Toy Story 3 (2010)

Hollywood has a long history of disappointing third installments of successful film franchises. So making Toy Story 3 was a big deal for Pixar. People go in to this film either expecting disappointment or being surprised that the third movie is a worthy entry in the series. As for me, I personally love this one. It's rare that the third entry is as good as the previous ones and Toy Story 3 is a rare case in my opinion.

Like the the first 2 films, Toy Story 3 has moments of heart and humor while also having suspenseful and dramatic moments.  In fact, this film might be the most dramatic and serious entry in the entire series. Andy is all grown up this time and is preparing for college. He intends to take Woody with him and puts the other toys in a trash bag so he can put them in the attic but his mom mistakenly thought he left trash behind and put them on the street curb. Thinking Andy doesn't love them anymore, they escape the trash bag, Woody followed them, and sneaked into a donation box sent to a day care center called SunnySide. Woody tried to tell the gang about Andy actually meant to do but they don't believe him. This leads to Woody leaving his friends behind at the day care and going back to Andy's house himself until a sweet little girl named Bonnie finds him and takes him home. But Buzz and the gang realize that SunnySide is not what they think it is because the classroom run by a dictatorial purple teddy bear named Lots-O-Huggin' Bear and is held captive. It's now up to Woody to save Buzz and the gang and get back to Andy's house.

15 years after the original Toy Story, Pixar's technological wizardry has come a long way with one visual dazzler after another. Toy Story 3 looks no different than the other Pixar films. The attention to detail on the sets and characters are just as outstanding as the previous 2 films and the film looks great overall. But storytelling and character development are just as important, just like other Pixar films. This films deals with leadership, nostalgia, friendship, and the toys coming to terms of their owner's adulthood.

Woody has matured since the original film though he's blinded by nostalgia to realize that Andy has matured since high school. He really wants to convince the gang that they're Andy's toys and he was putting them in the attic but he really needs to realize that their mission with Andy is complete and he's all grown up now. After he heartlessly left his friends at SunnySide and was taken care of by Bonnie, he learns of Lots-O's true colors and decides to help the gang escape, learning that he'd been selfish towards them and it's his fault that he left them behind.

We had an interesting villain in Lots-O, voiced terrifically by Ned Beatty. At first, he seemed like a friendly leader to the day care toys but later on in the movie, we discover that he's really a selfish, delusional tyrant. He's also very smart. When Buzz Lightyear demands that he and the gang be put into another room since the toddlers were too young to play with them, Lots-O manipulates Buzz into the delusional action figure he was in the first movie and imprisoning the gang.

We also have a tragic backstory about Lots-O that explains why he's like this. He actually a Christmas present to a little girl named Daisy. She took good care of her toys, including a stuffed clown and a baby doll, but Lots-O was her favorite. One day, after a trip with her parents, they accidentally left the toys behind and never came back. When Lots-O and the gang found their way home, Lots-O was replaced. He freaked out at the other toys, forced them to come along with him for shelter, and found SunnySide. As he rules the day care, he had forgotten the fond memories he had with Daisy and thinks that she doesn't love her toys anymore.

After an exciting escape plan and accidentally altering Buzz in Spanish mode while turning him back to normal,  Lots-O corners our heroes and tries to put them back to SunnySide but Woody reminds Lots-O that Daisy did love him and she did indeed replace him. After Lots-O mistreats the baby doll and calling everybody trash meant to be thrown out and not played with, he's gets thrown in the dumpster for his selfish actions.

This leads to an exciting, dark, and tension filled climax at the junk yard and Buzz finally turning back to normal. At this point in time, we actually though that the toys are going to be destroyed for good but luckily they survived. After they head home via garbage truck, Woody begins to realize that going to college with Andy while letting his friends live in the attic wasn't a great idea and remembers his time with Bonnie. So Woody leaves a note containing Bonnie's address to Andy so he can donate the toys to her.

Some people criticized the ending for being sappy and corny but I disagree. It's established earlier in the film that Bonnie was like Andy when he was a kid and when Andy donates the toys to Bonnie, he expects she take good care of them like he did, so the ending makes sense to me. The film's moral is that even if we grow up and don't play with our toys anymore, they're still friends to us and we have fond memories with them, which is a great message to be sell to the audience.

In conclusion, Toy Story 3 is worthy of it's last two predecessors, with great animation, a consistent mix of drama and comedy, and great morals about leadership, fond memories, and friendship.

