![]() ![]() That's what made Toy Story 3 such a breath of fresh air. As I perceived it, you never had to worry about what was going to happened in them next because you knew that the characters were going to overcome obstacles, learn life lessons, and live happily ever after. For a teenager who rebelled against his Disney upbringing, the shift away from musicals was superficially a good thing but when you strip away the big Billboard hits, maybe it also changed the rhythms of the movies and robbed them of some of their magic.Īll I can say is, for me as a teen and twentysomething with unforgiving tastes (spirit animal: dark dramas), an overall sense of suspense-free boredom seemed to permeate Pixar's films. Despite the inclusion of memorable tunes such as "You've Got a Friend in Me," you weren't as likely to see characters breaking out in song. Pixar didn't depart from Disney formula entirely, but its films were less song-driven. Toy Story 3 was the first film to break the notion I had as a young adult that these kinds of movies were safe and uninteresting fodder for theme park families. The original Toy Story came out in 1995 but it wasn't until a decade and a half later that its second sequel would finally help me surmount my disinterest in all things Pixar-related. While film scholars and Disney historians may mark the end of the Renaissance as 1999 - the last year of the millennium, when Tarzan hit theaters - I think it peaked with The Lion King and was already on the creative and cultural downswing, becoming less inspired and more self-repeating, by the time Pixar came along and disrupted the animation model as we knew it. A year later, a massive sea-change would occur in the world of animation. This, to me, is a life lesson worth remembering, to infinity and beyond.The Lion King hit theaters twenty-five years ago this week. Wasn't it conventional wisdom that just the kids get emotional over losing plastic playthings? With "Toy Story 3", Pixar has shown us one of the greatest magic tricks in modern showbiz history, likely not to be outdone or duplicated, that we all have very real and deep connections to our childhoods and to the things and people that allowed us as kids to be free, and innocent, and pure, and most importantly, to dream. It became clearly obvious that the figurative tables have been turned, because a good number of the adults in the audience (including myself) were sniffling and teary-eyed, while the kids were looking up, likely thinking "jeez mom and dad, they're just toys, get over it". TS1's spark is TS2's candle, and that in turn is TS3's blazing sun. Clearly, in the eleven years between this point and when "Toy Story 2" wrapped, a computer revolution or four has occurred, allowing a world of unsurpassed clarity, reality and imagination to shine through like never before. We are then treated to some familiar Pixar progression, like abandonment, solidarity, coming back to friends, and the passing of the torch. "Toy Story 3" starts off as comfortably as possible, with our friends Woody and Buzz Lightyear doing what they do the aying with Andy in his world of make-believe adventure. And naturally, Pixar would be at the forefront, leading the cavalry charge of digital animation ranging from great to gawd-awful. And it was a hit, ensuring 3d animation a place right alongside (more or less) 2d animation. ![]() This was a pretty bold move, a calculated stroll to the edge of the cliff and a daring leap off into the thin air of creativity and innovation. I am a 28 year old male, who, fifteen years ago, was fresh into the teen years of supposed adolescence at the release of some weird, 3d animated movie (wait, they can animate with computers?) entitled "Toy Story". I feel it relevant somehow to divulge my age, as it somehow validates the powerful emotions evoked throughout the film. This philosophy is doubly applicable to Pixar's "Toy Story 3", the storyline-ending outro of the beloved Toy Story, uh, story. The best magic tricks in the world are ones that cannot be unraveled, reverse engineered or dissected to figure out exactly how they are pulled off. ![]()
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