz's helmet. They all look better than I remember (and I just watched the 3-D double feature last October). On a side note, I also noticed for the first time that the gas station Woody and Buzz get left behind at before going to Pizza Planet is a Dinoco gas station, one of the major sponsors in Pixar's Cars. == TEASER == For me, the quality of the Blu-ray is enough to buy both these movies even though I have them on DVD. There are Bonus Features:
Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek (2:07) This focuses more on the story. Similar to the trailers we've see but with a little commentary.
Audio Commentary
Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: Blast Off (3:28) Footage from NASA with Buzz out in space.
Paths To Pixar - Artists (4:47) A profile on some of the different artists working for Pixar. Tells how they were inspired to want to pursue their careers.
Studio Stories: John's Car (1:28) John Lasseter's car. He didn't want to get a new car despite his success. Funny story with simple animation giving us an inside look.
Studio Stories: Baby AJ (1:40) About a costume contest of sorts. Big guy dressed as the baby from Tin Toy short.
Studio Stories: Scooter Races (2:18) About the early days of Pixar. Building was empty and they had scooter races in the hallways.
Buzz Takes Manhattan (2:12) Buzz balloon in Macy's Day Parade.
Black Friday: The Toy Story You Never Saw (7:36) Early look at how Toy Story would have been. Things didn't go well when early look was screened. They decided to make the movie they wanted to make.
Along with these new Bonus Features you also get the Classic DVD Bonus Features. These include Filmmakers Reflect, Making Toy Story (20:17), Legacy of Toy Story, Designing Toy Story, Deleted Scenes, Design, Story, Production, Music & Sound and Publicity.
Toy Story 2 is almost a different type of movie. I have a hard time answering when people ask me which one I like best. In terms of visuals of the Blu-ray, the second is equally amazing. The one scene that comes to mind is when Woody is up on the shelf and finds Wheezy the Penguin. There's a load of dust that scatters and it's pretty cool to see.
There are a lot of Bonus Features here as well:
Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek: The Characters (4:01) Ned Beatty, Whoopi Goldberg, Timothy Dalton, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Keaton among others will be new characters.
Audio Commentary
Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: International Space Station (3:45) More footage of Buzz in space.
Paths To Pixar: Technical Artists (4:24) More profiles on artists at Pixar.
Studio Stories: Toy Story 2 Sleep Deprivation Lab (1:27) Long hours working on the movie.
Studio Stories: Pinocchio (2:16) Throwing toys and trying to lodge them in the ceiling.
Studio Stories: The Movie Vanishes (2:34) Program causing sequences to disappear from hard drive. Footage erased.
Pixar's Zoetrope (2:00) Pretty cool seeing how 3-D animation can work.
Celebrating Our Friend Joe Ranft (12:47) Tribute. 1960-2005.
As with the first Toy Story Blu-ray, the Classic DVD Bonus Features are also included. Making Toy Story 2, John Lasseter Profile, Cast of Characters, Toy Box, Deleted Scenes, Design, Production, Music & Sound and Publicity.
For me, these discs are a no-brainer. I'm not crazy about buying extra copies when I have the movie on DVD but in the case of the Pixar movies, they deserve to be seen in High Definition. If you don't have a Blu-ray player, go out and buy one. They're not that expensive these days. The Blu-rays also come with a DVD copy in case you only have one Blu-ray player in the house. Watching these movies yet again just makes me even more excited for the third one. I would give both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on Blu-ray a 5 out of 5.
And Cars repays the favor If you look really closely at the big crowed shot before the race you can actually see a tribute to Toy Story in the form of the Pizza Planet truck. Pixar hid TONS of easter eggs in all its movies like that. You can also see Nemo and the Luxo ball in Monsters Inc. in Boos room. It's actually pretty cool. And its amazing to see just how well these movies have aged in the sense that it only gets better the more times you watch it.
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