Was lucky enough to be able to attend a pre-screening event with the director and the producer over here as the movie won’t officially launch in Germany until the end of July or something.
I wasn’t particularly hyped by the trailers, but I ended up really enjoying the result. I admire Pixar’s ability to produce three movies within the same universe and keep things somewhat fresh nevertheless. It was probably even more salient thanks to all the Shrek 4 posters I saw while leaving the theatre since that one happens to be a prime example of how a franchise can be run into the ground through repetition. Like others here, I also found that scene before the claw came down really touching.
Chuckles the Clown and the psycho monkey were awesome. (Unfortunately, it seems that, in terms of merchandise, pretty much every character from the movie–including the insect/man toy and the freaky baby doll–is available in some form. Except these two guys. Damn!)
We saw the 3D version of the movie. To be honest - had I been able to spontaneously switch to 2D sans glasses, I’d have done that. The projector in the theatre certainly did not suck, and it wasn’t the first 3D movie I attended there, but the glasses really did hurt the colour vibrance in TS3.
Phew… that prior quote about threw me off the deep end. :)
I’m glad I’m not the only one that was totally moved by the incinerator scene. It obviously wasn’t going to end there, but they sure made you go through all the emotions as if it was going to. And honestly, the way they were saved was pretty clever I thought. Nicely tied things back to the first movie, and gave a humorous tension breaker for the littler kids that might not have understood that this wasn’t the end.
And the truck that Lotso and Big Baby hitch-hiked home on after being left in the field was the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story 1. Cute :)
On thing about being in your late teens is that strange feeling that you were still a little kid not so long ago…
It also redeemed Andy from being a jerk.
I saw the movie on Sunday and really enjoyed it. However, I thought Buzz was underdeveloped and that his Spanish mode seemed to be a grasp for cheap laughs, something I would have expected from Dreamworks and not Pixar.
I absolutely loved it. Has anyone seen Toy Story 2 recently? I haven’t seen it since it was originally released in theatres, but I kept thinking how its plot and set piece moments seemed to parallel those in Toy Story 3.
Woody remains loyal to Andy while the rest of the toys turn their back on him in both, right? Also, Lotso and Stinky Pete almost seem like the exact same characters. They’re introduced as sweet and nice toys, almost overly-caring, but are revealed to be the main antagonists. Even the garbage dump conveyor belt scene felt familiar - wasn’t there a similar scene in an airport in the second one?
Maybe I’m mixing up some details, and maybe they only seem so similar because I can’t remember the details of Toy Story 2 that would really differentiate them.
I’ve seen the first two about four times each within the past year, and the third twice. Just point by point here:
-Yes, Toy Story 3 does echo the first two a bit too much, but fortunately that’s mostly in the first half hour.
-In Toy Story 2, Buzz is the voice of reason remaining loyal to Andy. Woody is manipulated into wanting to go to the museum by the Prospector, who presents him with a very one sided picture of things.
-Lotso is more the dark version of Jesse’s backstory than a duplication of Stinky Pete. At least that’s my take on it. Either Dingus or Kelly made a similar point in the podcast as well.
-I doubt anyone (apart from children) didn’t immediately know Lotso was the villain of the film. In Toy Story 2, we believed the villain for a time. In Toy Story 3, the audience is let in on the fact from the beginning, and the characters shortly thereafter.
I didn’t make the connection with the conveyor belts until just now, but I can see that. The difference to me is that one of them is a rescue mission, and the other is a serial escape gone awry. For the record, I was surprised & slightly satisfied with the claw at the end of that sequence the first time I saw it; and I’m still tolerant of it. I don’t think it undermines the emotion of the scene one bit.
Sorry, Dean. I agreed with everything you said, too. I was lurking.
But I just didn’t want to get embroiled in the argument – too busy.
If those guys don’t love a movie, they spend about 90% of their time talking about the stuff that sucked or that they’d have done differently. Which hey, it’s their podcast. But after the Toy Story 3 podcast, I’m only downloading podcasts for movies I didn’t like either. :)
How can you be tolerant of it? Yes, the main characters are saved, but at what cost? The little green aliens have entirely lost their faith. Their existence was based on worship of the claw, but at the end we see they have forsaken their beliefs and now resort to control of the god they once exalted. The claw has been demystified and is now merely a tool in their mundane secular lives. Where will they find meaning now? The story is a tragedy of the highest proportion.
I am not an enormous fan of the original Toy Story films and rewatching them just before seeing this reminded me of that fact. That said, I loved this one. Not as good as some other recent Pixar efforts, but by FAR the best of the Toy Story films. The only complaint I have is that I wish Kristen Schaal and Timothy Dalton’s characters were a little more substantial. Michael Keaton was great. Big Baby was a creepy fucker. Loved it.
I almost took you seriously until I realized what brilliant deconstructionism you’ve concocted.
I tolerate it because it saved my fictive friends in a way that surprised me without devaluing the incredibly emotional moment just before. Most deus ex machina feels contrived, but this felt appropriate & earned. (setup but forgotten)
