"And all this time I thought it was an act!  Come on guys, it's the REAL Buzz Lightyear!"

"You're mocking me, aren't you?"

"Oh no, no...Buzz look at alien!"

(Buzz turns around, then realizes there's nothing there.)

"Hahaha!"

Who could possibly forget classic moments like that?  Disney has been making memorable animated motion pictures for more than half a century.  Most recently Pixar has continued Disney's tradition of masterpiece filmmaking with the release of Toy Story 1 and 2, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., and Finding Nemo.

While Pixar slowly began to transform into the "new Disney," a little-known company called Neversoft began working on a game staring a little-known extreme skateboarder: Tony Hawk.  As hard as it may be to believe, prior to the release of his first game, Tony Hawk wasn't a household name.  With nothing but the best in innovative gameplay, Neversoft quickly earned the status of being the industry's top extreme sports game developer.  The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series is and probably always will be the benchmark title -- the one that developers look to before creating a competing title, and the one critics look to for comparisons.

With Pixar, the best in animated movies, and Neversoft, the best in extreme skateboard engines, it didn't take long for the people at Disney Interactive to realize what potential the two had when combined.  Months of brainstorming and game development time later, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is born.

Utilizing the power of Neversoft's Tony Hawk 4 engine, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure comes packed with hundreds of tricks to pull off, a dozen skaters and several courses to explore.  With a familiar engine in place, it's no surprise that the gameplay is nearly identical to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.  The control scheme, the trick formations, the combos – everything you would expect to be here is discovered within a few minutes of play.

As a much more lighthearted title than the game that inspired it, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure isn't as extreme as you might think.  You still can't procrastinate while trying to perform a series of tricks or else you'll fall flat on your face.  It is, however, a lot easier to grind, and even easier to balance.  You could easily hop on a rail (or the equivalent of it, such as the side of a kitchen countertop in the Toy Story themed worlds, or a cluster of rocks in the courses based on The Lion King) and grind for 30 seconds without ever having to worry about falling off.  It's not that it was a huge challenge to balance during a grind in Tony Hawk, but it was never possible to consistently grind 30,000+ points in every stage without getting a little practice first.  If you have ever played an extreme skateboarding game, it won't even take a minute for you to become accustomed to Extreme Skate Adventure's simpler play mechanics.

It is important that you do assume that just because something is simple that it is not challenging.  Tony Hawk masters will unlock most of the secrets and conquer the entire world in a day.  The rest of us, however, will probably take at least a few more days to figure everything out, and inexperienced children (the game's target audience) will no doubt take even longer.

This begs the question: if the game is relatively easy, why would a gamer looking for a challenge even bother?

The answer lies within Extreme Skate Adventure's fun factor.  The gameplay is too familiar to credit it as being the game's entire source of entertainment.  As trivial as aesthetics usually are, they play an important role in this game.  Being a huge fan of Toy Story, I loved being able to play as Buzz, Woody and Jessie.  All three characters are great, and while their controls are the same, they each have their own unique animations that closely resemble the way the characters moved in the movie.  Upon crashing, Woody will fall in the same clumsy way that he did on film.  It's a minor – but extremely cool – element that gives Pixar nuts like me an increased amount of joy.

Most pleasing to Disney fans will be the game's skate parks.  The parks are actually worlds based on the most memorable areas from the three movies featured in the game (Tarzan, Toy Story, and The Lion King).  All nine of these parks are good, but the Toy Story levels are exceptional.  Explore Andy's toy-filled room, infiltrate the lair of evil Emperor Zurg, or have a slice of pizza at Pizza Planet.  Two things came to mind when I entered the Pizza Planet level for the first time: 1) this looks just like the movie and 2) it reminded me of the Pizza Planet-themed area of Disney Quest in Walt Disney World.  Awesome!

Despite being too easy for most hardcore gamers (especially those who think they are too "cool" to play a game that's geared at children), I thoroughly enjoyed playing Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure.  It may play like a Tony Hawk rip-off, but it was created using the Tony Hawk engine, and was published by the company that owns the Tony Hawk name, so technically it's part of the Neversoft family.  Kids will love it, and any adult that gives it a chance will find that it's much more than a kiddie game.

Gameplay: 7.9
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure's ingredients are like those of a delicious cake.  You've got high-quality eggs, flour and milk (the Tony Hawk engine); rich, irresistible chocolate (Tony Hawk-style gameplay); and a sugary-sweet frosting that's too good to miss (Disney characters).  No matter how full you are from the feast of extreme skateboard titles out there, you can always find room for seconds, right?

Graphics: 8
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure's ingredients are like those of a delicious cake.  You've got high-quality eggs, flour and milk (the Tony Hawk engine); rich, irresistible chocolate (Tony Hawk-style gameplay); and a sugary-sweet frosting that's too good to miss (Disney characters).  No matter how full you are from the feast of extreme skateboard titles out there, you can always find room for seconds, right?  I know I can, especially when one is as entertaining as Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure.

Sound: 5
Punk rock music is great, and some rap is tolerable (if not a little enjoyable), but this is by far the lowest quality soundtrack I’ve heard in a Tony Hawk spin-off.  The only notable bands either feature their most repetitive songs (Simple Plan’s “Grow Up” lacks the depth of their other tracks), or are so far past their prime that you won’t even acknowledge their presence.

Difficulty: Medium
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure brings the characters of Tarzan, Toy Story and The Lion King to life in a whole new way.  The cartoony graphics are great.  Buzz, Woody and Jessie's animations instantly catch the eye, mimicking their movie counterparts very nicely.  Simba, Rafiki, and Timon and Pumbaa also move well, though it's not as hard to recreate realistic animal movements (which are common in games) as it is to make a wooden doll fall with style.

Concept: 7
The main concept is a no-brainer: take Tony Hawk gameplay and throw in several familiar faces.  However, the developers did take the time to faithfully recreate Andy's room.  And while they had little to work with in terms of the wide-open spaces that filled the movie worlds of Tarzan and The Lion King, that didn't stop them from doing their best to make those levels fun.

Multiplayer: 7
Not bad, but not great either.  Only two players can enjoy this one simultaneously, making the multiplayer mode less appealing.  It's still fun, but you probably won't spend a large amount of time playing it.

Overall: 7.9
Looking for extreme skateboarding?  Looking for adventure?  Then stop rolling your eyes and point your eyes here.  Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is the perfect way to break into the Tony Hawk series.  If you have never played a Tony Hawk game before (it's not likely but is possible), or just feel that they're a little too hard to get into, then this is the game to get.  Kids will especially love it, whether they're casual or hardcore players who kick butt online.  It's well worth your time, worth the money for Disney fans, and worth renting for anyone who's looking for a fun Tony Hawk-style game to finish in a weekend.