I see that the Toy Story "double feature" has opened in theaters this weekend, where it will have a short two week run. I'm looking forward to seeing them on the big screen. The two Toy Story movies are probably my favorite Pixar movies, so I can't pass this up. They are also being presented in 3-D, and I'm hoping that they keep the cheap gimmicks to a minimum. Whenever I think of 3D movies, I think of "Doctor Tongue's 3D House of Pancakes" on Monster Horror Chiller Theater on SCTV. Heh heh...the skit it literally John Candy waving a plate of pancakes at the camera...heh heh.
So "3-D" is an ancient gimmick. Ah, well. Hollywood is desperate to fight internet piracy, and they see the handwriting is on the wall. When your iPod can store as many high-definition movies as it currently does songs...well, I don't want to see movies go extinct, but this is going to be a very serious problem. I really don't know how Hollywood tackles it.
Anyway, go see Toy Story 1 & 2 while you can.
14 comments:
I'm guessing this is a way for them to introduce younger viewers to the first movies, remind others, and get people all hyped up for Toy Story 3, all while advertizing their annoying 3D stuff. I'm not really liking the commercials for this..
You know, to be honest, I don't get why Toy Story 2 was so hugely acclaimed. OK, the cowgirl song was touching and sad, but the movie just didn't seem as good and nostalgic as the first one. Story not as good, lots of cheap humor.. but doing a double feature like this is probably a smart move for Pixar.
Expect to see all the Pixar movies reworked into 3-D. Disney is really pushing this fad hard. But I really don't get it. Maybe I've just lived long enough to see enough of these fads come and go. The word "quadrophonic" keeps sticking in my head....
In any case, a double feature is a fun idea, and it's only two weeks. Unfortunately, we are awash in great movies right now. I want to see everything that's playing.
You're not the only cynic for the 3D adaptations of 2D movies. I'm skeptical about the animation changes reportedly made to the Toy Story films, and the adaptations of 2D hand drawn and stop motion films have me particularly concerned, considering that they require even greater adjustments.
For the Toy Story double feature, it seems pretty dubious to me. It's good to see films released again theatrically, and two films for the price of one is a very good deal if you've never seen the movies before. That said, this rerelease seems to be more about promoting Toy Story 3 by using the first two films as marketing bait.
To be honest, Pixar in general is going in a direction that makes me less interested in their future work. I'd write about that more, but I would need to write an entire blog post on the subject.
There are no gimmicks or cheap 3D effects. The movies have not been touched at all. It's exactly the same, but in 3D.
They're rendered better due to advances in Renderman software, and they went in with 2 virtual cameras to adjust the depth of the 3D effect.
@Anonymous: Uh, by what you said it sounds like they did 'touch them up'. Or maybe I'm not reading it right..
I'm more looking forward to 'Princess and the Frog' than 'Toy Story 3' or any stuff from Pixar. Please let that film be successful enough for them to make more 2D.
I never said anything about cheap 3D effects added to the Toy Story films. Re-rendering the films to make them more up to date is clearly an adjustment that takes them out of their original form, and I therefore don't approve of it.
I've learned the hard way that when it comes to 3D movies, it's best to sit in the back row.
The same especially applies to movies like Star Wars being blown up to IMAX size screens. It just doesn't work. Only films shot with the IMAX camera work well on IMAX screens without giving the audience a splitting headache.
A "normal" movie transferred to IMAX does not translate size-ratio wise. Everything on the screen seems to zip around at the same time and you don't know where to look. It's just too overwhelming.
Well, I guess that casts me out of the "cool" club. lol...
Thanks for the comments, everybody. When I get a chance to see Toy Story 1/2, I'll chime in with my thoughts.
I do hope the 3D thing will be kept to a minimum, but I'm sure Pixar will be conservative. These are John Lasseter's children, after all. If you thought he was protective over Ponyo...
@toongirl: Don't worry about losing your "cool" cred. Just get your grubby mitts on the new Beatles in Mono CDs. Yeehhhhh......mono Beatles is like a million style points - probably a billion on vinyl, heh heh.
I do hope the 3D thing will be kept to a minimum, but I'm sure Pixar will be conservative. These are John Lasseter's children, after all. If you thought he was protective over Ponyo...
So I guess no House of Pancakes that easily, no Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity for me!
@toongirl: Don't worry about losing your "cool" cred. Just get your grubby mitts on the new Beatles in Mono CDs. Yeehhhhh......mono Beatles is like a million style points - probably a billion on vinyl, heh heh.
I still don't have an IMAX theater in town, so I'm just not in it yet, but have some records to play in isolation!
I personally like 3D films, although it depends on the film.
I thought "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf" were tons of fun in 3D. That's why I'm really looking forward to "A Christmas Carol. Then again, I'm also a sucker for Christmas movies.
To date, I only saw these since they were given nationwide releases including my hometown...
Meet The Robinsons (Disney, 2007)
Coroline (Laika, 2009)
Up (Disney/Pixar, 2009)
From what I've seen, it's OK, and I wouldn't mind seeing these again or another film, but the price just kills me (nearly $12 where I am).
There's two theaters playing this near me, one in Real-D 3D and the other in Dolby 3d. Which is better?
I wouldn't know of any difference between Real 3D and Dolby. They're just brands to me. It shouldn't matter.
Great comments all around. I'm telling myself to see this while I can, but there are so many good movies to see right now. We'll see what happens this weekend.
I've seen Coraline in RealD, and I just got back from seeing Toy Story in Dolby 3d, and I have to say that Dolby blows the pants off of RealD. My trouble with RealD is the fact that everything looks tinted and the colors more dim, but with Dolby that was less of a problem. Plus with Dolby the theater doesn't have to buy special screens, so we got to watch it on a pretty big screen. I assumed that since Dolby used color filtering I would be seeing annoying shades of red and blue in each eye, but the colors looked just the way they were supposed to look. All in all it was worth seeing again in 3D and to those who haven't gone yet: Go see it while you still can!
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