This Toy Story 3 IRL took 8 years to make, and it’s beyond impressive
Aux Features great job internet
You may have your own passion projects: tracking down old punk bootlegs or looking for original copies of the Watchmen comic or getting that breakup solo album finally off the ground. Take heart, seekers, and absorb some inspiration from Iowa brothers Morgan and Mason McGrew: They spent eight years remaking Toy Story 3 with actual Toy Story toys, starting when they were teenagers. “Impressive” doesn’t really cover this tremendous effort, but “awe-inspiring” is a good place to start. As then-19-year-old Morgan told ABC News in 2015, “It is hands down our favorite film of all time.” Obviously. As A.V. Club sister site Gizmodo puts it, “This Live-Action Toy Story 3 Remake Made By Teens Puts My Own Teen Accomplishments to Shame.”
Using stop-motion animation and iPhones, the McGrews do an amazing job of mimicking the shots of the original film, timing it perfectly against the film’s actual soundtrack. Yes, the doll’s mouths don’t move, because they’re real. One of the best parts is when the movie shifts into Andy and Bonnie territory with real-life human actors, including one of the McGrews themselves. Sure, Andy’s haircut changes slightly—it was bound to after several years of filming.
But the real show-stopper is the trash-incinerator scene, complete with a ton of shredded paper to indicate garbage and spot-on mechanical imagery. The McGrews tracked the whole project on the Toy Story 3 In Real Life Facebook page, and even (fortunately) got permission from Disney to release the whole thing. This real-life version of Toy Story is a hell of a lot more impressive than Disney’s own recent CGI live-action releases like Aladdin or The Lion King. As one YouTube commenter proposed, “Why should Disney make crappy live action remakes of films they’ve already done when instead they should let the fans do all the work?”
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17 Comments
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
DEATH BY MONKEYS
Them: spent 8 years crafting this ridiculously detailed and time consuming film, making sure they matched shots, framing, characters, the whole shebang.Me: skipped ahead to about five random points, went “huh cool” and moved on
He skipped to the incinerator scene to see how they pulled that off
Beat me, I clicked 2 times. Spent more time reading comments lol.
This was my exact reaction. But good for them. If I had the time and money I would do something equally as ridiculous. I have a friend who edited all the Back to the Future movies in chronological order. I envy how much joy he got out of it.
Is Robot Chicken still going on? I think this kid has a job waiting for him.
but half the work of that show is putting on the paper mouths for words, which is the only thing that would have made this soooo much better.
I didnt watch Robot Chicken for the quality stop motion work… I watched it for the offensive humor.
They spent eight years of their life meticulously recreating something that already exists. I mean, it’s impressive in a “wow, look at that” sort of way, but maybe take all of that energy and ingenuity and create something new?
Takedown notice by Disney in 3…2…
Disney actually gave them permission to release it.
“…and even (fortunately) got permission from Disney to release the whole thing.”
Reading is hard.
The McGrews tracked the whole project on the Toy Story 3 In Real Life Facebook page, and even (fortunately) got permission from Disney to release the whole thing.Reading is hard.
r/c/pThe McGrews tracked the whole project on the Toy Story 3 In Real Life Facebook page, and even (fortunately) got permission from Disney to release the whole thing.
They’ve whitewashed Bonnie Anderson!
A113 license plate!I didn’t mean to watch the whole thing, but I couldn’t help it. This really made me smile. I know a lot of folks won’t have the time, but if you only watch one scene, make it the playtime at the daycare, lol.I used to do the exact same thing as a kid, but this is beyond anything I could imagine. I’m gobsmacked by the challenge of Woody’s escape off the roof, alone. Crazy. I am certain some of those smaller supporting toys don’t exist in retail, so I’m curious how they made them. And how did they get a garbage truck?!