Time for "Toy Story 3" might have passed

If you haven’t heard, the new theatrical trailer for “Toy Story 3” has made its way online, and I can officially say that I’m weirded out by a new toy adventure.

I’m not bashing the arrival of a new “Toy Story” film, but I remember watching the first one in elementary school as part of a “holiday present” from the faculty to the students. I put quotes around “holiday present” because it wasn’t much of a gift; we would sit on the shoe-stained, hard-as-nails floor of our gymnasium, cross-legged, peering into a fuzzy projection screen — it was the mid-1990s; think about the quality — with Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” blaring out of the projector’s mono speakers. Spencer Elementary gave us this “gift” two years in a row, as if we wouldn’t remember the raw feeling on our asses. I know they were trying, and I wouldn’t change it one bit.

I love “Toy Story.” I like “Toy Story 2.” It’s just that Woody and Buzz seem so far under my bed that I can’t reach them. It’s part of growing up I guess. Maybe that’s why I’ve been enjoying original Pixar films like “Wall-E” and “Ratatouille” so much; they’re exciting, refreshing and relevant but still warm up a bath of nostalgia for me. Seeing Rex the Green Dinosaur and Mr. Potato Head on the screen in a new adventure will just remind me of the uncomfortable gymnasium floor. A post-pubescent Andy doesn’t help either. It shows how much times have changed.

I’ll still see “Toy Story 3,” and who knows, maybe I’ll love it as much as I loved “Up,” but why couldn’t they have made this film when I was still living at home, in my room? “Toy Story 3” comes out in Disney Digital 3-D — which will distance me from the old toys even further — on June 18, 2010. “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” currently are showing in theaters nationwide as a 3-D double feature. Let me know what you think.

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