User reviews

It's wonderful to watch a short animated film like Tin Toy and then watch one like Geri's Game or For The Birds, because you can really see how far Pixar has come over the years. In Toy Story, one of the things that they never got quite right was the look of human faces, but it is clear after watching Tin Toy that they have really improved in that area as well. What you have in Tin Toy is an extremely simple story of a new toy that is at first fascinated but soon understandably horrified by the hideously misshapen baby that he sees terrorizing toys all around him. Besides foreshadowing a huge amount of the plot of the later Toy Story, this short film also contains a lot of symbolism and adheres to a story structure that dates back to medieval literature.

This baby is the representation of the horrible monster that can be found in stories around the world, holding people in horrible fear under its control, waiting for some hero to come along and rescue them. The heroic tin toy spends a few minutes fleeing from the horrifying baby (whose approach is far more fearful than ANY Tyranosaurus Rex), but then when the massive baby falls and begins to cry, the toy realizes his purpose and goes out to amuse the baby ("You're a cool toy!"). Okay, this part never really happened in any of the classic romances where people are held captive by a huge monster, but this is where the film turns from the classic story structure and begins to concentrate on the reality of modern children.

One of the more appealing things about this short film is the closeness with which it portrays real children (although they were horribly far off on the physical appearance). Even the child's momentary pause before sneezing is surprisingly realistic, but there are also behavioral things that are captured here, such as the notorious habit of children becoming more interested in the box that their toy came in than they are in the toy itself. Pixar clearly started off early depicting the interests and behaviors of children on screen, and their films have progressed enormously from short films like this one. Tin Toy is not terribly remarkable compared to the later films from Pixar, but from shorts like Tin Toy it can be seen that they have always worked very closely within this particular genre, which is likely a good reason why they are now making children's films that easily rival even the classic Disney masterpieces.

Prequel or spiritual Predecessor to Toy Story.

Seriously, it's all right there. The nightmare fuel baby, first time the very dated CG in one of these early Pixar shorts feels completely appropriate to what tone they're going for, could easily be Sid as a toddler, with how much he terrifies the living toys.

This is the first of these in chronological order that actually got a chuckle out of me. The idea that the titular character literally struggles to move without playing his instruments, which attracts the unwanted attention of the monstrous, drooling, destructive creature, is genuinely funny. I appreciate a shot near the end of this that greatly increases the scope, without adding an inhumane load to the animator's work. This is found on Disney Plus for no additional fee after subscription payment.

I recommend this to completists. 7/10.

'Tin Toy' is a wonderful piece of computer animation. It's especially interesting to view after looking at Pixar's 'Toy Story' which was made several years later. I like to see this film as a new twist on the giant monster movie. Here the monster is a drooling baby in pursuit of a wind up toy. The baby stomps around the room with the grace of Godzilla (which is to say no grace at all). Often seeing the baby from the little toy's point of view helps create this monster movie feel as well. This is a hilarious film, with an ending that's all too true to life.

With "Tin Toy", Lasseter pushes the boundaries further than he did with "Luxo Jr.". The character of Tinny has truly believable facial expressions including joy, fear and puzzlement. I especially like the part when Tinny first comes out of the box and sees the baby put another toy in his mouth. The horrified look on Tinny's face is a priceless comic moment. True, the baby doesn't look quite right (at least it sounds cute), but I think Lasseter did the best he could with the technology of the time. I still felt bad for the baby when he fell down. After all, ugly or not, he is just a baby!

"Tin Toy" is a simple short with only two main characters. A little tin toy band member that walks around and plays the symbols is the protagonist, and the destructive little baby is the antagonist. It's a simple story that follows the very childlike statement that "You don't want something unless someone else does." and vice versa.

A little tin toy is lonely. A baby crawls into the room and the tin toy can't wait for the baby to play with it. Soon it finds out this baby is a destructive force, tearing apart and drooling on everything it sees. The tin toy has several changes of heart which end in a bit of a twist ending.

This is one of Pixar's earliest shorts, and the animation is far from perfect. It doesn't have the fluidity seen in their later productions, but you can't blame them, this was '80s computer animation. One thing that Pixar has kept over the years it's their perfect way of portraying emotion. Just through little movements of the face, they give great emotion, which is what this short relies on, as there is no dialogue. It's a good and sweet natured short.

My rating: *** out of ****. 5 mins.

"Tin Toy" is one of Pixar's earliest films that has something to do with one of their first movie "Toy Story." The story is this: A toy soldier (well, it's more of a one-man band, wind-up toy) meets a baby who tries to eat him.

The computer animation is pretty good. The baby looks pretty bad, but the light and shadows look realistic. The toys look good too.

The film isn't too funny however. It's a nice start for Pixar, but I would recommend "Luxo Jr." and "For the Birds" over it.

