Toy Story 3: The "I saw it" thread *UNBOXED SPOILERS*

Cafe Society
21

“…unlike humans, toys have no existential ambiguity, although they can still choose to leave their intended path.”
A lovely post,Tanbarkie

Related observation:
When the LGM Squeeze Toys took control of the crane/claw at the recycling center, they had stormed the Gates of Heavens.

“Weehaf becumas gahdz!”

And to pull together a few previous observations, the Toys sometimes functioned as Parent figures, (who have to continue support even when no longer needed) and sometimes as child figures (The Big Baby’s sob for Mommy.)

22

I just checked Rotten Tomatoes to see if this was still at 100%. It’s now at a still-impressive 98% thanks to three negative reviews.

Now, I’m not familiar with Armond White of the New York Press, but I almost have to believe that this review is some kind of parody of self-important pseudo-intellectual film critic snobbery. I mean, he complains about consumerism, the banality of the hoi polloi, and name-drops obscure films that are far superior. That guy needs a slap.

Not to mention he identifies piggy bank Hamm as a villian. Clearly he wasn’t even paying attention.

According to his profile on RT, he only agrees with the majority of critics 52% of the time which confirms he is, to say the least, out of touch with even his peers. He eviscerates Toy Story 3 but praises Jonas Hex, which has a whopping 14% score overall. What a pretentious twit.

23

I’m not speaking to the content of his review (the Hamm mis-classification is beyond odd), but it makes absolutely no sense to compare his reviews to the majority. If you want all critics to agree with each other 100$ of the time, having more than one becomes completely unnecessary.

And a 52% agree-ratio isn’t even that “bad.”

24

I also wanted to point out that several of the positive critics also matched his 52% agree-ratio (Michelle Alexandra, Arnold White)–are they “out of touch” too? Myriad others fell into the 60% range.

But none of this really matters considering RT is so binary as to make almost any comparison worthless. If the aforementioned critics are scoring movies just slightly below their peers, it will still come across as “rotten” even if the average score is just slightly higher, or visa-versa.

25

Well, no, I don’t expect (or want) all reviews to agree 100% of the time, but I’m thinking that there should be a closer correlation than 50%. That’s what you would get just giving out random good or bad reviews.

Edited to add: I agree with you about the limits of binary ratings. It was really the absurdity of his review that set me off, I just thought the 52% was worth mentioning.

26

I hadn’t noticed the shirt, Tanbarkie, but I did see a credit for “Sid,” so I think you may be right there. Good catch!

27

For me, the Toy Story franchise derailed emotionally in Toy Story 2, with the song “When Somebody loved me.”

After that, it’s established that toys are bound to suffer endless loneliness and suffering, after their brief periods as toys. Terrible.

28

That’s what I got too. There’s no happily ever after, only a brief respite before the garbage burner.

29

And that differs from human life, how?

As I said above … not really the best film for me to see the day after my boy became a man … .

“Dad, why are you crying … ?”

30

The Toy Story Trilogy is a fucking Greek Tragedy and you see this as a demerit against it!?!?! Man, how do you find any joy in life.

I posted to the Toy Story Poll thread tonight and I’m still sorting through my thoughts but I loved this movie. I can’t quite decide where it ranks in the series, but that I’m struggling to rank the 3 movies speaks highly of the series as a whole. I turned to my girlfriend tonight after credits and asked in all seriousness if this is the greatest movie trilogy of all time. With Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings it’s some pretty stiff competition but it’s a real debate.

As noted in the other thread the last 1/3rd of the movie is pure heart wrenching magic. The incinerator scene was amazing to look at and very touching. Andy’s mom having her break down and Woody finding clarity through it is an amazingly complex and genuine moment in the movie. The one-last-play that the Toys longed for getting played out as the passing of the torch is a truly great conclusion to the series. It’s really wonderful that the animation as progressed to the point that the writers were able to incorporate the humans, Andy, Mom and Bonnie, as emotional foils for our heroes. That Andy and Woody were able to have that quasi-shared moment at the end is impressive from an animation standpoint as well as a story-telling one.

Some random open-ended thoughts:

I want to know what happened to Bo!

Loved the Vader-Palpatine homage between Big Baby and Lotsa there.

Death By Monkey! Priceless.

I wonder how much effort goes into getting all the rights to the toy franchises they use. Barbie and Mr Potato head couldn’t have better marketing than these movies, but you know the lawyers on both sides get a work out. Hope that wasn’t why toys like Etch and Mr Spell were lost.

I like that Rex is a irredeemable gamer.

The fate of Lotsa Hugs was pretty much perfect. He gets his just desserts in a great way, next time I see a Tickle Me Elmo strapped to a Semi I’ll get a fresh laugh out of it.

I find it vaguely interesting the the villains in Pixar movies tend to be universally irredeemable. Neither Prospector Pete or Lotsa Hugs took their opportunities at redemption and I’m not really thinking of any other contrary examples. It’s probably just a story telling device but it’s something that occurred to me.

