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As I mentioned in the first installment of this series, people will ignore howling plot problems if they like a story enough. Some of the most popular stories make no sense.
Take Toy Story. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
A key element of this movie is that toys can walk and talk like you or I — but as soon as a human notices them, they fall down and become as inanimate as, well, a wooden toy.
This response is so ingrained and involuntary that even the toy Buzz Lightyear, who doesn’t know that he’s a toy, automatically collapses when a human is present. He’s not even aware that he’s doing it.
But at the movie’s climax (spoiler coming), the heroic toy Woody tells his fellow toys, “We’re going to have to break a few rules.” In particular, they walk and talk in ways that frighten the evil kid Sid.
But the movie’s established that toys obey the rules — particularly the rule about being dead while humans are around — whether they want to or not. As Buzz proved, they have no choice.
And if Woody could break the “toys collapse” rule at any time, why hasn’t he done it when playing with Andy, the boy he loves and who loves him? It would only enhance their relationship.
But no. The movie’s logic just breaks.
Toy Story is so well made and its characters’ plight is so compelling that the audience doesn’t mind Woody breaking the rules. The audience simply wants Woody and Buzz to win.
But their actions make no sense.