to infinity

[falulatonks]

Toy Story 3 was wonderful. I'll try to break this reaction down, because it would be a mess otherwise (it's still a mess, because I'm a mess, and I ramble a lot):

Quick thoughts:

1. Loved the short! Day & Night is pretty simple but I loved it for that simplicity and the execution.


2. The opening sequence was brilliant. How much do I love that they did something like that - letting us see this from a boy's imagination? Perfect.


3. KEN IS NOT A GIRL'S TOY! I loved it. Also, way to go, Barbie. You may have redeemed all the Barbies I hated so much in the past (I chewed all their hands).


4. Lotso was so not cool. Five-year-old me would totally chew your head off, you jerk.


5. Spanish!Buzz was a surprise and a delight.


6. Was Sid (the bad kid in Toy Story) the garbage man?! I think he had the same t-shirt on. NICE.)


7. Trixie and Rex! Trixie and Rex! I LOVE THEM VERY MUCH. I love that Bonnie's toys are so sweet, right down to Mr Prickle Pants, but TRIXIE! I want more Trixie and Rex scenes! Dinosaurssssssss.

A little less quick:

1. The noir!telephone was perfect, and everything about it - how it was used, how it was animated - is everything I love about this trilogy (maybe even the studio) - it's so creative. It's so intelligent and so unique and so imaginative. It's just like the toys' Great Escape from the daycare - everything is established, the characters and their uses and the layout of the place, and used perfectly, in this smart, incredibly imaginative way, which I adore.


2. This movie got a little dark at times, didn't it? The first TS3 review online mentioned that the first movie was about friendship, the second about growing up, and the third about mortality and maturity, and there were moments in this that really proved that. Maybe it's why it struck a chord in me - this idea of moving on from things.


3. This movie was very deliberately a send-off, especially that last scene with Andy and Bonnie, and I liked that. I don't really like when I can see the intention of something clearly (hi, Glee) but this scene felt sort of like it meant something to the creators, too, which was lovely.


4. What a great blend of everything you could ever want in a movie - humour, characters you want to root for, genuine heartbreak, even excellently choreographed action. I think they did this better here than they did even in Up. What I'm saying, basically, is: hello, perfect movie. AND YOU'RE A SEQUEL! (I haven't thought about where I would put this with all the other Pixar movies yet.)

Feeeeeelings:

1. I am a sap. I'm not very showy with these sappy feelings, but I'm a sap. When I was a kid I had a blanket, and it got old, but I didn't want to throw it away, so when my mum threw it in a bag with other old things, I cut off a tiny piece of it and put it in a box. When I was a little bit older, I had this wonderful book of fairytales and nursery rhymes with gorgeous illustrations and colourings, and I lent it to a friend and she never gave it back and I've never really forgiven her for that (YOU'D BETTER HAVE TAKEN CARE OF IT, BITCH).
   
   Toy Story was the first movie I remember watching at the cinema, and Toy Story 2 may be my most-watched movie ever. This trilogy is a big deal to me because I am a sap, and I'm ecstatic and incredibly relieved that it lived up. I kind of knew it would, because it's Pixar, but I also really didn't know it would, because I'm always a little terrified the day a Pixar movie gets released (how long will they be this good?). So that was good.


2. Oh, Pixar! The best thing about this company as movie-makers (i.e. not just animators) is how closely they seem to pay attention to keeping things genuine. I can genuinely believe these relationships and these feelings and the decisions they make, despite how large-scale and unbelievable the situations they make, and that may be their greatest strength. I can't think of many movies (i.e. not just animated movies) that get that right. I enjoy feeling for these fictional characters - understanding why decisions that everyone makes may be difficult, why Woody was torn between his friends and his Andy. (It's why I tear up in The Incredibles every time Bob/Mr Incredible says he's not strong enough - that emotion would be cheesy or not entirely believable in other movies, but relationships and characters and feelings and even the stakes were built up here to a point where I totally fell for every bit of it.)


3. It's also why: Woody and Buzz! Everyone else! Best friends! Family! TEARS. I always get gooey when they stick up for one another unconditionally (fuck, you guys, I'm talking about toys), but that scene in the incinerator...I only teared up slightly there, but ohh. Everyone reaching for each other. HANDS. AGHH. I love these friendships so much.
   
   It's actually scary, though! I love that it truly feels like things were going to go terribly wrong, and that they wouldn't be able to get out it, just for that scene. I can't imagine it ever getting this dark in other Pixar movies.


4. I feel very strongly about keeping things of your childhood and feeling torn about what to do with that past and maybe that's why I cried through the last fifteen minutes. I started when Andy started taking out all his toys, and when he pulled Woody back I may have let out a little whimper and started all-out bawling. HE LOVES HIM.
   
