I was shocked at how truly frightening Toy Story 3 was. It was a great movie, my favorite of the 3, but Jesus Christ. After discussing it with my friends, (one of which, Nan, I was holding the hand of every time a particularly scary/suspenseful part came up…she was just as freaked out as I was) we agreed that many of the parts were very dark, even for fourteen year old girls.
First of all,[spoil] the totalitarian dictatorship of Sunnyside (shut up, you saw it)[/spoil]. I was feeling sorry for children in the audience at this part, with [spoil]Buzz brainwashed and the toys locked up.[/spoil] The tone had turned very dark very quickly, and it was quite disturbing at parts. However, my friends and I thought that might have been BECAUSE we were older and learned about real dictatorships like this. Animal Farm in particular came up in my mind. The way [spoil]Lotsa seemed friendly and looking out for everyone but was really a dictator to the toys and imprisoning them in the daycare, complete with torture punishments and security measurements that are excessive to say the least,[/spoil] was unsettling. As my BFF Emma put it: “Its like Toy Story meets 1984.”
Then, that GODDANG MONKEY. I mean…GOD. The EYES. The MOUTH. The SCREECH. Everything about that thing was scary. Even at the end, when [spoil]everything is hunky dory and he puts on the star sunglasses,[/spoil] Nan and I were like “Nope. Doesn’t matter. Still terrifying.”
[spoil]The incinerator. When Lotsa abandoned them to burn, I wanted to cry out. The way the toys accept their death, holding hands as they prepare to die…DANG.[/spoil]
I tell ya, that Monkey was [spoil]the freakiest, scariest thing in the movie!! I mean, if I were a little kid, I’d be having nightmares about that Monkey![/spoil]
What got me about the big scene in [spoil]the incinerator: When Jessie asks Buzz, what do we do? and he just gives her that look. Oh, my gosh. I was so so so glad I had already read the spoiler about how the whole thing ends, or I don’t know if I would have made it through that scene.[/spoil]
I saw it with a great audience today, and you should have heard the whole room gasp when [spoil]Lotso left them. I really thought Lotso was going to redeem himself, simply because they’re promoting him as this lovable meet-and-greet character at Walt Disney World, for crying out loud!! There has been talk on the Disboards wondering if kids are going to freak out now when they see him in person.[/spoil]
Hands down, no contest, this is the darkest, scariest thing Pixar has done.
[spoil]Oh my God, yes, the incinerator scene. It found it sad, actually, because Jessie was so used to Buzz being the brave one, always knowing what to do, and now he has nothing. He can only take her hand. The look on her face just said it all…along with the two couples (Buzz and Jesse and the Potato Heads) holding each other as they prepared to die. [/spoil]
It took me 40 minutes just to come out of my shock state and start enjoying the movie. During half of the time in the theater, I was just angry at everything that was happening.
Yeah, I have to agree very much on the dark tone of this one, especially with Lotso. They still give us a backstory so we can sympathize and understand him, but much like Syndrome in The Incredibles he goes way off the deep end to really feel bad for him anymore. For a long time I thought of Hopper from A Bug’s Life as being the most cruel Pixar villain, and I never thought I’d say it but now I think it has to be Lotso (1. because it was Hopper for so long, and 2. cause Lotso seemed like such a sweet bear on the outside).
I can also see how the monkey is scary, but I think Lee must have been hoping it would be funny instead. [spoil]Of course now a lot of people are going to be quoting Chatter Telephone’s line “You gotta take out that monkey!”.[/spoil]
I’ll admit I even heard some kids crying and getting upset when I saw the film.
I’m obviously not reading the spoilers or anything, but I’m very surprised that Toy Story 3 is as dark as audiences are saying it is. I guess I’ve always thought of the Toy Story series as being very child-friendly and heart-warming, with added bits of peril of course, but nothing quite as deep as say WALL-E or Up. So I’m both surprised and glad to hear that Pixar took a risk with Toy Story 3!
Ha, absolutely! I want to see [spoil]“Get rid of that monkey!”[/spoil] become the next “Wind the frog!”
The only thing I’d add to the list in this thread is [spoil]Big Baby, most notably that little moment when he was quietly sitting on the swing, looking up at the sky.[/spoil] Very unsettling.
