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# This Honest Trailer for _Toy Story_ Brings Up Several Existential Questions You Never Knew You Had

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/S3M25t5U.m3u8" -->
## Video: The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far)

[Watch (HLS stream): The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far)](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/S3M25t5U.m3u8) (4:16)

![The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far)](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/S3M25t5U/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2012-05-17. TIME movie critic, Richard Corliss lists his top films of the millennium (Thus Far). For the full, list go to time.com/entertainment_


by 

[Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/)


## Samantha Grossman


Jun 16, 2015 9:32 PM UTC

by 

[Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/)


## Samantha Grossman


Jun 16, 2015 9:32 PM UTC

_Toy Story 4_ may not come out until 2017, but that didn’t stop[ Screen Junkies ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOpcACMWblDls9Z6GERVi1A)from giving the original _Toy Story_ film the “honest trailer” treatment.

“Get ready for the classic children’s film,” the voice-over begins, “that’s all about jealousy, broken dreams, and the existential dread that you will one day outlive your purpose and be replaced by someone newer and better. You know, classic Pixar stuff!”

The trailer points out some stuff about the movie most of us have probably failed to acknowledge, like the fact that Woody is really “a neurotic, mean, egotistical control freak.” And how “when the much cooler toy Buzz Lightyear appears, he’ll attempt to murder him in a jealous rage.”

Plus, a few existential questions _Toy Story_ brings up: “Can toys die? Are toys born? When do they become sentient? Can they have kids? Do all toys initially have the same mental and philosophical breakdown as Buzz? Does Andy’s mom realize it’s super illegal to have a baby ride in the front seat?”


## Transcript

[ MUSIC ] Hi I'm Richard Corliss, Time Magazine movie critic, to show you my infallible or highly debatable selection of the movies of the millennium. [ MUSIC ] [ INAUDIBLE ] Stronger. In a way, these movies, made in the last 12 years, cover the whole history of movies. [ SOUND ] You'll also find a few films that look forward to the stories and techniques of the next hundred years. The fellowship awaits the ring bearer. [ MUSIC ] The Artist. It's a movie set in Hollywood's silent era and it's virtually wordless. Is that a gimmick? Nope. A sustained cinematic inspiration. Deserving of every prize it received, including the Academy Award for Best Picture.

This tres French film was also the most classically American picture of its time. [ SOUND ] Found something. The Hurt Locker. US soldiers coming to Iraq knew what to expect: 130 degree heat. And streets full of men, women, and kids, [ CROSSTALK ] any one of whom could detonate a bomb that would blow Americans and Iraqis to bits. What's the best way to, to go about disarming one of these things? The [ INAUDIBLE ]. [ LAUGH ] That's a good one. Determined to get the facts straight, not to score political points. Kathryn Bigelow made an honest, searing war film that fully deserved its Oscar for Best Picture.

It's just 39 days. 38 if we survive today. [ SOUND ] Avatar. James Cameron's science fiction 3D film does what fantasy is supposed to do. Create a total environmental experience. Viewers don't just visit the Pandora rainforest, like the movie's paraplegic hero Jake, they find their legs and quickly their home there. To become [ UNKNOWN ]. Hunter, you must choose you're own ikran, and he must choose you. [ NOISE ]. For a sensational, seductive movie immersion, Avatar has it all over Cameron's previous blockbuster. This film is truly titanic. [ SOUND ] The lord of the rings trilogy. Two forms are daring on display here, Peter Jackson's for synopsizing tokens novels into three spectacular three hour films.

And the commercial daring of new lines cinema which financed a $ 300 million three part telling of the token saga. Before a single frame had been shot. Will you look into the mirror? What will I see? Even the wisest cannot tell, for the mirror shows many things. [ SOUND ] The movies of the past dozen years, will be remembered for their technical wizardry and digital sheen. Wall- E has all that. [ SOUND ] Plus a toy- meets- girl love story as pure as any in the cinema's first 100 years. This Pixar animated feature, designed as family entertainment, had a bold vision both in story and in sound. [ SOUND ] There's plenty of space out in space, female star liners leaving each day.

We'll clean up the mess while you're away. And when Wall E meets his sleek robot Eve, they inhabit a sci fi cyborg romance for the ages. [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ]

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