Customer Reviews

Toy Story Ultimate Toy Box Collection (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

No point in selling telling you about the movies themselves. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple decades you already know, or seen for yourself, these classics. Each of the three Toy Story films have or will have their own separate Blu-Ray release with a second disk in standard DVD format. So the big question is what else are you getting on this combo pack. Let me give the low down.

For one this trilogy combo pack will essentially be cheaper to get than buying the three movies separately. This is a very good thing for those of you who do not have any Toy Story Blu-Rays as this means you're coming out ahead of the rest of us who bought them separate. Also everybody's favorite talking point on this release is the inclusion of a digital copy for playing on your portables, a feature not included in the separate releases. So is that all the benefits of getting this package? Well you get a cheesy little carrying case that is pictured above, but that's pretty much it.

That's right ladies and gentlemen. No exclusive content. Three disks for each movies (Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital copy) along with a tenth disk that is likely the same supplemental disk that's included in the Toy Story 3 Blu-Ray. If you are looking for a collector's set with never-before seen footage, featurettes, outtakes, alternate endings and whatnot you won't find it here. However if you don't have any of the previous disks you will get a pretty sweet price, and for those moaning about digital copies you will get that too. Oh yeah... and the toy box "collector's" case.

The Toy Story trilogy is amazing, as most would suspect. However the 3-star rating given to this product is NOT because of the movies, it is for the sub-par packaging they come in. For such a lucrative franchise I expected much more. The "toy box" design is certainly cool, keeping with the theme of Toy Story, but the disks sit inside a styrofoam container with little room to grab each disk. The flimsy quality of the actual toy box could be an issue in the making as I am not certain it will last that long. I wouldn't recommend leaving this for little ones to play with or use, in stead take out the disks and place them in slim jewel cases or possibly buy the 3-disk trilogy instead.

This is a case of having a great idea but being too lazy to execute it and give the best product worthy of the word ultimate.
- blu-ray discs, check
- dvds, check
- digital codes, check
- toy box, sturdy cardboard box. It's nice and for the price of the trilogy I won't complain

what I will complain about is the fact that the disc are not in jewel cases or circular plastic cases. The discs are placed in a piece of black foam. Nothing really special, just slots in the foam for each and every discs. You know what this is called? It's called lazy production value.

don't buy this product, you are better off just buying a combo pack sometime down the line. The Mediocre Toy Story Collection is not worth your money and is not worthy of these great films

If you buy all three Toy Story Bluray/DVDs, it's $65.47. You don't get digital copies of Toy Story 1 and 2, but you get cases for all three movies if you buy individually. The box set does not have any additional content so you're paying $15 for packaging and 2 digital copies...and no disc cases.

I pre-ordered, since I loved the first movie as a child, and my wife, child and I loved the 3rd movie this summer (his recent birthday party was Toy Story themed). However, I want to know, what gives?!? These are children's movies, and they don't give better protection than the discs sitting in foam in a cardboard box? No individual protection, so this set will have to stay out of my child's reach, or I know I'll find an assortment of discs lying around my living room floor. The foam appears to have been made quite lazily, as a couple of the discs don't even sit right. It would've also been nicer if they had either labelled the area where each disc goes or staggered them differently. With the small spacing between discs, it's difficult to select a disc without smudging the others around it, at least if you have fat fingers like yours truly. Also, for an "ultimate" edition, there appears to be a severe lack of special features discs. I guess this is why the price dropped several times before release? I'm pretty sure this is the worst Pixar product I've seen...

I don't typically write reviews, unless I am either overly thrilled with the purchase, or greatly disappointed. Unfortunately, this case is the latter.

The packaging is an absolute injustice for a trilogy of this caliber. Given the quality of all three movies and their popularity, I expected the royal treatment with this box set. What we get instead is cheap black foam that I can already see is leaving a fine residue on the discs as I remove/insert the discs. It is difficult to find the disc that you want to see, since the discs are packaged close together in line -- In order to find a particular disc, you need to remove several until you find the one you want. Also, there is no way to take the discs out or reinsert them without feeling like you will eventually damage them.

My recommendation -- spend the extra $10 and buy the movies individually. I wish I had.

The packaging is awful. I truly regret having purchased this item. It's worth the extra money to buy each movie separately.

I must say that I am disappointed at Disney for releasing a product in this manner. Here is a breakdown of the rating:

Movie - *****

Packaging - *
There are two primary groups this set appeals to, in my opinion:
Collectors ...
... but this is extremely impractical from the storage standpoint. The packaging takes approximately 4 times the storage space of 3 combo packs of this movie on a library shelf. The missing bonus materials content from The Ultimate Toy Box DVD set makes it even more difficult to justify the amount of space it takes up.

Parents ...
... that want all three movies playable on DVD, Bluray, or Digital Format. Since there are no real content frills added to the normal combo pack set of discs, the scenario that some parents prefer to have "one packaging" for all three movies instead of three separate media packs for frequent playback should be considered. On that end, the cheap cardboard packaging will not suffice. It not only will fall apart over a short period of time, but the way the discs are inserted lends themselves to be easily smudged and scratched by the young.

