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
