Toy Story 3

DALLAS — Pixar animation’s power team, Toy Story 3 Producer, Darla K. Anderson and Director, Lee Unkrich answered some really great questions on Monday, about the journey of making Toy Story 3.

There was no big secret in particular for the franchise’s success, but it began with the industry. Toy Story 3 introduced the world to a new age of computer animation. The team consisted of talented artists, animators and a whole lot of other creative folks.

According to Anderson, “Goodbye Andy” proved to be one of the more emotional centerpieces of the last film in the series. This scene was a touchstone for the movie, due to the emotional depth. The audience can relate well to saying goodbye to a loved one.

Unkrich, however, really enjoyed putting together the incinerator scene toward the end of the film. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as they see the characters thrust into a life or death situation. This moment was, “handled truthfully and respectfully” Unkrich said.

Toy Story 3′s characters are known all over the World. The expectations that Darla and Lee had to uphold were of a high standard. Even children in Mexico awaited anxiously for the premier, each having their favorite character.

Blast got a chance to ask about any set-backs while filming, and it turns out, there was.Jim Varney, the voice of Slinky the dog, passed away during filming. There was a debate on whether Slinky, a character known and loved, should be taken out of the movie. Luckily, Unkrich and Anderson decided Slinky had transgressed beyond the voice, into a character of his own. So Slinky the dog is here to stay forever in our hearts.

The storyboard alone took two and a half years, while another two were spent on production. Unkrich’s job was “giving guidance and direction.” His job was to step back and make sure the film meshed as a whole, so the audience would be able to get the full entertainment experience. Anderson said she was very fortunate and grateful to initiate the process of the film.

Toy Story 3 is rumored to be the last in this movie trilogy. Blast asked if Lee and Darla were sad to say goodbye, and both felt sad for the story-lines ending, but “each scene is an opportunity for all of us to say goodbye.”

The interview wrapped with a question of were there any new exciting films in the making. “Yes!” both replied. Unkrich and Anderson are back together working on a new film, but the details are top secret so they couldn’t give out any information. Cars 2 is also already in production, expected to be out by next Summer.

The Toy Story movies are and will forever be in the hearts of children, adults and families all over the world, for years to come.

When “Toy Story” appeared in 1995, seemingly out of nowhere, it immediately presented itself as the future of children-oriented cinema. It was Pixar’s first, and crowning, achievement; a breathing, gorgeous rendition of a child’s reality. I remember seeing it at 10 years old and being fascinated with the curve of the figures, the computer-generated shadows, and the cartoonish representations of some of my favorite childhood toys.

The story wasn’t half bad, either. “Toy Story” was first and foremost about the power of imagination. It described a universe where toys not only came to life, but yearned to be friends and loved ones to the children who possessed them. It’s a beautiful sentiment.

I didn’t see “Toy Story 2,” or if I did, I don’t remember it at all. Chances are it has faded into the mists of my own childhood, buried under memories of birthday parties and fights with my little brother. But “Toy Story 3″ does not list the first two movies as prerequisites. It is its own man, so to speak, and the remarkable thing is it stands very well, and very charmingly, on its own.

The first chance they took with the film was keeping the story in real time. In this episode, Andy has grown from a doe-eyed boy to a 17-year-old on his way to college. His toys, led by cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks) and spaceman Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), haven’t been played with for years. Their demeanor is that of long-time employees facing possible layoffs — will they be safe in the attic, or are they relegated to the garbage bag? “Toy Story” has always been good at farce-style mishaps, and it’s through a series of mistakes that the toys end up at a day care center, run by Lotso Love (Ned Beatty, a genial-seeming pink bear).

The whole abandoned-toy shtick is a little melodramatic, but it’s lightened immensely by the characters. Lotso runs the day care much the way a mob boss runs a corrupt trade union (the new toys are relegated to the Caterpillar Room, to be mauled and dented by the smaller children, while the veteran toys get to lounge around in the older kid’s playroom.) There’s a sexually ambiguous Ken doll (Michael Keaton, in his best work since “Beetlejuice”), and a method actor porcupine aptly named Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton? What are you doing here?!) Though written by four different people, the lines are consistently funny and touching by turns. Is it weird that I really care what happens to Jessie? Because it feels so right.

Because I wear glasses and have an unfortunate predisposition to mind-bending migraines, I’m not the biggest fan of 3D. That said, these are some of the least-offensive 3D effects I’ve seen — the animators seem more intent on shaping the scenes rather than simply having them pop out at you. The animation, as usual with Pixar, is gorgeously rendered, with a meticulous eye for perfection I can’t even begin to comprehend. I envy these animators gift to create space, depth and proportion, with little details that just make it better, like Rex the Dinosaur’s delicately worn tail, slightly bent from too many hours being played with.

