Toy Story 2 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Opinion was divided last week in response to my suggestion that theater hopping be made legal. Most of the commenters thought I was an idiot, while the rest thought I was a Communist. In retrospect, I regret any disturbance I caused to the patrons in the three auditoriums that I visited briefly and illicitly; my apologies to those folks. I see nothing wrong or contradictory, however, with seeking ways to both improve the moviegoing experience and making it a better value for consumers. OK, wandering gangs of cheap, rude theater hoppers is not a popular (or even a good) idea. What, then? Why not bring back double features?

Of all the studios, it's Disney/Pixar that has released the first true double feature in ages: one ticket buys you admission to Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D during its limited engagement. Of course, these films already made hundreds of millions of dollars during their original theatrical engagements, plus untold millions from home video releases. Tickets for 3-D movies are also sold at a premium (an extra $3.00 in my area), so making them available for a few weeks as a double feature doesn't present as much of a financial risk for the studio.

Still, it's the thought that counts. Granted, the last time two films were released as a double bill, it didn't turn out so well on the financial side of things.

As a cinephile and animation fan long before I became a professional critic, I have a couple of very specific memories associated with Toy Story and Toy Story 2: With the first film, I remember being unimpressed with its ad campaign and even its technological novelty – that is, until I actually saw the thing, and totally loved it. And with the second, I recall sitting in a theatre the opening weekend of its release, sobbing my eyes out to "Jessie's Song" as hundreds of pre-teens and their parents impatiently awaited the next set piece.

Unfortunately, I think few people who are already fans of the franchise will find much new or different to remember now that they're in 3D. Meanwhile, newcomers to the most important computer-animated series in movie history will also probably not find anything more profound than the stories themselves, since they were already multi-dimensional long before anyone made their experience technical in addition to already being an emotional one.

I'm not entirely sure where or how /Film dug up this blog post from last summer about the lack of proper female characters taking the lead in Pixar's productions to date, but it's certainly made those of us on Twitter all... a-buzz.

Think about it: Toy Story had Bo Peep and Mrs. Potato Head serve as love interests; A Bug's Life had a princess love interest and spunky tot; Toy Story 2 can claim Jessie as a proper heroine; Monsters, Inc. is back to love interest and spunky kid; Finding Nemo does give Dory a fairly prominent and helpful presence; and The Incredibles has both Helen and Violet as prime role models. Cars and Ratatouille once again reduce the gals to objects of affection, while Wall-E falls for one admittedly assertive robot.

(In fairness, Dreamworks seems to be batting a similar average: for every Princess Fiona or Rita, there's either a Renee Zellweger or a Renee Zellweger around to muck it up.)

Pixar's next project, Up, appears for now to focus solely on one old man and one young boy. While I don't see the box office dipping in the name of all that testosterone, I still wonder if any of you are struck by this gender disparity in the studio's work, and if any sort of affirmative action is going to result in stories compromised just so they can include a Token Stand-Up Female. What say you guys and girls?

If it hasn't happened already, within the next year or so Disney and 3-D technology should become BF4EVAH (or Best Friends For Ever). Just today two whoppers of announcements have been made: First, that Disney will release its classic Beauty and the Beast in Disney Digital 3-D on the big screen in 2010. Joining Beast that same year in Disney Digital 3-D will be the re-release of Toy Story 2, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3, Rapunzel and Step Up 3D (from Touchstone). Wait, we're not done -- that was just the honeymoon. In 2009, we're looking at Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Movie, Pixar's Up, G-Force, the re-release of Toy Story and Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol.

Oh, and regarding that last film -- A Christmas Carol -- well, Disney also just announced a deal where Carol will kick off a five-picture arrangement with IMAX Corporation, meaning you will soon be seeing Disney on an even bigger screen in 3-D. Of course, this all leads to the biggie: Pirates of the Caribbean 4, and a continuation of their most popular live-action franchise right now. Those brilliant minds over at Variety seem to think it'd be a no-brainer for Disney to bring Pirates into 3-D territory, and when we asked Jerry Bruckheimer about going 3-D with Pirates recently while visiting the set of Prince of Persia (which we imagine will be one of those five films hitting IMAX screens), he said "Absolutely. I'd love to do it, so let's just see if we can work it through the production schedule with everything else."

But what do you fans of the franchise think? Would you want Pirates 4 to go the 3-D route, or do you feel the technology would take something away from the franchise? Sound off below ...

