Toy Story

Guess what's coming out today?! That's right, Toy Story 3. I remember seeing the first Toy Story when it came out in 1995. I  became an instant fan of Disney-Pixar collaborations. What a great animated film. It's something that both children and adults can enjoy.

Toy Story is about a boy named Andy's favorite toy, a cowboy sheriff with a pull-string named Woody, who's life gets turned around after the arrival of a new fancy spaceman toy named Buzz Lightyear. Buzz believes himself to be an actual space-ranger, not a toy, and ignores Woody's welcoming to the toy family because he is set on completing his mission to return to his home planet. The other toys come to meet Buzz and instantly are impressed by him because of his flashiness. Andy is also impressed by this and he starts to like Buzz more than Woody. Consumed by jealously after witnessing Buzz's extreme popularity with the other toys and Andy, Woody tries to trap Buzz behind a gap in Andy's desk when he hears that Andy is only allowed to take one toy with him to an arcade. Buzz ends up falling out of the window and all of the toys accuse Woody of trying to murder him. Woody is saved by Andy, who ends up taking him when he cannot find Buzz. Buzz ends up hiding in the car and then attacking Woody, which leads to the both of them being lost. The two toys must learn to work through their differences and battle through some obstacles in order to get back home before Andy moves away.

This year, I took a course called Management in the Movies, which is a senior capstone course at my university. We were placed into groups in this class and we had to relate leadership and management skills displayed in a movie that can also be displayed in the workplace. Our Professor allowed us to choose our own movie because we felt that the movie choices we were provided were a bit boring. One of our group members' favorite movie happened to be Toy Story, so that's the one we chose.

It proved to be a fantastic choice. It allowed us to be very creative in our approach and present something that the entire class enjoyed, including the Professor. We decided to compare the leadership roles and skills exhibited by Woody and Buzz.

In Toy Story 2, Woody is stolen by a crazy toy collector to be sold as part of a collector's set that he is part of called Woody's Roundup, an old television show that did not stay on the air for long. Woody's Roundup consists of himself, Jessie the Cowgirl, Bullseye the horse, and Stinky Pete the Prospector. A museum in Tokyo wants to put all of them on display. At home, Woody's friends decide to set out on a rescue mission for him. Woody must decide whether he wants to be saved or sent to the museum to be marveled at forever by toy fans.

Toy Story 2 is enjoyable as well. Although, I prefer Toy Story 1 to it. I hope that Toy Story 3 will be good! It will be different with Andy going off to college and all. I wonder what will happen when he realizes that his toys have been sent to a Daycare? I can't imagine it being terrible because I haven't seen a Disney-Pixar collaboration yet that has lacked emotion, humor, or a meaningful story.