Toy Story 3... I still don't get it.

I dunno, man, 18 year olds are still technically adolescents, and thus can get emotional over little things at times. Nostalgia's a bitch, man.

I think given how much Andy was shown to play with his toys on his own (and given how crappy most of his birthday present aside from Buzz were), it's possible he didn't have very many friends as a kid. If that's true, maybe his toys and his imagination offered him repose as a kid, explaining why he had such a strong nostalgic attachment to them.

edited 1st Dec '14 12:41:16 PM by DrDougsh

I would think he had SOME friends. A bunch of kids were at his birthday party and he seemed to have a great time at camp.

Kids' birthdays are usually organised by the parents. Could be his mom just sent out invitations to all his classmates. I'd figure they wouldn't flat-out refuse to show up unless they outright hated Andy's guts, but even if they didn't particularly dislike him it doesn't guarantee that they saw him as a close friend.

And did we ever see how Andy felt about his time at the summer camp? I think the only scene where he was shown to have had a great time was in Woody's dream sequence. The fact that Andy was initially so anxious to take Woody with him, and the fact that Woody expected to be "alone with Andy" while there, could indicate Andy wasn't planning on playing much with the other boys.

Quick question. What was with the incinerator? I thought trash was buried at a landfill, not burned.

Depends on the trash....

Fun fact: the German population more or less forced the waste disposal companies to put extra-bins for paper in front of their homes by being very, very conscious about recycling. The mass of paper which ended up in recycling station instead of the bins was so high that the waste disposal companies were forced to buy old paper in order to create the heat necessary to destroy the trash properly. The solution was collecting the paper themselves. Some ends up in recycling, but a lot of it is actually used to destroy the other trash.

Well, with Andy not having friends-I find it somewhat improbably just because he's rather likeable (as far as we can tell). On the other hand, him being a Hollywood Loser would explain his attachment to his toys.

I think part of his sentimentality is caused by Andy moving to college, which causes a sort of early mid-life crisis in some people. I sort of figured that's what's happening to Andy. He's making a big transition in his life, which has caused him to become nostalgic about his childhood.

To answer to the question of the beginning: it is true that, indeed, the Darker and Edgier stuff is what people enjoy in this movie. You, Original Troper, are however not alone; I too dislike these dark things in animated movies. But I'm afraid that it's a fact that we must accept that a lot of people today like the dark stuff (Tim Burton and Co. wouldn't be as popular otherwise).

That's quite a broad assumption you're making about why people like the movie, for someone who evidently doesn't like the movie.

Really, is Toy Story 3 really that much darker than the first two movies? As far as I can tell, there's nothing particularly darker in the movie until the climax in the incinerator. The "darkness" of the movie is vastly overstated.

To be quite honest, Toy Story 2 is the one I've always found overrated. I never thought it measured up to the first movie, and I think the third one outshines it by far.

edited 8th Dec '15 3:26:12 PM by DrDougsh

Well, Lotso's regime is far more unsettling than any other 'evil ploy' from any toys in the prior movies— Sid's toys were just a bunch of misunderstood long suffering savages, and Pete was just a sad, pathetic petty toy acting on his own. While Lotso ran a crapsaccharine organized police state with zero tolerance for disagreements, and that's far creepier and darker than the previous 'villainous M.O.s'.

Pete tried to tear Woody apart, though with the intent he could be fixed again (if Woody was destroyed, his plan would be ruined anyway). If I remember correctly a short of some sort shown Pete was redeemed and liked his new owner, implying he just needed to be loved.

Lotso teased turning good and then backstabbed the toys who saved. He also didn't have any sort of ultimate goal to his actions like Pete did, his one desire was to keep breaking any toys he met mentally and physically. I admit that made him a bit darker than the others. At the end of it though, he still got a comedic weasel's comeuppance.

edited 8th Dec '15 5:45:19 PM by Psi001

It's comedic for us, but from his perspective is a really horrifying Fate Worse than Death.

I just don't agree. It's really not that out of the ordinary compared to the average Pixar film, and it's not like there was nothing frightening in the first two Toy Story movies — Sid blowing up and mutilating sentient toys, the introduction to Sid's mutant toys... that's pretty scary stuff to a kid.

