The blog was done as part of my college class, and I got a good grade.
But my class has long ended and the hype of Toy Story 3 has died down long ago. The film is coming out on DVD sometime this month and I am sure I am going to purchase it if I don't get it for Christmas. But I am going to retire from this blog because it has filled its purpose. Thanks for reading and I hope that this blog could still act as an archive of pre-Toy Story 3 hype. If you enjoyed my writing please look at my profile and check out another blog that I manage. I plan to have something up soon.
Only 31 days left until Toy Story 3 premieres in a theater near you!
The Toy Story 3 cliffhanger edition college tour (which I mentioned way back in my first entry) showed us that Pixar knows it has many older fans. Much of the hype about Toy Story 3 on the Internet is coming from older, mostly college aged people. But are young kids still interested in Toy Story? It's been 11 years since Toy Story 2 came out and today's kids have been exposed to hundreds of computer -animated films since then. So do the original Toy Story films still compare? Are the college-aged kids only interested because of the sense of nostalgia they have connected to the Toy Story franchise?
When I heard that my girlfriend's little brother had never seen a Toy Story film I decided to take the opportunity to try to answer those questions. I made this short video with the built in iSight on my MacBook and a Flip-cam. I did all the editing in iMovie and I took the screen-caps from the first Toy Story film and the three trailers for the third film .
The video tells the story of how Toy Story and Pixar influenced my generation and me. It also tells the story of one kid's first exposure to the franchise.
I decided to upload this video with Blogger video, but if you'd prefer it is still available to watch on Youtube here.
Thanks to Dominic and my girlfriend Megan for their cooperation with making this video.
Buttercup
Buttercup is one of the new characters I am most excited for, mostly because he is voiced by one of my favorite comedic actors, Jeff Garlin. Jeff Garlin was the voice of the captain in Wall-E, another Pixar film, but I know him best as Larry David's manager on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Garlin is quite a large man with a relatively deep voice, so his voice coming out of this cute little unicorn may come as a bit of a shock. The fact that Buttercup is a character with an adorable appearance but a sketchy voice leads me to believe that he is going to be on the sinister side of things at Sunnyside Daycare. With this character and Lotso, who smells like strawberries, it seems like Pixar might be going for a "don't judge a book by its cover" moral in Toy Story 3.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and I hope it kept you informed. I really had fun writing it and I learned more than I could ever imagine about Toy Story while trying to keep it as chock full of information as I could. I hope that after the hype for Toy Story 3 has dissolved this blog can function as a time capsule of information. I may continue to update as important pieces of news come to my attention. In the meantime thank you so much for reading "The Toy Story Buzz" and thank you for sharing in my excitement for the third chapter in the story of all our favorite toys.
Only 35 days left until opening night! That's slightly over a month! Okay, Okay calm down.
Yesterday Lee Unkrich posted a link to his Formspring on his Twitter (hey, two social networks in one sentence). He invites his fan to ask him a question and if you're lucky he just might answer it. Even if he doesn't answer your question it can still be fun to read the questions he has answered; they provide some interesting inside information on Toy Story 3 and Pixar.
Also announced on Unkrich's Twitter yesterday was the fact that Toy Story 3 has officially been rated G (for general audiences) by the MPAA. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise to anyone, seeing as the previous films in the series have also been rated G. In fact only two Pixar films have ever received a more severe rating than G; The Incredibles and Up were both PG. The G rating indicates that there won't be any excessive violence or overly intense scenes in the film; nothing that might frighten a young child. I doubt any parents were having reservations about taking there kids to see this movie, but in case they were they can rest assured that the United States Government says its okay for your little one to go see Toy Story 3.
Lots-o'-Huggin'-Bear
Here he is, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, or just Lotso. Lotso is arguably the new character of most interest. He is very heavily featured in the trailers and on promotional material for the film. He has inspired a great deal of the speculation surrounding the film's plot and he is the center of one of the film's most intriguing marketing ploys. It is pretty obvious that Lotso is going to play a very important role in the film; but exactly what the role will be is one of the closest guarded secrets of Toy Story 3. See my analysis of trailer #2 for more speculation about Lotso.
Lotso will be voiced Ned Beatty, who has been in tons of movies but is most famous for his appearance in Deliverance.
