SpaceAce wrote:In Pixar's coming movie "Toy Story 3," Woody the cowboy and his toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college.
Andy actually grows up?!
My excitement for this film has returned. I'm glad they're bringing the concept that they introduced in
Toy Story 2 full-circle by having Andy outgrow his toys. It'll be interesting to see how they all take it. The fact that it takes place so far in the future (
like, around a decade) opens up so many possibilities. Just think: toys go in and out of style very quickly. Maybe we can have Buzz go through a mid-life crisis after finding out that the fad for space toys has passed. Or maybe western toys can come back in style and Woody can be the popular one again. Hmmm, well, now that I think about it, those ideas aren't too good, but this still opens up a bunch of potential for new story elements.
There are two things that bother me with this plot description: the use of the word "dumped" and Andy himself.
Is it just me, or does leaving his childhood toys - his best friends - at some random day-care center to be played with by a bunch of kids that will never love them as much as he did make Andy look kinda, to quote the article, dickish? I mean, when you think about it, it's almost exactly what Jessie's owner did to her in the second film. This third movie has the potential to make Andy an extremely unlikeable person. I sure hope it doesn't end up that way.
Andy's the central character in the entire
Toy Story franchise, the one character that frames the motivations and actions of all the toy protagonists. Everything that Woody, Buzz, and the others do is for him and his happiness. If he just heartlessly gives them away when he outgrows them, he throws away every good quality he ever had, and betrays the friendship that the first two movies worked so hard to establish. His love for those toys has become almost as important as the Pooh/Christopher Robin relationship.
But maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. Maybe his mother gave them away without his permission. I don't see that happening, though. She would never do that without consulting his first. This is what bothers me about the word "dumped" in the description. They were "dumped" at the day-care center? Why use that particular word? Could that imply that the toys being there is an accident? Were they really intended to go there?
Either way, it brings forth a bunch of questions. Is it just Andy's toys that are taken there, or is it Molly's as well? If it's the former, then Bo Peep, Ms. Potato Head, and the Barbie dolls could end up being separated from Woody and the others.
I'm glad they're going for the Andy-growing-up plot, but I was kind of hoping they would go about it a different way. I was hoping that if they did use that plot, then the whole movie would just focus on Andy showly outgrowing his toys, and then at the end of the film, he would give them to his children. It's the perfect ending for the series. The toys continue to be loved by the family, and Andy gets to prove his love for both his toys and his kids by giving one set of his most-prized possessions to the other. Just jumping into the plot with the toys having already been passed on skips so many opportunities for character development.
But then again, this is PIXAR. We all know how much they care about the
Toy Story characters, so I doubt they would do anything that goes against the spirit of the first two films by making Andy into a heartless owner. I have confidence in them; I just hope this movie doesn't end up going where this vague description implies that it's going. And of course, this is still very early information. Everything about this plot could easily change.
Oh well, at least having an older Andy in the film will allow John Morris, whose voice has undoubtedly matured by now, to continue to play him. But how will they ever replace Jim Varney?!
C'mon you guys, we've finally got something to discuss besides princesses and barebone DVD re-releases. Let's get to speculating!
I think Marlin and Dory would make a cute couple. quote]
or simply known as Mrs. Potato Head 
