Toy Story : Ultimate Toy Box
I’ve waited so long for this box set. Although there were a few versions available including a 2 disk set and separate disk copies there was only one edition for me and that was the Ultimate Toy Box. 3 disks containing both films and absolutely packed with extras, how could anyone resist? For some reason the release of this box set was delayed in the....
I’ve waited so long for this box set. Although there were a few versions available including a 2 disk set and separate disk copies there was only one edition for me and that was the Ultimate Toy Box. 3 disks containing both films and absolutely packed with extras, how could anyone resist? For some reason the release of this box set was delayed in the states (I believe it was down to packaging problems). So I had to wait a few extra weeks and listen to a fellow reviewer (Dug) boast about how great his 2 disk box set was and how quickly he received it.
So eventually a large box arrived from Amazon and I eagerly opened it up to find a very nicely packaged silver box with a clear plastic outer sleeve that contained the three individually boxed disks. I have to commend Amazon at this point because I’ve received box sets before now from other mail order companies and they’ve been stuffed into small boxes. Upon opening these boxes I’ve found corners crumpled where they’ve been thrown around in the post. The Amazon parcel however was heavily cushioned in a large box and arrived in pristine condition, well done Amazon.
The only way I can think of to do this review is to run through the three disks individually. In case you’ve been on mars for the last few years and have never heard of Toy Story, I’ll include a very brief plot outline in the two main disk sections.
Disk 1 - Toy Story:
Plot
In Toy Story all toys are alive and come to life whenever no humans are around. The film is about a group of toys that belong to a young boy named Andy. Woody (Tom Hanks) is a cowboy toy and is Andy’s favourite. That is until Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) comes along and quickly replaces Woody as the favourite. The trouble with Buzz is he doesn’t think he is a toy.
Woody is desperately jealous of Buzz and this leads him to try and get Buzz out of the way. When this goes wrong Buzz and Woody end up away from the house and have to start to work together to escape the evil Sid Phillips (Erik Von Detten) and get back home before the moving truck leaves and their stranded forever.
Extras
The first extra on here is the Oscar Winning short animation Tin Toy. This was one of Pixars earlier works and was the inspiration for the whole Toy Story concept. It’s a short animation about a Tin Toy in a room with a baby. It’s an amusing little piece and definitely worth watching.
Next up is a 25-minute making of documentary. This is a very good documentary that gives quite a lot of insight into the processes that were involved in the making of Toy Story.
Toy Story Treats is a collection of short clips that were made for a Disney TV Channel. There are over 50 shorts of around 10 – 30 seconds. You can view the clips individually or in order. Some of these are quite funny and it’s worth progressing through them all.
There’s also two on set interviews with Woody and Buzz, the full Buzz Lightyear commercial that was showing on a television set in the film and a multi-language reel. The reel shows a clip from the film with different language tracks replacing the English track. The thing that’s interesting about this reel is the fact that they change the writing on the back of Buzz’s spaceship to match the country, very clever stuff.
Finally the audio commentary track is excellent. There seems to be a lot of people involved in the track and it would get confusing working out who’s talking but a female voice introduces each person before they speak. They give a lot of insight into the processes behind the filmmaking and point out a lot of small details and in-gags that I had missed in the film. You also get a feel from the commentary that the team had a great time making the film and don’t take themselves too seriously.
Disk 2 - Toy Story 2:
Plot
The film opens up with a dramatic sequence with Buzz Lightyear battling the evil Emporer Zurg and his minions on a distant planet. When Zurg blows Buzz in half we cut back to Andies room to find Rex the dinosaur playing a Buzz Lightyear console game. After this dramatic opening we start into the main plot of the film.
Woody ends up in a Yard Sale and is stolen by a toy collector who realises that Woody is a valuable collectors item. He plans to sell Woody and other characters from an old TV show called ‘Woodies Roundup’. These characters including Jessie the Cowgirl (Joan Cusak), Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey Grammer) and Woodies faithful horse Bullseye.
The rest of the Toys go to save Woody and along the way pick up a second Buzz Lightyear and Emporer Zurg. This Buzz still thinks he’s the real Buzz and ends up battling Zurg. Meanwhile Woody's faced with a dilemma, should he go back to Andy or go to Japan with the rest of the ‘Roundup’ Toys. When someone turns out to be not as they first seem this develops into a urgent rescue mission to save the Toys before they get flown off to Japan.
Extras
This disk doesn’t have as many extras as Toy Story 1. The first extra is the hilarious Outtakes reel. I laughed till there were tears in my eyes the first time I saw these, they are definitely worth watching a few times.
Next up is an older Pixar animation named Luxo Jnr. This is basically a short animation featuring two table lamps and is a good demonstration of some of the very early Pixar work. Apart from the commentary track the only other extras are trailers for a cartoon called ‘Buzz Lightyear of Star Command’ and Pixar’s next animated feature Monsters Inc. This is a great trailer and the film looks really promising.
The audio commentary track feature less people than the Toy Story 1 track. I actually think that it worked better because of this fact. Once again we get a lot of insight into the in jokes and film-spoofs and also one Easter Egg that I would never have noticed otherwise. As with the other commentary the mood is very relaxed and high spirited and makes for an enjoyable and informative viewing.
Disk 3 - Supplemental Materials:
There is so much information on this disc that if I did an in detail review it would take forever. So I’ll just run through what the basic options are.
When you load up the disc you get a short introduction to some of the team from John Lasseter and then its straight into the main menu. This menu is broken up into two TV screens, one for Toy Story 1 and the other for Toy Story 2.
Both of these lead to the same menu structure for each film. The basic categories are:
1.History
2.Design
3.Story
4.Computer Animation
5.Music and Sound
6.Deleted Animation
7.Publicity
8.The Toy Box
Each of these menus then breaks off into sub menus and they can contain anything from text notes, still photos, behind the scenes footage, animation clips or even more sub menus. As I say to guide through everything here would I’m sure become are rather boring read. Suffice to say there are many hours of background reading and viewing to be found on this disk. This has to be without doubt the best supplemental material disk I have ever seen.
Overall
These disks are by far the best thing yet to hit DVD. The picture quality is staggering, the films have been ported directly from disk to DVD so it’s a pure digital process. You can totally forget terms like scratches or artefacts, as they don’t exist in this type of transfer. If you ever want to show your system off to a visitor then these have to be your reference disks.
The soundtrack is also amazingly good, the surround channels are used extensively particularly in Toy Story 2. I can’t think of many Dolby Digital disks I’ve heard that have sounded better than this, maybe Saving Private Ryan or Armageddon but nothing else springs to mind right now. As you can see from the above sections all disks are absolutely packed with extras and provide hours and hours of viewing information.
These factors alone could well be enough to sell the box set on their own. But on top of all this is the fact that these are two excellent films that appeal to people of all ages. A lot of the humour involved is very adult audience orientated but manages to still be appealing to kids of any age. There’s a wealth of in gags and film spoofs.
There is only one mark that I can give this box set, it has to be my first ever 5 out 5. An absolutely essential purchase.
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