The Fantastic Ground Floor for Pixar's Wild Ride

Rating: 10/10 (24 July 2011)

The visuals don't look as polished as you may have come to expect, so it's a testament to the quality of writing that this movie is still as good today as it was sixteen years ago. I can't undersell the ingenuity of the filmmaking either, as Pixar does more with limited technology and a thin rule book than most CGI artists can manage today. Careful, artistic shot selection and playful direction really do a lot to compensate for the occasional bad render, and a world-class cast of voice actors takes care of the rest. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen deserve every bit of recognition they get for their roles as Woody and Buzz; they really put the film on their shoulders and carry it right over the top, shifting something that would've probably been pretty good in other hands into a raging success story.