6/10

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Although the animation is a little weak, it's very good, the characters are super funny and the plot is very good. Highly recommend.

The third notable short from everyone's favourite 3D animation studio (or fourth, if you're generous to 'Andre and Wally B'), 'Tin Toy' came about when Pixar were clearly gaining more confidence and expertise in their technical field, following 'Luxo Jr' and 'Red's Dream', two very simple but effective shorts revolving around inanimate object characters. Usually credited as the forerunner to the excellent 'Toy Story', 'Tin Toy' is a worthy predecessor even if it has long since been surpassed by the likes of Woody, Buzz and Mr Potato Head, and very enjoyable as a stand-alone film.

Unlike the following year's 'Knick Knack' (made famous once again by its recent theatrical coupling with 'Finding Nemo'), the animation isn't quite so timeless in all regards that it could easily pass as an animated short made in this day and age, but it's not too far off. There are many aspects which sport real flair and improvement over their previous efforts, but others which are only too telling of the limitations the studio was currently facing.

No complaints with Tinny, the 'tin toy' of the title - he's a very charismatic creation indeed, and extremely well-animated. This being a non-dialogue film, it's up to his facial expressions to do the talking, and they do it well – awe, confusion, pleasure, terror, empathy – rendering him another very memorable and sympathetic character in Pixar's canon, and at the same time setting the ball rolling for the wider range of emotions that would later immortalise the heroes of 'Toy Story'. The human baby, on the other hand, is the short's biggest visual weakness - a bold attempt to combine 3D animation with real human mannerisms, something which it isn't entirely successful in (compared to the vivid realism of all his inorganic co-stars, this chunky little infant can't help but stick out like a sore thumb). Some of his actions are nicely rendered, particularly the drooling and sneezing (pure gold), but on the whole he does look and move rather awkwardly - so, while a good effort, the end result there is a little patchy.

Once again, it's the original and surprisingly powerful story that we can really thank for still making this short such stellar viewing today - proving very thoroughly that plot and character are always the wisest investments. 'Tin Toy' presents us with a toy's eye-view of a curious new world that initially seems very inviting, but soon reveals a much more unsettling reality that all local toys live in fear of. Even something as benign and innocent as a human baby from our usual POV can seem positively terrifying from the perspective of a small toy, as this short deftly captures. Its overall air, however, is very sweet, gentle and endearing, and has enough basic charm to be a real winner in the feel-good field.

And I got the message well enough too - sometimes there better solutions to our problems than just running and hiding from them.

Grade: A-

I still think cartoons, or "animated short features" as some call them, should be funny, unless you know in advance you are going to get a "message," such as moral one or a politically- slanted one

I say that because many of these modern-day cartoons seem to be concerned with showing how clever they can be instead just plain "yuks," if you will. I am not knocking this particular effort: it's certainly different, but it wasn't that funny. If anything, at times, it was almost scary, at least if you sat and openly rooted for the little toy soldier which, I presume, we all did. It certainly showed how little babies, in their youthful ignorance, can be a little too rough with things. Ask your little dog or cat, if you have any doubts.

What was very well done to me were the camera angles and facial expressions that made this little baby almost look like a terrifying Godzilla-like monster. I guess he would look like that if you were a little toy and were human. Babies can play rough! I don't know if we needed a "cartoon," however, to illustrate that fact. All of us already know that, don't we?

Yes, this was "clever," but give me Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Felix The Cat or Pink Panther cartoon any day, something that will make me laugh out loud. Save the "executed brilliantly" and "gives us a wide range of emotions" movies to the feature films.

Although some of their features/short films are better than others, anything by Pixar by my standards is worth watching. Tin Toy is one of their early efforts, and while not one of their best short films like Geri's Game or Presto it is definitely worth watching. The animation is not terrible, but their more later efforts had a more sophisticated look. There are some nice colours, and Tinny is beautifully done with dead-on facial expressions, but fluidity is lacking at times and the baby is more scary than cute. The music is beautiful though, there are a few amusing moments amidst the more compassionate tone and the characters are engaging with Tinny being one of the Pixar title characters I identify most with. Overall, definitely worthwhile, but Pixar have done better in my view. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Lasseter as director, anthropomorphic toys and a nightmarishly destructive baby. Yes, Tin Toy was what Disney desired after it won Pixar's first Oscar and acted as the primary inspiration for the much beloved 'Toy Story'. Again, much like with 'Red's Dream', there are several aspects which are admirable and others that proved too challenging at the time. The star of the short, Tinny the one-man band player, is the crowning glory. Beautifully rendered with fluid computer animation where a layer of gloss acts as a reflective surface, allowing another level of aesthetic detail. The environmental scenery, that of a lounge, is full of texture and vibrancy (given the limitations of technology back in 1988). The story is short, sharp and sweet, profoundly more optimistic and fun in comparison to the melancholic 'Red's Dream'. The difficult challenge was animating a human baby, relying on several facial muscle movements to express emotion. Alas, it's aged incredibly badly. The body movement was jagged and unnatural, the skin looked plastic and overall is enough to give anyone nightmares. Indicating that technology and time were factors that became a detriment to this particular model. And as always, these shorts are nearly instantly forgettable, acting as a proof of concept as opposed to an endearing narrative. However, Tin Toy established computer animation as a legitimate art, and so for that I am thankful for Lasseter and his team of animators.

