IT'S TOUGH TO BE A BUG

If you were going to ask me what my first 3-D movie experience in a theme park was, it would be the spin-off to Pixar's "A Bug's Life" (released several months before the actual film it spun-off from came out)...



During my first trip to Disney World when I was 7, my first stop at "Animal Kingdom" was the symbol of the park, "The Tree of Life". Entering inside the tree became a cool and enchanting experience for me, making it seem as if I was growing smaller and smaller the closer I walked towards it. Once I was inside, I was slightly disappointed that we were seeing a show based on a Pixar film that I wasn't too enthusiastic about when compared to my brother Jesse who was at the time obsessed with the movie. But I was interested in seeing it anyway. Never experiencing a 3-D film before, or being aware of its existence, I found myself petrified by the effects, and as soon as I saw Hopper emerge threatening the audience I thought I was going to be squashed like a bug for how huge he was. I never thought I would ever find myself cowering for my life to anything "Bug's Life" related. Afterward, I became afraid of 3-D films worrying that the rest of the films we see during our visit will be just as terrifying. Over time I did find it awesome for how scary it was, and during my vacation, before going to the 5th grade I would experience the film again, only this time I was more prepared for the surprises, which made the experience less scary and more fun. The last time I watched the film was when I was preparing my list of Disney villains by placing Hopper as my 20th favorite Disney villain from both the film he originated from and it's 3-D spin-off, and I still found it to be a little too scary for kids. Does my opinion still hold-up? ON WITH THE REVIEW!

Flik the ant, invites guests to learn how "tough it is to be a bug" through a stage show with various types of bugs and insects. The presentation doesn't go too well as their acts keep getting ruined by either a misunderstanding or a meddling Wevill (voiced by Jason Alexander). The show gets interrupted by Hopper, who takes control with the intent to exterminate the audience for what humans have done to bugs.

 

The first thing a person who's seen "A Bug's Life" may easily notice is the lack of characters from the original film. All we get are the film's protagonist and antagonist. We don't see any of the supporting characters from the film. Some of the new characters are funny and distinctive. Cheech Marin is lively as the egoistic Mexican redknee tarantula, and the Termite-ator who's puny and speaks in a hazy voice but is deadly and robotic as the character he's punned after is laughable. The only disappointment is Jason Alexander as the Weevil who keeps messing up the show for how forgettable his design, and personality is. I hear his distinct voice, and I see his character get into trouble, and yet he doesn't hog-up the screen or say anything funny or memorable when compared to the bugs who are supposed to have the spotlight. I get more laughs out of him as the gargoyle Hugo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" than I do here. As entertaining as some of these new characters are, and how the personalities that Flik and Hopper had in the film are still true to their character, the film feels kind of naked without the rest of the gang. Can you imagine Flik interacting with Dot flying out of the screen greeting guests, instead of a random cute butterfly? Wouldn't it make more sense and be twice as funny seeing the Circus bugs perform a botched show than watching bugs we never met before? I think many would agree that the circus bugs were the best characters in the movie. It just feels odd that only two members from the cast are featured in this film.



Judging the film and experience from a technical standpoint, it's marvelous! Just like how the film "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" kept the audience in a single setting to maintain the illusion that they are watching and experiencing a live show instead of a movie, "It's Tough to Be a Bug" uses the same strategy. It may sound strange that an animated 3-D film doesn't try to take the audience from one location to another, but it still manages to show so much within its limited environment through the various bugs we meet and the unpredictable surprises the film throws at you so it doesn't feel dull. The 3-D effects used in the film are the main factor of what makes the experience feel like you're seeing these bugs performing live on stage. It uses hidden air-jets, water sprayers, buzzers, and pokers to make the audience feel the experience rather than just simply watching things pop-front of your face. But the most impressive effects used for the film are the animatronics, particularly Hopper. Flik's animatronic is good as well, but when compared to Hopper's his is more animated for how much movement and expression he's given. All we see of Flik is half his body as he is looking at us upside-down. With Hopper you see everything. For all the praise I give the effects, there's really nothing within the film's 3-D gimmick that's different from the other films Disney has produced in the past. "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" and "Muppet Vision 3-D" has already covered the effects that this film uses, which makes the 3-D experience feel average than an upgrade.



