Toy Story Toons: Small Fry

Voices of: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris, Don Rickles, Timothy Dalton, Jane Lynch, Emily Hahn, Teddy Newton
Directed by: Angus MacLane, Dylan Brown
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Short, Comedy
Length: 7 minutes
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: At a chicken fast food restaurant, Bonnie accidentally leaves Buzz (Tim Allen) behind and he's replaced by a miniature toy from a meal.

Review:

Tim: I enjoyed Toy Story Toons: Small Fry even more than the first one, Hawaiian Vacation. As I said in that review, I'll gladly watch any short films featuring the wonderful characters from this franchise. The options are unlimited, so it's fun to be able to explore mini adventures in this way. This felt like a more complete film- perhaps the extra minute helped.

The story is pretty good- I enjoyed that it centered around the kinds of toys you get in restaurant kids meals. That is really, really funny. As a kid growing up in the 1980s, we had some truly great toys. I fondly remember them, even decades later. Today's toys are significantly cheaper than they were back then. This results in an initial sense of excitement from kids, but quickly turns to apathy. I've seen this happen numerous times with my son. He's super excited to open the toy, but it rarely if ever gets used again. This small film perfectly captures that with a humorous support group for such toys. That's a big reason why I liked this short film so much- it's entirely relatable to parents. It feels like it captured something true about the insane world of fast food children's toys.

The one downside to this film is (as you might expect), it's too short. Hawaiian Vacation felt like it told its whole story in 6 minutes. This one could have easily used several extra minutes- in fact, it demands it. The story itself is good, but it skips over aspects that really needed to be shown. This is most apparent at the end- the conclusion of the film is obviously rushed. It was as if they were trying to fit the story into a predetermined length, instead of focusing on the story first, regardless of how long the film lasted. This is an obvious mistake.

Still, Toy Story Toons: Small Fry is a fun short. The little Buzz was actually quite funny and it was entertaining to see the other toys interact with him. I really enjoyed this film, although I do wish it was about 3 minutes longer. 10 minutes wouldn't have been too long and it would have served the story better. Still, keep these short films coming!

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- N/A



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Hawaiian Vacation, Partysaurus Rex