‘Funday Football’ Review: ‘Toy Story’ Takes Over The NFL

As the National Football League tries to reel in younger audiences to engage with the sport, they are turning to some pretty creative measures. One of the most interesting has to be the merger of the sport with younger-skewing IPs. Last year, a game aired on Nickelodeon, equipped with virtual slime shooting out of the end zone and other quirky gimmicks. This year, the NFL took this concept to an extreme by simulating a game using animated Toy Story figures in real time. It’s a novel concept that is actually pretty difficult to pull off in practice. However, it’s still fun to just revel in the playfulness of it all.

Unlike most NFL games, this game aired Sunday on Disney+ at 9:00 AM to account for the fact that it was played overseas. This is a perfect time as it doesn’t crowd the game alongside all the others that will be played later in the day. Also, an early morning game is great for kids. There must have been serious meetings to discuss how they could adapt the Toy Story characters for an event like this. They used the claw as a means to move the ball to the line of scrimmage and had Slinky Dog represent the first down chains. Plus, Duke Caboom was used as halftime entertainment by performing a dangerous stunt on the field.

Unfortunately, the technology is still pretty raw, so there are plenty of glitches along the way. It wasn’t perfect as it seems many of the balls were dropped when they were in fact caught and vice versa. Still, a certain level of leeway has to be given to the fact that it is so new. When it does work, it’s fun to watch. When players break free for a long run, flames erupt behind them. Pure football fans just wanting to watch the game might get annoyed. But there are so many opportunities to watch plain old boring football. Sometimes, it’s fun just to goof off a bit and enjoy some Toy Story antics.