RATING: 4/4

Toy Story 2 (1999)

1995's Toy Story proved to be a hit and changed the way we looked at animation but making a sequel to the first movie made by computers is a very risky move from Disney and Pixar. Even riskier, the film was originally intended to be a direct to video sequel but when the story had potential, Disney decided to give the film a theatrical release and production had to be completed in 9 months. Will Toy Story 2 be as good as the original, or will it be a disappointment? Let's find out!

After Andy goes on a camping trip, Woody (Tom Hanks) gets stolen at a yard sale by a greedy toy store owner because he's actually a rare collectors item based on a 1950s TV show called Woody's Roundup and he's about to be shipped to a museum in Japan. He meets new friends based on the show, including a cowgirl doll named Jessie (Joan Cusack), a stuffed horse named Bullseye, and a rubber prospector named Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer), who lives in a box that's never been opened. Woody now has to decide to either go to Japan or go back to Andy's house while Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the gang goes on a journey to save Woody.

Forget about the fact that the film was originally meant to be direct to video, the animation has slightly improved over the original film and still holds up today. You get details like reflections, the amount of plastic on the toys, the light sources, rugs, and even dust. The visuals are bigger in scope too. There's an chase sequence at the end of the film when Buzz and the gang are at the airport to save Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye and the baggage handling system is so big with those suitcases on the conveyor belts, the hard work from the animators really payed off for that scene.

The performances are equally strong as they were in the first. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were great as usual in their respective roles but there's a whole gallery of great supporting performances from Don Rickles as Mr Potato Head, Jim Varney as Slinky, Wallace Shawn as Rex, and even newcomers to the series like Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, and Estelle Harris as Mrs Potato Head. They're all chosen well for their roles and the way the voices mixes with the characters personalities are perfectly handled.

What's equally impressive about the film is it's character development and storytelling, which deals with friendship, growing up, and moving on while also dealing with the fear of rejection.  Andy accidentally rips Woody's arm and his mom puts him on a special shelf, reminding him that toys don't last forever. Woody later has a surreal nightmare of Andy not wanting to play with him anymore because of his broken arm and throws him in the trash. After Woody gets stolen, he makes some new friends, who are on their way to Japan or else they'll go back into storage.

When Woody was telling Stinky Pete, Bullseye, and Jessie about Andy, they're weren't convinced that Andy loves Woody because of his broken arm and the fact that he tried to save a rubber penguin with a broken squeaker in the yard sale earlier in the film. After Woody loses his arm while trying to have a picture taken with his friends, Pete warns Woody that the outside world is dangerous. After Woody's arm is fixed, he decides to go back to Andy.

This is when we get to understand Jessie's fears as Woody learns that she belongs to a little girl named Emily. Rather than spelling out to the audience, we get a flashback with Jessie's fond memories with Emily since they both bonded with each other. As Emily begins to grow up, she buys make up and music instead of toys and when she finds Jessie under her bed, she decides to give her away. This was why Jessie often gets jealous of Woody trying to get back to Andy and having her own fears of being owned by another child. After Stinky Pete warns Woody that Andy might do the same thing, he decides to stay with his new friends and go to Japan.

At this point, Woody begins to forget that a toy is meant to be played with and when Buzz and the gang convince Woody to get back to Andy's house, he turns down the offer. When he sees a kid playing with a Woody puppet on the TV set, he realizes his purpose in life is to be played with and not for show, so he decides to leave and take his new friends to Andy's house along with Buzz and company. This leads into Stinky Pete being a bigger threat in the film.

It turns out that Pete can get out of the box anytime he wants to and reveals that he framed Jessie for foiling Woody's escape attempt the previous night because he'd rather be appreciated in the museum rather than being played with. He also hates space toys since the Space Age was responsible for Woody's Roundup's cancellation and children bought space toys as a result. He doesn't seem to understand that they're are children who love toys and take care of them no matter what kind of toy they are. Realizing Stinky Pete's problem, Woody and company puts him in a little girl's Barbie bag to show him the true purpose of being a toy.

The movie ends with exciting climax when Woody, Buzz, and Bullseye save Jessie from a cargo ship heading to Japan, Andy coming home from camp and accepting the new toys, Woody's arm being fixed again after Stinky Pete ripped it at the airport and the toys lived happily ever after.