Were you hoping Toy Story 3 would get an R rating? Got any conspiracy theories about Lotso? Leave a comment.
37 days until June 18th, when Toy Story 3 gets released into theaters.
I already mentioned in a previous post that production on Toy Story 3 has finally been 100% completed. But this weekend, director Lee Unkrich and the rest of the film's crew made it official by throwing the wrap party. Unkrich mentioned the party, which was held on Saturday May 8, on his Twitter. The wrap party is a way for the crew to celebrate the work they did, and the great deal of time that they spent on the film. It is also signals that the film's release is getting even closer, just a bit over a month left.
3D or not 3D?
One of the big draws of Toy Story 3 is that it, like many films nowadays, will be available to watch in both 2-D and 3-D versions. This is going to be the second Pixar film to be available in 3-D, the first was last year's Up. When you go to your theater to see Toy Story 3 you will be asked if you want to see the regular 2-D version, or pay 3 or 4 extra dollars to see the 3-D version. So is it worth the extra 4 bucks?
Some films that are released in 3-D today are not real 3-D; that is they were not filmed with two cameras and from two perspectives (for some great information on the difference between "real 3-D" and "fake 3-D" check out this Gizmodo article). The 3-D Pixar films though, are in fact real 3D, the fact that the film was going to be released in 3-D was on the creators' minds throughout the whole process; it wasn't just tacked on at the end to make a little extra money at the box office. Keep that in mind when deciding which version of the film you'd like to see. If anyone has seen the 3-D version of Avatar (and who hasn't) they will know what real 3-D looks like. The double feature re-release of Toy Story 1 and 2 that came out last year was also redone to be in real 3-D.
With all that being said I must say that I am a traditionalist. When I go see a movie I like to see them the old-fashioned way. I think wearing the glasses in an annoyance and an inconvenience and I don't think the 3D effect is worth it. I did go to see Up in 3-D. At the beginning of the film I was distracted by the 3D and couldn't enjoy the story. As it went on I stopped noticing the 3D, it was still there but it was so subtle that I no longer realized it. Apparently that is a sign of quality 3D, but I don't see the point of paying extra if your not going to notice it for half of the movie anyway. If i only go see the film once I am going to watch the regular 2D version because I am just old-fashioned that way. If I go see it more than once though, I may see it in 3D just to see what it's like. As for what you should do, it all comes down to personal preference, but do bear in mind that it will be a genuine 3D experience, not a cheaply tacked on one.
Ken Here we go, Ken is one of the most interesting and intriguing new characters. His extensive appearances in the trailers and the fact that there was an entire promotional clip dedicated to him indicate hat he will most play a very significant role in the film. Ken was first introduced exclusively on Ain't It Cool News. Ken is going to be voiced by comedic actor Micheal Keaton. What's interesting is that Ken's unusual outfit is actually modeled after a real Ken doll that was sold in the 80's. Once again this is evidence of Pixar's amazing attention to detail and realism. It makes perfect sense that the Ken doll at a daycare would be one from the 80's that was probably lying around in an attic for years before it was donated. And you shouldn't doubt that Pixar will find a way to make this back-story shape Ken's character. I wouldn't be surprised if being cooped up in an attic, or being stuck in a daycare for years, has made him cruel and bitter.
Just for fun here's an old commercial for the particular Barbie and Ken set that this Ken is based on:
We are getting down to the wire now. Only 44 days left until the premiere of Toy Story 3. The college cliffhanger screenings of the film are almost done and soon enough it will be screened for critics. On his Twitter Lee Unkrich warns to be very careful about reading the plot of the movie online because it would spoil the surprise. I will be careful to keep this blog free of spoilers so there is no need to tread lightly around these parts; but if you want to go into the theater fresh now is the time to start being weary of possible spoilers when your surfing the web. You have been warned.
I have already talked about the two full-length trailers in previous posts (Trailer #1 and #2), so now is the time to look back at our first glimpse of Toy Story 3. The teaser was first released a little over a year ago, May 29th, 2009, before screenings of Up. It is one of Pixar's many traditions to create totally original animation for the teaser trailers instead of using unfinished clips from the film. This means that the teaser doesn't give up much information at all about the plot of the film but simply introduces the characters and the idea of the film.
