(Toy Story)

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The first Toy Story came out the weekend after I entered the MTC. I was very sad. I had been very excited to see it. (And that was without knowing Pixar was behind my beloved Listerine commercials --- just vague memories of a few of their half-seen shorts.)

The first Pixar film I saw in theaters thus became Toy Story 2. And it was brilliant.

I've now seen both Toy Storys many many times, but last night I saw them again for the first time. Something I did not know could happen.

The Big O and I went to Pixar to watch the coming-soon-to-a-theater-near-you Toy Story and Toy Story 2 doublefeature in 3D.

Amazing.

I've never seen the first film up big and I've never seen it on a tv with decent revolution. I had no idea how much I had been missing. I saw so many new details that I had never been privy to before. And similar with the second --- it's been ten years since I say it done large.

And the sound! I had been mishearing many of Woody's lines all these years! The films have much more layering that I had ever realized because I couldn't hear the character's vowels properly!

(I really need HD and decent sound....)

As for the 3D render, it's great. It's almost surprising it wasn't originally designed for 3D projection.

Few more random notes:

1. I'm never going to let Lady Steed get rid of my toys.
2. The new trailer for Toy Story 3? Wow. It's going to be good.
3. And it's surprising that it took them so long to decide what the third movie should be about. The last scenes of the second set it up so obviously, how can anyone wonder what was coming next?
4. Someone stole Pixar's foosball balls during the first movie. Bastards. Not only were my son's intermission plans ruined, but now scores of animators will be falling into deep depression!
5. While I still covet a position at the best studio in the history of American film, seeing the insane hours my neighbors putting in as TS3 comes to a close makes me wonder if collaborative masterpieces that make a billion dollars are really all that better than masterpieces I put together in my few spare minutes a month. Not sure. Still, give me a call, yall. We'll talk.