Toy Story from a book?

Archives
#1

I always knew Toy Story was inspired by Tin Toy, but I had a conversation with some girls in my class the other day when I was thinking of writing a comparison of Pixar and Dreamworks:

Girl 1: Why is that weird?
Me: You don’t know me well enough yet.
Girl 1: Who would you chose?
Me: Pixar!
Girl 1: Aw.
Me: Why?
Girl 2: Dreamworks can actually think up their own stories.
Me (Trying not to laugh): And Pixar can’t why…
Girl 2: Like, Toy Story was from a book
Me: No it wasn’t. It was inspired by Tin Toy, a short made by Pixar
Girl 2: No, it was a book.
Me: You know Shrek was based off a book, right?
Girl 1 (hesitates for a moment): …but Shrek’s a good movie.
Me: And Toy Story’s not?
Girl 1: No, Toy Story’s a kiddie movie.
Me: Riiiight. under my breath People who can’t like kiddie movies take themselves too seriously.

So yeah. Does anyone know anything about this?

#2

Well, that girl rather fails. :laughing:

Anyway, as far as I’m aware, Toy Story was purely based on the thoughts of the people at Pixar at the time, and not on a book. Unlike Shrek, as you mentioned. :laughing:

#3

Shrek was pure book…i have heard nothin’ about TS being from a book. I think its pretty safe to say that idea is false.

#4

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

#5

Just tell that girl that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. I have a feeling she doesn’t even know the difference between the two studios and hasn’t seen either Toy Story or Shrek in years! It’s funny because some people think DreamWorks and Disney “work together” when it couldn’t be farther from the truth! And some people believe that Disney makes the characters, story etc. and Pixar just does the animation. Why of course, DreamWorks must be Disney related, D and D, it all makes sense, and isn’t Disney where dreams come true…? Oh and Pixar Animation Studios… animation, see that’s all they do!!
Typical things you might hear, but there’s many, many more…
But I’m sure if you educate her on this topic a bit, she’ll know where Toy Story came from (which in the end is completely original and the final version is very loosely based on Tin Toy after the four years in development/production). And Shrek was very loosely based on some book called Shreck, but whatever. We all know the Bugs vs. Antz story and so forth. I guess you might want to go over who made what movie, when etc. It might open her eyes on the difference, because as we all know DreamWorks is no Pixar!
You know, she might think Pixar is DreamWorks and vice-versa, that happens very little times, but it happens. Start of with “Pixar is the one with the little lamp, you know, on the I…” and go through the filmography. And as far as I know, Pixar films are completely original, if not lossely based on this or that but the actual finished product is 100% original. Even so, some great films were based on books, check out classic Disney.
And no, “Girl 2” DreamWorks can barely think up their own stories, it doesn’t even matter if they’re based on something or not, it’s like they think of a title and pack the movie with insanely stupid jokes and charatcers who on their downtime do nothing but fart (which is OK to do in a movie in moderation and as tastefully/purposefully as possible.)
If Pixar can’t think of original stories then what are we left with, nothing. Ask her which movies are unoriginal, or based on books or whatever she thinks makes Pixar “bad”. She won’t be able to name a thing (correctly at least). Just refute it.
In conclusion, you know you’re right, we know you’re right, if she wants to be stubborn, so be it.
P.S. Sorry for the rant. :blush:

#6

FAILAGE.

If it were me, I’d ask her to give me a source of where that information came from. But, people like that aren’t worth your time. Sadly, that girl makes up the audience who continuously go and watch Dreamworks movies over Pixar. Oh well. It just shows their bad taste and ignorance for the studios’ movie processes (of which Pixar’s is far superior.)

#7

Well, I think maybe that girl must have been referring to The Velveteen Rabbit or The Tin Soldier, or any of those little stories that use the same concept, with the toys being alive and all, and jumped to conclusions from there.

Perhaps she hasn’t seen Toy Story in so long she forgot what it was like and now has been falsely misled to think that Toy Story’s concept wasn’t original. Yes, the idea of toys being alive has been used in several books, however, that doesn’t mean Toy Story was ripped off. The entire story in it is original and creative.

#8

What I find strange is that everyone who thinks animated films are “kiddie films”, actually have no idea what they’re talking about. They will say all Pixar makes is kiddie films, look at Toy Story, but if you mentioned WALL•E, The Incredibles or Ratatouille, they would likely say that those ones are okay, and be forced to eat their words.

#9

People always assume animated = children’s. And animation companies know that. One example I can think of is Pocahontas, which like all other Disney movies, was marketed as a kiddie comedy, when it so isnt. It’s totally a drama, with some very adult themes going on. I suppose it was a way to get more people in the theater as family movies usually do pretty decently.

#10

People, come on, don’t be too hard on that girl, this is normal.

[begin to sing with the song of Britney’s “I’m Not A Girl”]
She’s just a girl… a stupid girl…

:laughing:

Yeah. It is very common for girls - heck, not just girls, it is very common for anyone not interested with good movies but only see films as a source of entertainment to view animation as the same genre as ‘Family,’ the genre that is truly suitable for kids.

But, since both Pixar and Dreamworks Animations have failed to actually kick up a notch in the rating and the maturity in their plots, that girl is unfortunately, correct to an extent.

I would have said that both Toy Story and Shrek are ‘kiddie movies.’ Both are classified under the ‘Family’ genre and both are suitable for kids.

To say that Toy Story was from a book is not that far-fetched either, because if one does not fully understand the story lines of Toy Story, the movie does look kinda… book-ish, kinda a fairy tale kind of look.

As for Shrek, people are liking it, calling it more mature because why? That’s right, the comedy factor. It is hilarious for most people, especially the ‘dumb movie lovers.’ There are smart fans of Hollywood, and then there are dumb ones who don’t even understand what ‘genre’ means.

I just see Toy Story as any movie. Sure, the idea about talking toys give people the misconception that it is a little young, but it was the first 3-D animated movie to ever be produced, I believe, excluding those small-time shorts and non-blockbuster films.

This is Ominous Flare’s views on Toy Story and the Dumb Monkey Apes of the Theater, signing off.

#11

Hahaha! Nice one. lol :laughing:

#12

LOL, I sorta want to show Rebecca and Caithleen (that’s their names) this board, just to see what they think.