Toy Story That Time Forgot Blu-ray Review
Jeremy Werner
November 27th, 2015
Two decades after the first TOY STORY was released in theaters, it’s still one of the most iconic images attached to Pixar. The animation studio’s mascot continues to inspire and draw in audiences, both young and old. After all these years, the most impressive aspect of this growing franchise is that is still hasn’t lost that magical spark. Most franchises lose their luster over the years or after a couple of spinoffs. TOY STORY on the other hand, seems intent on building upon their already whimsical world.
TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT is the length of a television episode, has the depth of a feature length movie, and moves at the brisk pace of a short film. If you haven’t watched TOY STORY 3, you’re going to be a little lost since this doesn’t follow our old pals, Woody and Buzz. They’re included in on the fun, but they’re predominately used to reveal plot points while the feature characters devrous the meat of the story.
This short film sets its sights on Trixie (Schaal), the loveable and energetic triceratops toy. Her journey starts when the toy’s child/owner, Bonnie, goes on a playdate. Her playdate is more wrapped up in his video games than he is in his awesome new set of Battlesaurs. Battlesaurs are a cross between exaggerated superhero action toys and dinosaur mutants. It sounds grotesque, but they feel like they’re straight out of a 90’s Saturday morning cartoon. Think TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES meets STREET SHARKS.
Bonnie, obviously wanting to play, but realizing her playdate is more wrapped up in the virtual world, drops Trixie and her others toys off in a room where the Battlesaurs roam. As later stated in the movie, these are toys, much like Buzz in the first TOY STORY movie, that are unaware to the fact that they’re toys. Before that reveal, it’s kind of obvious since the dinosaurs act primitive and have adapted their fake life into their plastic toy surroundings. Of course, Trixie doesn’t know this. She assumes that these Rambo clad walking dinosaurs are having some fun.
One of the figureheads of the Battlesaurs is Reptillus Maximus (Kevin McKidd) and he has the charisma of Westley from PRINCESS BRIDE, but the strength and body of Dolph Lundgren. Reptillus and Trixie automatically hit things off, but both admire the other for different reasons. Trixie sees the courage she wants, since I’m sure she’s generally relegated to sidekick when living with Woody and Buzz. In Trixie, Reptillus sees that playful youth that inherently comes with a being a toy. Eventually both bring that out of each other. The adventure up until that point isn’t perilous because there’s only so much danger you can pack into 22 minutes.
This short was made for the holiday season, to be played on ABC. It doesn’t feel like a TV special, outside the obvious commercial breaks. But TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT is still a solid entry in the TOY STORY franchise. With its short amount of time, it still manages to rekindle that old feeling from the first TOY STORY. The message in TOY STORE THAT TIME FORGOT is to accept who you are. It’s not only a great message for kids, but for the young ones who saw TOY STORY all those years ago, it’s an emotional sense of nostalgia.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p Widescreen 1:78:1) Like most Disney blu-rays, the video presentation is gorgeous and without compare. The animation is vibrant and crisp.
Audio: (English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1) The sound effects and soundtrack blend seamlessly on this blu-ray.
Reptillus! (10:51): If you think the brains at Pixar take a break and relax, they don’t. This behind the scenes feature shows the folks at the animation studio giving it their all. They dive into the background of their new characters as well as the fleshed out back story they aren’t able to tell in the 22 minutes they’re given.
Toy Store Goes to Comic-Con (3:39): A short feature highlighting Pixar’s trip to the SDCC. Only makes me yearn for a 2016 trip to the nerd mecca.
Karaoke: My Unexpected Friend (3:59): This feature has two choices: Reptillus Sings and You Sing. Both options are self-explanatory. As for the song, it’s far from even getting a nomination in any music or movie categories.
Battlesaurs: Animated Opening (0:50): This feature confirms my belief that the creators grew up as kids in the 90’s or had children in the 90’s. This is a fake opening for the TV show featuring the Battlesaurs.
Deleted Scenes (9:25): There are five deleted scenes, but they were never animated. They are presented as storyboards with other people voicing the characters. Each deleted scene comes with an introduction by director Steve Purcell, who explains why these scenes were never animated. It’s great to hear him explain in detail why a scene was taken out, instead of simply stating that time constraints were the reason.
Audio Commentary: Director Purcell and Head of Story Derek Thompson packed everything they can into this commentary. Much like the movie, they condense every interesting nugget of information into this commentary.
