Is Toy Story the Greatest Trilogy ever?

[serpheus]

Absolutely. There is not another trilogy out there i would rather watch over and over again. Each film is perfect and for a trilogy that is extremely rare. People of all ages love these films and the characters are so loveable and hilarious, also the films are full of little in-jokes and pack enough emotional power to melt the heart of even the hardest person. The nearest rival for me is LOTR but as a big fan of the book i have major issues with some of the choices they made in all sorts of areas. Star Wars is let down by Jedi and Back to the Future by the 3rd film. The Bourne trilogy is fantastic but directed at adults and not to everyone's taste while the Godfather trilogy was let down by a poor 3rd film aswell. We are talking about trilogies here so no Alien or Police Academy movies allowed

[Foggy]

I guess we'll be getting this type of thread come summer 2012

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Foggy

I guess we'll be getting this type of thread come summer 2012

You think?

[X400]

no

[Jezza]

Greatest isn't defined by how good each individual film is, it is defined by how good the story is for the overall trilogy, and for Toy Story each individual film is great, but it doesn't have that sort of feel to it where you could easily say that it's the greatest trilogy ever. Now don't get me wrong, I grew up with Toy Story and adore it, but I wouldn't say it is the greatest trilogy ever.

If you look at something like the original Star Wars trilogy, the impact that made on cinema history is phenonmenal. True, Toy Story was the first computer animated feature film, but the epic scale of the whole trilogy isn't the same as Star Wars. It's debateable as to whether or not Return of the Jedi is bad, but even though it is clearly the weakest in the trilogy, it doesn't mean the whole trilogy is suddenly down-graded. Star Wars has always been associated with the classic story of good vs evil, and has a greatest to the whole thing, but with Toy Story, it is seen to be on a more casual level and doesn't have that same sort of epic quality to it.
Sorry if I haven't explained myself very well, but its hard to put into words.

I would completely agree that it's the most consistent trilogy ever, but not the greatest, and this is coming from someone who loves Toy Story to bits.

[serpheus]

Originally Posted by Clone Trooper

Greatest isn't defined by how good each individual film is, it is defined by how good the story is for the overall trilogy, and for Toy Story each individual film is great, but it doesn't have that sort of feel to it where you could easily say that it's the greatest trilogy ever. Now don't get me wrong, I grew up with Toy Story and adore it, but I wouldn't say it is the greatest trilogy ever.

If you look at something like the original Star Wars trilogy, the impact that made on cinema history is phenonmenal. True, Toy Story was the first computer animated feature film, but the epic scale of the whole trilogy isn't the same as Star Wars. It's debateable as to whether or not Return of the Jedi is bad, but even though it is clearly the weakest in the trilogy, it doesn't mean the whole trilogy is suddenly down-graded. Star Wars has always been associated with the classic story of good vs evil, and has a greatest to the whole thing, but with Toy Story, it is seen to be on a more casual level and doesn't have that same sort of epic quality to it.
Sorry if I haven't explained myself very well, but its hard to put into words.

I would completely agree that it's the most consistent trilogy ever, but not the greatest, and this is coming from someone who loves Toy Story to bits.

Star Wars would probably be the most serious contender alrite but the fact that it has that 'geeky' tag attached to it is a bit unfair but also its something that detracts alot from the trilogies sense of fun and coolness. It can be enjoyed by all ages but is mainly a boys film (i know it has female fans but only a small percentage) so that would count against it.

[Jezza]

Originally Posted by serpheus

Star Wars would probably be the most serious contender alrite but the fact that it has that 'geeky' tag attached to it is a bit unfair but also its something that detracts alot from the trilogies sense of fun and coolness. It can be enjoyed by all ages but is mainly a boys film (i know it has female fans but only a small percentage) so that would count against it.

I wouldn't say it has that 'geeky' tag about it, there are just a lot of geeky fans out there, but I know a lot of people who aren't that. In either case, I don't think that is a nessecary thing to bring up.

And I'm not really sure gender would fall into it that much, because if the story is there then that's what matters. I'm trying to be discriminatory, but in my view I ouldn't count, espcially since George Lucas actually designed it for both genders for children under 14 when he was writing it originally.

But that's just my view.

[Oateyboat]

Yes. Yes it is. The individual films are amazing to watch together as individual stories, but I think where Toy Story shines is if you watch the entire series, and it turns from individual stories (Such as being stuck in Sid's house, rescuing Woody from Al and escaping from the daycare centre) intro a marvelous single story about the life of a toy, and, more sincerely, growing up and the eventual time you leave your toys and childhood and move on. And I think that is why it's the greatest trilogy of all time, and the individual films are, definatly in my opinion (even though I'm only 15) the three greatest films I've seen.

[Evra]

Clone Trooper summed up my sentiments on how trilogies should be evaluated and I think The Lord of the Rings is the greatest trilogy yet.

[Littering and?]

The oldies are the toughest to compete with, Indy and Star Wars will be passed down for some time.

[Evra]

Originally Posted by Littering and?

The oldies are the toughest to compete with, Indy and Star Wars will be passed down for some time.

Except Indy isn't a trilogy. If you're going to omit films like that, Terminator has got to be the greatest duology ever.

[Littering and?]

not bad

[koontz1973]

Lets see if Toy Story is held with the same regard twenty/thirty years from now. As of now, I will say NO to the OP's question, but in twenty years, he could well be right.

