Toy Story (1995): Favourite Films Series

Toy Story (1995): Favourite Films Series

 

There is a very good chance the original Toy Story was one of the first movies I ever watched that I actually comprehended as a movie-watching experience. It wasn’t my first movie, but it was among my first movies, and as a kid, I loved it, just like, well, pretty much every kid I knew. I won a Woody toy as a prize for one of the first colouring contests I ever entered, I got a Buzz Lightyear action figure for Christmas when I was five, and I always wanted to play with the big Rex at preschool, complete with roars and quotes from the movie. There was something intuitive about the synergy of playing with toys which came alive with my imagination that also came directly from a movie where the toys were actually alive, yet weren’t real, but felt real in spite of their animated forms. I never gave any thought initially as to why the toys in Toy Story looked a little different than all the other animated movies I grew up loving—at least, not until I was a bit older and seeing the newest Pixar animated film in the theatre became standard practice.

It's hard not to talk about the subsequent Pixar films when explaining why the very first one they released is still among my all-time favourites, but as Pixar came up with ever more original and entertaining tales of anthropomorphic insects, fish, and monsters, I never completely forgot about Toy Story. I didn’t like Toy Story 2 nearly as much, and by the time Ratatouille came out in 2007, I was starting to feel a little too old for animated kids’ movies—not definitely too old, just a little uncertain if I still liked them as much. I passed on WALL-E and Up when they first came out (only to see them later when I was more grown up and regret it in retrospect), but when Toy Story 3 was announced, a unique opportunity presented itself: the chance to see both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 back-to-back in theatres, re-released in Real D 3D! This was in 2009, so I was fifteen. I was in high school, but my best friend and I decided we weren’t too cool to see a childhood favourite again after a very long time, and in a new way we had never seen it before. So, we went, and had no regrets.

I will never forget both of us remarking afterward how the part with Sid’s duck toy swinging straight toward the screen as it tries to ring the doorbell made it worth the 3D experience alone. The 3D hype at the time was just beginning; Avatar was only a couple months away, and animated films seemed to lend well to the gimmick. Beyond just the immersive return to a world of talking toys, I discovered in that rewatch with my more developed brain and budding cinema obsession that Toy Story was more than just an animated movie from my childhood. There was something in the screenplay that I had completely missed before: a really good, original story, that couldn’t be told any other way except with computer animation. I would later study the screenplay in a university course on scriptwriting, and make further discoveries about just how good the writing was. Is it still the best Pixar movie of them all? Maybe not in all ways, but I’ll explain why it’s still one of my favourites, and a unique benchmark that is unlikely to be surpassed ever again.

Before I get too far long, I’ll conclude my anecdotes of rediscovering Toy Story. After our nostalgic double feature in 2009, my best friend and I decided we had to see Toy Story 3 as soon as it came out in 3D, and we were a bit apprehensive when we went into the movie theatre in the summer of 2010, only to discover dozens of crying children with their struggling families. Had we made a mistake by coming to this sequel for little kids? Our worries soon went away as the third film took us on an unexpectedly emotional journey and, by some miracle, made us care even more about the original because of how good the conclusion to the trilogy was (oh how I wish it had stayed that way!) and how it was really more of a story for us, the ones who had outgrown our toys somewhere in the recent past, around the time we started to think we were too cool to see Pixar movies in the theatre.

That Christmas, I got the Toy Story trilogy on Blu-ray in an epic collector’s box shaped like Andy’s toybox, and over the years, I rewatched all of them a few times, finding the third one held up as a heartfelt ending, and the second one…well, I still don’t really like the second, but it’s fine, I guess. The first movie, though? Obviously, the animation is not as good, but even for all its plastic textures and the sometimes-disconcerting expressions of some of the toys, the animation isn’t horribly dated, in my opinion—certainly not to the point that it’s hard to watch. The animation at the time was astounding, but even now that the novelty of its status as the first feature length computer animated film has worn off, it still holds up, because there is so much greatness beyond just the medium in which the story is told.