I’ve noticed that quite a bit with Pixar’s latest films that they’ve gotten more emotional like Wall-E and Up and started having some darker and more mature themes. Lee said in an interview that it’s “a reflection of us being at a different place in our lives and we think about different things, I suppose, than when we were young”: [url]http://www.awn.com/articles/3d/unkrich-talks-toy-story-trilogy/page/3%2C1[/url]
In other words, I guess he’s saying that they’ve matured so their stories have matured a bit as well.
First of all, don’t diss [spoil]the Monkey. He’s probably my favorite new character, my friend and I could NOT stop laughing for the entire scene that the Chatter Telephone was talking about him. It was the funniest part of the movie for me. I could see some people being freaked out by him, though, of course.[/spoil]
Anyways, besides what has already been said, I felt that [spoil]the confrontation above the dumpster was fairly intense. It was probably my favorite scene. A lot of huge things happened, but I think the darkest moments would be the battered up Chatter Telephone and when Lotso grabs Woody’s leg. That got a huge shock reaction from my audience.[/spoil]
Yeah, I was surprised at how scary Toy Story 3 could be!
The part with the monkey freaked me out yet I laughed so hard.
The red eyes freaked me out, but I laughed when he started beating up Woody. Then when Woody and Slinky taped him up, I kinda felt bad for him because he was just doing a job that he was most likely forced into doing.
The way Big Baby turned his head around towards Woody, Bullseye and the aliens was really creepy and kinda scary.
Another part that scared me and left me feeling heartbroken was of course the incinerator. All of the toys accepting death like that was so sad. I hated how the toys tried so hard to get out, but they couldn’t do it. Then when they all held hands, I remember people at my theater were gasping and one person shouted “oh no”. My heart pretty much broke when Buzz and Jessie were holding each other close as they got closer to the fire. But when they were saved by the aliens… the audience(including myself), were the happiest people in the world. Loudest applause and cheering… ever! XD
Another thing I thought about [spoil]when seeing the incinerator scene was how it felt like it had a Heaven/Hell vibe to it, with the scary and intense fire and then the blue light from being picked up by the claw.[/spoil]
[spoil]Yeah, the incinerator scene has got to be the darkest thing Pixar has ever done. Between Lotso’s betrayal, the emotional music, the green lighting leading up to the fire and the Hell-like fire itself, it was a very intense scene. As a 20 year old male who rarely cries at movies, that sequence just wrecked me. When all the toys hold hands, I just about lost it, especially when you looked at their faces. Plus, there is nothing more heart-wrenching than watching Bullseye fighting for his life like he did just before everyone joined hands.
Also, that monkey, though hilarious, is frighteningly freaky looking. Man, those eyes give me the creeps.[/spoil]
I think I’m not the one overreacting at the incinerator scene. Gosh, when I know Lotso betraying them (darn you Lotso!) and they have prepared for death, I punched the front seat and heck, then teared. Thank goodness, there’s nobody in front.
I think for me it would be when we see the broken/destroyed Chatter Telephone. Before this they cut away before any toys were injured/killed. Once we (and the other toys, I suppose) see the broken phone, you know that this is serious stuff.
The [spoil]incinerator scene[/spoil] is also quite scary. Definately one of pixar’s darkest scenes.
[spoiler]Both The Monkey and Big Baby were scary-funny, the monkey more so, in an Evil Dead 2 sort of way.
The Incinerator part wasn’t really scary; more like the most dark and depressing thing to have ever happened in any Pixar film ever, possibly in any animated thing ever.[/spoiler]
The movie had a good mix of suspense and comedy, however, it didn’t wuite cancel out the shockingness of it.
[spoil]Obviously, the incinerator scene was heart-wrenching and I didn’t even spoil it. The way they got out of it was pure genius as well. If I wasn’t so shocked by the previous scene, I’d be cracking up.
Big Baby was also one of the most emotional characters in the movie. Big Baby has obviously seen better days, and knowing that he was lied to all this time doesn’t make it better. The fact that he’s only able of expressing himself in baby-like manners also gets to me. There’s nothing quite as eerie and sad as watching Big Baby just staring at the night sky.
The scene where he throws Lotso into the dumpster was also intense, but Big Baby still made me laugh afterwards.
Chatter Telephone’s fate was also hard to take in. He was the guy who was only trying to help, and did nothing wrong, but still had to pay.[/spoil]
Though this is definately some mature stuff, I still think the original Toy Story is one of Pixar’s darkest films as well. Call it unstylized, but to me, it just rubs off as a more realistic environment, and everything seems more real.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that movie (even though I have not seen it yet).
Okay, one of most depressing/heart wrenching scene in a western/US animated film?