So we're given a nice, fourth wall breaking, glimpse of the characters announcing that there will be a 3rd Toy Story. What stands out the most to me though is the interactions between Woody and Buzz. I mentioned in a previous post that Pixar seems to think that Buzz's character is too bland without adding some kind of "twist," but here an interesting approach is taken. The portrayal of Buzz as a kind of "one upper" to Woody is a good way to spice up his relationship with Woody a bit without altering his character by means of a twist like turning him into spanish version of himself. I would like to see the aspect of the Woody/Buzz relationship explored a little more in the film.
Trixie
Trixie was first revealed officially on Empire Online. She is simply a plastic triceratops. Her official description says that is part of a set that also includes a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus and Velociraptor. This seems to imply that she is from the same line of toys as Rex. Its nice to see another toy like Rex. In the first installment of the series Rex hopes aloud that Andy will get a leaf eater dinosaur for christmas, so it appears as though his wish has finally been fulfilled. Trixie will be voiced by Kristen Schaal of Flight of the Conchords fame.
Please leave a comment about Trixie, the teaser, or just about your excitement for the film.
Director Lee Unkrich announced yesterday that all of the work on Toy Story 3 is officially 100% complete! Now it's time to just count down the days until the premiere!
Sunday the trailer for the Toy Story 3 video game was unveiled on Youtube. Read my first impressions of the game here. The trailer does make me a little more optimistic than I was in that post. Just a little though. Here's the trailer so you can judge for yourself:
I have to say it does look pretty fun. The graphics are pretty impressive, of course they aren't quite as good as the movie but they do a pretty good job of staying close to the look of the films. The colors are bright, Buzz looks like Buzz and Woody looks like Woody. It sounds like the films voice actors are going to provide the voices in the game, which is great. Nothing distracts more from the experience from one particularly wrong sounding voice actor. The trailer puts a big emphasis on the new "toy box mode," the emphasis on building worries me a little bit. i have never much liked games that force you to build and customize elaborate things in order to progress (with The Sims being a huge exception, I love those games). It is good that you get to choose between the "toy box mode" and regular story mode. I just hope that the inclusion of two separate modes doesn't hamper the quality of both.
Twitch
Today's new character for in-depth observation is the insect warrior action figure Twitch. Twitch was first exclusively revealed on the website /film. There is no word on who is voicing him, but I have the hunch that Twitch is going to be a silent character like many of the toys from Sid's room in the first film. He actually reminds me of a toy from Sid's room. It would be an interesting piece of fan service to see some allusions to the the first film in Toy Story 3. As for Twitch's role in the film, I see him as being an innocent victim. My guess is that he is one of the toys who are oppressed by Lots-o and Ken.
Time for more Facebook Feedback
Once again it's time to take a look a what people have to say about this character on Pixar's official Facebook page. The last names have been removed as usual to protect the posters privacy.
C'mon Pixar and Disney, you can do better than this. Please don't ruin Toy Story.
People seem pretty confident that this film is going to ruin the Toy Story franchise. Pixar is all about making quality films (I wouldn't say the same about Disney itself). They are going to do all that is in their power to make Toy Story 3 the best film it can possibly be. Besides that Twitch is a realistic character because he is reminiscent of a cheap action figure that you would get at a dollar story. These are the kinds of toys that are in daycares. This character and many of the new characters are brilliant observations of what kinds of toys little kids play with. Also he's a bug and bugs are neat-o.
The online community of Toy Story fans you was abuzz this weekend about a video that showed up on Youtube. A Youtuber by the name of MrCrazycommercials uploaded what was apparently the original "Los-o'-Huggin' Bear commercial that aired in 1983. MrCrazycommercials claimed that he personally owned one of these toys in his youth. Before I go any further, please watch the video in question:
Pretty convincing. The video distortion and slightly poor sound quality really make it look like something that could have been taken from an old VHS tape. I was knew that that Lots-o was a toy that was created just to be a Toy Story 3 character, but for a brief moment this commercial had me doubting myself. The dead giveaway that this video is simply very clever viral marketing by pixar comes in the very last second when the voice say mentions the company "Huggin' Toys." A quick google search and a little bit of common sense will tell you that there is no suck toy company. Just to make absolutely sure though, I looked into MrCrazycommercials' profile. He has uploaded a lot of videos for toys that apparently inspired some of the new Toy Story 3 characters, like the Glow Worm toy I mentioned in a previous post focusing on the Bookworm character. If that wasn't enough evidence I also noticed that a user who commented on the video swearing it was real had uploaded a large amount of disney related videos. Finally my suspicions are further confirmed on The Pixar Blog.