The only thing about the film that keeps it from being boringly safe is for how incredibly dark it is! There's nothing wrong giving the film a bit of edge, there needs to be some kind of thrill to draw audiences into the excitement, and if the film's only darkness came from Hopper trying to destroy the audience, it would be fine. But it isn't the only time in the movie where the audience's life is at stake. Before it, we have a giant spider throwing poison quills at the audience; a terminate trying to kill the audience with acid after demonstrating how deadly it is by flat-out murdering a heckling flea; and a stink bug passing gas on the audience with its strong foul smell. These moments are supposed to be funny, but they aren't because we know how deadly they are from their demonstration, so how is putting the audience in danger supposed to make us laugh? By the time Hopper enters the film after all this to make it intentionally scary it becomes overkill because the audience has been threatened three times before this moment, now they have to feel the sting of a wasp, and fear being attacked by animatronic black widow spiders dangling over their heads! And after all this intense chaos of being put in danger for most of the experience, the film ends with a cute and colorful short musical number that is trying desperately hard to make us forget the horrors we witnessed while containing a message of how important bugs are to the world to somehow justify this unpleasant experience.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

The film does the opposite of what it's supposed to teach. Instead of enlightening me to appreciate bugs in the film's bright and quirky way, it makes me want to squish as many as possible for how suspenseful the experience is. It's exactly the propaganda that Hopper claims of human's using to categorize bugs as monsters that this film says it's against. How can "A Bug's Life", one of Pixar's safely average films can backfire a well-intended message? Sure, the effects are cool, the animation is visually appealing, and there are a few jokes and characters that get a laugh. I'll even go out and admit personally that a dark part of me admires how unexpectedly scary it is. I mean who would ever think that Pixar can make an innocent film like "A Bug's Life" so frightening? But overall, the film still fails. It seems more focused with scaring kids than it is trying to teach, enchant, and inspire them, which consequently makes the film work against its message miserably.

MY 15TH FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN

SYNDROME



FROM "THE INCREDIBLES"

WARNING THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

I'll admit that this was a difficult choice choosing if I liked Syndrome or Lotso better, not just in terms of ranking the villains on my list but for which one is my favorite Pixar villain altogether. Both are similar for having a tragic back-story that turns them into heartless characters that seek power, but they both have a major difference in terms of personality, abilities, and how they carry out their villainous schemes. It was a very hard decision, but in the end I wand-up choosing the rich fan-boy who carries weapons to create chaos and fight against his enemies.

 

The first reason why I prefer him over Pixar villains like Randall, Hopper, and Lotso is his heartbreaking back-story. When we first see him he's a hyper and enthusiastic kid named Buddy, who obsesses over his idol Mr. Incredible by following him as he's fighting crime in hopes to persuade him to be his sidekick so that he can help save the world with him. He knows all of his skills, history, and moves; can create inventions to help aid him and Mr. Incredible for their battle for justice; and has taken the time to a make a cheesy Superhero outfit and heroic identity called "Incredi-boy". But no matter how hard he tries to convince Mr. Incredible to give him a chance, he coldly turns his back on him at every turn, telling him to "fly home" because he "works alone". And when he tries to take action, he just makes things worse by accidentally destroying property and letting the villain get-away. Now in all fairness, I don't really blame Mr. Incredible too much for turning his back on him. I mean after all he is a kid who's inexperienced at fighting, makes mistakes, and probably needs some help given how much he obsesses over him (and doesn't remember the fact that he was holding the villain Bomb Voyage in his grasp when he told him to leave, instead of directly staring at him as if he had nothing to do), where it makes sense for him not to want put the kid's life on the line, especially when considering that he doesn't have powers like him (and yes I know he lets his children help him fight crime, but it's not like he was opened to the idea from the start either). But with that said, he was a little too harsh on him. He uses the ejector seat to throw him out of his car instead of politely telling him to leave, or shoving him out himself; doesn't congratulate or seem impressed that a kid has invented a pair of rocket boots at all; and the way he tells him to leave was just flat-out cruel. I know he's fighting a bad guy, and that he’s getting ready to get married, but can he be just like "Hey, I admire your courage for coming out here to help, and I'm impressed by your rocket boots, but I don't need any help right now, but maybe in the near future will discuss how you can help me fight crime". It probably wouldn't have worked considering how over-obsessed and determined he is to impress Mr. Incredible and that he'll eventually realize that his kind way of telling him to leave was complete B.S. overtime, but at least he would show some kind of gratitude and respect for his "number 1 fan", rather than his anger towards him feeling personal.