And people talk about how dark and creepy Lotso's regime is... that is something I don't get. Whatever's dark about the situation is kept at fairly tasteful levels with a lot of comedic relief — Buzz's Spanish mode, Mr. Cucumber Head, Ken's antics... those are laugh-out-loud funny moments, and they prevented the movie from ever really feeling grim, until the climax.

Honestly, even some of the stuff I hear people complain was really scary or intense strikes me as really overstated, and much of it comes off as pretty tongue-in-cheek in the context of the movie. Like, I've heard some people say they were scared of the alarm Monkey, which I found far too ridiculous to be frightening, and I'm pretty sure that's what the movie was going for.

Until the climax, the most I think I can say is that Toy Story 3 may be a bit more cynical than the previous two films, in that more of its plot is driven by a genuinely vile, irredeemable villain doing bad things — but then, the whole plot of Toy Story 2 was set in motion by Al, who's just a greedy thief with no likeable or sympathetic qualities (and whom, to be frank, I find to be a pretty lame villain), so it's not like there's no precedent for it.

edited 8th Dec '15 5:52:15 PM by DrDougsh

I think what maybe jarred some viewers was because of how they promoted Lotso, they really tried to keep his role as the bad guy a secret, he was merchandised like any friendly loveable new addition, you could buy a Lotso Huggin Bear. This made it a bit more unsettling after you saw The Reveal.

While he is an overrated villain in how dark and creepy he is, he is still fairly unlikable even by cartoon villain standards. Al and Sid were at least ineffectually sympathetic. Lotso was just there to be vile and make you hate him, even if more in a petty, Smug Snake sort of way than most claim him to be. Anyone who bought a Lotso bear or was looking forward to watching him likely felt a bit unsettled.

edited 8th Dec '15 6:02:08 PM by Psi001

Disney always mispromotes stuff. Lotso wasnt that huge a twist. And he was kind of lame actually. Also this thread is nothing but the TC complaining about people liking a movie they dont.

Most Pixar villains but Syndrome and Hopper are quite in the lame side.

Even Syndrome was self destructive and buffoonish ultimately.

Hopper was more monstrous, but it came back to haunt him, and he died a slightly humiliating way. They also did the whole Mean Character, Nice Actor thing with the out takes as well.

Not that said 'lame' villains aren't entertaining or good in their own way, but very few are all out a whole new level of dark compared to Disney's usual fare like some claim them to be.

edited 8th Dec '15 6:51:25 PM by Psi001

But Syndrome was also voiced by Jason Lee, so that makes it all better.

I feel like his lameness was incredibly intentional. He was essentially a strawman of a collector, after all (think to that one Powerpuff Girls episode "Collect Her", with the creepy nerdy collector Larry, who literally tried stuffing the girls into airtight boxes for his collection).

He's lame for us, but from the perspective of a toy, he's still a sort of legit threat.

He's not collecting toys for himself, though. He's planning to sell them to a museum for a hefty price, so in practice he just comes off as a douchebag who likes money.

Yes.

I find oy story 3 to be something of a epic story in a way, in that "this is their greatest and ultimate aventure" like folloship of the ring in toy version.

Also for me is a progresion: in first movie there was the theme about toy being replace by other toys which it happen all the time and the second movie up that by bring the simple fact that boys grow up their toy and abandoing to their fates, so in this movie they bring in as central theme.

for me, that make the darker and eger a good thing.

We only see glimpses of Andy so we have little idea of how he acts around other kids. Besides sweet/nice guys aren't always popular.

Contrast to Sid. Most assume he's a bad kid but all we know about him is that he likes dismantling toys, playing pranks on his sister, and illegally buying fireworks. We have no clue how he acts around people who aren't his sister (and for all we know she might play pranks on him as well).

Though we know he stayed active since he's not fat at 17. And he's into skateboarding. Maybe he got popular in his teen years?

This is just me, but going Mad Scientist on your sister's dolls and cutting their heads off seems a bit bigger than just pranks. I don't what she'd do that'd merit cutting her dolls' heads off and replacing them with pterodactyl's.

edited 12th Dec '15 1:40:53 AM by Tuckerscreator

He's implied to still be The Bully, so at least something of an Asshole Victim when the toys finally turn on him.