Toy Story 3D

Set in a world where toys have a life of their own when people are not present, "Toy Story" is a sophisticated and delightfully irreverent comedy adventure that represents the first full-length feature ever to be created entirely through the use of computer animation (and also the first collaboration between Disney and the wonderfully inventive Pixar Animation Studios). Viewed mostly through the eyes of two rival toys: Woody (Hanks), a pull-string talking cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear (Allen), a superhero space action figure. The comically mismatched duo eventually learn to put aside their differences when circumstances separate them from their owner—six-year-old Andy—and they discover that the only way to survive a threat from the neighborhood bully is to form an uneasy alliance. (Gary Reber)

Special features include the "Toy Story 3" sneak peek (HD 02:07); commentary by Director John Lasseter, Co-Writer Andrew Stanton, Supervising Animator Pete Docter, Art Director Ralph Eggleston, Supervising Technical Director Bill Reeves, and Producers Ralph Guggenheim and Bonnie Arnold; Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs; "Blast Off" (HD 03:28); "Paths To Pixar—Artists" (HD 04:47); "Studio Stories: John's Car" (HD 01:28); "Studio Stories: Baby AJ" (HD 01:40); "Studio Stories: Scooter Races" (HD 02:18); "Buzz Takes Manhattan" (HD 02:12); "Black Friday: The Toy Story You Never Saw" (HD 07:36); the featurettes "Filmmakers Reflect" (SD 16:35), "Making Toy Story" (SD 20:20), "The Legacy Of Toy Story" (SD 11:44), and "Designing Toy Story" (SD 06:13); 10 deleted scenes (SD 19:01); galleries; "Story," which includes "Green Army Men Pitch" (SD 04:43), "Andy's New Toy" Storyreel (SD 04:41), and "The Chase" Storyreel Film Comparison (SD 03:22); a "Production" section; the "You've Got A Friend In Me" music Video" (SD 02:15); "Design Sound" (SD 06:35); Randy Newman Demos; a "Publicity" section;
BD-Live functionality; a "Maximize Your Home Theatre" tutorial; sneak peeks; and up-front ads. The four-disc set includes a Blu-ray™ 3D, a Blu-ray Disc™, a DVD, and a digital copy.

The 1080p Blu-ray Disc MVC 3-D picture, matted at 1.77:1, presents the same exemplary quality as reviewed in Issue 149, with the added dimension of natural depth and dimension. Though this is a first-generation computer generated picture, the transfer faithfully duplicates Pixar's pristine digital source. The color palette is exceptionally vivid, with rich and warm hues that will dazzle your eyesight. The striking and bold colors pop off the screen! Blacks are deep and solid throughout. Resolution is incredibly detailed, sharp, and clear. Every element, whether in the foreground or background, is perfectly descriptive and defined with excellent dimensionality. The imagery really pops with impressive perspective and dimensional depth. While mostly rendered with the positive parallax "window" effect, a number of segments do embrace the negative parallax of out-of-the-screen perspective. The toys exhibit natural volume and roundness, for a perfectly natural dimensionality. The picture is absolutely pristine, with no objectable artifacts or crosstalk ghosting, for a perfect visual experience. This is truly a reference-quality 3-D picture that deserves the highest praise, and one that immensely enhances the mesmerizing imagery. This is what high-definition 3D is all about! (Gary Reber)

The previous Blu-ray Disc reviewed in Issue 149 featured a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack remastered from the original mixes of re-recording mixers Gary Rydstrom and Gary Summers. The mix was fully engaging, with a good use of the surrounds for music and atmospheric effects. Dialogue was generally held to the center channel, but was occasionally directionalized across the front three screen channels to match on-screen locations, and was generally done with precision. All this is true for this 3-D release. Creativity in rendering the spatial soundfield is downright impressive. Sonic imaging is superb and fully-involving, with compelling split surround activity that dramatically opens up the soundstage. Sound effects are recorded with remarkable clarity and convey a compelling sense of poignancy. Dialogue sounds perfectly natural and intimate, with good articulation, though, still a bit forward sounding in the mix. Randy Newman's music is very nicely recorded, with an involving, expansive presence and nicely resolved instrument timbre and positioning. Fidelity is pristine. The .1 LFE channel is used extensively, with an extremely deep presence at times that develops the low end well, consisting of both subtle low-end foundation to the music and poignant, significant moments with substantial sub-25 Hz extension. This soundtrack still stands as a superb sonic presentation, with consistently satisfying holosonic® soundfield envelopment that effectively uses every channel, essential for the surround sound listening experience. For added engagement, activate the D-BOX Motion Code encoding, which really enhances the sense of dimension with all sorts of motion effects. (Gary Reber)