Toys come to life when humans aren't looking in this animated fantasy about the rivalry between a cowboy doll (voiced by Tom Hanks) and a flashy plastic spaceman (voiced by Tim Allen) whose subsequent misadventures teach them a lesson in friendship. Director John Lasseter makes good use of computer animation in a slim but imaginative tale featuring the frantic antics of mischievous playthings, though little ones may be frightened by some scenes of a nasty child who enjoys destroying toys.  A-I -- general patronage. (G) 1995

Toy Story (Full Review)

Toys come to life in their own little community when humans aren't around in the animated fantasy "Toy Story" (Disney).

The toys belong to 6-year-old Andy, whose favorite is Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), a cowboy doll who is the accepted leader of the other toys.

Kept in Andy's bedroom, they have a fine old time whenever the boy leaves the room.
But they all fear being replaced by a new toy, which happens when Andy gets Buzz Lightyear (voice of Tim Allen), a shiny plastic spaceman, as a birthday present.

Buzz takes Woody's place on Andy's bed as the boy's new favorite.

Woody retaliates by making fun of Buzz, who carries on as if he were truly a space ranger and not a toy.

Eventually Buzz and Woody get lost in a trendy pizza parlor and are picked up by mean little Sid, Andy's nasty neighbor who enjoys destroying toys.

The situation becomes frighteningly ominous when the pair gets locked up in Sid's bedroom with its array of grotesquely wrecked toys.

How they escape certain destruction to get back to Andy has some harrowing scenes which little ones may find upsetting.

For the rest, however, the fun with Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, Etch-a-Sketch and other familiar children's toys is imaginative and well-paced, though without the deeper emotional resonances of classic fairy tales.

Directed by John Lasseter, the computer animation is marvelously done, with the toy figures having a sense of reality which cannot be matched by animated line drawings.
The result is something that parents will probably enjoy as much as their youngsters and that's no small achievement in today's movie fare.

These movies have been evaluated for artistic merit and moral suitability by the media reviewing division of Catholic News Service. The reviews include the CNS rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

A-I -- general patronage;
A-II -- adults and adolescents;
A-III -- adults;
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
O -- morally offensive.

Note: Some movies previously were designated A-IV. Older films with this classification should be regarded as classified L.

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