Overall, Toy Story 2 is equal to it's predecessor with it's improved animation, strong themes, great performances, and lovable, well developed characters. This film really deserves to be ranked with The Empire Strikes Back and Terminator 2 as one of the best sequels of all time and deserves a higher recommendation from me. I loved the Toy Story movies as a kid, I wasn't disappointed as a grown up.

Tune in next time for the final conclusion to the Toy Story trilogy.

RATING: 4/4.

Toy Story (1995)

After the successes of the first half of The Disney Renaissance, Disney teamed up with a very small computer animation company called Pixar to create the very first computer animated feature, Toy Story, directed by John Lasseter and inspired by an Oscar winning short subject Pixar made called Tin Toy.

The story focuses on a pull string cowboy doll named Woody (Tom Hanks), who is the favorite toy of a little boy named Andy. When Andy gets a space themed action figure for his birthday, he replaces Woody as his new favorite toy. The action figure is named Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), who is delusional because he thinks he's a superhero. As Andy plays with Buzz more often, Woody becomes increasingly jealous of Buzz and has made plans to get rid of him. After Woody accidentally knocks Buzz out the window, Andy takes Woody to a space themed pizza restaurant called Pizza Planet. Meanwhile, Buzz follows them and after a brawl between Buzz and Woody, they're left behind at the gas station. When Woody and Buzz get to Pizza Planet, they're kidnapped by Sid, Andy's neighbor who destroys toys and mixes the broken pieces together to make his mutant toys. It's now up to Woody and Buzz to get back to Andy's house and escape from Sid's clutches.

There have been previous movies that used computer generated images (CGI) such as Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Jurassic Park, and several Disney animated films but making a feature length film made entirely by CGI was a really big deal back in the 90s due to technical limitations at the time and how it would affect not only affect the finished film, the the movie industry in general. When Toy Story came along, it revolutionized animation and it's easy to see why. The animation is very detailed, like scratches on wood, dirt on the ground, rusty vehicles, and the reflections on Buzz Lightyear's helmet. Unlike traditional animation, the "camera" is now given freedom to move whatever it wants and shows us interesting angles we normally see in live action films. And the character models on the toys really do look like toys and they are animated fluidly. The animation still holds up today, but what really made Toy Story a masterpiece besides the animation are the story and characters.

Woody is a complex yet likable character. The beginning of the film establishes Woody as a confident, and friendly leader of the toys. But when he is replaced by Buzz Lightyear as Andy's favorite toy, Woody's jealousy quickly took over and got him into trouble. When Woody unintentionally throws Buzz out the window, the other toys think he did this on purpose and began to hate and disbelieve him because of his jealousy. After Sid captures Woody and Buzz at Pizza Planet, Woody begins to bond with Buzz and tries the best he can to convince the other toys that Buzz is okay but they still don't believe him. When Sid plans to blow up Buzz, Woody rallies up Sid's mutant toys and we root for them to save Buzz and defeat Sid and Woody finally learns the importance of having a new friend. Tom Hanks is perfectly chosen as a flawed but confident toy in my opinion. I liked his wit, charm, and his inner bravery as he tries to save Buzz.

Buzz Lightyear has some interesting character development as well. When we first see him, he appears to be under the delusion that he's a space ranger who crash lands in uncharted territory while making friends with the toys. Woody tries to convince him that he's an action figure but Buzz doesn't believe him. As Buzz hides from Sid's dog, he sees a television commercial of Buzz Lightyear action figures in stores. When Buzz realizes that Woody is right, he develops severe depression, he won't talk to Woody, and even thinking that he can't help anyone. Woody convinces Buzz that being a toy is better than being a space ranger and Andy really loves him and accepted him as a toy. As Buzz sees Andy's name on his foot, he learns that being played with and loved as a toy isn't a bad thing after all and agrees to team up with Woody and get back to Andy. I'm not a Tim Allen fan but I think this is his best performance. He clearly was having fun playing a delusional action figure who thinks he's a superhero.

There's also some great and funny supporting characters, including a toy dog who's also a slinky, a T Rex who's ironically afraid and insecure, a cynical Mr Potato Head, Woody's girlfriend Bo Peep, the squeaky alien toys at Pizza Planet who think that the arcade claw game they live in is heaven, and of course, the imaginative Andy and the violent and destructive Sid.  

