Expectations don't come much higher than those surrounding this week's Toy Story 3. Arriving 11 years after 1999's Toy Story 2 upped both the box office and creative ante of the 1995 original, Pixar's threequel faces the daunting challenge of matching two predecessors that have a combined worldwide gross of $847 million and unparalleled critical praise (parts one and two currently sit at 100% "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes). More importantly, the films endure as part of audiences' collective experiences; people love this franchise, and it seems only the foolhardy would try and revisit it so many years later. Then again, this is Pixar we're talking about -- if anyone's going to break the curse of the part three, these guys have the best shot. RT spent some time with Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich -- stepping into the hot seat having co-directed part two -- and asked him what it was like to return to the series.
RT: Recently you said that you'd thought about making this film straight after Toy Story 2. At what point did you think, "Let's do it -- this is a really good idea"?
LU: We went about this one a little backwards, in that we had an idea for a Toy Story 3 right after we made Toy Story 2. There was an idea that we were kicking around and [Toy Story writer] Joe Ranft developed a little bit, but because of the political problems between Disney and Pixar at the time we weren't able to make it. Everything was kind of stagnant for a number of years. We went on making our other films and this idea for Toy Story just sat on the shelf. It wasn't until Disney bought us, finally, that all those problems went away and we were able to shut down the version of Toy Story 3 that Disney was doing on their own without us.
Was that going to be straight to video?
It wasn't straight to video. A lot of people have this impression that it was straight to video but it wasn't. It was meant to be theatrical. The straight to video was Toy Story 2 -- that was originally going to be our plan, but at a certain point we decided it was good enough to be theatrical.People mix those stories up.
Yeah, I think that's what's happening, 'cause Disney's was full-on meant to be a theatrical release.
Were you guys worried about that?
Oh it was terrible. It was the darkest time in the history of our studio. I know they had a script and were doing storyboarding; they were getting ready to make it.
Did you ever look at it?
No. Never. We were very worried about it. It felt like our children had been taken away, like they'd been forcibly taken from us and raised by someone else. Luckily that future didn't come to pass, and Disney bought us and we shut down that version of the movie and we started from scratch. So it was really just over four years ago that we decided to make Toy Story 3. But the interesting thing was, we went away on this two day offsite -- me and John [Lasseter] and Andrew [Stanton] and Pete [Docter] and a few other folks -- to kind of hash out this idea that we had all these years; and within about 20 minutes of starting we shut down the idea completely.
What was the original idea?
You know, I'm sure everyone's interested in what it was, but we're not talking about it because we found that over the years there have been a lot of ideas that aren't the right ideas at the moment , for one reason or another, but they oftentimes show up in another form later. Like, we had a movie called Trash Planet that we wanted to make for a long time, and it kind of never went anywhere.
It became WALL-E?
It became WALL-E, ultimately. So this other idea that we shut down, there's probably something in there, because there's a reason we were excited about it.Are there any remnants of the idea in the Toy Story 3 we see today?
No, really not at all. The only idea is that there was a vague thought that we would have Andy be grown up, in that idea. But once we shut that down, we were kind of left with nothing. And that was a perilous place to find ourselves, because we'd always told ourselves that we'd never make a movie unless we had a great idea first; and here we wanted to make a movie, we wanted to revisit the world of Toy Story, but we didn't have an idea. So we were in a bit of a panic. What we ended up doing was watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2 again. We had no TV there, so we all gathered around a laptop and watched the first two films and felt kind of depressed -- because we thought, "How can we top these two movies?"
When you watched them, did they feel complete to you, as a piece?
They did, completely. And that's an interesting thing to me now. I liken it to sometimes in a family you'll have a couple of kids and you'll think, "This is it; this is the family -- how can it be any different? This is what's meant to be." And then, for one reason or another, you end up having another child, whether accidentally or by choice, and of course once that child's in your life you can't imagine life without that third child.
It was kind of like that with the films. When we finished Toy Story 2, we tried to end that story. I mean, the toys knew that Andy was going to grow up some day and they'd made peace with that fact; they were totally confident that they were going to enjoy the time they had left with Andy. Someday it's going to come to an end, but at least they have each other by their side. Satisfying ending. Now, in retrospect -- now that we've made 3 -- we can see that they don't know what's coming. It's one thing to make peace with something that's gonna happen in the future and it's another thing to actually be there directly confronting it. So, we thought we need to put the toys in that situation; we need to have Andy grown up and leaving for college and the toys not knowing what the future holds for them. It just felt like the most emotionally resonant point at which to tell the story.
