By: Declan Hertel Entertainment Editor
We all know you’ve got to grow old, but growing up is dumb and you shouldn’t do it.
One school of thought would be perturbed by finding out that “Toy Story,” Pixar Animation’s first feature-length film, turns 20 years old on Nov. 22. But I think that the upcoming anniversary is a perfect opportunity to rewatch it for the zillionth time, and revel once more in what is both one of the best pieces of animation in history, and an indelible part of this generation’s childhood.
A solid percentage of my childhood memorabilia is “Toy Story” related. I still have all my Woody and Buzz Lightyear dolls and action figures, and every year the first item I put on the Christmas tree is a Sheriff Woody ornament.
One of my best friends has Woody and Buzz shoes and a big poster of the alien toys on her bedroom wall, and I have met a great many people with similar stories. “Toy Story” is a big deal for a lot of people.
But why? Why does this tale of talking toys still resonate so deeply with the babies of the mid-nineties?
Maybe because we had it while our brains were in their earliest stages of development, and it is thus etched into them. Maybe because after all the amazing technological advancements of the past few years, “Toy Story” still looks freaking fantastic.
Both of those things apply, but I think it has endured for another reason, one that I talked about in regards to Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” some time ago: it speaks to you in different, powerful ways depending on/no matter how old you are.
As a child, I watched it with glee, and imagined my own toys coming to life and having adventures. During my adolescence, I watched it and saw memories of a simpler, more imaginative time. Now as a twenty-something, I watch it and appreciate how honest and heartfelt the movie is.
My parents watch it and appreciate that a piece of children’s entertainment is so sophisticated and enjoyable to adults (not to mention the “growing up” theme of the later installments: my mother and I both openly wept during “Toy Story 3”).
I will always welcome Toy Story’s anniversaries: it’s another excuse to see what else it holds for the new phase of my life I find myself in. And now I’m going to watch it again.