The 3D didn’t add much to the viewing of this one. I liked it in Up! and was blown away by Avatar but count this one as an occasion where it was a bit of a gimmick and a cash grab. It didn’t hurt the viewing at all and perhaps it made the incinerator scene and the opening fantasy sequence a bit more grand but all in all it wasn’t worth the extra 3 bucks this time.

The 3D glasses did help hide the moist eyes at the end though…which was a plus!

31

I’m still going to have to go with LotR, but it’s close. Toy Story has more to say about the human condition, Lord of the Rings is a grander vision.

The Ultimate Toy Box DVD set (which must now be re-titled the Penultimate Toy Box) had great commentaries. There was a very amusing discussion about phone calls from Mr Potato Head’s lawyer. Barbie didn’t appear until the second film due to battles between rival toy companies. The animators were annoyed that the mutant toys in Sid’s room were never made as a product. They really wanted a make-your-own-mutant set.

I’m sure they trimmed the cast because that’s what happens - toys get lost, break and get thrown out. Andy was kinda weird for still having a box of toys in his room at his age.

32

I tend to agree, but then again Toy Story doesn’t have any truly cringe-worthy elements like LotR does. You know, Aragorn over a cliff and whatnot. Plus there’s something to be said for the not being based on a book factor.

33

They referenced this near the beginning of the movie – Bo had been sold at a yard sale.

34

…what? They referenced her being gone but not what happened.

35

It was very brief and implied. I don’t remember the exact words, but they named two or three toys that were gone, and then Woody mentioned something about how “through every yard sale, Andy still kept US.”

36

I’m a pretty big fan of LOTR, but I give the edge to Toy Story here. It’s equally good or slightly better in most areas, and significantly better in a few.

**Visuals: **Toy Story has the advantage here, in that dated animation still looks good because it’s not supposed to be photorealistic. TS1 still looks fantastic today, because even though the humans and animals look incredibly fake, the toys themselves look essentially identical to their most recent incarnations, and the character animation work in TS1 was already nearly as good as the best 3D animation done today. In contrast, the big CGI action sequences in LOTR are already starting to show their age. As time passes, that contrast is only going to grow.

Writing: Toy Story wins this one hands-down. Jackson’s writing team is excellent at adaptation, but collectively have something of a tin ear for dialogue, and can be downright rotten at humor. The Pixar writers created a compelling original universe populated by three-dimensional characters, and excel at writing both drama and comedy. Having Joss Whedon spice up the jokes in TS1 didn’t hurt, either.

Music: Here’s where I give the edge to LOTR. Howard Shore’s score is one of the monumental achievements of modern cinema, a 15-hour symphony that tells the story every bit as effectively as the visuals and dialogue. I love Randy Newman’s work in the Toy Story movies as well (though I know that’s not an opinion universally held), and I think his songs and scores fit Pixar’s sensibility to a T, but Shore wins for his combination of sheer ambition and ability to fulfill that ambition.

Acting: LOTR has some truly stunning acting, no doubt. Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, and (in particular) Andy Serkis all gave spellbinding performances, while many others did similarly fantastic work in a more understated but no less powerful fashion. But insofar as acting is imbuing a character with life, I think I’d give the (very) slight edge to Toy Story here. Hanks and Allen created one of the iconic comedic duos of modern film in Woody and Buzz, and the supporting cast gave literally pitch-perfect voice to a set of toys that we all played with as kids. Ratzenberg’s piggy bank and Rickles’s Mr. Potato Head, in particular, were more or less exactly the voices I imagined for those toys as a five year old. They’re joined in TS3 by Michael Keaton’s fabulous Ken. What’s particularly amazing to me is that, with just one or two exceptions, the entire cast was reunited for each TS film, and managed to perfectly recapture the essence of their characters each time. That’s tough enough when you’re dealing with a four year delay between films (as in the time between TS1 and TS2), but it must be incredibly difficult when you are faced with re-playing a character after eleven years (as between TS2 and TS3). Hell, they even got the kid who played Andy in TS1 and TS2 to come back and voice his young adult form for TS3!

37

I think it was the best film to see on Father’s Day while holding my three year old in my lap. I think I would have always thought it was a great movie, but I now the experience of holding a little boy that thinks I am the world will always be a part of that movie for me.

38

Did we ever see if Andy had a dad? I don’t recall through the series hearing him, but maybe he was there in the Christmas unwrapping scene from TS1.

39

I didn’t realize it but it’s awfully cool that they did that.

40

I just got back from a noon showing of it in 3D (which was used for depth mostly…I don’t recall any “gotcha” 3D gimmickry) and I have to say it was very good, and quite moving.

The whole Ken and Barbie thing had me rolling, too, as well as the opening sequence. I liked it very much and so did my 8 and 4 year old boys. We had a ball together.