 

The reason why I find his back-story more heartbreaking compared to Lotso is even though Lotso's story is sad; it was still revolving around a misunderstanding. He thought Daisy had replaced him, when in reality it was her parents and there was nothing that she can do about it. Here, our villain is directly being shunned away by the person who he idolizes and wants to be like as a kid, which is definitely every kid and young adult who fans over a celebrity worst nightmare come true! How would you feel if the person you looked up to, coldly turned you down, or wasn't the person you thought they was, you'd be devastated, which is why his transformation to becoming a villain is so sad because we can relate to his feelings of disappointment and rejection. The interesting thing about seeing Syndrome when he was young is the fact that he's voiced by the same actor who voices him as an adult, Jason Lee, where you think that would sound distracting since he's voicing a kid, but his voice surprisingly fits the personality and design just as well as how the film's director and writer Brad Bird perfectly fits the role of voicing the character of the female Superhero fashion designer Edna Mode.

 

One of the many cool thing that makes the villain my favorite from the other Pixar villains is how insanely rich he is! Since he has a talent for creating weapons and gadgets at a young age, he eventually got so rich from making them that he owns a whole entire Island that looks like Neverland from an aerial view, but looks more like an Island that a James Bond villain would love to have once you set foot on it, with tons of skilled henchmen working for him that carry guns and drive futuristic flying vehicles to chase down intruders, as well as a number of robots disguised as birds that keep the Island under surveillance, and will alert that there's an intruder if a person doesn't identified them-self. He also has secret passage ways that control the nature on the Island that lead to his lair; a giant computer room with hidden booby traps; a dining room located by a waterfall of Lava; a monorail system that goes around the Island; a launch tower for rockets that's located inside a volcano; and he has a Jet that can function as an airplane and submarine, complete with an automated pilot that serves cocktails. Holy cow, this guy really has it made!



With all the money he has, and possessing weapons that he made from scratch, instead of using them for good, he uses it for revenge against his idol Mr. Incredible. He has an energy beam that can freeze any one in place and levitate them as they are frozen; new and improved rocket boots for him to fly around; a miniature bomb that's shaped after Mr. Incredible’s old symbol that can cause massive destruction; and a device that can see if anyone's dead or alive. He's so powerful with all the gadgets and futuristic weapons he carries that with the exception of the baby Jack-Jack, none of the Incredible's ever lay a finger on him since he can freeze them all in a millisecond. He also shows no problems or remorse over killing Mr.Incredible's own family because seeing him cry about the loved ones he's lost is sweet revenge for him, where he goes as far to taunting him with the same words that he used to break his spirits as a child. Most of Syndrome's taunts against Mr. Incredible and his family are both harsh and yet so funny thanks to Jason Lee's delivery. My favorite taunt is when he mocks Mr. Incredible for calling for help, that's humorous for how he hops around saying "help me" in a scared childish voice, but at the same time harsh considering that it would be out of character for him to ask for help which upsets him so greatly that it causes him to angrily shout out the word "lame" a few times. And that's another thing I find intriguing about this villain, even though he hates Mr. Incredible after the heartbreak that he's given him, he still obsesses over him. He wanted Mr. Incredible to be the final test subject for a weapon that he's created before he takes action; geeks out over the facts that he faked his own death, and that he married another Superhero and had a family of supers; and knows that Mr. Incredible would never ever kill an innocent, even after losing his loved ones that he uses for his own advantage.

But as much as he takes pleasure on taking revenge on Mr. Incredible, that's only a minor part of his overall evil plan. His main goal is to actually wipe out Superheroes forever!



He does this by locating Superheroes in-hiding, and hiring his assistant Mirage to send them a video message of mission briefings. Before I go further into the plan, I'm going to talk a little bit about his assistant Mirage. While I like that her character, mannerisms, and design is supposed to resemble a bond girl working for a villain like Pussy Galore from "Goldfinger" for example. I don't find her character that interesting. She's not boring or anything, but she's mainly the kind of character who you know is going to reform later on in the film, that just makes her come across as a cliche with hardly anything new about her.