In addition of being a visual ground-breaker, the film also has a great story about friendship and what it means to be a toy. Andy is a very imaginative boy who not only plays with his toys but also loves them. A lot of children are imaginative with their toys when they play with them and the opening of the film establishes the theme with a typical cowboys and robbers conflict in which Woody is the hero and Mr Potato Head as the robber. Children also get sad and worried when their toys are lost. When Woody and Buzz went missing, Andy misses them terribly and wonders where they are and how he lost them. He thinks he lost responsibilities with his toys, but when Woody and Buzz come back to Andy, he's happy that they're back in his life and realizes he's responsible with his toys the whole time.

It also shows us how jealousy can get you to nowhere and how your reputation will tarnish. Woody becomes jealous as he's been replaced by Buzz as Andy's favorite toy. He lost most of his friends because of his jealousy towards Buzz and nobody would believe him. To prove his own innocence, Woody has convince his friends that Buzz is alive. There's a scene in Sid's room when Woody tries to convince his friends that Buzz is alive but Buzz gives him his severed arm due to his depression when he found out that he's a toy. Woody performs a puppet show with Buzz's arm but that easily backfired and his friends turned his back on him.

In the climactic chase scene when Andy is moving to a new house, Woody and Buzz are separated by Sid's dog, Scud. In desperation to save Buzz, Woody climbs to the moving van and uses a remote control toy car to save Buzz. Thinking Woody murdered the toy car, the toys throw him out of the moving van but Buzz and the car teams up with him, finally convincing them that Woody is innocent. They tried to save them but the battery is dying. But Woody lights the rocket strapped on Buzz's back by Sid, the toys finally got back to Andy and lived happily after ending. It's a well written and suspenseful climax in my opinion.

Overall, Toy Story is a masterpiece with stunning animation, rich story, strong morals, interesting characters, a thrilling climax, and great performances, especially from Tim Allen and Tom Hanks. 4 years later, we got Toy Story 2. Will it be in line with the original or will it be a disappointment? Tune in next time.

RATING: 4/4

Behind The Scenes Drama of The Big 4 of The Disney Renaissance

1989 to 1994 was an important era for Disney Animation, beginning with The Little Mermaid and ending with The Lion King. Critics, families, ordinary moviegoers, and animation/movie buffs praised these movies for their animation, characters, Broadway-style musical numbers, stories and themes and they sold a lot of box office tickets, home video copies, toys, and video games. Unfortunately, these movies were not always easy to make. This article deals with the nightmares the animators and writing staff went through, dealing with such topics such as studio interference, long work hours, Then-chairman Jeffery Katzenberg's impatience with animation, and writers and directors struggling with what the story should be. I'm excluding The Rescuers Down Under (1990) because there wasn't much production conflicts i can find and despite positive reviews from critics and animation fans, not that many people remember it thanks to Katzenberg pulling off TV ads after the opening weekend didn't meet expectations.

The Little Mermaid (1989) - Walt Disney attempted to adapt Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale as a short subject for a package feature back in the late 1930s but the film never came into fruition. During the production of The Great Mouse Detective (1986), co-director Ron Clements was doing research at a bookstore and came across Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale. Jeffery Katzenberg, who was promoted as Chairman of Disney in 1984, was reluctant to green light the film because the studio was working on a sequel to the 1984 hit comedy Splash, with Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah. But later changed his mind after he read Clements's treatment of the film and the Splash sequel was cancelled and turned into a made for TV movie in 1988. Nobody knew that Walt planned to adapt The Little Mermaid until work from Dutch illustrator Kay Nielsen was discovered at the Disney archives. The iconic song "Part of Your World", about Ariel's desire to go to the human world, was nearly cut from the film because it reportedly bored children at a test screening and Katzenberg thought of doing it but Ariel's animator Glen Keane and songwriter Howard Ashman demanded the song to be kept in the film, which happened after a successful test screening with a different audience. The Little Mermaid was the last Disney animated feature to use cels, sheets of plastic used for tracing the front of the animation drawings and color them on the back. The labor was intense so some of the animation was done at a Chinese art facility near Beijing. Unfortunately, this was taking place during protest at Tienanmen Square. Due to the intense labor, Disney decided to use Pixar's CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) to finish the film. It was used in only one shot in the film when the mermaids waving goodbye to Prince Eric and Ariel while King Triton casts a rainbow on top of the ship. Despite these difficulties, production was smooth compared to the next 3 films.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Like The Little Mermaid, Walt Disney attempted to adapt the Beauty and the Beast legend but never paid off due to difficulties of adapting the story and French filmmaker Jean Cocteau already made his version in 1946. During the production of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), the project was resurrected. Roger Rabbit's director of animation, Richard Williams. was approached to direct the film but he was focusing on finishing his pet project called The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) but he recommended his friend Richard Purdum to do the job. Purdum's version was very different than the finished film. It was close to the original tale and was not a musical. When Purdum pitched his idea in 1989, Jeffery Katzenberg was dissatisfied and turned the film into a musical. Purdum quit the project. Following Little Mermaid's success, songwriters Alan Menken and Howard Ashman were hired to do the songs. Unfortunately, Ashman was HIV positive since 1988 and was slowly dying so he had to do work at the Residence Inn in Fishkill, New York. He sadly died in his hospital bed in March 14, 1991 at age 40. As bad as things have been with Ashman's health and death, the situation with the animation department was even worse. The animators were given no vacation time in order for the the film to look perfect. Several marriages were broken, there was little time for them to raise kids, hands would shake while holding drinks, and they developed Carpal tunnel syndrome. This happened when Aladdin was in production too. Katzenberg had made a meeting with the animators to ask them what it's like working with him and when they told their stories, he was in tears.

