Two brothers from Des Moines, Iowa, spent the last eight years creating a shot for shot remake of Toy Story 3 using real toys.
The finished work is an absolute thing of beauty.
Toy Story 3was released in 2010 to near unanimous critical acclaim. For many watchers, the film marked the end of an era.
Toy Storyand Toy Story 2 were released in 1995 and 1999, respectively. All the kids who watched those first two installments were nearing—or had already reached—college age when the third came out.
At the time, just as Andy—the owner of those beloved toys—had to kiss goodbye to childhood, so did millennials.
Mason and Morgan McGrew, the creators of this new stop motion mimic, were on the younger end of those watchers. At the time of Toy Story 3's release, Morgan was 15 years old and Mason, 12.
Immediately after seeing and falling in love with the film, rather than sulk with nostalgia and become accountants, they chose to inhabit the toy world more than ever.
Toy Story 3 IRL/Youtube
They got a couple cameras, gathered all their toys together and began work on their remake, which they released on Youtube in January 2020.
The brothers recently spoke with Buzzfeed about their creative process.
"As soon as we saw 'Toy Story 3', it became our favorite film, and will forever be."
"We'd always been [such] huge fans of Pixar and the 'Toy Story' franchise that we eventually decided we wanted to pay tribute to the studio and film that we love so much."
10 years after the initial release of the Pixar film, the McGrew's are celebrating...
@MattPostSaysHi/Twitter
...as the two filmmakers enjoy a bit of internet fame after many across the web expressed thorough appreciation for their film.
MrTheSurface/Youtube.com
DeployTheDRS/Youtube.com
The_Unknown643/Youtube.com
The brothers certainly put in plenty of work to earn the admiration.
They continued, telling Buzzfeed:
"Overall, the hardest thing about this film was staying disciplined. It was very important to us that we finish what we began as kids."
And more things may be on the horizon for these two.
Morgan, now 23, just graduated from college with a digital media degree. He awaits his brother's graduation from the same school with the same degree.
At 21, Mason will be finished in May 2020. After that, who knows what new work the brothers will create.