Getting back to Syndrome's main goal, once the heroes contact Mirage, they go to his Island to fight off an experimental battle robot called an Omnidroid, where he secretly uses the heroes as test subjects for his robot by killing each and every one of them. But if a Superhero destroys the Omnidroid, he'll know what needs to be improved, and will summon the Superhero that destroyed it back, where they're this time guaranteed to never leave the Island. And he keeps doing this process until the majority of supers are dead (since he can't track Elastigirl, and that Mirage lets Frozone go free so Mr. Incredible can take his place) and when he's ready to test his robot on the hero that he hates the most. The primary reason why Syndrome is my number favorite Pixar villain is because he commits genocide! He's killed such a large number of down and out Superheroes over the years after being let down by one, that it’s disturbing and sad. We never met them, but it's still depressing considering that he's killing off a race of powerful but innocent people out of hate and vengeance! And looking at their names and designs on the computer when we discover this information, we find ourselves wanting to learn more about them before they were axed off. The Omnidroid also comes across just as interesting as the Superheroes are, since it's been through so many different designs and alterations, and the final product that came out of it is Syndrome's most deadliest weapon yet, that can shoot lasers; has claws that can turn into buzz-saws; can change into a sphere to roll around to get to places faster; is gigantic in size; and is indestructible!

 

When his Omnidroid is finished, he plans to let it loose in the city to cause havoc and endanger the lives of many, and show-up as a Superhero to fight the machine, when he'll actually be secretly using his remote that controls the robot to destroy it, and in the end be praised as a Superhero for his staged actions by rising to fame and glory. And when he retires from saving people's lives, he'll sell his inventions so that everybody can have powers and be super. So he doesn't just kill the majority of Superheroes just to pass himself off as one, but he plans to make sure that Superheroes will be gone for good when Superpowers can now be accessible to the point where they'll no longer be considered to be a special or an abnormal thing! Who would have guessed that such a dweeb would be the downfall of Superheroes, let alone being one of the richest men in the world?!



When his plan backfires since he can't stop his own robot, and that the Incredibles have taken away his supposed glory by destroying the robot themselves as he's knocked-out, he sinks to a new low by kidnapping the family's baby to raise him to be his evil sidekick as revenge for foiling his chance to become a Superhero, and for Mr. Incredible refusing to take him under his wing when he was a kid. Now that's truly one disturbed man! But in an out of nowhere and yet hilarious twist, Jack-Jack has the powers to shape-shift into different forms, including a mini-devil to fight against Syndrome and destroy one of his rocket-boots. When Syndrome is about to make his get-away after the baby is rescued, Mr. Incredible throws a car at his escape Jet, which causes his cape to get caught inside the Jet's engine that sucks him right in and causes the jet to explode! OK, that is in my opinion thee harshest and gruesome death to have ever happened to a Pixar villain! And what I enjoy most about his defeat is how the film foreshadows it. When we see him as a kid trying to impress Mr. Incredible by flying away to get help, Bomb Voyage places a bomb on his cape that nearly gets him killed. And when Mr. Incredible asks Edna to add a cape on to his new suit, she refuses as we get a series of flashbacks of Superheroes getting into accidents because of their capes. What’s also amusing about the foreshadows to his death is Syndrome doesn't just get into an accident that costs him his life because of his cape, but he also suffers the same fate as one of the Superheroes did in the flashback! The film's mockery of Superheroes wearing capes is indeed one of the cleverest and yet darkest jokes that the film has to offer.



Earlier I talked about my favorite taunt from Syndrome, but the line from him that makes me laugh the hardest for how funny the delivery and writing is, is not from the movie itself, but from the spin-off short film "Jack-Jack Attack". The short film is no masterpiece compared to Pixar's other works in terms of short films, but it's still a lot of fun as we get to look into the enigma member of the Incredibles where I find myself buying that these events happened while they were fighting on Syndrome's Island. And Sydrome's cameo towards the end when the babysitter Kari thought that he was the back-up babysitter that Helen was supposed to send always has me laughing hard, because when Kari asks what the S on his suit stands for, he claims that it stands for "Sitter" and that he didn't want to use the initials for babysitter because he would be walking around with a big "B.S.", as he is talking B.S. That is just gold! One thing you may notice from his little cameo in the film is that he's not wearing his mask, which is interesting because we never ever see him take off his mask when he's an adult. And speaking of a feature to his costume, I do enjoy the design and color scheming for his Super-villain identity, where his clothing is drenched in black and white, as the only bright color that stands out is his red volcano shaped hairdo, that looks silly but at the same time mischievous.

