Tin Toy (1988)

Fresh and Exciting

Boring

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"Tin Toy" is an enjoyable early Pixar short and surprisingly the only Academy Award for Pixar guru John Lasseter so far. It's the fourth film from the company and Lasseter's third. In some ways, this can be described as a toy story as well as not only the lead-character is a toy brought to life, but also there's some other similarities, like the toys hiding under the bed felt like they could have been taken right out of the Toy Story universe.The premise was very simple here, but smart execution and character animation makes this short film a good one. It's funny how the relationship from the toy to the baby changes so frequently in only slightly over five minutes. From attention-seeking, to joy, to fear, to full panic-mode, to sympathy and finally back to attention-seeking. Pixar's attention to detail (down to insignificant additions like the baby's freckles) fully shines in this one and was truly deserving of the Oscar win. I like it more than the other two nominees and even 25 years later, it's still pretty entertaining. A must-watch for animation enthusiasts.

Tin Toy (1988) *** (out of 4)Oscar-winning short from Pixar has an extremely ugly, destructive and drooling baby breaking many of his toys. One particular toy decides he doesn't want drool on him and he doesn't want to be destroyed so he tries to make a getaway. This is a pretty nice little short that does a lot of very good things. What I liked most was the actual story, which is pretty reasonable as I'm sure kids would look scary to a small toy. That's the entire gimmick here and it works for many good laughs. The over sized baby comes off as a Godzilla like monster and this was a nice touch. I'm not sure if they meant to make the baby so ugly but it does work well with the story. I loved the entire sequence under the furniture where other toys have also found a hiding space. The early animation is certainly enjoyable if very simple.

I still think cartoons, or "animated short features" as some call them, should be funny, unless you know in advance you are going to get a "message," such as moral one or a politically- slanted oneI say that because many of these modern-day cartoons seem to be concerned with showing how clever they can be instead just plain "yuks," if you will. I am not knocking this particular effort: it's certainly different, but it wasn't that funny. If anything, at times, it was almost scary, at least if you sat and openly rooted for the little toy soldier which, I presume, we all did. It certainly showed how little babies, in their youthful ignorance, can be a little too rough with things. Ask your little dog or cat, if you have any doubts. What was very well done to me were the camera angles and facial expressions that made this little baby almost look like a terrifying Godzilla-like monster. I guess he would look like that if you were a little toy and were human. Babies can play rough! I don't know if we needed a "cartoon," however, to illustrate that fact. All of us already know that, don't we?Yes, this was "clever," but give me Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Felix The Cat or Pink Panther cartoon any day, something that will make me laugh out loud. Save the "executed brilliantly" and "gives us a wide range of emotions" movies to the feature films.

This is an incredible short in many ways! The computer graphics are great and the storyline is very well-developed and executed brilliantly. This is a most innocently destructive toddler-in other words, a typical baby. As anyone who has spent time in the company of a toddler knows, they are a force of nature not unlike Godzilla! This one here is more qualified than most. Atilla the Baby, as it were. My sympathies lie with the toy. Phenomenal piece of work worth hunting for. Wholeheartedly recommended. He shoots, he scores!