   I glanced to the little girl sitting next to me and she looked a little bit worried for me, but at the end she wiped her face, so I guess she cried, too. (which is awesome.) It's so hard, growing up. This movie gets the point across even further by never talking about it explicitly - subtle and beautiful and something everyone understands.


5. Woody was going to maybe be alone at college, which killed me. Woody is my favourite, maybe because I always love the captains. I never really cared for Bo Peep, but when everyone in that incinerator reached for someone and Woody just stared ahead for a second (JUST TOYS.) before he looked at Buzz, it killed me.
   
   (I bugged my sister while waiting in line to buy popcorn to get the TS3 combo, which came with a cup with a toy of a character attached to the lid and she said no. (She's younger than me.) I really only wanted the Woody or the Rex one, anyway.)


6. Thank goodness they had a five-minute "extras" sort of reel during the credits, because if I'd walked out right after it ended people would've seen the mess that was my face.


7. I love Andy and I love that he values all these things that he owns, which the young 'uns these days (e.g. Molly, his sister) seem to lack - what do you buy that you truly care for? People live off of cellphones and iPods and virtual space and it feels like less people care about keeping tangible things to love. There are things I have that I couldn't bear to give away. I hope people feel the same about the things they have, too. That's what I carried away with me once this movie ended.

Technical details:

1. What I love about animated movies in general is that every single frame has to be created. There's consideration behind everything that is shown: the framing of a shot, the random car zooming past in the background even though no one's really paying attention to it. I'm not entirely sure Dreamworks gets that the way Pixar does - I loved How to Train Your Dragon, but I don't see the precision that Pixar has in making it look like a movie's been filmed.
   
   I'm geeking out here and being an over-the-top fan, but really: I love the camera angles in this movie, the things that draws your attention - they even have the focus technique (bringing things to focus and blurring things further in the background, then switching it) that live action movies have, but it's done very neatly. I only even noticed how much Pixar movies look like they've been filmed because of something I heard on the Creative Screenwriting podcast for Wall-E last year (Andrew Stanton! I found it fascinating, so go look it up!), but it's so interesting to pay attention to.


2. It's kind of obvious how much the quality of animation has improved since TS2, and I loved it very much. The colouring, the textures, even the filming-style. It's gorgeous. (Love you, Pixar.)


3. This script was great and very tightly-structured - everything was purposefully introduced and I liked how clearly everything fit together. Plus it was hilarious, which is good (and what I mean by that is thank goodness I had reason to laugh, too).


4. I didn't watch this in 3D (and I will never watch anything in 3D, which my dad is annoyed about), but it's sometimes obvious what things are done to make a non-3D movie a 3D movie. I am very impressed, therefore, that at no point in this movie did I think "oh, that was done just so it could look good in 3D" - nothing in your face (literally), not even the action sequences. Great restraint, Pixar!


5. The voice cast was fabulous. I just want to talk about Woody again - he's sarcastic and goofy and kind of a jerk sometimes, but he's their captain, and I love him and how he brings everyone together. And I don't think he would have that effect on me if he hadn't been Tom Hanks, because he's just perfect. I love the voice cast in all - the telephone, Buzz, Jessie, Rex, the pig, even Lotso - but Woody is just perfect.

If you read all of that, A+. I didn't even get in half the things I was thinking. Maybe I'll leave it for my many rewatches when this comes out on DVD.

I love you, Pixar. (And I want to work with you, please.)

-- rachu

Comments

[imprinted-soul.livejournal.com]

YOU WATCHED IT. :D:D:D:D:D

damn, i really want to watch this.

YES SID IS THE GARBAGE MAN. I SAW IT ON THIS EPIC! BLOGPOST LINKED FROM TUMBLR THAT PICSPAMMED ALL THE ALLUSIONS TO ALL THINGS PIXAR IN TS3. IT WAS SO EPIC.

yesterday night, instead of WORKING OF EFFING MATHS i was looking at videos of Roz from Monsters Inc (the boss!slug who goes "I'M WATCHING YOU, MIKE WAZOWSKI") because i'm supposed to sound like her in part of my tsd play and that was so much fun honestly (SHE WAS VOICED BY A GUY. A GUY! i love how voice acting works, seriously. EDNA MODE BY BRAD BIRD SORT OF EPIC.) but it's very draining to be honest. but either way i ended up looking at pixar's website(which is fabulously classy but still just wonderful) AND I WAS LOOKING AT THEIR INTERNSHIPS AND JOBS AND STUFF. CAN YOU FUCKING IMAGINE INTERNING AT PIXAR?

i would die of happiness. I WOULD BE A COFFEE PERSON TO WORK IN PIXAR IT WOULD BE AWESOME.

[runawayblue.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, I love this post so much! You've got everything I was thinking here and more. So I'm going to leave a really long message because I still have a ton of feelings regarding this film and my brother thinks I'm a huge fucking sap so I can't talk to him about it anymore (heartless thing!)