I know it may be weird for some of you that he's not on my top ten since he is my favorite Pixar villain, but that's because the villains that I have coming up on the list are characters who I like better in terms of ranking all categories of Disney villains (well...with the exception of TV shows). But whether he is on my top 10, top 20, or even top 30, Syndrome from both "The Incredibles" and the short film "Jack-Jack Attack" still out ranks all of my favorite Disney villains in the Pixar category. His back-story is sad; he's tons of fun to watch; he carries all kinds of powerful gadgets that the heroes hardly stand a chance against; lives on an awesome Island; and his motivation of ridding the world from Superheroes is darker than any Pixar villain I've ever seen.

"And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that everyone can be superheroes. EVERYONE can be super! And when everyone's super...NO ONE will be."
-Syndrome

MY 16TH FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN

LOTSO



FROM TOY STORY 3

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

The "Toy Story" films always had such great and memorable antagonists. You had the kid Sid who loved to either destroy toys, or remodel them into monsters; Buzz's archenemy the evil emperor Zurg; the unsuspected twist villain Stinky Pete; and the fiendish Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear. As unforgettable as these villains are, it wasn't really a challenge picking Lotso out of all the others. Sid maybe a danger to the toy world and is a bully, but in reality he's just a kid playing with his toys who has no clue that he's killing living creatures. Zurg has a cool design and is menacing, but in the long-run he's just a toy who's as comically delusional as Buzz once was. And while Stinky Pete is an actual threat I didn't find him as interesting or dangerous compared to the villain that I chose as my favorite from the franchise. Why is Lotso my favorite villain than all the other "Toy Story" villains that I grew up watching? Let’s take a closer look.



When we first see Lotso at the Sunnyside Daycare that he runs, much like how no one suspected Stinky Pete to be the villain in "Toy Story 2", you'd never suspect Lotso to be the film's antagonist, or in the very least as nasty as he would later make himself out to be. Right when Andy's toys arrive as all the toys at the daycare are excited and happy for the new arrivals, Lotso appears carrying a wooden toy mallet for a cane as he comes off as a humble and loving grandfather figure that welcomes the toys and helps gets them settled in as he shows them around this bright and colorful daycare, that comes complete with a spa for toys that are in need of repair. Lotso's design also adds to his sweet personality due to his soft purple fur, looking as warm and beautiful as the center is, as this bear is given the scent of strawberry's to emphasize on his sweetness.

 

Fun fact by the way, when I saw the first "Toy Story" movie as a kid, one of the cutest toys that I wish I had was the pink teddy bear sitting on Andy's shelf during the staff meeting. And little that I and many audiences knew at the time, that bear is actually Lotso's early design, who doesn't look as cute as I remember, looking back at it now. Originally John Lasseter wanted to use him as an antagonist for the movie, but the studio didn't figure out the computer technology to create fur yet.

Annnnd yeah looking at his design as well as Sid's dog Scud...



(It looks like his fur is really his skin. He's far from a "hairy fellow" as Buzz described him.)

and comparing it to Lotso, or even Sully from "Monsters INC"...

 

(Don't you just want to hug him, and feel how soft his fur is?)

It was best that they decided to wait on making Lotso as the main villain when the technology was perfected, and it was certainly worth the wait!

Lotso also made a cameo in the film that came out before "Toy Story 3", "UP", and well I think this image explains it all...

 

Getting back to Lotso in the actual film he appeared in as a villain.



We begin to realize that there's something wrong with the daycare when Lotso sends Andy's toys to the “Caterpillar Room”, which seems harmless at first until the group of toddlers start rushing in to play with the toys violently. This scene is where the film's darkness officially begins, because the things that the kids do to them are so cruel and intense that it makes Sid's toy abuse look tamed. In nearly every single frame of the sequence, we witness them either being tossed around, torn apart, being smacked against objects, drenched with paint, glitter, and any other materials used for arts and crafts, and doing things to them that are so gross and unpleasant that I'd rather not go into detail. Like Sid's room, this place is every toys worst nightmare, only it's beautiful looking instead of dark and Gothic, and that there's more than one kid who abuses the toys. I don't know who watches these toddlers play with their toys, but clearly that person needs to be fired big time, because these kids are completely out of control! And while Andy's toys in the "Caterpillar Room" are suffering all this torture, Lotso and the toys in the "Butterfly Room" are being played with by kids who are older than the toddlers that play with them how kids are supposed to play and treat their toys.



