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Toy Story fans may still have a few more years to wait until the 2018 release of Toy Story 4—but, thanks to the occasional shorts and TV specials, Pixar is doing a pretty good job of keeping Woody, Buzz, and the other toys fresh in everyone’s memory.
The latest Toy Story TV special, Toy Story That Time Forgot takes place right after Christmas, as a number of the toys join Bonnie (Emily Hahn) on a play date with her friend, Mason (R. C. Cope). Though Mason has a bedroom full of amazing new toys, his new video game console has gotten all of his attention. As Bonnie joins him, her favorite toys are left to fend for themselves in Mason’s room—and when they stumble into the land of the Battlesaurs, they find themselves in serious prehistoric danger.
While other animated franchises tend to cut corners with sequels and TV specials, hiring new voice actors to take over for more costly stars, that’s not the case for the Toy Story shorts. While this short, 22-minute special’s focus is on Kristen Schaal’s lovable dinosaur Trixie instead of Woody and Buzz (voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen), the franchise’s biggest stars still play a part in the action.
Meanwhile, the show also introduces a number of new characters—like the all too adorable Angel Kitty (voiced by Emma Hudak), a fluffy white Christmas ornament that speaks in inspirational proverbs. And, of course, there are the melodramatic Battlesaurs, led by Kevin McKidd’s prehistoric warrior Reptillus Maximus. These armored dinosaurs give the story its action and drama as they set out to defeat any enemies (or sock monkeys) that are unlucky enough to stumble into their arena. It’s perilous stuff—and in order to save her friends, Trixie has to go out on her own to find Bonnie and find a way to get her to intervene.
And somewhere here, in the midst of the Shakespearean adventures and Toy Story silliness, Trixie learns about the importance of friendship, imagination, and good, old-fashioned play time. And kids get a little reminder about how much fun it is to play and make up stories—instead of just zoning out in front of their favorite video game console.
Toy Story That Time Forgot isn’t necessarily an unforgettable Toy Story short—and its Christmas connection is, admittedly, rather weak. But if you love the Toy Story characters (and, really, who doesn’t?), you’ll enjoy this little made-for-TV reunion. It’s clever and action-packed and filled with fun characters—both old and new. And it’ll help you survive the wait until Toy Story 4 hits theaters.
Blu-ray Review:
You might think that a TV special like Toy Story That Time Forgot would be simple and slapped-together—but that’s not how Pixar works. The special features menu for this Toy Story short is loaded with fascinating extras that show just how in-depth the creators went into developing the characters and their stories. Reptillus! explains how the story team came up with the Battlesaurs’ origins and back story—and it also explores the character design and voice work, too. And if you still question the team’s dedication to the characters, there’s also a fully-animated opening sequence for the fictional Battlesaurs TV show—and an absolutely hilarious karaoke track, allowing viewers to sing along with Reptillus on his sweet ballad, “My Unexpected Friend.” Other extras include six deleted scenes and a featurette that follows the Toy Story That Time Forgot team at Comic-Con.
Once you finish watching (or re-watching) the special, be sure to check out these extras. You’ll be amazed to see just how much planning, effort, and creativity the Pixar team put into bringing the beloved Toy Story toys to the small screen.
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