This animated short is about the constantly changing interaction between a toy marching band figure and a baby.

The story is simple but engaging. The marching figure has a mind of its own, first avoiding the terrible baby who terrorises toys (and even the boxes of the toys). When the baby cries, the marching figure decides that he has sympathy and compassion, and bravely goes back out to cheer the baby up. I got alarmed when the baby puts a bag on his head, and I was lifted up by the bravery of the marching figure.

The animation looks sub standard in modern day standards, but when I look back twenty years ago, the 2D animations I watched when I was a child were nowhere as good as this.

I love Pixar's shorts! I know this was one of their earlier ones. However, the baby was so unbelievably creepy that I couldn't even bring myself to finish it. I'm so used to their characters being likeable...even if they have a bit of a quirky, odd look to them, like Geri in Geri's Game. Despite Geri's large ears, large nose, bushy eyebrows, prominent chin and exaggerated eyes from his corrective lenses, he has a sweet, endearing quality to his face. But the baby in Tin Toy is so unsettling, he's likely to make a starring role in your next nightmare.

I wish I could review the whole short. I'm sure the content was good...it always is. This is just one you may want to take a hard pass on.

I liked the animation and storyline in this short as well is it being quite funny but the baby was SO CREEPY. Although this is a good short it is not one of the best pixar shorts.

In my mind this is the least remarkable of the early Pixar shorts. It lacks the polish of Luxo Jr.-the baby is nightmare fuel-and it lacks the ambition of Red's Dream, Andre. The big animation challenge was the baby which the short completely fails at. Everything else was stripped down to the basics that Pixar already did in prior shorts. The short most notable as precursor to Toy Story with several ideas from the short recycled in the feature film-i.e. toy's finding purpose in play, an abusive human, the film is framed from a toy's perspective etc. It is funny enough to be charming but it has been overshadowed by the works it inspired.

Now that CG has thankfully moved forward this can best be enjoyed as a short horror film. The infant looks truly atrocious and is the stuff of nightmares.

GOD I HATE CRYING BABIES WITH A FIERY PASSION. WHAT IS THIS!? THIS THING DID NOT DESERVE THE OSCAR WIN. IT IS ANNOYING, UGLY, AWKWARD. ALL BECAUSE OF THE BABY. I HATE THAT BABY! I WISH NOTHING BUT THE WORST FOR THAT BABY FOR BEING SO DUMB, SO OBNOXIOUS, JUST WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY? I HATE BABIES! THIS THING MAKES CARS 2 LOOK LIKE A OSCAR MASTERPIECE, IT MAKES THE WILD LOOK LIKE THE LION KING, IT MAKES THE MODERN SPONGEBOB ERA LOOK LIKE THE CLASSIC ERA, IT MAKES TRIP THE RIVAL FROM POKEMON BEST WISHES LOOK LIKE SAWYER FROM XY. THIS THING IS A PUNCH IN THE NOSE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HATE CRYING BABIES LIKE ME! I HATE IT, I DO NOT WANT THIS TO BE REMEMBERED!!

This is an incredible short in many ways! The computer graphics are great and the storyline is very well-developed and executed brilliantly. This is a most innocently destructive toddler-in other words, a typical baby. As anyone who has spent time in the company of a toddler knows, they are a force of nature not unlike Godzilla! This one here is more qualified than most. Atilla the Baby, as it were. My sympathies lie with the toy. Phenomenal piece of work worth hunting for. Wholeheartedly recommended. He shoots, he scores!

Too simple and boring to watch this for adults. This is totally good for kids.

So this was "Toy Story" before the film was fully realized. How interesting. Today, it looks pretty choppy, especially the baby and its diaper. That is a creepy kid. But I was around in the 1980s as computers were really starting to blossom, and there is no way we could have made a cartoon like this. These guys really changed the industry, and this short is a great example of how. I am not the least surprised that it won an Oscar. It deserved to.

Now, whether or not that baby is Andy, I don't know. It looks like the credits say his name is Billy, so unless there's some retcon action going on, it must be a different kid. Not that it matters.