When Buzz goes to find Lotso to request for him and the toys to be transferred to the "Butterfly Room" after all the pain and abuse that they went through, the daycare goes from bad to worse. At night time all the colors and happiness is completely sucked out as the place is now infested with darkness and shadows, as the colors are now muted where the colors black, gray, green yellow, and purple begin to take over, where you wonder what happened to all those rainbow colors that you saw earlier. The toys that we saw earlier are no longer as friendly and welcoming as we first met them. They now talk and act like thugs by being tough, mean, and rude, as they spend their free-time playing roulette with an old "See ‘n Say", betting on batteries and toy money. And as for the toys who were acting so jolly in the "Caterpillar Room", in the sequence when we see the Toddler's wreck Andy's toys, the others are shown to be hiding in absolute fear in hopes that they won't be broken or damaged badly enough for them to be thrown away to the dump. The only toy that we discover later on who has survived there for years from the abuse is Chatter Telephone, since he knows how to hide, and if you're expecting him to have a cute or childlike voice just like his design, he in reality talks like an old wise-ass cellmate that's been imprisoned for years from one of those old prison movies.

 

After seeing how grim the place is, and learning the toys true nature, when they capture Buzz, you expect Lotso to act as tough and mean as they are for when he shows up? But no, he still keeps his caring grandfather act going, by acting displeased with the toy's behavior to Buzz, listens to his request, and proudly awards his actions of leadership for Andy's toys by giving him access to the "Butterfly Room". We don't see his true colors until Buzz declines his offer and decides to leave, which causes him and the toys to do something cruel to Buzz (which I'll get into later). Right after that scene, we discover that Lotso runs the place as a prison for toys, now acting like a strict warden where you're forced to survive the constant abuse from the "Caterpillar Room" and work your way to the "Butterfly Room". If you ask Lotso about leaving you'll be imprisoned in the toy bins and be watched by one of the toys that work for him, while the other toys patrol the grounds inside and outside where escaping is near impossible. And if you step-out of your place, or break any of the rules, you'll be forced to spend the night in "the box" which is a giant sandbox, a dark and cold place full of nothing but sand and poop. Lotso clearly shows no remorse or care about the toys since he sees them all as trash where he has no problems breaking them himself if the kids or his minions don't do the job for him, and as the film proceeds his personality just gets worse and worse where you begin to wonder what happened to the cute and cuddly bear that we met earlier. The actor voicing him is Ned Beatty and he does a terrific job playing both the warm and cold sides of his character, where his southern accent plays a big part in giving the character his identity.

Lotso is another villain who has tons of minions working for him, and since there's so many of them, just like what I did with Big Boy Caprice, Hades, and Captain Barbarossa's minions, I'm only going to talk about the ones who are important and stand out to me.



Bookworm is a green toy worm that wears glasses (voiced by Richard Kind who previously voiced Hopper's idiotic brother Molt), who is in charge of multiple toy instruction manuals that are kept inside the closet of the daycare. Outside of his design and position, he's not that memorable of a minion in terms of personality, but what he helps Lotso with in his introduction scene, and his shocked reaction to when he sees Ken in a Spacesuit wearing pink high heel shoes, are good enough to give this minion a mention.



 Lotso's cunning and quick minion is Stretch the purple and glittery rubber Octopus voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, who gives the character the same low-life personality as she did when she voiced the Hyena Shenzi from "The Lion King". She assists Lotso in keeping Andy's toys in-line by using her long and stretchy rubber tentacles to capture them, or push them in the dumpster where they'll be taken away to the dump to be destroyed if they don't accept Lotso's offer to return to Sunnyside.



The scariest toy working for Lotso is the Cymbal playing monkey who watches the monitors of the daycare at night. Any toy who has tried to escape the daycare is always caught by this crazy wild eyed Monkey, since he has access to the button that turns on the P.A. system and screeches and bangs his cymbals loudly to alert the other toys. If you were going to ask me which toy in the franchise carries the most nightmare fuel, it’s definitely this deranged monkey. Just how he silently watches the monitors as his eyes wander about, to suddenly having him go bananas when he sees a toy trying to escape which causes his eyes to pop-out is horrifying. When I saw this monkey in 3-D when the film came out, I was in constant suspense and terror given his design, presence, and job, especially in the scene when Woody sneaks inside to tie him up.