Toy Story is still really, really funny. It hits that sweet spot of packing in humour kids will find amusing (but adults won’t be annoyed by) and slipping in some lines and visuals adults will laugh at, but kids won’t notice or won’t get. What works in its favour is handing so many memorable jokes, bits, and lines to a variety of colourful characters that all look and sound totally unique. I would argue that Toy Story has one of the best voice casts of any animated film, computer generated or otherwise. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen sound like they are acting on stage together at points, their back and forth as Woody and Buzz respectively is so convincing. Some of my favourite lines now come from Buzz, and they completely went over my head when all I could process as a kid were the fast-moving images and exciting (though sometimes sad/contemplative/quirky) music by Randy Newman. Buzz trying to fix his spaceship (the box he came in) and asking for a “bonding strip” (piece of tape) is exemplary of something simple but crucial to what makes Toy Story work so well: the delusion of this toy not knowing how he really fits into this world.

I’m a big fan of adventure movies, and Toy Story is a great example of one. We spend relatively little time in Andy’s room seeing the normal lives of the toys before Buzz enters the fray, and within a half hour Buzz and Woody are at the Pizza Planet (side note, I absolutely loved realizing as an adult that the kid is playing a whack-a-mole-like game but with chest bursters from Alien!) then it’s not long before they are in the clutches of Sid: a perfect villain for the story, because he is the classic archetype of the kid we all knew growing up who was, for whatever reason, incredibly destructive and unhinged. The comeuppance he gets when the toys get him back at the end before Woody and Buzz’s final pursuit of the moving truck is just so satisfying, in addition to being a little bit horrific. The way the aged animation works best now, I think, is how it makes Sid and his mutant toys look even more uncannily creepy. Last note on the ending: Buzz finally accepting he can’t fly (it’s just “falling with style”—it’s all just so darn quotable!) as they are gliding after the moving van to ensure they make it to Andy’s new house is one of the most thrilling and satisfying animated finales I’ve ever seen.

Toy Story is one of very few movies from my childhood that were always intended for a family audience with kids particularly in mind that holds up as an enduring, lifelong favourite. Even though it is dated compared to the majority of Pixar films, what will never go out of date are the lovable characters, their impeccable comedic antics, and a story that balances heart, humour, and adventure. They’ll probably keep making Toy Story sequels until I’m as old as Geri, and after the third one, I think it’s clear none of them will be able to replicate how special the first one was, is, and always will be.

Oh, who is Geri, you ask? He’s the old man playing Chess with himself in the 1997 Pixar short Geri’s Game who later appears as “The Cleaner” in Toy Story 2!

PREDATOR DOUBLE FEATURE REVIEW (Part 2)

 

Killer of Killers & Badlands: Spoiler Analysis

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I’ve reviewed both Predator: Killer of Killers (currently streaming on Disney+) and Predator: Badlands (currently in theatres) without spoiling them, and now I’m going to get into spoiler territory, but as a long-time fan, I recommend both, despite mainly having some issues with Badlands.

As I said in my spoiler-free review, director Dan Trachtenberg stuck to his concept of the predator as a good guy with complete conviction. There is not a single human in the movie. There are also no xenomorphs, either. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo of a hologram of Amber Midthunder’s Naru from Prey is the only character connection to a previous Predator film. I like that there were only new predators and new synthetics and other brand-new creatures, but I have to say, the idea that the Kalisk exists in the same universe as the xenomorph is a little hard for me to wrap my nerd brain around, especially in the case of its cute, Star Wars-like infant form. In fact, the new high-tech laser swords (though logical in-universe, given this is the far future and Yautja tech is already way more advanced than human tech) felt a little too Star Wars, to me, and reminds me that this Predator is an official Disney product.

