{"id":1170,"date":"2007-03-23T10:35:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-23T10:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/pixar-the-storytellers-part-3"},"modified":"2007-03-23T10:35:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-23T10:35:00","slug":"pixar-the-storytellers-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/pixar-the-storytellers-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Pixar: The Storytellers Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here is the 3rd installment of Tyro’s series, Pixar: The Storytellers. This weeks edition focuses on Toy Story 2.<\/span>
\n


\nToy Story 2<\/span><\/span><\/center><\/p>\n

The exact details of Toy Story 2\u2019s development and wrestling between Disney and Pixar still aren\u2019t clear, but the upshot of it is known: Pixar had only months, not years, to craft a story that would stand up to the original. I\u2019m well aware that many people hold the sequel in high regard, some even hold it higher than Toy Story itself, so I may well be courting controversy with this analysis, when I attempt to illustrate why I think it\u2019s a poor story.<\/p>\n

Read on…<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll start with some of the lesser problems. First, the opening video game sequence. Now I know it sets up Zurg\u2019s entry for later, and it\u2019s the comic setup for the second Buzz and his abilities and eagerness to catch Zurg, but they\u2019re all minor elements compared to the major story at the heart of the film. It\u2019s not setting up anything to do with Woody, who is the protagonist lets not forget, or any locations, or actions for the final act of the film, or even the theme. Remember how nothing was waste in the opening of the original? Every second of action had major relevance. Sure, this opening is fun and spectacular, but in terms of the story, I found it slightly redundant.<\/p>\n

Second is Woody\u2019s dream sequence. Remember how all the exposition in the original was passed to us without us really knowing? It was masterful. Dream sequences aren\u2019t. They\u2019re almost the least cinematic thing you could do, to drive the camera right into the character\u2019s head and not dramatise the turmoil they\u2019re facing. They\u2019re an easy way out. What\u2019s worse, is that it\u2019s telling us facts that we already know. We\u2019ve just seen how upset Woody was at being shelved. Did we need a dream sequence of Woody\u2019s insecurities when Buzz arrived? How does it add to or turn the story? It\u2019s a lazy piece of flat writing, taking us out of the reality of story, written solely for the audience to be spoonfed information that we already know.<\/p>\n

Third is Jessie\u2019s flashback. The Randy Newman montage of \u201cStrange Things Happening\u201d to Woody was still carrying the momentum of Buzz\u2019s arrival, itself an event that was so shocking and unexpected we were really with Woody as he was experiencing the change. And it was a change that took him even lower than being knocked off the bed. In other words, it was packed full of emotion and meaning. Jessie\u2019s flashback, however, comes at a relatively slow moment in the story anyway, and, like the dream sequence, is largely unneeded. Would it not have been more moving to see Jessie struggling to recollect this incident? And as she almost breaks down in tears trying to tell Woody, then it presents him with a real dilemma and we\u2019re there, in the scene with them, as it\u2019s happening. But for me, it\u2019s a moment not particularly full of emotion, thus the flashback montage with song comes off as sentimental. <\/p>\n

But what happens next my biggest problem with the film, and is related to the nature of sequels. I\u2019ll go more into this with Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, but to truncate my argument: originals work because they\u2019re centred on a deep rooted emotional problem within the character that gives rise to the engaging and thrilling scenes we love in the resulting story and film. At climax of the original, this emotional problem is resolved, thus the entire basis of what made the original work is redundant. Toy Story 2, taking it even further than this, requires a gigantic leap of faith for the audience: we\u2019re asked to believe that, after all Woody went through in the original to get back to Andy, after how much we saw he loved his world and what he put at stake to get back to it, we\u2019re asked to believe he would give it all up. And for what? To be stuck in a Japanese museum. You\u2019re yelling but that\u2019s the point \u2013 that\u2019s his character arc! But you can\u2019t just slap an arc onto a character, it has to be natural, endemic to the world of the story. And, at least I found, that Woody agreeing to forsake his world with Andy was just ridiculous, unbelievable, literally incredible \u2013 it just was not credible that the Woody we had been introduced to would do that. <\/p>\n

\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5044913578749744610\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I know he had felt rejected by Andy, but what was Andy\u2019s reaction to having to leave Woody on the shelf (and it wasn\u2019t him who put him up there)? He was sad, distraught that he\u2019d be leaving him behind, not overjoyed and glad to leave Woody, not like how he sidelined Woody for Buzz in the original. And yet, this is the problem facing the storyteller when doing a sequel: putting up emotional blocks for the character, so it retains that touching element. The trouble is that often requires the invention of a phoney reason. For me at least, it just didn\u2019t ring quite true.<\/p>\n

Also, once Woody did decide to go to Japan, how much antagonism did he face, how much of a battle, an adventure, was there to arc Woody to the positive? How much time was there before he reversed his decision. In order for his change in view to be meaningful, we have to feel it\u2019s something he really wants to do. Getting his top spot back was something he really wanted. Going to Japan? Meh, on a whim. The point is, not only was the decision questionable, but the character change was almost brushed over, so not much meaning about \u2018embracing life once we realise the value of living\u2019 or again realising the value of friendship, could be garnered.<\/p>\n

Woody realising Andy\u2019s going to grow up, and his reaction and emotional turmoil that throws him into, is such a major opportunity, that it should have been put at the centre of this story, it should have been, in structural terms, the inciting incident \u2013 the one event that launches the story. As it is, it\u2019s rushed and so the meaning we get from it isn\u2019t as strong, which means the story it\u2019s built upon can only be of a certain weakness itself.<\/p>\n

Finally, for the first time we had a subplot. In Toy Story, Woody wanted to get his top spot back. In A Bug\u2019s Life, Flik wanted to defend the colony. Toy Story 2 however, split the narrative: Woody captured, and the toys going to find him. Although they were indeed linked dramatically, the very best subplots in some way reinforce or contradict the theme of the central plot, to really enrich the story\u2019s overall meaning. I\u2019ll talk more about this with The Incredibles, but suffice to say toys trekking through the city doesn\u2019t have that much in common with Woody pondering his future as Andy\u2019s toy. <\/p>\n

These arguments may have been facetious, over the top, and nitpicky. I certainly don\u2019t hate Toy Story 2. I certainly don\u2019t blame Pixar, the time pressure and chaos of the film\u2019s development almost nailed the film\u2019s fate: and under the circumstances, they simply did a remarkable job. And there are of course wonderful moments in the film, but because of the diluting of the theme (is it about Woody discovering he\u2019s famous, or realising Andy\u2019s going to get old?), they\u2019re not as enriched with meaning as, say, the moment Woody and Buzz fall with style.<\/p>\n

Given more time, it would have been interesting to see what Toy Story 2 would have become. How will Michael Arndt create a convincing emotional basis for Toy Story 3? I\u2019m sure he will, and I\u2019m sure that with a full three years until its release, Pixar are going to give it everything they\u2019ve got.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is the 3rd installment of Tyro’s series, Pixar: The Storytellers. This weeks edition focuses on Toy Story 2. Toy Story 2 The exact details of Toy Story 2\u2019s development and wrestling between Disney and Pixar still aren\u2019t clear, but the upshot of it is known: Pixar had only months, not years, to craft a …<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPixar: The Storytellers Part 3 - Upcoming Pixar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/pixar-the-storytellers-part-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pixar: The Storytellers Part 3 - Upcoming Pixar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is the 3rd installment of Tyro’s series, Pixar: The Storytellers. 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