The funniest member of Lotso's crew is Ken, who is voiced by one of my favorite actors of all time, Michael Keaton. When I listen to Keaton's voice as Ken, I never got the impression that I was listening to Michael Keaton trying to sound charming and funny, he sounds and behaves like just like how I would picture the doll to be. But while sounding the role as natural as he pulls off Batman's voice, or Beetlejuice's comical personality where you can separate the actor from the character, there's still plenty of humor surrounding the character's flamboyance and dreamy personality and design to make him come across as comical. He's the butt of all the other toys jokes since he's a doll designed for girls, loves to wear and show off his many different outfits that he can't do without, and the relationship that he has with Barbie (who is by the way voiced by Jodie Benson who voiced Ariel in "The Little Mermaid") is cute while at the same time hysterical for how the two comically play-up their emotions for each other as if they were satirizing the Disney Prince and Princess love stories made back during Walt's time, the same way how the film "Enchanted" did. Ken does assist Lotso and tries to act tough like all the other toys do, but let's be honest, he was a toy that we knew was going to reform from the start, mainly for how poorly he's treated by the others and how devoted he is to Barbie.



Acting as Lotso's enforcer is the strongest member of his henchmen, Big Baby, who he and Lotso go way back together. Big Baby is a henchman that is cute in so many ways because of his sweet childish innocence. But he's also in many ways very intimidating. Part of that is his strength and how big he is compared to the other toys, but his design contributes plenty to his intimidation as well with his broken eye and scribbles all over his body that look like tattoos. The scariest moment involving him is how he's sitting on a swing at night and turns his head around to see if any of the toys have escaped the daycare. But as misshapen as he is, it’s also pretty sad since he's clearly been abused by either the toys, the kids, or both. The final major part to the threat factor of the character is how he'll go berserk by crying and screaming with his violent behaviors and actions. He is undoubtedly one baby that you do not want to upset.

 

The crazy thing about the toys working for Lotso is even though Big Baby is the strongest one who Lotso has a history with; the most difficult one for Andy's toys is Buzz himself! When Buzz refused to join Lotso's gang, Lotso has the toys pin him down and drill off his screws, as he reads a manual given to him from the Bookworm, of how to re-set Buzz to his demo settings, which makes him think that he's once again a Space-ranger, and is fooled by Lotso to believe that Andy's toys are henchmen working for the evil Emperor Zurg. The scene of Lotso and the toys re-setting him is just as disturbing as seeing Cinderella's dress being torn apart by the Step-Sisters, and to see Buzz back to his old ego only this time for bad and with no memory of his relationship with Andy's toys at all is heartbreaking, and threatening. Unlike in the first film when Buzz was just firing his laser at the other toys that clearly had no effect what-so-ever, here he's shown violently beating up the toys, imprisoning them, and being aggressively forceful and demanding when they step-out of line. It does have its funny moments, my personal favorite being how he's still attracted to Jessie even though he thinks she's evil, but for the majority of it, his behaviors and Lotso's success of brainwashing him is despicable, where the toys not only have to fight against Buzz, but must now figure out a way to set him back to normal as they escape.



During the midpoint of the film as we the audience wonder how Lotso came to be so cruel and cold hearted, and yet can make himself out to be a caring and loving soul to perfection, we discover through a flashback told by a depressed Clown named Chuckles owned by a little girl named Bonnie, that he was once the cute and cuddly bear that we saw earlier without faking it. It turns out that Lotso, Big Baby, and Chuckles were loved by a little girl named Daisy, and the one she played with and loved the most was Lotso. But after accidentally being abandon on the country side, where the parents took Daisy when she was asleep and left the toys behind, Lotso and the others went from waiting in the spot for a long period of time, to going on a journey back to her place, only to discover that he had been replaced by another Lotso toy. This heartbreak and feeling of betrayal caused him to become the nasty bear that we would all know him now for, where he and Big Baby would eventually run the daycare center after wandering the streets alone, as Chuckle's would become a victim of Lotso’s “rigged system” only to be found and rescued by Bonnie before he could be destroyed.



