Prior to last year, if you had told me that the cast of Toy Story would star in a TV special, I would have called you crazy. And if you were to tell me that special would find them inside of a horror film parody, I would have held up both hands in a “whatever” formation and walked away from you with a whole lot of attitude. Of course, I would have felt like a darn fool on October 16th, 2013, when Toy Story of Terror! premiered on ABC. Don’t I feel salty!
I caught my first glimpse of the soon-to-air special last August at the D23 Expo where they showed the first ten minutes, the end of which leaves Jessie in grave danger. The audience laughed at the appropriate points and cheered at the end. It left me optimistic about the special, and yet I still managed to miss its ABC premier and the handful of repeats on Disney Channel. I was beginning to think that I might never get to see this special until Disney announced that it was coming to Blu-Ray and DVD on August 19th (sold as a Blu-Ray/Digital combo and a DVD-only set).
The special begins with Bonnie’s toys watching an old horror film in the back of her station wagon on a stormy night. When the car malfunctions, they check into the Sleep Well Motel. Left alone in the room, the toys go exploring and when Jessie gets separated, she finds herself in her own personal horror film inside the motel.
For a 21-minute TV special, Toy Story of Terror! is able to pack in a few laughs, but not nearly as many as I would have expected. I laughed more at each of the individual Toy Story Toons than I did during this entire special. In addition, it gets too intense several times, with well-done panic attacks, loud heartbeat music, and even a moment of silence before something jumping out at the screen. In other words, it’s too scary for most young ones who probably already love these characters.
Video
The 1080p high definition presentation is flawless. Colors are vivid and detail is crisp.
Audio
The film features a DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track. Few films use the subwoofer as frequently or effectively as this mix. The Blu-Ray also features a 5.1 and 2.0 English track, 2.0 Descriptive Audio, French 5.1 and Spanish 5.1.
The Setup section of the menu also features a “Maximizer” to adjust your TV set to ideal home theater conditions. However, I found that it sent the audio to the wrong speakers during the 7.1 surround sound set.
Bonus Features
- Toy Story Toons – Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry and Partysaurus Rex are presented in HD with optional filmmaker commentaries. They are all available on other releases, but their inclusion here with commentary is a nice touch.
- Team of Specialists – A 12-minute featurette that focuses on the new characters created for the special and Michael Giaccino’s inspiration for the score
- Deleted Scenes – Three deleted scenes (Pencil Topper Trilogy, Travel Brochures, and Road Trip Roulette) are presented with a optional editor introductions. It amounts to 7.5 minutes of storyboards.
- D23 Teaser – The minute-long trailer that was played at D23 Expo last year makes an appearance here.
- Vintage Toy Commercials – Three newly created toy commercials for some of the new characters are offered with optional director intro. They are Old Timer, Combat Carl and Transitron.
- Commentary – Director Angus McClain, director of photography Ian Megibben and Editor Axel Geddes lead a discussion of the horror film references in the film. This feature is found under the “Play” option rather than “Bonus Features.”
Packaging & Menu
The disc is housed in a single-disc Blu-Ray case with inserts for your Disney Movie Rewards/Digital copy code and an ad for Disney Movie Club. The case is housed in an embossed slipcover. Surprise, this disc has disc art because Pixar controls their home video releases and demands it (Disney has abandoned disc art on their own titles).
The menu features spooky black & white images set to scary score. The disc opens with ads for Disney Movies Anywhere, Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition, Frozen Sing-Along and Legend of the Never Beast. Selecting Sneak Peeks plays additional ads for Disney Movie Rewards, Star Wars Rebels and Maleficent.
Final Thoughts
It’s great to see my favorite movie toys return in a new feature, but Toy Story of Terror! is a little underwhelming. The three bonus shorts are more delightful than this special, which has the potential to do more harm than good (scaring kids to the point they don’t trust future Toy Story products). But for fans of this special, Disney’s Blu-Ray treats this special better than some of their own iconic animated films.