As soon as most people figured out that it was all a ruse, and as soon as Toy Story 3 director, Lee Unkrich, embarked on a promotional trip to Japan, a Japanese commercial for Lots-o appeared on Youtube.
These videos are a brilliant use of viral marketing on Pixar's part. They are doing a great job at stirring up interest in the film and they make the character seem even more real. I said I love when Pixar uses real-life toys in their films and this is a fantastic way to invent their own toy but make it seem like it was a real vintage toy. They are selling their film and their toys while adding a little extra layer of realism to the character. Bravo Pixar!
Stretch
Today's character for examination is Stretch. Stretch is a rubbery, stretchy octopus with suction cups on its tentacles. Stretch is going to be voiced by none other than Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi has always been an interesting actor and I'm sure she'll being a lot of fun to the character. From the most recent trailer it appears that Stretch is going to be a part of the whole mysterious conspiracy against Andy's toys that we know Lots-o and Ken are going to be involved in. I am guessing that Stretch is going to mostly act in a "faceless henchman" type of role. I'm also really digging the nice detail of the little sparkles that cover her.
How about those Lots-0 commercials? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of them.
In a past post I discussed the most recently released full-length trailer for Toy Story 3. For today's post I'm going to take a look at the other full-length trailer that was released before that. This trailer has a significant amount of different footage.
Trailer #1
This trailer starts with a new song by Randy Newman and a montage of young Andy that manages to pull at the old heart strings a little bit. I like that the trailer starts this way, it seems to invoke a some nostalgia for the people who saw the first movies when they were little. It is a little serendipitous that the people who were kids when the original Toy Story came out are now college-age like Andy; and the beginning of this trailer seems to subtly acknowledge that.
Then it goes into some footage of them at the daycare that we saw in the other trailer. The standout portion of this trailer though, is definitely when we see Hamm accidentally set Buzz set to his Spanish version. There's not a lot of this in any of the other promotional material for the film, which leads me to believe that it's not going to be a huge part of the story. I kind of hope it's not. It is a really clever idea, and it brings the audience back to the fact that the characters are all toys, which is fun, but I would rather see Buzz being his regular self for most of the movie. The Spanish Buzz looks interesting, I just hope he doesn't overstay his welcome. The Spanish Buzz seems reminiscent of the new Buzz that still thinks he's a space ranger from Toy Story 2. The people at Pixar seem to think that without some kind of twist, Buzz's character is too bland, which may be a bit misguided.
Sparks
Sparks was first officially revealed on the website LatinoReview.com. The official description calls sparks "retro-inspired," which would mean that he is actually modern toy, but he certainly reminds me of a classic tin-toy robot that I actually have at my house. In case you think that a spark emitting robot toy is just some clever idea thought up by the people at Pixar, here is a picture of a robot exactly like the one I have:
You can see where the "inspiration" comes from can't you? From looking at the picture of Sparks he appears to be made out of plastic, which makes sense since he is a modern toy that is "retro inspired", but why make him that way? Why didn't Pixar choose to make Sparks an actual retro tin robot toy? That would have been so much cooler. It would be completely plausible that an old toy like that would be laying around a daycare, perhaps neglected because of its age. Maybe there is something I don't get, some reason why it wouldn't have worked that way. I suppose I shall see.
What do you think of the trailer? What do you think of Sparks? What do you think of the fact that I actually have one of those old tin toys at my house? Leave a comment.
As of yesterday there are 60 days left until the release of Toy Story 3. We're getting down to the wire. The next few weeks are going to be interesting; as the release date gets closer we are going to begin to see even more excitement and even more news about the film. I could really sense that the release was getting closer when I opened a Game Informer magazine this weekend and found a 6 page feature story about the Toy Story 3 video game.
