An In-Depth Look at Trailer #2 and Bookworm

There isn't a whole lot of news to report this week, which gives me a perfect opportunity to take an in-depth look at the final official trailer for Toy Story 3. Two other official trailers have been released by Pixar, one of which is a teaser. I plan to take an in-depth look at each of these trailers in the future.

Trailer #3- In Depth Look

The third, and most likely last, trailer released to promote the film was first officially revealed on Pixar's Youtube and Facebook pages February 11th. It is the longest of the trailers that have been released. It is also jam packed with hints of information about the film, including tons of glimpses at many of the new characters. Keep your eyes open for all of the new characters as you watch and see if you can catch whose voicing them.

So first of all, in the trailer we see that Andy is going to college and his toys somehow end up in a daycare called "Sunnyside" where they are mistreated by the children. The toys at Sunnyside also seem pretty shady. Thats the main point of interest in this trailer for me, the way the toys at Sunnyside act, most notably in the segment where they are playing what looks like some kind of a roulette game with a See-n-Say (careful listeners will also notice in this scene that Whoopi Goldberg is he voice of Stretch the octopus). In this scene the toys seem to be scheming. Pixar is great at having characters that are never quite what they seem. Thats why I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that Losto (the purple stuffed bear that welcomes the toys to Sunnyside) will be the main antagonist. Also, toward the middle of the trailer we see Lotso talking to the other toys in a menacing manner, hinting that he may be involved in some kind of conspiracy against the toys. Another interesting character in the trailer is Ken (voiced by Michael Keaton). Ken seems like another underhanded character with something to hide.

One thing that I didn't notice until I watched the trailer again to write this blog entry is that the child putting Mr. Potato Head into the sandbox is in fact Big Baby, the character that I featured in my last entry. The first time I saw the trailer I assumed it was a child at the daycare who was abusing Potato Head. Considering that Big Baby is supposed to be a large part of the plot it would probably be most people's instinct to assume that he'll be an antagonistic character like Ken or Losto, but I'm skeptical. Big Baby seems to me like a character that would change sides towards the end of the film. But Pixar is so great at making their films unpredictable that it is very hard to make an accurate guess.

The trailer definitely achieves it goal, to stir up excitement about the film. We get to see all our favorite characters from the previous films, we get a hint of the plot, and we are left asking questions.

Bookworm

Bookworm was revealed April 6 on Pixar Talk. He is similar to a toy I had when I was little called Gloworm. Gloworm was another toy with a light, but it wasn't actually a worm at all. Instead it was a weird looking insect type thing with a human looking face that lit up. Bookworm is much less creepy than my Gloworm was, which is a good thing. The way he carries the flashlight under his arm, along with his vest and bow-tie, make me think of a movie theater usher. Perhaps his character will reflect that somehow? Only time will tell.

Leave a comment to let me know what you think of the trailer or Bookworm.