MJB SCRIPT REVIEW | TOY STORY

“𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗮𝗱, 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹”

Going for a bit of a home run this time, but I’ve been excited to read this one for awhile. The animated progenitor and one of Pixar‘s finest moments; TOY STORY.

Plot in a nutshell: The secret world of toys comes to life, as the fallout of a children’s birthday party leads to Andy’s favourite toy, Woody the cowboy doll, being supplanted by the new kid on the block, Buzz Lightyear the spaceman, as top toy in his bedroom. Let battle commence!

Verbatim, this is another script that literally, word for word, matches what’s on the screen when you watch the film. At this point I can only assume that that is necessary for the planning of an animated film. But considering the amount of grief Disney went through with the Emperor‘s New Groove (check out the documentary on YouTube “The Sweat Room”, which shows how many rewrites, staff changes and bombshells that film went through before it surfaced), one can only assume that this script is the final of many, many drafts, as it runs perfectly and matches the end product to a syllable.

The secret of this stories success is the world it creates. This script utterly believes in its own ecosystem. From the different toy characters, to their perplexing and overly human characteristics. You feel like you’re watching real people going through daily neuroses that cleverly mirror our own. The diverse and (at times) ridiculous situations are completely relatable, no matter how old you are or where you spend your days, and at some point in your life you’re going to be able to sympathise with at least one of the characters. So there is some real heart in the script, as well as a wonderful childlike quality that typically classifies the golden films in Pixar’s canon.

So, what did I learn from TOY STORY?

1. Dialogue - So human it hurts. Wonderfully relatable characters that feel as real as the conversations they are having. This is thinking about what people talk about. This is not trying to write toys having a conversation. There are many ways this could’ve gone, but these guys chose the plot and worked the characters around it. Catchy, funny and most importantly heartfelt when needed. This is a special type of dialogue that should be studied and pondered over. What questions did the people writing the script have? Why did they choose this path? It’s not just as straightforward as making a kids movie. Nor writing a child audience suitable script.

2. Actors - I don’t care who you are, good luck to you trying to work out how to say “to infinity and beyond” and make it sound timeless. Tim Allen has never been given full credit for that. This is dialogue that needs to feel catchy. You’ve not just got to be thinking about the characters, but the audience too. What will relate to children? What will relate to adults? This is a different kind of project, and frankly gold in the hands of any actor lucky enough to be invited to it.

3. Action Directions - Precise, scientific and exact. No Shane Black here. But I think the action directions here are designed to help the animation teams get them to that world and an idea of where they need to go with it. If you are looking for clear instructions on how to write a crisp and steady text, this is a cracking example. However, I will add that towards the end, the script leaves space for the animators to add their own touch of humanity to the characters expressions from the brief exposition as to the toys and their emotions. Andy getting a puppy for Christmas is a prime example.

4. Story - This is from Pixar. You can tell this story has been through many drafts and has been carefully and meticulously crafted. Long and heartfelt conversations were had over tables late into the night as to how to get this absolutely right. But you can smell the inspiration on the script. This wasn’t like George Lucas spending two years trying to craft the Star Wars world and not too sure where he was going to end up. This was somebody having an idea and feeling so dedicated to it, that it’s difficult to get away from the magic of the original source that inspired this journey.

5. Finale - it’s not so much rare amongst the high quality echelons of scripts that I’ve read over the last 18 months, but it is fair to say that when you get a great finale, you simply can’t turn the pages fast enough. The pace here is phenomenal and there are 100 little side touches of magic along the way that just fill the whole climax into something simply blistering. If you want to up the ante towards the end of your script and add some pace, you can’t do better than read the last thirty pages of this script.

For all the high praise I can extol for this script, I’ve definitely got the same issue I had with Star Wars IV: A New Hope. Reading the script is okay, but the film is so embedded in the Zeitgeist, that it’s difficult to separate the two when reading the script. So it just feels like I’m going through the motions of reading the script, when what I want to do is watch the film. But I’ve been over this ground before. You read it and you already want it to be real. To be a film you can watch. I’ve gone on and on about the type of quality that you have to create in order to make people want to read a script, support it and see it born into fruition. But reading scripts like this, keep you on the path of inspiration to wanting to achieve better. To understanding what type of level your script needs to be at in order to be produced.

So in closing, no playing here gang. Just a legendary team using all the toys in their box. An essential read.

Link to the script:

https://thescriptsavant.com/movies/Toy_Story.pdf