Pajiba

considering that's a teaser and has no bearing on what the actual movie is about... i giggled at that more than i should've, i think.

Am I the only one who's worried that this could be The Pixar Movie that finally fails to meet expectations? It's just..."too much of a good thing" keeps running through my head.

On the other hand, I am a monstrous pessimist and maybe I should just shut up and be happy.

Toy Story 2 is great, but it also has one of the saddest songs ever written for a kids movie; "When Somebody Loved Me" is a killer.

I think we'll be safe with this one as long as Sarah McLachlan stays far far away from the soundtrack.

Toy Story 2 is actually my least favorite of the Pixars (mainly because Jessie annoys the shit out of me), but it has one of my favorite scenes: when the old man restores Woody to his former self. That's some gorgeous animation.

I don't know what it is, Odnon. I usually love Joan Cusack, but the performance for me is like nails on a chalkboard. I will, however, always adore any scene with Hamm and Rex.

Least favorite of the Pixars: Cars. It's Doc Hollywood with Cars; and it was a regression to "movies about shit that doesn't normally talk" after Pixar found real soul with Finding Nemo, then knocked it out of the park with The Incredibles. Once those two were made, there was a clear deliniation in Pixar's filmmaking: art pieces that pushed the boundary and challenged kids vs. "movies about shit that doesn't normally talk".

Though, Cars is hundreds of times better than any Dreamworks movie or any normal pap they foist on kids today. I liked it, just not as much as my favorites. (Also this is one of Ex Ms. Controversy's favorite movies, so it's kinda hard for me to watch.)

Anything Pixar warms the heart and fills us with joy, though I do wonder sometimes: Is it time for a blunder from Pixar? But seeing how beautifully, lovingly and thoughtfully these movies are made they probably won't be doing a blunder any time soon.

(the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) that was a cute story about your daughter. And it shows good movies really have more power beyond entertaining for two hours.

Least of the Pixars for me was definitely "Cars". It was still gorgeous and sweet of course, but I think too steeped in "Oh Ye Old Americana" for me. That and Owen Wilson's voice annoys the fuck out of me. Still miles above anything the other animation studios have produced.

My favorite is Finding Nemo.

dsbs, I think I would be afraid of that with any other studio but...it's Pixar. Maybe I'm being too much of an optimist but they have my undying trust.

Genny: Really? "When Somebody Loved Me" didn't do it for me. The scene where Buzz jumps off the banister in the first, however, ruined me.

To be frank, while Toy Story is my favourite Pixar and among my favourite movies, Toy Story 2 is probably my least favourite. It relied on one-liners and sight gags, while I think the original was more about creating humourous situations. Also, perhaps two of the best lines in all of cinema history:

Buzz: I don't believe that man's ever been to medical school.

And, purely because of Hanks' delivery and the un-fucking-believable animation:

YOU! ARE! A! TOY! You're not the real Buzz Lightyear! AGH! You're an action figure! You! are a CHILD'S PLAYTHING!

Also also, the theme of feeling incompetent / overcoming jealousy resonated more with me than the theme of loss, which... sounds kinda pathetic on my part... :P

I have a four year old with high functioning autism and one quirk of his condition is the freakish ability to memorize enormous scads of dialogue, be it from films, books (we read to him nightly) or websites. He as been navigating solo to the PBS, Disney and Wiggles sites since he was three. When he first saw both TS’s back to back “YOU! ARE! A! TOY!” “Ride like the wind Bullseye!” were practically the only things to come out of his mouth for close to a week. Interestingly his first cinema movie was mostly non-dialogue Wall-E where he spent the movie exploring the aisle while his 2 year old brother sat enraptured. He has virtually worn the dvd out though, so go figure.

I’ll second/third/fourth Cars as Pixar’s sole failure, it was their only obviously by-the-numbers effort. The Incredibles & Ratatouille may have been more mature fare, but as a mature animation fan, I have no issue with that. Artists need the freedom to create.

As one of the few truly creative forces left in Hollywood, my guess is that Pixar would only revisit TS if they had a story to tell. The alternative is that either a: Disney leant on them in an attempt to give the cash cow an extra squeeze (possible) or b: Pixar is finally running out of inspiration (unlikely but not impossible). Either way, Will and I will be first in the queue when TS3 arrives, so here hoping it’s a winner.

My inner stats nerd took over and checked the box office mojo figures for Pixar's last 10 films. If Up performs in the same ballpark as the others (minimum 200 million worldwide), their top 10 films will have raked over 5 billion worldwide in less than 10 years at a collective budget of roughly 1 billion. Any studio would kill for that sort of clout.

Good to see that at least sometimes talent wins out.

Julie - I hear ya. I gues I was just in the perfect mood when I saw it. I just thought Cusack was so wonderfully spaz-tastic. Like she was just gonna bust. But in the wrong mood, maybe not...