Content of the Set - ***
The content of the set did not include the previous Toy Story Ultimate Box Set DVD features, which is extremely disappoint given that I intended to replace the DVD box set with this but now I have to reconsider. You can find out what is missing by reading the reviews on that set. If it wasn't for the inclusion of the 2 digital copies of the first two Toy Stories, I would have rated it 2 stars.

Conclusion:
Buy it if you do not have kids handling the discs themselves and you do not already own The Ultimate Box Set from the previous release and don't care about the extra materials.

For those that have The Ultimate Box set, I would recommend simply buying the Blu-ray versions of Toy Story 3 for now and wait for the 3D version and perhaps then, Disney will come to its senses and release all three films in an all-inclusive "Toy Box" with EVERYTHING. (We can only hope.)

Since this review is more specifically about this "set," I have given more weight to it than the actual movies themselves.

This is just a quick review but I had to say that although the image quality of the movies is great (Toy Story 3 looks fantastic) the packaging, frankly, left a lot to be desired. It's a good idea - to have it literally as a toy box - however it was badly designed for the following reasons:

1) The lid of the "box" is kinda flimsy. My 4 year old loves the Toy Story movies and he wants to pick up the box and look at it, but I feel like a bad daddy because I'm afraid he'll break that lid. It's just card and the whole thing hangs together like a cheaply produced paperback.

2) There's no insert to describe what's on each disc. Big omission, imho

3) All the discs stand vertically in foam padding that has been specifically designed to allow the discs to slot in and out. Major problem here - you can't get the discs out easily and it's impossible without putting your fingers on the non-printed side of the disc (ie, the side that actually gets read by the player). I can see some playback issues here... some slim cases, slotted into the toy box, would have worked much better... but I guess it's cheaper this way.

4) The codes for the digital copies are in an envelope... stuck to the inside of the box. I can't type what I thought when I saw this because then my review would be rejected. What idiot thought that would be a good idea? You either have to rip the envelope out or very very carefully try to gingerly remove the inserts from the envelope if you don't want to rip anything.

So... five stars for the movies, three stars for the packaging, averaging out at four stars in all. Pixar is amazing - it's a pity the marketing idiots at Disney are not.

It took a lot of patience on my part but here we are. I waited for these films to come in one package. Not buying the DVD versions. Waited when the third film came out in theaters and Disney released the previous two on Blu-Ray in separate packs. Waited, despite the begging from my wife and daughter to get the films already. But I held out... And now THEY ARE MINE! (Insert evil laughter here.)

So is it everything I had hoped for? Well, I have to say yes. Here is my take on it.

The set comes in a beautiful box that is as colorful as the films themselves. Open it reveals a mini version of Andy's toy box and opening that reveals the discs, held in place by pre-formed foam. The toy box itself is adorable and I don't mind the lack of jewel cases. The only problem is that the slots where the discs slid into are delicate and continuous use will probably wear them out. Plus its very easy to confuse the slots and place the discs in the wrong slot. Aside from that, the presentation looks awesome in my opinion. Some better execution would have made it better. The box now sits proudly at the top of my movie collection.

The collection has 10 discs. A BD version of the films, a DVD version and a Digital Copy version, which is pretty much par for the course for a Disney release. The DVD versions will of course have permanent play on our mini-van. The tenth disc is the Bonus Features of the stand alone release of the third film. Many have cried foul over this fact as many were hoping the tenth disc was going to be unique for this release but alas, it was not to be. For me, there are two possible explanations: 1) Disney simply tried to homogenize the release. the other two films have their respective previous special features. The third film is the only one of the three released in the Blu-Ray era so to be faithful, they threw that in. 2) In an effort two make us double dip, they held out any new extra content for a future inevitable anniversary edition of this collection. The reaction to this is completely understandable I think, considering just how good the extras on Pixar films have been but here is the reason it doesn't bother me one bit:

The transfers to BD of all three films is SO good, I forget everything else.

As it turns out, my patience was rewarded twice. In my stubbornness to wait out this collection I found myself asking my brother to lend me his DVD versions of Toy Story 1 & 2 1 week before this box came out hoping to calm my daughter's desperation as she simply loves these films. This gave me the opportunity to make a side by side comparison and I have to tell you. These transfers are impressive. Most impressive. The BD editions simply blow any previous releases out of the water. Those familiar with Pixar Blu-Rays will find no surprises in that last comment but since Toy Story is the first (and therefore oldest) film n the Pixar canon, I wondered how it would turn out but I should not have worried. Watching these films on Blu makes watching the DVD versions look like trying to watch a movie screen through a screen door. You have not watched these films until you watch them on Blu-Ray. Even if you saw them in theaters. They are that good.

So, is it worth it? For me, absolutely. Since I don't own a previous version of any of the films included here, this collection is downright perfect. However, owners of previous editions who might be looking for more can be(and have been) dissapointed. So despite the little flaws in the packaging I give it a solid 4 stars. The digital transfers alone are worth the price of admission and besides, buying all three films separately costs pretty much the same anyway. Highly recommended.