Toy Story : Angoisse au motel

Am a big fan of Pixar, films and shorts, and the three 'Toy Story' films (the first of which being ground-breaking) are among my favourites from them as far as their feature films go. For me, none of their work is below mediocre (even my least favourite 'Cars 3'), though that is probably not going to be a popular opinion with the post-'Toy Story 3' films getting a lot of hate. Meanwhile their best work is masterpiece level, all three 'Toy Story' films being on that level.

Was on one hand quite excited for this television special 'Toy Story of Terror', with it being Pixar, that it has such great characters and some immense talent on board returning. At the same time, part of me was a little worried, with it being an under half an hour television special on a lower budget there was the worry of how it would fare quality-wise and it is hard to not question the point of it. The good news is that 'Toy Story of Terror' was great fun with some creepiness here and there. It is not in the same league as the films, though that was not unexpected, but in no way does it disgrace them or be what people would call a "cash grab".

'Toy Story of Terror' isn't flawless. Do agree with those who deemed it as too short in length. In terms of story, 'Toy Story of Terror' is pretty eventful and it would have leant itself well to feature film.

On top of being too short and having quite an eventful story, there is a crammed in feel at times and then it starts to feel rushed.

However, the animation is really quite great for an animated television special with the spookier visuals being imaginatively done. Such beautiful attention to detail in the backgrounds and the character designs and the colours are so vibrant. The music more than serves its purpose well, with the right amount of energy and charming orchestration.

Loved the writing, which saw some wonderful wit in the dialogue and it was both very funny and emotive. The story maintains all the fun and charm present in the films, and it was great to have more focus on Jessie who is written in a way that makes it easy to root for her. All while retaining a vast majority of the original characters, excepting Bo Peep and Slinky Dog, and staying true to their personalities, nobody is out of character. The new characters make just as big an impression, especially Combat Carl, didn't really mind an awful lot that the villain's motivations were on the derivative side. The voice acting is terrific, especially from Joan Cusack and Carl Weathers as the two most interesting characters here.

Summarising, very enjoyable. 8/10

Toy Story of Terror (2013)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Made-for-TV short has Woody, Buzz and the rest of the toys staying the night at a hotel when they wonder off and are captured by the desk clerk who plans on selling them over the internet. TOY STORY OF TERROR comes three years after the third film in the series, which was without question a true masterpiece of the genre. This short doesn't come anywhere close to that but fans of the series will find plenty here to enjoy. It's great that the regular voice members are back with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack doing their usual wonderful work. There's also Don Rickles back as Mr. Potato Head and we even get Carl Weathers and Timothy Dalton for a good time. The animation is wonderful but then again you really wouldn't expect anything less from the gang at Pixar. The film contains some nice excitement as the toys go on their adventure and the finale will certainly have you cheering. Mix in all the great laughs and you're really left with a nice little gem that lives up to the features in the series. New characters like Combat Carl (Weathers) and PezCat just added to all the fun.

The Toy Story films may now be over but this short film came out in the UK as part of Halloween programming. I didn't know what to expect from it – perhaps it was just a lazy TV spin off to generate income and keep the brand fresh, but actually it was a very enjoyable little short with all the main characters returning as well as some great new ones. The plot sees the gang checking into a motel where, as Mr Pricklepants points out, terrible things can happen. Sure enough the gang start getting picked off one at a time, confronting Jessie with her worst fears which she must overcome to save the gang.

With this plot the short has a knowing humor based on horror movies and it wears this well. It isn't all this though, the film also has a nice message about overcoming fear and does a good job to bring that out of Jessie very quickly for maximum use. The film is not as impacting, intelligent nor as funny as the films, but it is still good enough to be worth watching for what it does well. I laughed out loud a couple of times (pretty good for 20 minutes) and was amused consistently for the rest.

The characters are great. I liked that the originals all returned, although Hanks and Allen clearly did their work in one day in the studio. Cusack is good while Dalton, Shawn, Schaal, Rickles, and others are all good value. The addition of Carl Weathers not only pleased me as an Arrested Development reference, but he was also a very funny character; Pezcat was also good and produced the biggest laugh from me. Overall a very enjoyable seasonal short film with high production values and high quality all round.

After ending up in a remote motel, Potato Head wants to look for the free stuff and disappears so the gang go an look for him. They get caught by the manager's pet and are to be sold for loads of cash, but they are not going to give up that easily. It's a horror story told in a unique way by one of the toys as they advance in plot, pretty interesting and enjoyable. It's a good short but as predictable and as cliché as it gets so far from a perfect score.

I stumbled across this little "Toy Story of Terror" short practically without even knowing it existed. I had a bit of trepidation, however, as the ending of "Toy Story 3" was so incredible that I didn't want things to get "ruined" by tacked-on material that muddies the water.

Luckily, "Toy Story of Terror" doesn't try to do too much (a 22-minute runtime pretty much dictates that, I guess), instead providing a fun little adventure that lampoons scary movies in a fun fashion. All your favorite characters are on point, and it even introduces some new blood with Combat Carl (voiced by Carl Weathers), a GI Joe-like toy with a penchant for speaking in the third person.

Not too much to analyze here...just a lot of fun with your favorite characters from the film trilogy! I wouldn't pay too much for a 22-minute short, but if you do get a chance to see it I think you'll be cracking smiles throughout.