This is the film that meets the grown-ups who originally loved “Toy Story” as children. It’s funny, sweet and slightly sad to be facing adulthood. But there’s a new generation that will also love “Toy Story 3.” The smartest thing the creators did was make sure that those who hadn’t seen the first two films could follow the third with little difficulty. The ending of “Toy Story 3″ seems to address this head on in the conclusion of the film. The world only spins forward, it seems to say. But in terms of this movie, there’s certainly no harm in looking back.

Last week, Sony officially revealed its motion controller, the PlayStation Move, and its launch titles, a host of soft-core games like the Wii did with Wii Sports.

But today, two more titles using the “Move” controller were announced; the next “Brunswick Pro Bowling” and “Toy Story 3.”

The movie-game to use Sony's "Move"

Now, we understand the bowling choice. That goes hand in hand (pun very much intended), but Toy Story 3, how’s that going to work?

Guess we’ll find out later this year when we get our hands on both.

Source: Joystiq

With Disney forking over $4 billion for some Marvel and its 5,000+ characters, we here at Blast thought we’d help the two companies think up ways to combine their portfolios.

Here’s what we came up with:

10. X-men meet the Seven Dwarfs

The X-men have always lacked just a little something, but by adding Dopey, Sleepy Grumpy and the gang they pick up seven little somethings in one fell swoop. And if you don’t think the dwarfs are mutants, you haven’t seen Grumpy eat soup.

9. Sub-Mariner meets The Little Mermaid

A couple of nights with Namor and Ariel would never pine for the surface world again.

Do you get the metaphor?

8. Donald Duck meets Howard the Duck

Oh, the (in)humanity!

You have heard of Howard the Duck, right?

7. Bambi meets The Incredible Hulk

Each an orphan in his own way, the purple panted one and the world’s most beloved deer would get along famously — at least, a helluva lot better than Bambi and Godzilla did!

6. Beauty & the Beast meet Wolverine

The two beastie boys battling over Belle? Put some protective covering on the furniture and an extra coat of scratch-resistant polish on the floors!

5. Deadpool meets Dumbo

Teleportation is so overdone. What better way to strike terror in the hearts of your enemies than to come swooping in on a flying baby elephant who cries if you criticize his ears?

4. Spider-man meets Aladdin

You gotta believe smart-alec Spidey and the jovial blue Genie would get along famously. Although with skyscrapers hard to find in the ancient middle east, the magic carpet could get a bit crowded!

3. Iron Man meets Wall-E

I’m sure each has a few spare parts the other would love to accessorize, and imagine the epic quests across the galaxy looking for a 220-volt outlet!

2. Daredevil meets Goofy

The blind leading the congenitally idiotic! At least Goofy could lighten the mood during some of those tense courtroom battles..

1. Captain America meets Toy Story

Could there be two more pompous crimefighters than Cap and Buzz Lightyear? By the time the two of them decide on a rallying cry/motto, all the super villains will have retired.

SAN DIEGO — “Toy Story” was landmark upon its release, which was already more than 10 years ago. Today, Disney introduced “Toy Story 3″ at Comic-Con.

Disney’s Lee Unkrich revealed little during a panel discussion. While most of the information is still a secret, he did allow audience members to find out about the new character to the franchise, Ken (Barbie’s counterpart) who will be voiced by Michael Keaton.

“We were not interested if it would have been simply an adventure on the road,” Unkrich elaborated on the motivations of this latest volume to the series in a round-table interview with Blast.

Unkrich elaborated that the film was personal to all involved and they wanted to create something worthwhile for audiences to enjoy as well as themselves.

“So much had past since the first film … all of us involved have had children, some of them have graduated,” he said.

And with the real passage of time, a new plot element unfolds.

Andy, the human boy character in the original film, is off to college in “Toy Story 3.”

This tidbit of information may be enough to offer fans an idea of how the film may go. With recent films such as “Up” it is possible Disney may attempt to include more serious themes into its films.

As far as the technology, “Toy Story 3″ is designed for a 3D audience. An exclusive clip of the film entertained audiences with visuals of Rex’s tail whipping around and the memorable little alien toys grasping their cute fingers outside the screen toward the audience. The clip even began with Buzz Lightyear walking into frame as if coming out from the corner of the screen and into the forefront.

Finally, while the third flick is far off, “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ are currently being configured for 3D as well — illustrating Disney’s continued dedication to the format.