A big point of contention going into Badlands for many fans was the PG-13 rating. The argument some made was the violence would still be at the acceptable standard because there would be no human blood. I still find it a questionable choice to have only two films (this one and the first Alien vs. Predator) deemed appropriate for younger viewers when this is the ninth overall Predator film, which started as a hard-R franchise. It just reinforces the uselessness of the ratings system; now streaming makes it so easy to just watch everything and anything without ratings even being an issue unless a parent takes the time to adjust the streaming service’s settings. I get trying to make more profit in theatres, though, so skewing for a lower rating to allow more people to see it, and I prefer a PG-13 Predator in the theatre that doesn’t feel compromised to the same degree AVP did than an R-rated Predator released only to streaming (Prey).

In addition to a lack of red blood, PG-13 ensured there was no chance of anyone getting called an "ugly motherfucker", but a quick note on predator speech: they finally invented a proper language for the Yautja. It was cool to see and hear them speaking, but a lot of the time it sounded like Dek was just a human doing a predator voice…because he was, which took me out of it sometimes. One of the otherworldly qualities of the predator in the past is its use of voice mimicry, but here, the android just translates, so she can speak normal English and he can talk all he wants. Dek is obviously the most talkative predator ever seen up to this point, but he’s still pretty laconic, and I applaud the decision to keep him subtitled from beginning to end.

Badlands does still feel less brutal than most past Predator sequels even for all the violence it still contains, and with Killer of Killers being the immediate predecessor (no pun intended!) it’s even more noticeable because Killer of Killers, despite being animated, did not try to soften the violence for kids. Killer of Killers took the opposite route, which I loved: with special effects not being an issue, the creativity with the gore and dismemberment was even greater and, at times, jaw-dropping. There were a couple moments that were pretty shocking in Badlands, with Dek’s father getting his head bitten off by Bud at the end and Kwei getting slain early on, but for the most part, the android carnage just didn’t hit the same, and on that note, the androids seemed pretty easy to dispatch, especially considering Thia herself is severed in half and both parts can fight independently!

Thia’s legs walking around and fighting other androids was so absurd I kind of loved it, in a schlocky sci-fi/action way. The original Predator avoided schlock, but most sequels have not, so I don’t really fault Badlands for slipping into schlock territory here and there, because it maintains the seriousness and believability where it matters most, which is with Dek’s experience throughout the film. Killer of Killers pretty much avoids schlock altogether, which is partly why I loved it so much, and one of the reasons many fans are saying Dan Trachtenberg is three for three with his Predator films. Prey is largely schlock free, as well, but without the same gravitas as Killer of Killers or Badlands. What brought Badlands down more compared to Killer of Killers, for me, was the decision to pair Dek and Thia with the overtly cute Bud, and the eventual outcome of the story.

I get that Trachtenberg is trying to do something different with Predator, and he has mostly succeeded, but I don’t care that Badlands is set in the far future and the predator is the protagonist and the Weyland-Yutani corporation is the villain once again. Yautja are hunters with an honour code, and it’s established (correctly) early on that they are solitary hunters, but Thia makes a case for the timber wolf on earth being a pack hunter. I wanted to see Dek go off on his own at the end, and I know it makes sense narratively for his “new clan” to be Thia and the young Kalisk, but it felt a bit like trying to have your cake and eat it too. Just because it was all set up didn’t mean it needed that payoff. I’m torn, because I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like seeing a predator go soft, either, and betray not only its blood relatives but its entire culture. The twist of Bud being a young Kalisk salvaged that annoyingly saccharine supporting character, but it didn’t excuse that creative decision to make it basically become his pet instead of his prey.

Badlands felt like it went for a safe ending, whereas the ending of Killer of Killers really took me by surprise. Combining all the anthology stories into one final story on Yautja Prime made for an epic finale, and both movies end with a bit of a cliffhanger, but I’m far more interested in the potential Killer of Killer’s continuation. When Dek and Thia were watching the hovering ship at the end of Badlands, for a moment I thought it might be Torres and Kenji, which would have been an insane way to bring the two films together for the inevitable next installment. I’m at least curious about finally seeing a female Yautja in a Predator movie!