Toy Story 3: The Video Game
I was pretty surprised that Game Informer would take up 6 pages of its magazine to talk about a game based on an animated movie, but apparently there is a lot of buzz (no pun intended) about this game. The game developer that usually makes games based on the Pixar films, THQ, has been replaced by a different studio called Avalanche Software. Avalanche has made games for other Disney movies before, including Chicken Little and Bolt; but these games did not get fantastic reviews. Avalanche claims to be taking a new approach to the game, instead of focusing on following the story of the film, the game will allow you to play as the towns as Andy would imagine them. For instance; when playing as Buzz you'll be on an alien planet and when playing as Woody you'll be in the wild west. The game will also include a more traditional mode that allows you to play through the movies story.
The idea sounds intriguing, but it is hard for me to get too excited about a game based on a movie. I always trust that Pixar will produce a phenomenal film, but I'm not so trusting when it comes to games based on those films. Also Avalanches record of producing sub-par licensed games doesn't make me feel any better about it. I do respect that the studio is willing to try something with this game though, and I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt until I've seen a few reviews.
Mr. Pricklepants
Today's new character is Mr. Pricklepants, a stuffed hedgehog that was imported from Germany. Mr. Pricklepants will be voiced by Timothy Dalton, who is perhaps best known for playing James Bond in two 007 films but has also been in several Shakespearean films and plays. I think the decision to have a former Bond actor portray a stuffed hedgehog is hilarious. I am actually excited to hear a tough guy voice come out of this stuffed animal, especially if that voice has a heavy german accent. I am going to guess that Mr. Pricklepants will be another minor character. The fact that he is an imported toy could play some interesting role. I mostly suspect that he will be used as a comic relief character though, i don't really see him having an substantial part in the film's plot.
Let me know what you think of the video game or Mr. Pricklepants by leaving some comments.
As I'm sure you know, Pixar films are always followed by a new short film. Pixar always uses these short films to test new animations techniques and as a spring board for up-and-coming directors. I thought it would be a good idea to make a post highlighting the short film that is scheduled to show before Toy Story 3.
Day & Night
The film is going to be called "Day & Night". It will be directed by Teddy Newton, who worked on the short film "Jack Jack Attack"for The Incredibles DVD. The film is going to be predominately 2D traditional, animation. Pixar has done 2D animation before, with the Ratatouille short "My Friend the Rat," but it is mostly unusual for them. The short is supposed to feature some computer animation, but my guess is that it will mostly be in the form of subtle enhancements. I am pretty excited to see a good traditionally animated short film by Pixar. It has been a really long time since I gave seen some decent 2D animation, and I have no doubts that "Day & Night" will deliver.
I have always loved that Pixar puts short films like this in front of their films. It really gives me the sense that your back in the day when they showed a Bugs Bunny or Popeye cartoon before the main feature and going to the movies was a big event.
Dolly
Today's new character for my in-depth look is Dolly. Dolly is a fabric doll, her clothes are interchangeable and are intended to be customized, so girls can draw on her or sew things to her and make her their own. Dolly was first revealed to the internet on the blog HEYUGUYS. She is going to be voiced by Bonnie Hunt. After looking closely at the picture I decided that Bonnie Hunt seems like a good fit for this character. I recently saw an interview with John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer at Pixar) in which he mentions how much he respects Bonnie Hunt's improvisational skills. Could this mean were going to see a lot of Bonnie Hunt ad-libs coming from Dolly? I am not personally very familiar with the works of Bonnie Hunt but I think it's always a good thing when actors are allowed to run free with the character. Ad-libs are usually some of the most memorable lines in a film.
Facebook Feedback
In today's installment of The Toy Story Buzz's newest feature I am going to take a look at a comment posted about Dolly's picture on Pixar's Facebook page.
I just hope that she is not on the dark side with Ken and the others....
I think this is a really good thing to be thinking about. It seems like it would be first instinct to think that all the toys in the daycare are part of the same mysterious conspiracy that Lotso and Ken are in on. At first I assumed they would be; but I thought about it and maybe some of the other toys want to escape just like Andy's toys do. Maybe they're all just victims of Lotso and Ken.
What do you think? What do you think about "Day & Night"? Leave a comment.
I am currently in my freshmen year at Mercyhurst College in Erie Pennsylvania. I am majoring in communications and minoring in creative writing. I like to write and I love film and television.
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