In Toy Story 3, the Pixar animators are fearless. The expressions on the toys’ faces are often so realistic that you have to pinch yourself to remember it’s just a cartoon (Woody has 229 animation points of movement in his face alone). Not only are the colours and textures perfect, but the animators find ways to show proper wear and tear on the toys as well. In this film, Lotso the bear is made a proper villain, and he looks glorious. ![]() ![]() In the first film, we briefly see a teddy bear that’s been relegated to the shelf they chose not to make him part of the gang because fur was just too hard to get right. In 11 years, the animation has of course improved by big heaping gobs. Toy Story 3 improves upon its predecessors in my ways. Is anyone not thinking of their grandparents, and who will die first, leaving the other to face those bleak years alone? Because for me at least, it wasn’t actually death that seemed the worst of it, it was thinking of Woody and Buzz, best buds and life partners, being separated in their twilight years. Even Woody, who was meant to accompany Andy to college, gets reassigned, and frankly, it’s with a sigh of relief that we find he will remain with his friends. Luckily, Pixar thinks better of killing off their revered heroes, and they do get a last minute reprieve and a second chance at life with Bonnie, a little girl just down the street from Andy. This is possibly this decade’s most traumatic and touching scene: with death mere moments away, the toys stop their futile efforts to save themselves, and hold hands to face it bravely together. When the daycare turns out to be a pretty awful, tyrannical living situation, they find themselves embracing death. ![]() I thought the well had finally run dry, and now I’m flooding my keyboard with tears.īut that’s not even the sad part! Toy Story 3’s genius has the toys not just facing oblivion and meaninglessness without a kid to serve, but it has them facing actual death. There’s always been this double read to Toy Story, one that often leaves us choked up. The toys are optimistic about the daycare centre, but it’s easy to read it as relegation to retirement living, being put out to pasture (Buzz even gets lobotomized, like a dementia patient). But parents too must say goodbye to their children eventually, and when they grow to become useless, they too will be placed in an institution. The toys, and Woody in particular, have often seemed parental in their concern for him, and in fact, with Andy’s dad curiously absent and unremarked upon, Woody seems to have stepped into that of father figure. Their own needs have occasionally gone unmet in this quest, especially in these last few years, with Andy the teenager no longer having time for them. Until now, the toys have spent their lives caring solely for Andy, wanting nothing but his happiness. The toys are sad to leave Andy, but thrilled that they might once again be played with. The toys manage to save themselves from the metallic maw of the garbage truck, and they throw themselves into a donation pile destined for Sunnyside Daycare. Andy’s sentimental side has him setting aside Woody for college, and bagging the rest of his old pals for storage, but a misunderstanding leads both his mother and the toys themselves to think that they’re meant for the trash. Andy is packing up his room – putting aside a few things to store in his mother’s attic, a few essentials to bring along with him, and the rest will be marked for garbage. Toy Story 3 was released in 2010, 15 years after the first one, so by any accurate count, Woody and the gang have had some bonus years. One day, Andy WILL grow up, will leave for college, will leave them behind.Īndy is indeed off to college. There is no better thing, therefore it is okay to accept the eventual certainty of death. ![]() Woody and friends have occasionally had the chance to grab at immortality but have always convinced themselves that to be Andy’s toy is the highest possible achievement. And when that toy ceases to be useful – either it gets broken, or a kid stops playing with it – well, that toy has met the end of its life. Time and again, we have been told that a toy’s only intrinsic value is to be useful.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |