Soooo there's more reason than a Tom Hanks' word to think Toy Story 4 might be happening now, apparently. BBC got the guts to ask John Lasseter about it, as reported by /film, and while nothing for sure came out of it, Mr. Lasseter came across rather jumpy, even to a skeptic like me, and... almost like he was teasing for a sequel right before he pulled the interview back to Cars 2 abruptly.
It doesn't help that Pixarians with well kempt social networks who are usually open to questions weren't answering thousands of pleas for clarification.
So, at first I was like:
Another Toy Story? Another sequel in the works? Could that really be? Why is Pixar so sequel-happy all of a sudden? Is it executive meddling or a string of creatives sharing a brain wave? What would the plot be? Would it create the controversy Cars 2 has once people saw it? I was very confused, and that's when it hit me.
I was very confused, because I didn't have enough information to make a sound judgment, and I still don't. So I stepped back, and watched the entire Pixar-loving internet make judgments on next to no information, sometimes going as far as to disown Pixar entirely, sometimes simply wondering how could another Toy Story possible be good and what could Pixar possibly add to it with a sequel?
Like we do every time Pixar announces a sequel.
Yes we do, guys. In fact, to a certain level, we do this every year. Pixar announces a plot we don't see the sense in, accompanied by a teaser that gives us little more to do on, and we freak out, asking how this could be good, calling Pixar sell-outs. If you don't see at least a little of this every year, I envy the segment of fandom you hang out in. Heck, in a fit of sequel overdose-induced irony, I think Brave is the first film I haven't seen anybody react with malice towards.
But especially sequels. I wish more of the fandom agreed with me on my love of Cars 2 so I could use "we worried about Cars 2!" as my example, but it looks like I'll have to pull out something a bit farther into a future: Monsters University.
The fandom spent, like, a year freaking out over this. "Pixar is cashing in!" "Why won't they make an Incredibles sequel?" "How could Pixar make a sequel when there was such great closure?"
Naturally, Monsters University turns out to be a prequel, we get a short plot synopsis that explains it has to do with how Mike and Sully became BFFs, and the fandom instantly calms down. Oh, hey! The thing we didn't think of might work!
So, in the event that TS4 turns out to be true, don't you think - especially with so little information right now - there could be something we haven't thought about? What exactly are we freaking out over? I can't even tell what we're freaking out over yet.
It's... just silly and overdramatic to be worried at this point, and yet for a moment, I was.
So, then I was like:
Thus, if anybody needs me, I'll be over here with fat-free popcorn and some iced tea, laughing at the insane amount of drama that is unfolding over this movie we still know next to nothing about.
Eh, part of the reason I have so much animosity towards the idea is I'm almost certain it's Disney forcing Pixar to do it, like they did somewhat with Cars 2. Since they needed the money from Cars 2 merchandising because they were trying something new with Brave, they were forgiven, but Disney was not. I despise Disney; I have even since I was a kid. They're sucking the beauty and depth out of the playfulness of Pixar, and not even Pixar can pour that much beauty into the expectations of "stupid" humor and dry, overused, pointless action plots that Disney gives them to work with.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is why I don't like hanging out in the Pixar fandom 80 percent of the time. I love Cars 2 and was excited for it in spite of the drama. I was excited more for a sequel to Monsters, Inc. and then was actually disappointed by the prospect of a prequel, and I'm not all that excited for Brave in spite of it being a new idea. My brain obviously works in opposite of most of the rest of the fandom. As for Toy Story 4...I don't know what in the world they would do, but I sure do love Bonnie and her toys so if it involved that, I have to selfishly admit I couldn't care less about the integrity of Toy Story 3 being "ruined."
ReplyDeleteOhmygod I actually completely agree with what princessatta said. I dunno, I don't like criticizing ideas when I don't know anything about them. Pixar knows what it's doing.
ReplyDeleteAnd also, wow, the first commenter really hates Disney. o_O I don't see that at all.
I'm new to the Pixar fandom, so seeing such hostility towards sequels surprises me, especially since the movies have never seem to have let the fandom down as a whole. (I'm not judging Cars...never saw any of them.)
ReplyDelete& I too agree with princessatta - If toy Story 4 has Bonnie and her toys, who cares that there is a sequel.
I agree with staying away from the Pixar board ranting from the people. Although, I do find it rather amusing to read sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been seeing too much of the TS4 controversy, aside from the initial spark, and as such I haven't really formed an opinion, nor will I until it is either discredited or confirmed. But you're completely right about how everyone is so skeptical about their movies until they're actually released, and turn out to be extremely short of pure gold (for me, this applies to Wall-E and a bit with TS3, and they're now my top two favorite movies, in that order). And I also feel the excitement about Brave, which is definitely a weird sensation (probably partly because of the current voice cast and the fact it's nice to go back to mothership titles sometimes).
I feel that every movie has to be viewed as separate, aside from the returning characters and possible jokes from the previous films.
I agree with princessatta with the "if it's Bonnie & Co., who cares," also.