Toy Story 3

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

The better and more realistic ending: the toys go to a toy drive, and each poor kid who participates gets a toy. The toys get separated, but to a good and necessary end.

One can imagine the Pixar crowd doing an animated Fiddler on the Roof but changing the ending so that instead of dispersing, the entire village of Anatevka goes to live with Eloise at the Plaza. The better to make Fiddler 2.

You got me to laugh with the Fiddler joke but I'm still interested in your grudge against the "toys stay together" concept. Since the very beginning of the series they have harped on the concept of the toys being friends and helping each other through everything. "You've Got a Friend In Me" isn't just Andy and Woody, it's Woody and Buzz, and all the rest. No matter where they ended up, if they had been separated it would have been a sad ending.

I'm intrigued that you think it's "unfair" that Bonnie gets more toys when she already has some. "Andy learns of the plight of toyless children and is moved" doesn't sound like fun to me. Wall-E got bogged down in similar horrifically sad concepts. As I said before, the movie celebrates a certain type of consumerist childhood, one which millions of us grew up in, and we don't have to feel guilty about it.

In case you think I had a few too many toys myself - my first toys were cardboard oatmeal canisters and cereal boxes. My parents were not well off, and I remember those days clearly. Yes, I did end up accumulating quite the pile of plastic over the years, thanks in large part to yard sales and hand-me-downs, (augmented by birthdays and Hanukkah gifts of course) and only years after I was Bonnie's age. I do not begrudge her the toys at all. I'm glad she is living in that lovely house full of fun, even in the face of other children playing with whatever their parents can pull together for them.