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The way he describes the dump scene is giving off Brave Little Toaster vibes. I like. I like very much.
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Well most of the Pixar staff worked on that movie. It's the closes thing for a hand-drawn film for Pixar.
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why
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Yeah, I thought it was a LOT like The Brave Little Toaster. Only slightly more terrifying. I spent the majority of that movie crying in the fetal position.
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Haha, so let me get this straight, Disney tried making a Toy Story movie WITHOUT Pixar? Thank God that didn't happen. I can only imagine that it would be as bad as Chicken Little.
Leave the 3D animation to Pixar, Disney, and you guys stick to the 2D animation. Life works better that way.
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Bolt was alright...
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Bolt is superceded for being directed by John Lassetter.
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It was executive produced by Lasseter(Also Meet the Robinsons and Princess and the Frog), not directed.
I agree.
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If you check out Toy Story 3 on wikipedia, they actually give you the plot summary of the story that Disney was going to make without Pixar! Something about Buzz Lightyear was being recalled and Andy's toys had to go rescue him. It sounded like a pretty good idea, but I'm glad that Pixar shut down Disney's version of Toy Story 3.
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The deceased Circle 7 company, "Pixaren't". The plot made no sense, it was a cheap version of the second one.
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I remember reading that years ago (before this version of Toy Story 3 was announced), and trying to get excited for it (I didn't know at the time that Disney was behind that story). I had wanted a Toy Story 3 for so long, but I was not intrigued by that plot at all. Still, I was disappointed when I learned it was cancelled. But when the Pixar version was announced, and when the plot was later revealed. I was much more intrigued. And the movie obviously turned out great. Toy Story just wasn't meant to stink.
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I completely agree.
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Went to Alcatraz to research for Sunnyside instead of Day-cares?! WOW!!!
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Can Pixar do anything wrong?
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According to Armond White, they do everything wrong.
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Almond White also gave Transformers 2 a positive review. Proving his opinion are the equivilant in value, or the lack thereof, as a teenager.
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Hey, I'm a teenager, buddy, and I know Armond's a moron!
well am lil bit crazy abut animation ,, so lets try this alsO >>>> Toy Story :D
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All of Pixar's films are so good, it's like I'm almost getting sick of them being so consistently excellent. There must be something wrong with me, because I'm starting to tune the company out. I know they produce quality, I guess I'm just tired of their sensibilities.
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I personally hate it when people dont give Disney enough credit. 3D or not, they once set the standards by which all animation was measured by. Just because Pixar has succeeded them as the deserved, undisputed Kings of animation as of late, does not mean that Disney is not capable of producing good work on their own.
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If only Disney Channel got rid of all the crap they give with ACTUAL Disney programing and movies, it will receive less criticism. Remember, Disney Channel is Disney in name only, not quality. P.S. Without Disney, animation would have never developed into the quality we appreciate today, they set the standard; First in Animated Film(Snow White). First in Stop-Motion film(Nightmare Before Christmas). First in CGI(Toy Story).
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Disney did set the standard for animation and movies i wish the channel would realize that
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Gotta remember the Disney Channel is aiming at very young kids and very young kids are for the most part morons. It's not like Sesame St is an epic masterwork, but it's good at what it does i.e. distracting children for a couple of hours so their parents can have sex.
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Toy Story was Pixar too!
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Disney's tentpole features have been and remain timeless masterpieces (with some notable execptions, particularly several from the late 90's early 00's) but the problem is they constantly dilute their brand and image with all of the Hannah Montana, Zach and Cody, Jonas brothers BS because, let's not kid ourselves, that crap sells more and costs less than a feature film. Of course I always tell the story... My wife and I went to Walt Disney World for our Honeymoon in '04 (we love the place, sue us) and the place was PLASTERED with Hillary Duff. 5 years later we took our son in '09 and it was PLASTERED with Miley Cyrus... what the hell happened to Hillary Duff? Anyone know (or care)? And where is Miley Cyrus going to be in another 5 years?