In the end, Predator: Killer of Killers and Predator: Badlands have both put a shot in the arm of the franchise to give me at least some hope for its continuation. Prey was Trachtenberg’s trophy to prove his worth as the guy to take the reins of the franchise, and the hunt was a success. Killer of Killers was a very worthy addition to the trophy wall, and Badlands is a more exotic prize, though the hunt itself was not without troubles. At least neither film is fraught with nostalgia bait or poor creative decisions, which has been holding back pretty much all Predator sequels since Predator 2. I’m intrigued by what Trachtenberg has up his sleeve for the next installment, but hope he goes back to the human-slaying R-rated intensity of Killer of Killers, only done in well-produced live-action like Prey. If all the best aspects come together with a worthy narrative, the next Predator could be the indisputable greatest sequel of them all. Let’s hope Trachtenberg can crack that story.

PREDATOR DOUBLE FEATURE REVIEW (Part 1)

When I first heard there would be not just one but two new Predator movies in 2025, I didn’t care. Prey 2 was the initial rumour, and I didn’t feel the need for it. I liked Prey well enough, and recognized it was a far simpler, better constructed, more satisfactory Predator movie than the previous The Predator, but upon a rewatch, it didn’t quite thrill me as much as Predator 2 or Predators.

Now, here we are, with two new Predator movies (both from Prey director Dan Trachtenberg) and they are both worth celebrating! Neither ended up being Prey sequels, and both were surprising in their own ways. Predator: Killer of Killers released on Disney+ in Canada back in June, and Predator: Badlands came out in theatres this past weekend, breaking the box office record for a Predator movie’s theatrical debut. I held back on reviewing Killer of Killers until now to deliver a combo review, and I have so much to say about them that I’m going to split it into two parts, starting with spoiler-free reviews of both, then getting into a spine-ripping spoiler-filled second part!

 

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) Review

I was curious about an animated spinoff film when the nature of this secret second Predator movie was revealed, and sold on the concept when the trailer confirmed it was going to retain the same gritty, ferocious nature of the best films before it. Killer of Killers is a smorgasbord for Predator fans, rolling three ideas for period piece hunts a la Prey into one (partial) anthology film with nonstop bloody action. It also takes some of the best elements of 2010’s Predators and somehow all of it gels to make for one of the best Predator movies in the entire franchise, even in spite of not being in live action.

It breaks down into four parts, with the first three parts showing three different hunts in different eras of human history on earth. The Shield is about a brutal, bitter battle to the end between a female Viking warrior named Ursa and a hulking Yautja with a mechanical punching arm. The Sword features opposing brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi in feudal Japan up against a sleeker, samurai-inspired Yautja. This is perhaps my favourite of the four stories, with some of the best characterization across the whole Predator franchise. The Bullet features WWII fighter pilot Torres in an aerial battle with a one-eyed Yautja in a hunting craft, and the action feels fresh and unique for the series, but not jarring and cheesy like the opening space skirmish of The Predator.

My only real complaint up to a point in the film was that the predators seemed to be too easily defeated, but then that becomes a plot point itself in the fourth and final story, The Battle, when it ceases to be an anthology and ends with the fulfillment of the title (again, I’ll avoid spoiling too many specifics). Even though the movie addresses its own issue, it does still feel like the overall narrative is a bit hampered by the elite nature of these human killers and their inexplicable superiority over the clearly superior predators, regardless of which era the hunt takes place in.  

The animation is detailed, and the sound design lends to the motions of characters and objects feeling like they have weight and texture. It’s a pastiche of a little Spider-Verse, a little Arcane, and the Predator Dark Horse comics, with a water colour quality that’s clear in closeups and wide shots. The action is nonstop but well paced, and the format of the story works to make it feel new. It would’ve been too expensive and uncanny looking at times had it been made in live-action, and while there were times I wished it was, it also would’ve lost something in the artistry of it being in animated form, which adds a visual energy that’s been missing from pretty much every other Predator movie made in the 21^st century. In summary, Predator: Killer of Killers is the only real Predator movie, in my eyes, to compete against the greatness of the original, for how sound it is in all of its entertaining aspects—yes, even over Predator 2, Predators, and Prey.   

