Comments on: Trailer: ‘Toy Story 3’; Prepare Yourself, ‘Cause It Kinda Underwhelms

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:58:33 +0000

On a side note, the film looks even worse in 3D. Well done, Jim!

No, it doesn't. The 3D trailer does a bad job of conveying the effect because of a combination of the strange frame-rate everything's playing at, the blur over the majority of the trailer, and an editing style that doesn't allow you to get used to the depth of any of the shots or the style of the 3D. Anyone who's seen actual footage of the film can tell you it looks significantly better in 3D, or at the very least, the CG sequences that make up the majority of the film definitely do.

More like 'well done, Fox!'

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:32:59 +0000

lee unkrich:
"The last thing we wanted to do was make a movie about these characters going off and having a wacky adventure somewhere. When we arrived at the notion of having Andy grown up and about to head off to college, that seemed like the perfect life event to place our story at, to provide that rich, deep emotion."

By: samcmac

samcmac — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:26:18 +0000

"Where the Wild Things Are"

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:42:27 +0000

Sam does have an interesting point about underwhelming Pixar trailers, which begs the question of whether trailers matter anymore for any movie. Are there any modern trailers that did a good job of selling a movie to you, one you otherwise might not have seen, that actually delivered on that promise?

By: samcmac

samcmac — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:20:32 +0000

I personally never anticipated "Avatar" to be anything special at all, but I know many, many were (and i guess, even after that bomb of a trailer, some still are). And yes, there's definitely something wrong there.

I guess why I consider "Ratatouille" a (much) better film than "Cars" is because the latter has, y'know, talking cars... it raises a lot of questions. It kept me up many a sleepless night: 'Who gasses them?' I wondered. 'Who built them, and how do they... reproduce?' Scary thoughts indeed.

"Ratatouille," on the other hand, that one's only sin was causing me to wake up in the middle of the night with a massive craving for soup. And so I ate some good soup—thanks Pixar!

Someday I'll mention how I think "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters, Inc." are the two most overrated Pixar films and then you'll have a real reason to challenge me. But really, you're gonna take umbrage with my dismissal of "Cars"? I thought that was pretty much the accepted Pixar low point these days.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:37:40 +0000

You were anticipating Avatar? That's a problem there. (On a side note, the film looks even worse in 3D. Well done, Jim!)

I don't get how people can say Ratatouille is better or less generic than Cars, which at least didn't switch captains midstream and end up resembling a ship from the DreamWorks fleet.

Also, when I think "gross out," I think fart and burp jokes, not things you'll find in Where the Wild Things Are.

By: DM

DM — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:49:20 +0000

Toy Story 2 was OK!

By: rodrigoperez

rodrigoperez — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:05:29 +0000

"we're the MTV generation, we feel neither highs nor lows."

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:04:05 +0000

Welcome to the Playlist, where everything underwhelms.

By: samcmac

samcmac — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:51:47 +0000

I tend to think Pixar, at least these days, is a little above gross out humor. That stuff wouldn't really fly in "Up" for instance, and it would be easier to stomach if it felt like there was anything going on in the back half of this trailer...elsewhere response seems to be positive, and I'll go all in for that opening alone, but I remain disappointed by this promotion as a whole.

One of our writers did point out that Pixar doesn't have the greatest track record for cutting trailers, which, when I stop and think about it, is pretty on the money, so this little disappointment could mean nothing come June 18th. Certainly hope so at least.

By: Tristan Sregor

Tristan Sregor — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:39:54 +0000

Oh yeah, because the first one didn't have the little sister slobbering all over Potato Head and the second one didn't have the fat guy burp in Woody's face after eating a bowl of cheese puffs.

Pixar is far above that!

Ha, even Walt himself loved a gag involving a character's butt.

No cartoonist is above anything that works as a joke.