Beginning with Toy Story (1995), director John Lasseter had long decided that Pixar films would not be musicals in which characters spontaneously perform songs, but agreed that musician Randy Newman should write original songs for certain moments during the story, most of which he would sing himself.[1] Originally, the filmmakers had considered having Jessie, a toy cowgirl,[2] simply explain her backstory verbally; this concept was re-visited several times until the idea of re-working her thoughts into a song called "When She Loved Me" was suggested.[1] Lasseter identified the addition of the song as the film's most significant production change.[3] Newman, however, doubted that "When She Loved Me" would work, initially thinking that the filmmakers were mistaken by incorporating it into the film,[4] due to the song essentially being about the difference between feeling loved and unloved.[5] The songwriter called the ballad a risk due to the studio's history of fearing slowing down films too much and losing the audience's interest in the process.[5] Newman continued to doubt that children would be able to sit through the song until he observed their behavior during an initial screening.[4] He was ultimately surprised to find that even the youngest children in the audience remained attentive during the song despite its slow tempo and mature, emotional themes.[5] Newman joked that the song was not "the first time [Pixar] knew better than I did",[4] explaining, "I wrote something that must have worked or the kids would have been running up the aisle."[5] Lasseter admitted that he is most proud of the way in which "When She Loved Me" was used in the film.[1]
Earlier in the film, Woody is stolen from a yard sale by Al McWhiggin, a toy collector,[28][29] in order to complete his collection of vintage Woody's Roundup toys.[28] A Japanese toy museum is willing to purchase Woody and the rest of the retired Woody's Roundup cast for a lucrative sum,[29] each of whom have become collector's items since the show's cancellation.[30] Most of the toys long to travel to the museum in order to avoid spending their remaining lives in storage,[31] but Woody is hesitant, and the museum will only accept the toys as a complete set.[30] Jessie is particularly adamant that it would be best to relocate to the museum.[32] While Woody explains that he is eager to return home to his rightful owner Andy, preferring to be loved while risking damage and abandonment as opposed to being immortalized in a museum,[33] Jessie finally reveals that she herself once had an owner much like Andy by whom she was treasured, before ultimately being discarded.[34] Before the song begins,[35] Woody tells Jessie about his relationship with Andy, which prompts her to share her own embittered experience with Emily,[36] the only person she had ever truly cared about.[37] Seated on a window sill,[38][self-published source?] Jessie perfectly interprets Woody's feelings for Andy: "when [Andy] plays with you it's like, even though you're not moving, you feel like you're alive, 'cos that's how he sees you",[35] Describing Emily as her "whole world",[36] Jessie proceeds to explain to Woody both the joys and tragedies associated with being loved by a child,[5][33] having once been Emily's favorite toy before her interests change as she grows older, turning towards music and makeup instead,[39] and increasingly neglecting Jessie in the process,[40] including forgetting her underneath her bed.[41] Emily's cowgirl-themed possessions are gradually replaced with makeup and music albums.[28] Before the scene ends, it offers Jessie (and audiences) a moment of false hope by showing the doll being rediscovered, retrieved from underneath Emily's bed and held as though she is about to be played with once again,[42] only to be placed inside a cardboard box and left on the side of a road to be donated to charity.[39][43] Jessie believes all toys eventually "outlive their usefulness"; to her, the idea of relocating to Japan "means that she will provide pleasure again and have some purpose in life."[19] Sky TV described the scene as "Jessie's wistful trip down Memory Lane".[44] The song also develops Jessie and Woody's relationship; Jessie finds the courage to tell Woody her story,[32] explaining her apprehension towards the idea of having an owner,[45] while Woody becomes a compassionate listener by learning about how she had become a collectible in the first place.[32][39] Jessie's sadness is used "as the anchor to keep Woody in place",[46] making him torn between which decision to make upon listening to Jessie's story.[47] Later in the film, Jessie must make a choice of her own to either forsake immortality in favor of being loved by a child once again.[27] BBC Online summarized the song's use in the film as "girl meets toy, girl loves toy, girl grows up, toy is left out for recycling."[48]
Andrew Mclauchlan Love Story Reedit Zippy
"When She Loved Me" has garnered critical acclaim.[75] The Los Angeles Times film critic Michael Mallory wrote that "only the stoniest of viewers will remain unaffected by [this] show-stopping moment".[25] Mallory concluded, "there are Oscar winners out there who would be hard-challenged to match the performance in that scene".[25] Agreeing that the song is a "showstopping moment", The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw deemed the ballad "a tear-jerker to be classed with the imprisonment of Dumbo's mom" in Disney's Dumbo (1941).[67] Mark Caro, writing for the Chicago Tribune, warned audiences that they "may embarrass [themselves] choking back tears over the plight of a computer-animated piece of plastic" upon hearing "When She Loved Me".[47] Barbara Vancheri of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the song irresistible,[72] while film critic Roger Ebert described the track as "winsome".[41] A critic for The Guardian described the film's use of "When She Loved Me" as "a fabulous moment".[1] Glen Chapman of Den of Geek described "When She Loved Me" as "rather beautiful".[76] A writer for the Nashville Scene deemed the scene the film's "most affecting moment".[54] While Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times crowned it "one of Randy Newman's finest love songs",[31] ASCAP considers "When She Loved Me" to be among Newman's most "outstanding" film contributions.[77] P. Nelson Reinsch of PopMatters wrote that the scene "starts out saccharine but becomes truly beautiful in its kitschy truth regarding the inexorable passage of childhood."[69] In a retrospective analysis of Newman's music, Paste's Tim Grierson believes that, despite sounding "seeming[ly] mawkish", the elements of "piercing emotion" that the musician continues to incorporate into his film scores has prevented "When She Loved Me" from "drift[ing] into pure sap."[52] Jim Lane of News Review called the singer's performance "sublime", in addition to deeming the track "the most heartbreaking song ever composed for a motion picture."[68] Reviewing the film's special edition re-release in 2006, IGN's Todd Gilchrist wrote that he struggles to identify "other moments in movie history that evoke the same kind of involuntary but completely deserved tears as" "When She Loved Me", continuing that the song's "bittersweet combination of ebullient love and palpable loneliness makes me sad just thinking about it."[78] The critic also appreciated Disney's decision to have McLachlan record it over Newman.[78] 2ff7e9595c
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