 

Predator: Badlands (2025) Review

This movie is insane. Keep in mind, I’ve seen Killer of Killers twice as of writing these reviews and Badlands only the initial time. I rewatched Killer of Killers right before seeing Badlands, and I think they are good companion pieces, despite being quite different in narrative structure, subject matter, and tone. I was skeptical of Badlands from the start, but so intrigued by the idea of the predator being the protagonist this time and elements of the Alien franchise once again connecting the two series of films for the first time since Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, that I went into it ready to buy into whatever craziness would transpire.

Badlands starts out with Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a weakling in his clan, battling his superior brother, Kwei, on Yautja Prime (the Predator home world) in the far distant future, placing the story further into the future than any Predator or Alien film before it. Their father, the elder Yautja Njhohrr, wants his inferior son killed, but Dek intends to prove his worth by going to the planet Genna and hunting one of the deadliest creatures in the universe: the unkillable (sort of) Kalisk, which is also wanted by the Weyland-Yutani corporation, probably because they can’t seem to ever obtain a xenomorph specimen. They’re smarter about this mission, though, sending only synthetics to obtain it, led by the doppelganger duo of Thia and Tessa, both played by Elle Fanning. Dek begrudgingly accepts the help of Thia’s functional upper torso, and the unlikely pair journey across Genna on the hunt for the Kalisk, though both carry with them very different motivations and their own family issues. Also, Dek literally is carrying Thia for like half of the movie.

I definitely enjoyed Predator: Badlands, but I can’t say I loved it. I have nothing but respect for Dan Trachtenberg trying something bold and sticking to it. I didn’t know if I could take the predator seriously as the protagonist, but Dek is cool, badass, and sympathetic. He also looks pretty good, with a bit more of a humanistic quality without losing the familiar look and feel of the traditional creature. Thia was a far more eccentric character than I was expecting, and when she enters the story, the tone shifts to a much sillier, lighter one, which might lose some fans, but I adjusted pretty well…until “Bud” entered the picture. The cute little creature is the least Predator-like of any character, human or alien or synthetic, to ever be in any of these movies. Luckily, she has a meaningful purpose in the story, and didn’t completely ruin the narrative for me.  

The essential elements of a Predator story are still present even with the former villain now occupying the hero’s role, and what I most enjoyed was how it didn’t retread the same old hunter-becomes-hunted narrative the way Prey did, even though I recognized familiar moments that were twisted into new versions of old ideas. Badlands has a reasonably compelling if simple story and leans right into the sci-fi nature of it, with explosive action that’s well directed and supported by pretty consistent visual effects. The planet of Genna was intriguing, full of surprises, and actually felt like thought had gone into designing the ecosystem to be original but still logical enough.

One of my main complaints, without spoiling anything, is the overall softening of the predator toward the end of the story. In addition, the humour sometimes felt overdone and inappropriate throughout, but surprisingly, there were many intentionally funny parts that worked well to enhance the characterization and added some unexpected entertainment value. It didn’t feel like tacky Marvel humour, and it wasn’t the same kind of tactless comedy that was part of what made The Predator so hard to sit through. The lack of humans and surplus of androids and weird creatures did sometimes make the movie feel like a cliché sci-fi adventure, just featuring the predator. In the end, I think I actually appreciate Badlands more than Prey, just for how it transposes the story to another world and explores the Yautja culture in live action in ways that remind us of the vast potential within the simple concept that spawned so many sequels and crossovers in the first place.

I think that’s about it for the spoiler-free first part of my Predator double feature review, so to sum up, both Predator movies delivered (one more than the other for me) and next time I’ll get into spoilers for both!