99. Toy Story (1995)

So we watched #99 on the list, Toy Story, immediately after watching Ben Hur. As Kristen's previous post attests, we were distracted from our blogging. "Getting" to watch Toy Story was part of our motivation for getting through Ben Hur (which, as it turns out, we did not need to "get through"). So after enjoying four hours of gladiators vs. Romans vs. Jews we went right into the plight of Woody and crew.

I guess it goes without saying that we've seen this movie before, but it was the first time watching it in HD. I definitely noticed was how much technology has advanced. I was pulled out of my suspended disbelief a couple times by how computer generated things looked. Watch Wall-E and then Toy Story, and you'll see what I mean. I do realize that it's unfair to judge yesterday's cutting edge CGI on the basis of today's CGI, but ultimately the GCI is not the driving force behind the movie. The characters and story are so strong, it pulls you right back in. If you watch the bonus features, you get an idea of just how much work Pixar puts into the story, before even starting animation: they hone their product for months, and you can tell. This might be one of the most recent movies on the list, but it definitely belongs there.