The backstory of Lotso's descended into madness is a soul-crushing story that gives you absolute sympathy for this villain. You can tell that he really loved Daisy, and that Daisy really loved him, and if he wasn't accidentally left behind and replaced, he wouldn't be the heartless bear that we know him as. And it's a pity because even though his introduction to when he greets and hugs the toys is an act, I bet his heartwarming personality wouldn't have been different if Daisy had kept him. In many ways he and the hero Woody relate to each other since they were both dearly loved by their owners, only to be replaced by another toy later on for different reasons. The only difference is Woody still stood by Andy, even with the threat of being replaced while Lotso just gave up all together. And who knows, if Woody gave up on Andy, he would more than likely just be as cruel and vicious as Lotso is, which is what makes Lotso such an interesting villain of the franchise. He can easily be looked at as the toy that Woody could've become, and what he probably would do have he just been left behind by Andy and the toys, and replaced by Buzz. I can totally see him running the daycare center just as terrible as Lotso does given how ruthless he treated Buzz in the first film because of his jealousy, and that he was the toy who ran Andy's bedroom. As depressing as Lotso's backstory is, when you really look at it, it wasn't Daisy who replaced Lotso and left him behind, it was her parents. They didn't even so much as return to the spot where they left them behind, so if there's anyone who Lotso or any of us should blame for his cruelty towards toys it’s the parents, and not Daisy herself. And if you want to see a good parody beautifully emphasizing this fact, and giving Lotso a different ending than he gets in the film, then check-out the animated video "How Toy Story 3 Should Have Ended".



When all the toys stand up to Lotso realizing what he's done to the system at the daycare, and that he's been brainwashing all the other toys to make them believe in his propaganda that they are trash after Woody tells him about Daisy, which causes Lotso to destroy the pendant with her name on it that belonged to Big Baby, Big Baby throws him into the dumpster (that's an obvious reference to when Darth Vader threw Palpatine into the reactor shaft in "Return Of the Jedi", because all the other "Toy Story" films made references to the original "Star Wars Trilogy" so why not this film). But rather than the film just getting rid of him then and there as he's about to be taken away to the dump, he takes Woody with him. Out of all the horrible things that Lotso does, the number 1 thing that made us all despise him and lose all sense of respect and sympathy for him is when he refuses to push the button to prevent the toys from being incinerated in the dump's furnace. The toys risk their lives to save Lotso from being ripped to shreds in the shredder, and yet when the toys need Lotso's help, he just bids them farewell with a dastardly smile, which leads to the most emotional and intense scene of the movie, that ends triumphantly when the aliens save them with a crane! When I saw this scene in theaters, I wanted to strangle Lotso for his betrayal, and as Woody, Buzz, and the gang were about to be burned to a crisp, I can remember a little kid in front of me holding a Woody doll telling his Mom that he "doesn't like the movie", but when they were saved, everyone in the theater applauded as the kid who hated the movie began to tell his Mother that he "loves the movie", which had me and my friends laughing. This scene has got to be one of the most extraordinary experiences that I've ever had in the cinemas, and it’s all thanks to the selfish actions of a heartless teddy bear!



In the end, rather than the toys beating Lotso up, or him being thrown into the incinerator, he's instead found by a garbage man who ties him to the grill of the truck with a few other toys. As silly and in some ways similar to Stinky Pete's fate in "Toy Story 2", I do find it to be a fitting end to this villain. He feels unloved and that no one will ever want him, but he's found by a garbage man who remembered having a Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear when he was a kid, and wants to keep him for his nostalgia of having one, and his scent of strawberry's. And considering that Lotso thinks toys are trash and nothing more, he now has to spend (for all we know) the rest of his toy-life tied to the grill of a garbage truck giving his fresh strawberry scent as an air-fresher with other broken and dirty toys, as he would have to deal with nothing but mud, bugs, blabbering toys, and the smell of trash. I despise Lotso for his cruelty, but I wouldn't want to see him dead considering the hardships that he's been through, so for me this is the perfect and poetic way for this villain to go. And as for the toy who now runs the daycare with Lotso gone, well who's a better leader that can make a place cool, groovy, and stylish than Ken. Thanks to him, all the toys are back to being friendly and free as they can now enjoy a disco party environment at night time when the place closes, and instead of sending new toys to the infamous "Caterpillar Room" for the little ones to play with, they all take turns as there's always a toy ready to repair them and take their place as they're being fixed up.

The "Toy Story" villains are some of the best villains that Pixar has to offer, but as good as the others are I'm glad that Pixar saved the best one for last. You love him (at first), and you feel bad for him when you learn about his past, but you mostly find yourself downright despising him for how he controls the daycare, brainwashes the other toys (especially Buzz), and how much he could careless about the other toys with having no problem letting them be destroyed by the Toddlers in the "Caterpillar Room" or burned in the incinerator at the dump, which makes him the darkest and ruthless of villains in the "Toy Story Trilogy".

"Sunnyside is a place of ruin and despair, ruled by an evil bear who smells of strawberries"
-Mr. Pricklepants

"The guy may seem plush and huggable on the outside, but inside, he's a monster!"
-Buttercup