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i went there in '00 and none of that was there lol
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Again you've gotta remember those programs aren't aimed at you. I'm assuming your a legal adult, so you can't really judge the product. Remember your own parents opinions on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers. Same principle applies. Those programs are aimed very specifically at a certain demographic and that demographic adores them. As much as we'd like it to be, the world isn't solely designed to amuse 20-40 something comicbook fan movie buffs. Only RT World is, and even they feed our hate with the occasional chick flick and get you guys riled up with Twilight.
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there is no arguing the greatness of disney, it is just the fact that they were going to make a toy story 3 without pixar. that was just wrong.
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Yes Disney are the single most important company in terms of progressing animated films in cinema history, but for the past 15 years or so they've been massively outdone in the animation department by Pixar and Studio Ghibli. Disney values are just outdated. In their entire history the only original film they made was The Lion King, whereas Pixar and Ghibli generally (not always in Ghibli's case) make original films. That has some bearing I think
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great interview Lee, but um... did you just spoil the movie? :(
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"we were able to shut down the version of Toy Story 3 that Disney was doing on their own without us. " +100 respect to Pixar. Disney has a long way to go before they earn my respect again. princess and the Frog was great, mostly because it was a welcome return to Traditional Animation, but otherwise the studio has been in decline. At this point I would never trust them with a franchise such as Toy Story, I don't think they have the talent or creativity in the studio right now to do such an endevour correctly.
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You do know that John Lasseter and Ed Catmull are in charge of Disney Animation so to say they cannot be trusted with a franchise like Toy Story is idiotic
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I think he may have been referring to WDA's management before the Pixar merger and before Lasseter and Catmull assumed control. Disney did have a non-Pixar TS3 in pre-production at that time since Pixar gave the character rights to Disney after TS1 (remember that Disney tried the same thing with TS2 before Pixar took over the project and bailed them out).
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Whoa, that's a lot of spam. But I saw the movie and thought it was really great. I honestly thought the first two were a little dull, even when I was a kid. I'm 18, just watching the third, and I feel like they really upped the action and intense scenes. One particular 15-second scene during the "prison-break" I thought was really scary because I didn't expect a scary scene in Toy Story, but it kinda was. You really get into the movie though. It's got a lot of great humor and a few entendres for the adults. The ending was great. I guess they director already kind of spoiled some of the movie, but I won't give anything else away. I thought it was a happy ending, but several girls that I was with at the movie theater left in tears, including my girlfriend.
Anyways, I only meant to do a short comment. But this movie is great. Go see it.
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folks look out for the MIYAZAKI nod from Pixar! trust me, it will make u smile.
plus the scene that everybody's talking about is not like UP where you'll immdetiately cry when you see the "marriage montage scene". here, the scenes everyone's talking about is subtitle and simple.. it's totally diferent from "moving" scene from UP!. you'll be surprise how PIXAR pulls your heartstrings wit this one.
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I came closer to crying at the beginning and ending of Toy Story 3 than I did at any time during UP (Up is a great movie, though). But I honestly thought Toy Story 3's emotion somehow managed to be more powerful. MAybe it's because we've known these characters for so long.
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I love when the directors and animators at Pixar refer to their films as their children. It just shows the level of care that goes into creating these films that are so beloved by so many people.
The antithesis of this is of course George Lucas who treats his films like whores to test out his new techniques on whenever he wants and then throws them back onto the street lookin like they've just been raped of all quality. Ahh, that man....
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I'm a 20-year-old guy who was in the exact same place as Andy less than a year ago, looking at my old toys (mostly Batman and power rangers, and G.I. Joes) and having to decide what to do with them before I left for college. Being forced to choose between keeping or throwing away the toys you played with for almost half your life feels just like deciding to keep or throw away an actual child you've known just as long... no spoilers here but the final scenes of the movie truly brought tears down my face. There has never been, nor ever will be, a more wonderful and true and perfect series of films than Toy Story. Bravo, Pixar, for childhood immortalized.
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With Toy Story 3, Pixar has shown me that they not only care about these characters, but that they care about how much WE love these characters, too. I can't remember ever feeling this fulfilled by a sequel, not even with Toy Story 2 (since it's not a closure like this one is).
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