A Return to Childhood

Did you ever wonder what happened to your toys when you weren’t around? I did, but after I saw Toy Story as a child, I had the answer. Now, almost 14 years after its release, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are being rereleased in theatres for a two-week only engagement beginning October 2.

This isn’t just any rerelease though. It is meant to correspond with the release of Toy Story 3 next June. The third installment of the Toy Story franchise is set to be released in 3-D, so its two predecessors will also be shown in this double feature event in 3-D. Given the more than 10 year gap between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, this is also, undoubtedly, meant to introduce a new generation of children to the beloved franchise and get them excited for the third movies release next summer.

Like any good Pixar fan, Toy Story holds a special place in my heart. When it was released in 1995, it marked the first major motion picture collaboration of the Walt Disney Corporation and Pixar Animation, a partnership that has gone on to release 10 of the most beloved children’s movies in the generation after ours as well as the finest animated movies made today. It also forever changed the way animated movies are made, catalyzing the move from hand-animation (beginning to be aided by computer at that time) to full-fledged computer animation less than a decade later.

The Toy Story franchise is not the only neoclassic Disney movies getting the 3-D treatment. Before it is rereleased on DVD and released on Blu-Ray for the first time, Beauty and the Beast will also be rereleased into theatres in a 3-D format sometime in fall 2010, just one year before the films 20th anniversary. This trend smells vaguely of the IMAX rereleases Disney attempted (to very little success) in the early millennium. It is my hope, however, that these do much better, because some of the classic and neoclassic Disney movies would be a fantastic 3-D adventure. In the meantime, journey back to your childhood and take a few hours to relive one of the greatest Pixar triumphs like you’ve never seen it before!