Aladdin (1992) - Unlike the last 2 films, Walt never made plans to adapt the story of Aladdin. It was a pet project Howard Ashman developed in 1988. His vision of the film was closer to the plot and characters of the original story, but envisioned as a campy 1930s Hollywood style musical. Sadly, the studio dismissed Ashman's treatment and he and Alan Menken were removed from Aladdin to save Beauty and the Beast. Screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who wrote Beauty and the Beast, took on Ashman's treatment and included elements from The Thief of Baghdad (1940). In April 1991, a month after Ashman's death, Jeffery Katzenberg hated the story ideas that was given him and encouraged the writers and directors John Musker and Ron Clements to start all over. Several characters were deleted, including Aladdin's mother, Princess Jasmine was changed from spoiled brat to a rebellious princess who is forced to marry a prince, and changed Aladdin's personality into a Harrison Ford type. Worst of all, Katzenberg refused to change the November 1992 release date. The story and characters were re written in 8 days and Katzenberg finally green lit the project. Robin Williams chose to do the voice of The Genie on the condition that the studio should not overexpose him because he was working on Toys, a movie which director Barry Levinson was working on for 10 years and Williams was underpaid by Disney. When The Genie spread massive publicity, Williams refused to work for Disney ever again until Jeffery Katzenberg's departure in 1994.

The Lion King (1994) - The Lion King was an idea developed by Disney executives Jeffery Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, and Peter Schneider in 1988 during a plane trip to Europe while promoting Oliver and Company. Katzenberg has said that the film was a little bit about himself, referring his to his early life into politics when he was a teenager. Scripts flew around over the years from several writers, from Thomas Disch, to Linda Woolverton. Early drafts were far different than the final film, one focused on a war between lions and baboons. It was not intended to be a musical and was more like a National Geographic type film. After a 1991 research trip to Africa, the film changed into a musical, causing co director George Scribner to quit the project and be replaced by Rob Minkoff. In early 1992, producer Don Hahn felt that the script was lacking a clear theme and he established the theme of accepting responsibility. He teamed up with directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, Beauty and the Beast directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and head of story Brenda Chapman to rework the story in 2 days and changed the title from King of the Jungle to The Lion King because lions don't live in the jungle. Screenwriters Johnathon Roberts and Irene Mecchi wrote the screenplay the following months and rewrites were frequent, with scenes being reanimated due to dialogue changes. The release date changed from Thanksgiving 1993 to Summer 1994. Disney had little to no faith in the project, as the studio expected Pocahontas (1995) to be the hit instead of The Lion King. Katzenberg views Pocahontas as "West Side Story with Dances with Wolves" while he views The Lion King as a weird experiment (ironic as the film was partially his idea). Disney's top animators chose to do Pocahontas while the animators on The Lion King were either first timers or animal lovers. The animators also had a rough time finishing the film. In January 1994, The Northridge earthquake caused Disney to close down, so the animators had to finish the movie at their homes.

In-spite of their production difficulties, these movies were eventually made and were big successes. Years later, these films have still held up to us. Even if we have our opinions on the films and the making of these films were difficult, these movies still have a place in our hearts, with dazzling animation, interesting stories, characters we cared about, and entertaining songs.