Pixars 3-D leaps off screen

From the plastic Buzz Lightyear in my toddler’s toy box to the "You’ve Got a Friend in Me” ringtone on my cell phone, my family and I are fervent Disney/Pixar fans in any dimension. So when the animation geniuses reissued their brilliant first feature, 1995’s "Toy Story,” and the superb sequel, 1999’s "Toy Story 2,” as a 3-D double feature, my boys and I spent an entertaining Saturday out at the movies.

The double feature is showing through Thursday and is intended to prime fans for next summer’s "Toy Story 3” in 3-D. But it offers an eye-popping and soul-satisfying cinematic experience. Sure, my sons — Chris, who turns 15 this month, and Gabe, who will be 3 in November have watched the adventures of Sheriff Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) dozens of times at home on DVD.

With Gabe’s recent "Toy Story” phase in which he demanded nonstop Woody and Buzz, those DVDs actually may be reaching triple-digit spin levels. But neither had viewed the first film on the big screen, and Chris couldn’t even remember whether he had seen the sequel during its original theatrical run last decade.

With the movies’ 3-D transformation, the toy characters and their human counterparts seem more genuine than ever, and when Woody and Buzz take their rocket ride, they seem headed for the seats next to us rather than "to infinity and beyond.” Since they were computer animated in virtual three-dimensional environments, the films converted naturally to 3-D.

Though Gabe refused to don his ill-fitting 3-D glasses why don’t theaters offer child-size 3-D specs, anyway? — for "Toy Story 2,” he still loved seeing his heroes in the theater. On the huge cinema screen, Chris and I could appreciate the bumpy texture of Rex the dinosaur’s plastic skin and spy the Binford logo on a battered tool box.

A sly reference to Allen’s old TV show "Home Improvement.” More importantly, the wonderful stories — from the clever puns to the memorable characters popped off the screen, getting us pumped for our long-awaited trip into Woody and Buzz’s world.