Suspicions were confirmed last night in the previews before the Toy Story 3D double feature.
Toy Story 3 is about Andy going to college. And Woody, Buzz, and the gang are given away.
I mean, we all figured it would be something like that once Disney's own "Buzz Lightyear gets recalled to Taiwan and wacky rescue adventure 2.0 ensues" plotline was thrown in the garbage can from whence it came. Hey, the last line in part 2 even hints at it. But now that it's confirmed, watching Toy Story 2 just sort of pissed me off.
Because Jesse is right. Eventually all toys are thrown away and forgotten.
Or in the case of the trailer for Toy Story 3, donated to a preschool where they are destroyed.
And THIS is why Toy Story 2 pisses me off. Because I really feel like Woody should have just gone to freakin' JAPAN!
I'm going to call this one right now: Toy Story 3 ends with the gang narrowly making it back to Andy's room after a series of misadventures that result in even more Buzz Lightyear-thinking-he's-a-real-space-ranger silliness. Fast forward a few years, and now Andy has a kid. The toys take comfort in knowing they will be played with again. The End. Three-picture deal with Disney complete. No more rumors of nightmarish direct-to-video sequels.
But in keeping with Pixar's current trend of "They DIDN'T just do that! THEY DID!" plot surprises, one of the toys is going to be "killed" in the process. My money is on Slinky Dog. :^(
That said, watching the films back-to-back completely changes my mind about the two. Everyone says Toy Story 2 is better.
I used to think so as well, but now I think the first one is superior. It's simple. It's compact. And the line readings in part 1 are so much more interesting and chuckle-worthy than in 2. First one that comes immediately to mind: Woody's "(pleading) He's not a space rang--(anger)--errrrrrr!"
Granted, the animation for Utility-Belt Buzz in 2 is truly inspired.
In a funny way, I almost feel as though it's wrong to look at them as two seperate movies. Thanks to the merciful lack of exposition, most people think of 2 as picking up immediately where the first one left off. It doesn't feel so much like a sequel as an extension of the first film.
But as the story kicks in, the differences between the two films can be more distinctly felt.
Maybe it's because they really took their time with the first one (plotwise) and weren't dealing with cramming in two storylines and showing off the power of their fancy new computers bestowed upon them by the Mouse.
2 is still good, but when watched back-to-back instead of with those vital nostalgia-forming years in between (which imo, is why people love the second one--it's like the ultimate fan-service sequel--seeing an old friend after years apart and picking up right where you left things), it feels a little bit like what it really was: Pixar trying desperately to fix the HORRIBLE direct-to-video sequel Disney was about to shovel out.
As pretty as it is, it's a little half-baked in places. Motivations aren't as clear. Andy's about to grow up and throw the toys away. Everybody's talking about it. Everybody knows it's going to happen.
But we HAVE to get back to Andy's room!...so...we can be thrown away together?
It's similar to the conundrum J.M. Barrie presents us with in Peter Pan. Wendy isnt a child anymore. Soon she will be a young woman and must leave the nursery. She's growing up. But Barrie comforts us in the notion that, while the dread inevitability of growing older is something we all must accept, it's also beautiful and part of the awfully big adventure that is simply LIVING.
Toy Story 2 offers us no such consolation. Emily throws Jesse away. Andy will throw Woody and the gang away. But that's okay...because in the end...they'll all be in the landfill together. Yeah. Thanks Pixar. All we need now is a dialogue-free montage of a young couple falling in love, growing old, and the wife dying of cancer.
Oh yeah, and the 3D is great. The dated CGI in 1 (Andy still looks a bit freakish in both films. Thanks for teaching us how to do it right, Final Fantasy people) can be excused thanks to the marvelous sense of depth...the toys feel REALLY small now. Or maybe the world is just REALLY big.
Still great. Still better than every single one of Pixar's subsequent films (I just wasn't a 'Monster's Inc.' person and I still think 'Wall-E' is well-intentioned but ultimately unfocused and terrible. Sorry, guys). Good times. Go see it. Worth the cash, if only to see the first one again in 3D-o-vision.
But Jesse is still right. And Woody should have gone to Japan.
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