Only time will tell if it is held with the same fondness a:

Star Wars OT
Indy
Godfather
LOTR
Matrix
Star Wars PT (yes, people love this set to)

I am not saying any of the above is better as they all have there weak points but people do love them as much as TS.

[tlimof]

Originally Posted by kobe8byrant

Clone Trooper summed up my sentiments on how trilogies should be evaluated and I think The Lord of the Rings is the greatest trilogy yet.

For me too, I think Toy Story is right up there with Star Wars, LOTR and The Godfather, but I still think many people, specially older 40 and up, haven't even seen the Toy Story films because they think that animated movies are for kids.

Which trilogy is the greatest? Why choose I love them all!!!

[Jezza]

Originally Posted by tlimof

For me too, I think Toy Story is right up there with Star Wars, LOTR and The Godfather, but I still think many people, specially older 40 and up, haven't even seen the Toy Story films because they think that animated movies are for kids.
Which trilogy is the greatest? Why choose I love them all!!!

I'm not 40 or older, I'm almost 18.

My take on a trilogy is that they work best when the films were planned as a trilogy from the very beginning, like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, becasue then something from the first movie can relate with the third movie in a very significante way. It also allows for a much bigger, overall storyline, since everything has been planned. Of course this doesn't always happen.

With Toy Story, both sequels were not planned to be released; Toy Story 2 was originally meant to be a 30-minute direct-to-video sequel, before Disney decided, less than a year before release, to give the movie a theatrical release, meaning Pixar had to completely re-write the story. Then with Toy Story 3, it was originally going to be produced by Disney for another direct-to-video release, but then Pixar jumped in and were able to take over the project. And beacuse of these unfortunate events, Pixar weren't able to create an on-going storyline throughout all three movies.

Now again, I'm not trying to say I hate Toy Story, I love it so much you can't even imagine, but I think a trilogy that has the title of 'Greatest Trilogy Ever' should be one where all the movies are very closely linked to one another, rather than them being individual films which are linked together a small ways.

[csdot]

i saw the first 2 when they came out, and i really wasnt into them at all.
felt no desire to see the 3rd.
maybe some people consider it to be their favorite trilogy but i dont see how you can call it the best. id rather watch the dollars trilogy any day.

[serpheus]

Originally Posted by Clone Trooper

I'm not 40 or older, I'm almost 18.

My take on a trilogy is that they work best when the films were planned as a trilogy from the very beginning, like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, becasue then something from the first movie can relate with the third movie in a very significante way. It also allows for a much bigger, overall storyline, since everything has been planned. Of course this doesn't always happen.

With Toy Story, both sequels were not planned to be released; Toy Story 2 was originally meant to be a 30-minute direct-to-video sequel, before Disney decided, less than a year before release, to give the movie a theatrical release, meaning Pixar had to completely re-write the story. Then with Toy Story 3, it was originally going to be produced by Disney for another direct-to-video release, but then Pixar jumped in and were able to take over the project. And beacuse of these unfortunate events, Pixar weren't able to create an on-going storyline throughout all three movies.

Now again, I'm not trying to say I hate Toy Story, I love it so much you can't even imagine, but I think a trilogy that has the title of 'Greatest Trilogy Ever' should be one where all the movies are very closely linked to one another, rather than them being individual films which are linked together a small ways.

I have to disagree with the point you make about the films having been planned as a trilogy working best. I might be wrong but didn't GL plan on the star wars films been like 9 movies long? The beauty of the Toy Story movies are that each film can be watched individually and you don't have to watch the next one to find out what happens as each has its own story. I think SW is a very good choice but i would go with Toy Story because of the characters, humour,emotional impact and i love Mr.Potato Head

[Jezza]

Originally Posted by serpheus

I have to disagree with the point you make about the films having been planned as a trilogy working best. I might be wrong but didn't GL plan on the star wars films been like 9 movies long? The beauty of the Toy Story movies are that each film can be watched individually and you don't have to watch the next one to find out what happens as each has its own story. I think SW is a very good choice but i would go with Toy Story because of the characters, humour,emotional impact and i love Mr.Potato Head

Well George Lucas sort of planned Star Wars as 9 movies, but when he made the original movies, he just cut it down to 3, with the possiblity of more, which eventually became the prequels.

But anyway, as I keep pointing out, I grew up with Toy Story and hold no grudge against it what so ever, but for me, a trilogy needs to have strong connections with one another because then all the films have a purpose to exist with one another, and this is where the planning of the trilogy comes into play. Of course there are excpetions, such as Toy Story, where it isn't planned and it still turns out superb.

[P@t_Mtl]

For me and I do point for me, is the strenght of the three Toy Story movies (I have yet to see number three as I am waiting for the Blu-ray release but comments on it prove that it's just as if not even better then the first two). It's three movies that have incredible stories. As for facing the test of time, I think all three movies will be worth watching 20 years from now just as much as when they were made. There is no gimmick in Toy Story, no little inside joke about popular culture like you might see in Dreamworks. Everything is about the story, about growing up, about facing life but still this need inside each of us to remain young, to remember the "Andy" in all of us. These messages will still be worth the same 40 years from now because they are human messages.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

No. It's up there though.

Star Wars original has to be number 1

As much as Godfather I and II are the two of the greatest films ever, III is mediocre.

I'm sure summer 2012 we'll have another one to argue about.

You can't put the Matrix here as 2 and 3 were huge drop offs from the first one. I tell anyone who's not a sci fi fan that has not seen them to only watch the first because they will be severly letdown if they continue with the movies.