"TOY STORY 3"

Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Animation and SequelRelease Date: June 18th, 2010 (wide)MPAA Rating: GDistributors: Walt Disney Studios Distribution

Directed by: Lee Unkrich

JJ Rating: A+

See it again: I would.Own it: Without a doubt.Recommend it to: Anyone that loved the first two…and anyone that is a child at heart.

Andy (John Morris) leaves for college. What does he do with the toys he’s had most of his life: put them in attic, take them with him, or put them in the trash? Woody (Tom Hanks) tries to keep the toys clam. Just like a boy, Andy puts the toys in a trash bag to put them in the attic, but there’s a mix up and his mom takes them to the trash. They escape and end up in a box going to Sunny Side a day care where a mob of toys runs things. They realize that Sunny Side’s not for them so they have to escape and get back to Andy, because they love him a lot. Toy Story 3.

I randomly wonder if the Toy Story trilogy created any hoarders, because if I were a child and saw these films, I’d become a hoarder—just sayin’.

The complaint that I see through many reviews is that the animation isn’t adequate. Really? “I expect more from Pixar; they set the bar so high.” Says the people that place blame on the creators for their want of more awe moments in look. What the hell? First people to complain about story not being great are these people. The same people that also state that look should come second to great story, but that flips when it’s Pixar? Really? It gets one of the highest Rotten Tomato ratings of the year and yet people have to pan it because they can’t like something totally, they have to dis it a bit. Pathetic excuse for people that claim to love movies. Ick.

Pixar (and even Disney at times) are the Sandra Bullock of the animated world. They try their best to be true to whom they are and what they know people expect out of them and give those people an experience worth their time and money. In addition, like Sandra they don’t look to dis anyone in the same area as them. They look to give fun, joy, and love in what they feel honored to do and paid for it. They make me feel good without making me feel guilty. Thank you seems so small in comparison to what they’ve given and as saccharin as this sounds; it’s true. It’s so hard to get a close to wholesome experience at a film in today’s industry and Pixar can be trusted to do just that. That’s hard work to maintain, but they do it just like Sandra does for her films. When a film comes out it’s about the film not about her private life. She works hard to promote what she helped create, because it’s more important than drama that’s drudged up. Pixar does the same thing. Their films are wholesome because they do their darnest to make them so and families appreciate that more than they probably will ever know.

I wondered how they were going to get to Sunny Side and the film sets it up perfectly. Like dominoes falling one after the other the things that go wrong have the toys end up at the day care only to want to go back home. Perfect display of story creation is taking a simple concept and squeezing an amazing adventure out of it. Many themes run through the film such as feeling unwanted, misunderstandings, bullying, jail break/escape, and then the wonderful reunited moment.

The Toy Story Gang is back sans Bo Peep and I’m not as sure as to why. Maybe there’s an interesting story in there somewhere or I missed the explanation in the film. There are so many great moments that I can’t pick one. The Ken (Michael Keaton) and Barbie (Jodi Benson) moments were so cheesy they were awesome. They were cheesy in an 80’s kind of way. Plastic perfect, if you ask me. Buzz (Tim Allen) and Jessie (Joan Cusack) connect in an adorable manner. Her infatuation with him while he’s stuck in Spanish mode had her in a Latin heat mood smoldering in ways no one thought a little cowgirl doll could. Andy and Woody (I know, I know) have a strong connection that is shown in Toy Story and takes a great turn in beginning and even bigger one in the end.

John Morris grew up with many of the viewers on Toy Story as Andy for all three movies. Random awesome factoid.

If Toy Story 3 (and I’m only reminded of the Oscars cause of what I read in someone else’s review) doesn’t dominate the Oscars it would be a travesty. It is by far the best film of the year (thus far) and I’m sure that won’t change too much this summer.

The end of Toy Story 3 takes all of Toy Story history and makes the caring moviegoer, who supported the film from the onset in 1995 until now, break down and cry for the plight of toys. How incredibly gifted a storyteller are these people? This is why the bar will remain unbreached because they not only set it high, they make it insurmountable. The tears for the toys are more for what we all miss. It’s the carefree feeling, the love for the simple and the power of imagination that is lost when we cross a certain threshold and nowadays the age gets younger and younger. When people watch Toy Story 3, not only are they a little shocked by the dark nature it takes on, they cry because of the goodbyes. They do so because they’d trade all of what they have in technology to have that mindset again. With the last scene the classic song playing, “You got a friend in me…” Toy Story 3 ends in the most amazing way possible for a film that made us all believe that toys come to life the moment our backs are turned. Pixar has given what many creators of worlds wish to give and that’s immortality engraved on the hearts of film lovers that’ll last “to infinity and beyond.”