One of the most transformative experiences of my life took place in 1995 when I went to see a movie called Toy Story.
It was the first feature film from a new animation company called Pixar, and as a lover of well told animated stories from way back, I was eager to see what this film, whose trailer seemed to indicate a knack for bringing perfectly-realised characters to life in a joyously fully-formed world and well-told story, could offer.
It offered everything.
Real humanity, a sense of giddy, silly fun, life lessons without the heavy dead hand of moralising, characters who lived on way after the lights had come on, a story which dipped and soared and enthralled at every turn, and a renewed sense that life could be a thing of endless possibility, change and happiness.
It was, quite simply, one of the best movies I’d ever seen, animated or not, and ever since Pixar have drawn me time and again with an almost neverending cavalcade of beautifully-animated tales – Cars being the only series I never really fell in love with but that could have more to do with my revhead leanings than failings on Pixar’s part – that show no sign of slowing down soon with this year’s superlative joy Inside Out and the upcoming feature The Good Dinosaur as good as anything before them.
And now, as Slash Film has brought to our attention, a talented Pixar fan has brought the best of this imaginative animated powerhouse together to remind once again why we love it so much:
“In celebration of Pixar’s milestone anniversary this year, editor Kees van Dijkhuizen has paid tribute to Pixar with a supercut of the films they’ve made over the years, from their early shorts to this year’s feature films. You might find yourself getting some tears in your eyes since it’s accompanied by Michael Giacchino‘s score from Up.
“With this supercut, van Dijkhuizen uses a segment from Toy Story director Andrew Stanton‘s TED Talk to play over clips from Pixar’s movies, reminding us of all the great things they’ve done for storytelling and animation.”
Stanton talks about wonder and understanding others and a whole host of other laudable things, neatly encapsultating why it is that Pixar grabbed the collective imagination so early on and why it continues to hold it as we head towards films like Finding Dory (2016) and Toy Story 4 (2017).
May the wonder never end.