Ultimate Pixar Tribute- Movie #11: Toy Story 3 part 2 out of 4

by Nick DeVito

(Contains Plot Details - Be forewarned if you haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet)
It was incredible, it was unbelievable, it was the greatest moment of my movie-watching life! Not only was Toy Story 3 the best Toy Story; it was the best Toy Story by far! I could not believe my eyes, it was like a dream come true, but one of those good dreams that you don’t want to wake up from.

All of the characters I grew up with as a kid had returned, and now they were in a completely new adventure. I love how Pixar made this a real-time sequel, because it’s as if people who grew up with Toy Story when it first came out would be the same age as Andy now!

The movie starts out perfectly. Just like how both the original Toy Story movies started out with Andy playing with his toys in an old movie-serial type fashion, we get a variation of that here. Instead of actually playing with them, we see the toys all in character acting out their play-time as if it’s all a real adventure. Almost all the dialogue is taken from previous Toy Story films, and I found myself reciting the words in my seat.

Then it goes into a sort of flashback montage of all the good times Andy (and the audience) has had with the toys, before finally getting to the present with the toys in Andy’s room as he is packing his room up for college. Once the toys arrive at Sunnyside, the film switches gear.

Gone are the cute and cuddly toys we are introduced to and gone is the upbeat attitude we’ve had the entire ride so far. It’s not nearly as bad as I estimated it to be in my preview for this movie, but Toy Story 3 is a very dark film; almost unfairly so.

Sunnyside is not the paradise we thought it was; it turns out that it is run exactly like a heavily-guarded prison. Obviously this was Pixar’s intention, because there are several references to prison-escape films like Cool Hand Luke, The Great Escape, Escape from Alcatraz, and The Shawshank Redemption.

Speaking of references, I couldn’t believe how similar this was to the 1987 cult gem, The Brave Little Toaster, and something tells me this wasn’t a coincidence. Sure it’s not a Pixar film, but Joe Ranft worked on it so it’s not completely irrelevant!

If you don’t know, John Lasseter originally worked for Disney and was signed on to direct The Brave Little Toaster. John had a dream to make this film with computer-generated backgrounds in order to tell the story better, but Disney didn’t like his ambition and he was fired. Not wanting to waste the film, Disney had a different director put in place and the struggling band of animators created the film.

They couldn’t find any way of releasing it theatrically (except for a few film festivals), so it was released on the Disney Channel. It then made its way on to video, and recently DVD where it became a cult classic.

While Pixar had nothing to do with it, it is very similar. A113 makes an appearance, and the characters all have that Pixar feel where they are clearly well thought out and realistic in their actions. Plus, it had the same Pixar touch of giving things that normally shouldn’t do anything special human characteristics.


In TBLT, we have a band of characters all in an abandoned cottage near the woods. The leader a toaster, Blankey the blanket, Lampy the lamp, Radio the radio (very creative with the names, I know), and Kirby the vacuum cleaner.

They have been abandoned in this house for several years with only the old memories of their master (owner) to keep them sane. The master is now a young-adult who lives in the city and is packing to go to college.

The band of appliances goes on a quest to find their master while experiencing numerous life threatening situations on the way. When they finally get to his apartment, the master is gone (having left to find the toaster and his friends) and his new appliances (jealous that the older appliances are being taken to college with him while they are being left at the apartment) throw them into a dumpster.

The garbage truck takes them to a dump where they are to be destroyed in a giant car-compacter, but they manage to escape. However, the master becomes trapped in the compacter so the toaster sacrifices himself to stop it and save his master’s life.

The master repairs the toaster and is seen taking him and his friends to college. Doesn’t that sound familiar? While it does sound like an outrageous plot, that’s because it is and in the hands of a lesser studio it would’ve been a disaster. However, by what seems like a miracle, the film works.

I wasn’t alive when it appeared on TV, but those who were and were young enough to follow it were traumatized. Let me explain, although TBLT sounds like an extremely cute and predictable story, just like Toy Story 3 it is incredibly sad and incredibly dark. There’s an infamous scene where the toaster has a nightmare about him going to a version of Hell involving a homicidal clown-Devil telling the toaster to escape while speaking in a very disturbingly creepy voice.

There is also another famous scene where the appliances are taken to a repair shop and witness a blender being held down and gutted by the shop’s demented owner before their very eyes. Not only is it disturbing, but tragically sad at some points, mostly during the flower scene. T

he toaster runs into a lone flower that has been secluded from all contact his entire life. Surprised by his reflection in the toaster’s chrome, he thinks it is a separate flower, and it appears happy that it has at last found a companion after an eternity of loneliness.

The nervous toaster runs away and looks at the flower from a safe distance. He sees that the flower is now wilting with its petals falling off; not only representing its crying, but its death.

However, despite its numerous traumatizing moments, it’s a good movie and a movie original enough to be considered as one of my all time favorite Disney films. So much so that it currently ranks #49 on my Favorite Movies list, in front of The Exorcist and behind To Kill a Mockingbird. Plus, it’s essentially a musical version of Toy Story 3 with slightly different characters.