Pixar Freeze Frame! - The Finn McMissile Poster

 

Finn McMissile, a British spy, plays a major role in the upcoming Pixar feature Cars 2.  But the stealthy character managed to sneak his way into Toy Story 3 last summer.  Finn is featured in a poster on the wall of Andy's room, reflecting Andy's more grownup interests and sensibilities.  Finn's design was inspired in part by James Bond's classic 1964 Aston Martin. 

Pixar Freeze Frame! - A Heimlich Maneauver

When Pixar produced Toy Story 2, they had very little character canon to draw upon for inside jokes and hidden cameos.  But the filmmakers did manage to sneak in a number of references to A Bug's Life, Pixar's second feature film.  Heimlich the caterpillar makes a brief and rather camouflaged appearance when Buzz Lightyear pushes his way through some shrubbery during the journey to Al's Toy Barn.

A few moments later, shortly after entering the store, Buzz runs past a display of A Bug's Life merchandise.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Boundin' with Stanley

The setting of the 2003 Pixar animated short Boundin' was likely not far removed from the small town of Radiator Springs, as demonstrated by this Pixar Freeze Frame.  The vehicle that delivers the rancher to shear the sheep is in fact Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs, who was immortalized (at least in statue form) in Pixar's 2006 feature Cars.  Stanley's somewhat less than anthropomorphic appearance in Boundin' predated Cars by close to two and a half years.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Boo's Toys

Boo, the pint-sized heroine of Monsters. Inc. has quite the toy collection in her bedroom.  Among the toys she hands to Sulley, prior to their sentimental goodbye near the end of the movie, are Jesse from the Toy Story 2, the toy ball from Luxo, Jr. and a rubber squeak toy of Nemo from Finding Nemo.  In this case, the appearance of Nemo predated the release of his own film by eighteen months.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - The Incredible Doc Hudson

Doc Hudson was apparently cruising the streets of Metroville some 18 months prior to his debut in Cars in 2006.  This Freeze Frame from The Incredibles shows a slightly less anthropomorphic Hudson Hornet parked on the street when Mr. Incredible is engaged in battle with Syndrome's formidable Omindroid.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Up with Lotso Huggin' Bear

Prior to his debut in Toy Story 3, the deceptively villainous Lotso Huggin' Bear managed to sneak into a few frames of Up.  He and the toy ball from Luxo, Jr. can be seen in the bedroom of a young girl who is surprised when she sees Carl Fredricksen's balloon-tethered house fly by outside her window.  Up arrived in theaters during the summer of 2009,  a year prior to the release of Toy Story 3.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Finding Mike in Finding Nemo

We kept our heads above water in the previous two Pixar Freeze Frames, but we will be diving below the waves this time to discover where a certain sea "monster" can be found in Finding Nemo.  This particular cameo is not by any means hard to spot, but it may in fact be unknown to those viewers who have neither the patience nor the interest to sit through the film's closing credits.  Though never indicated in Monsters, Inc., it appears that Mike Wazowski has a penchant for snorkeling.  He swims across the screen, right after the Production Babies list and just prior to the Special Thanks acknowledgments. 

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Hidden Heroes in Finding Nemo

Our next Pixar Freeze Frame takes us again to the Australian setting of Finding Nemo where we will focus in on the waiting room of Sydney dentist Dr. Phillip Sherman.  Any good dentist's office has its obligatory toy box to keep younger patients sufficiently distracted from their impending procedures, and Dr. Sherman's abode is no exception.  But among his collection of toys is a certain Space Ranger of note.  Though lying prone on the floor, Buzz Lightyear stands out amidst the other rather generic playthings.

 

Later in the film, a young boy occupies himself with a Mr. Incredible comic book in the same waiting room, while chaos ensues in the nearby exam room.  Similar to Luigi from Cars, Mr. Incredible's appearance in Finding Nemo predated the release of his own movie.  The Incredibles was released eighteen months after Finding Nemo premiered on May 30, 2003.

Pixar Freeze Frame! - Finding Luigi in Finding Nemo

It's a special spin on an enduring feature!

The Freeze Frame! post has been a standard of 2719 Hyperion since the site's inception back in the Fall of 2006.  We've showcased a number of Freeze Frames relating to Pixar movies, but have just barely explored the tip of the cameo and inside joke-filled iceberg that exists within the Pixar canon.  Thus we have decided to create a special category-within-the-category--the Pixar Freeze Frame!  Yes, we know we aren't breaking any new ground or discovering the undiscovered; such Pixar content has been generally well-documented via any number of sources.  But we thought it would be fun to expand our Freeze Frame! archive and hopefully expose our readers to some moments they may have missed heretofore.

Pixar loves to cross-pollinate its films with in-house cameos and it is those fleeting moments we will be focusing on in the weeks ahead.  Despite the fact that most of Finding Nemo took place under the sea, a few non-aquatic Pixar characters managed to sneak into the picture.  Luigi, the 1959 yellow Fiat 500 from Cars, zooms by quickly during the final moments of the movie.  It is definitely a split-second appearance, occurring as the Tank Gang makes their final escape from the dentist's office to the ocean.  It's an especially notable cameo in that it preceded the release of the movie Cars by three years!

More Finding Nemo Freeze Frames are on the way.  Stay tuned!