- I loved the opening scene so much. So much. I really kind of wish there were a whole seperate film that just shows that imaginary universe -- it's just so awesome to me.

- I've been hearing that Barbie hand-chewing was an epidemic. I've just been hearing a lot of people confess to that lately, hehe.

- Sid was the garbage man, I believe! I hope! Kid turned out less crazy than I thought he would (I imagine he went through a lot of therapy after the toy incident in the backyard.)

- I enjoy feeling for these fictional characters - understanding why decisions that everyone makes may be difficult, why Woody was torn between his friends and his Andy.

I like that too. In fact, I had a whole class based on that last semester. Character histories and how they affect the decisions and relationships with other characters -- it was really awesome. And I swear, almost a third of the class was spent analyzing The Incredibles, hehe. My professor loved The Incredibles.

- I feel very strongly about keeping things of your childhood and feeling torn about what to do with that past and maybe that's why I cried through the last fifteen minutes.

Exactly!! Yes, I feel really strongly about this too (not enough people do, it's disappointing). As a result, I remember everything from my childhood; everything I ever loved. And I'm really glad that I do, I still love it all and won't let it go. I don't have to. But anyway, that's part of why I cried that whole way through, those feelings are super important to me.

- Love all the technical detail stuff here, ahh! Because you know I agree. Since watching the first two before leaving, the animation and lighting quality was really noticable, absolutely beautiful work! Everything was perfect, the detailing, the acting, everything.

Okay. I should stop there, but this is my favourite post!

[moirariordan.livejournal.com]

HAVE NOT SEEN IT YET; SCROLLED FOR SPOILERS BUT -

JOSS WHEDON WROTE THE SCREENPLAY. YEAH, HE DID. \o/ EXPLAINS A LOT, DOESN'T IT?! :DDD

[cashewdani.livejournal.com]

I had that telephone when I was a kid! My mom actually brought it to treat a patient the other day and she didn't like the way he was playing with it but after seeing this flick, it is never happening again in her opinion, haha.

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

I LOVE EVERYTHING THIS REVIEW CHOOSES TO BE. I have lots of thoughts and ~feelings too, of course.

1. The short was so cool and unique! The concept was relatively simple but the animation was fantastic.

2. I thought that perhaps they were going to redeem Lotso in the end. He was a sad, abused toy and I was a little disappointed they didn't do the traditional Heartwarming Ending where he becomes everyone's friend for real. But, I guess not all bad people (or toys) have a change of heart. Seeing him chained to the front of the garbage truck was hilarious.

3. Bonnie's toys were so cute omg! I especially loved the Shakespearean hedgehog. But you know who was even cuter? BONNIE. I hope if I have a little girl someday that she is filled with that kind of imagination and joy (and wears tutus with rain boots).

4. This movie made me feel guilty for every toy I've ever thrown away or donated (my Barbies are in Guatemala! I hope those Guatemalan children took care of them!). I still have my childhood blankie and most of my stuffed animals (at my parents' house). I totally agree that people are becoming more and more attached to intangible things. Maybe it's because I work in a museum, which is all about preserving tangible evidence of our existence, but I like stuff. I'm afraid I'm going to end up on an episode of Hoarders at some point.

5. Ahhh the incinerator! They actually made me believe that was the end for them!

6. What's so beautiful about Pixar is even though the stories are about outlandish situations or characters, the emotions are totally grounded in realism. That's what separates it from other animation studios. Other studios focus on OMG TALKING FISH. Or OMG talking insects. Pixar focuses on the why rather than the who, the how, or the what. That's why How to Train your Dragon felt a bit like a Pixar movie; it wasn't just DRAAAAGONS! It had genuine human emotion.

7. I loved the ending. Part of me wanted Andy to take Woody with him to college, but a) he would have been without his friends! and b) it would have undermined the message about growing up. I'm happy they ended up with Bonnie. I can imagine for myself that when Bonnie grows up all of them to go to Sunnyside and be happy now that it's not run under an evil dictatorship (I LOVED the tag-teaming in the caterpillar room during the credits).

8. THIS MOVIE WAS SO CLEVER. The opening sequence. Everything in Sunnyside (the roulette wheel! The prison movie stuff! The great escape!). Glorious.

9. Is there any explanation for why certain toys are gone (like Bo Beep)? I need to re-watch the first two movies since it's been awhile since I've seen them. I guess it makes sense that there wouldn't be an explanation, because from the toys' perspective some of their friends would leave without warning.

10. I watched it in 3D because I had no other choice (the theatre I went to wasn't showing it in 2D), and while I'm sure it added depth to the canvas it wasn't an obviously 3D film.

11. I wanted to mention the preview for Tangled before the movie (did you get it?). WHY IS RAPUNZEL A SECONDARY CHARACTER IN HER OWN MOVIE?