I'll never get tired of a successful trailer mash-up, and this has to be one of my favorites of the year so far. Folks have had a lot of fun with The Dark Knight in 2008 (this scene mash-up featuring President Bush's speech is just tops), and the good times continue with Toy Story 2. Yes, I know there's a Toy Story 2 in realz life, but this Toy Story 2 is set to creepy and works surprisingly well alongside the trailer for The Dark Knight -- so much so that I'm kinda scared of Woody right now. See, in this version Woody plays the villain (aka Joker) and Buzz plays Batman (not to mention that Alfred is played by the green dinosaur, Rex). If it sounds strange, wait till you watch the thing.

Speaking of ...



[via Neatorama]

There's currently a crisis in the theater industry and apparently it's all Steven Spielberg's fault. According to Variety coverage of Sunday's National Association of Broadcasters Show's Digitial Cinema Summit, the filmmaker was named as a constant obstacle in the transition to digital cinema.

Spielberg's insistence against releasing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull digitally was overruled last month when Paramount announced that it would indeed open the summer blockbuster on some digital screens, but the fact that it won't be a full digital release, coupled with the fact that Spielberg still doesn't "get" the fact that digital is superior to film, is a problematic issue for an industry having difficulties installing a necessary amount of digital projectors by 2009.

To go along with their recent announcement, Disney/Pixar have released a bunch of promo images for all of their upcoming projects, including WALL-E (June 27, 2008), Bolt (November 26, 2008), Up (May 29, 2008), The Princess and the Frog (Christmas 2009), Toy Story 3 (June 18, 2010), Rapunzel (Christmas 2010), Newt (Summer 2011), The Bear and the Bow (Christmas 2011), Cars 2 (Summer 2012) and King of the Elves (Christmas 2012). In between all of these new releases, Disney/Pixar will re-release Toy Story (October 2, 2009) and Toy Story 2 (February 12, 2010) in 3-D.

For more on this announcement, as well as additional information on each of these films (casts, plots, directors, etc), check out our original post over here. To take a look at all these images, head to the gallery featured below.

Which film are you anticipating the most? Should they even make a sequel to Cars? Talk amongst yourselves ...

What's hotter Hansel? It's not Derek Zoolander. It's 3D. My good lord, studios are really pushing the hell out of this format. I just don't get the rabid push. Some films, I get. This obsession, I don't get. I saw Harry Potter on IMAX 3D... The entire 3D portion had me dizzy and confused, and it also ruined the goodbye to a character I particularly liked. (Perhaps that was the seating, but since I was just off of dead-center, I don't think so.) Anyhow, with the full-speed-ahead 3D push, Disney has decided to re-release Pixar's Toy Story with the added dimension.

Variety reports that this release is slated to hit theaters on October 2, 2009, a few months before its sequel gets the same treatment on February 12, 2010. Both, of course, are coming out to lead up to the release of Toy Story 3, which is slated for June 18, 2010 -- a film which is already being prepped for 3D goodness. I sure hope they keep to the schedule -- moving the date for one is tricky -- moving the dates for three is trickier.

This move is the latest in the Mouse House's plans to release more of its animated films in 3D. Toy Story follows the likes of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Meet the Robinsons, and Chicken Little. I wonder how far back they'll try to go...

While I never really considered myself a huge Astro Boy fan, for some reason I'm really starting to look forward to ImagiAnimation's feature film about the little robot boy fighting danger while struggling to reconcile his circuitry with his burgeoning humanity. First Showing got the chance to speak with animator/director Colin Brady (Toy Story 2) and got an exclusive first look at some of the concept art for the film. So for the fans who were worried that their beloved Astro was going to get a big-budget makeover; don't worry, it looks like it's still the boy-robot you know and love. Although, for fans of the TV version back in the 60's (or its revival back in 2003), I'm afraid Brady has done away with the kitschy 60's vibe -- and instead, he'll be making an "epic Sci Fi fantasy".

Brady tells FirstShowing, "AstroBoy is kind of a dark Pinocchio story, but unlike Pinocchio, Astro never can become real flesh and blood. Astro's journey of self discovery and acceptance is directly linked to the hardcore killer robot fights, and to the rejection by his creator, Dr. Tanner". Brady also hinted that the film wasn't going to be strictly for the kids: "We're going for as hard PG as we can. Luckily robot violence is less disturbing than humans fighting each other with guns". Amen to that. So far there is no word on a cast but Brady did say it would likely be a mix of American and Japanese actors, but that "they have to be right for the part". Astro Boy is scheduled for release in 2009.

Mad Cow Disease -- which changed its name from Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) when it got famous in the late 1990's -- is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle, spread by the host consuming animal by-products infected by this protein mutation. The disease is zoonotic -- meaning it can be transmitted to humans (and vice versa) -- so this forced cannibalism resulted in the deaths of over 150 Europeans through 2004 who had consumed tainted beef. While only five BSE-infected cattle were identified in the U.S. through 2005 (due to their largely soy diet), the panic was enough to cause widespread bans on U.S. beef.