Toy Stories: Best Trilogy Ever?

A wise old sage once said “Three is a magic number.” Well in regards to movie trilogies, three is more often a mixed bag. Trilogies have become a very popular storytelling method for movie makers. Taking a story and playing it out over three movies allows for more complex and intricate storytelling and more in-depth character development. Sometimes, they work out well, sometimes they fail.

Over the past 15 years, we’ve seen Pixar expand and challenge us in different ways and their hard work and creativity has paid off in beaucoup bucks for then and beaucoup enjoyment for us. The most recent achievement for the venerable animation wizards is their first trilogy. Fifteen years ago Toy Story graced our silver screens and this past weekend, they released Toy Story 3 to the largest animated film opening ever. In a lot of ways, it makes sense that Pixar’s first trilogy would come from this franchise. It’s their oldest franchise, it’s the film that changed the way we all think about animation and certainly changed the way we think about animated films. And that is where my point of contention lies. The Toy Story trilogy is easily the best animated trilogy of all time (Sorry, Shrek!). But the quality of their films leads me to wonder another question: Where does the Toy Story trilogy land in the pantheon of great trilogies?

The list of great trilogies usually includes some or all of the following: Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, The Bourne Trilogy, The Man With No Name Trilogy, Star Wars (Episodes IV-VI), The Godfather Trilogy, and  The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Well, this weekend I say another trilogy entered the fray and has fought itself if not to the top, certainly very near it. Let’s take a look at what makes a good trilogy and see where Toy Story falls.

Cohesion/Variety
By cohesion I really mean, can you tell these movies are of the same trilogy? And of course you can with Toy Story, you know all of the characters, the style changes very little, and the tone of the films remains the same. Recreating the style here wasn’t difficult as they have complete control over the creation of the entire world in which the characters live.  But that’s not to say it’s not difficult to create 3 films starring regularly inanimate objects that often surpass achievements in live action films, which is precisely what makes their effort all the more impressive. The Toy Story films follow the Indiana Jones in that they are self-contained episodes of the overall Toy Story.

As opposed to the idea of one cohesive unit, there is also that of the variety that Toy Story brings. In one film you get a children’s film, an adult film, a drama, a thriller, an action-adventure, and of course, a comedy. The tone of the movies is always one that people of all ages can enjoy and Pixar never talks down to its audience, instead packing a film with all of the various genres that they do makes it a more demanding process in truth. But Pixar does such an incredible job of weaving these altogether it’s absolutely effortless to watch as a movie and you come out feeling as if you’ve experienced something epic in storytelling scope because of how daringly they’ve approached and how creatively they’ve paid off things. It’s a rare film, let alone trilogy, that can keep things sane (let alone make them AWESOME) while incorporating all of the above elements.

Development
Another thing that I look for in trilogies is character development, something that these movies have done really, really well both within films, but also in the trilogy as a whole. Woody starts as Andy’s Golden Toy and then Buzz shows up and we see Woody’s casual, easygoing leadership turn into grumpy spite. And then we see their friendship blossom as Woody and Buzz recognize the good in each other.  Then we see in the next film, a true friendship forms and you can sense a growth between them. It’s handled very subtly and the third film continues to show Woody’s arc as a leader, but pinpoints his still-a-little-selfish ways. And that’s where we see him grow, he puts his best interests aside for the good of the gang. But wait, that’s what he always does. Not really. Woody’s always got a selfish streak, but in the third film Woody grows up and is a full-time leader. It’s great the way we see him finally realize his full potential because it’s due to the actions of his former enemy-turned-best friend Buzz Lightyear.

Emotion
At the end of the day, the story is about toys, ya know those things you broke the arms off and threw across the room and boxed up and put away to make room for your shiny new boombox. So why do I care so much about them? The Toy Story movies play with emotion in very strong ways, the most obvious being nostalgia. Nostalgia is powerful and these films work it into every corner by isolating simple memories from childhood and isolating their poignance in your life. They also delve into general relationship emotions, there are love stories of all types from budding romances (Woody and Bo Peep) to old married couples (The Potato Heads), so one can identify themselves with these characters even more. For me the third film displayed what these films have almost always been about in the grand scheme and that’s the idea of friendship and the old adage that it’s now where you are, but who you’re with that really matters. The last 30 minutes of the film really display these two ideas very plainly. There is a scene where the toys think they are at the end of the road and they simply join hands in quiet solitude and it is GRIPPING and emotional and heavy. Maybe the best single scene in any of the three movies and one of Pixar’s best overall.  One thing’s for sure, they made me think twice about tossing Donatello into a box.

Scope
Often critics mention The Lord of the Rings Trilogy as the best trilogy of all time and it’s amazing. Part of what makes it so grand is the epic scale and scope of the films. Spanning lands, peoples, time, etc. that are seemingly incomprehensible in a pure quest to do the right thing is definitely GRAND. But I say Toy  Story‘s got it too. In 1 they travel to Pizza Planet, we can call that our Gondor. In 2, they travel to Big Al’s Toy Barn in the big city, let’s make that Rohan. And finally in 3, they travel all over the place, but let’s call it Mordor. The toys change locales and quest for each other like those hobbits did the precious. It’s funny to think of the word epic and use it in a relative term. Because for us, LOTR is epic. But for our action figures and dolls of the past, TS is epic. So we must take into consideration Epic Relativity (that sounds smart!), the idea that what is epic to one, may not be epic to all.

Conclusion
I have NO idea where these films will end up in the pantheon of cinema history, only that when considered as a trilogy, they are a force to be reckoned with. Films in 3s are an unlikely and difficult pursuit, but there have been some excellent sets (obviously) and this one, to me, is the best of the best. I am a Pixar fanboy through and through and I think with good reason. Their missteps (if you can call them that) have been bigger hits and better films than many other studios’ best efforts. It’s difficult for me to think of any set which has a fantastic film as #1, a better film as #2, and the best #3 of all time except for these three. Just do me a favor Pixar and don’t make a 4.