Toy Story 3
when i first heard they were making a Toy Story 3, i was extremely worried. for a franchise that had back to back OUTSTANDING films, which is already hard enough to do, making a third is damn near impossible. not to mention, Toy Story 2 was made in 1999. it's been 11 years since that film ended. recapturing the magic seemed like an almost impossible thing to achieve.
i'm officially done doubting Pixar, Woody and Buzz. because Toy Story 3 is an absolutely, hands down amazing film on every single level. the level of triumph is dumbfounding!
from the terrific opening scene that i absolutely LOVE because it shows us what a child thinks / sees is happening with his toys. and the homage to the first two films is readily apparent from the opening scene. anyone at all familiar with the first film's opening scene will instantly enjoy and find great humor in seeing Slinky as a 'force field dog'
and Rex as the dinosaurs who eats / attacks such dogs
and with the "mind of a child" visuals, it brings what we see in "real life" in Toy Story, to epic heights in Toy Story 3.
but the film doesn't simply lie in bringing up old jokes and recreating what we've already seen. this is an entirely new, fresh, exciting, adventurous, hilarious and great adventure for the characters. i personally grew up with Toy Story, and it was a favorite as a child and even now, so seeing the third film succeed so masterfully was great and had me in tears laughing, and in tears of happiness and extreme sadness during it's almost 2 hour run time.
the story as almost everyone knows, focuses on Andy getting ready to go on to college, and the toys dealing with what's going to come next. seeing the opening scene in his bedroom where the toys kidnap Andy's cell phone to get attention paid to them tells us all we need to know. that they've been put aside as Andy lives his life. it's something every child does to their toys. and in all honesty, it made me feel extremely guilty for getting rid of my toys
as odd as that sounds.
i was shocked and kind of saddened to see
[Show spoiler]the loss of Bo Peep, Prospector among others. of course, it does make sense for some toys to be replaced sooner than others (like Mr. Spell) and with the amount of new characters we meet, it makes sense that they wouldn't get much screen time so we only see the major characters.
but it still was a shock to the system to see how far things have dwindled.
the reason Toy Story 3 succeeds so much is because it knows what it is:
the third film in the franchise.
- is there the best villain in the franchise? absolutely!
- is there more action, suspense, sadness, laughs and characters? oh yes!
- does it pay homage while still being original? of course!
i used to not like Toy Story 2 as much as Toy Story because the story was bigger, faster, larger and it took away from the small, cozy toy world that really felt real in the first film. but when i watched Toy Story 2 over and over again when i was younger, i learned to love it just as much because of how different it was from the first. the same goes for Toy Story 3. i didn't think anything could top Buzz, Woody, Jessie and Bullseye chasing a plane in TS2
but needless to say, the Pixar geniuses have in fact, topped that
another minor issue i had with Toy Story 2 was the character of Jessie. she bugged me at first, but i learned to live with her. but in Toy Story 3, i had absolutely no problems with her. maybe because i was used to her? maybe because she suddenly didn't have some wild western accent like she started with in Toy Story 2? who knows, but i now find her just as enjoyable to see on screen as the rest of the cast. although she doesn't get that many laughs, i still cared about her. and i did NOT anticipate the somewhat odd "love" story between
[Show spoiler]Jessie and Buzz. and first i was kind of 
but i didn't mind it. it just kind of came out of left field and i thought she and Woody would be together, but i guess he was with Bo Peep. but it doesn't ruin anything. nothing ruined Toy Story 3
like i said earlier, another area of success was the villain(s) this time around. i didn't really feel Toy Story 2 had a solid, main villain. first it was the toy collector, and then all of a sudden for a little bit it was the Prospector. but Toy Story 3 definitely has a villain. hell, it might be the most bad @ss villain Pixar has ever presented us with!
[Show spoiler]Lotso is a cutesy looking purple bear, but man is he cold and vicious! it was weird because i avoided all spoilers before seeing this, but right when i saw
[Show spoiler]Lotso
i just had a suspicious feeling about him
and after he
[Show spoiler]sends Buzz and company to "the Caterpillar room" where they get destroyed
i knew he was definitely trouble
additionally, his "sidekick"
[Show spoiler]Big Baby
is easily the most disturbing character i think i have ever seen in a Pixar film. sure, Sid was sadistic, but he was a kid, and i've seen a lot of kids like him. and some of the toys he created looked monstrous, but they were kind hearted toys. but
[Show spoiler]Big Baby
is just an unsettling beast. i'm pretty sure i'm gonna have nightmares about him tonight!
i mean, some of the scenes they have him (it?) in are just spooky! when
[Show spoiler]Buzz is in the vending machine and turns around and looks up at him i jumped and then later in the film when
[Show spoiler]the toys are sneaking out and Big Baby is sitting on the swing staring up at the moon?! 
that was an incredibly eerie scene. i loved it!
these two villains really brought everything to the table and really made me worried about our characters. i ultimately absolutely hated them when i should and i really was pissed when
[Show spoiler]Lotso left the gang to burn in the garbage compactor 
Squid said i would cry like a baby. and that's 100% accurate. there may have only been 4 times when i had tears:
[Show spoiler]when they all hold hands in the trash compactor
,
[Show spoiler]when the damn aliens save them with "THE CLAWWWW!" that really got me
and
[Show spoiler]when Andy reminisces about what each toy does when he gives them to Bonnie
, and then of course
[Show spoiler]when Andy gives Woody away to Bonnie and plays with his toys one last time 
but when i did have tears, not gonna lie, i bawled my eyes out. my girlfriend (who didn't want to watch it yet because she wants to watch all 3 in a row) actually came in the room and asked if i was alright because i was crying so loud and so hard
i mean, when you think about it: i was crying because
[Show spoiler]plastic toys were going to be destroyed. TOYS. plastic toys that actually don't talk.
i... i mean, if THAT gets you to cry (and i'm sure it made a lot of people cry) then Pixar has succeeded and i never thought i would cry at such a situation. hands down, a massive success by Pixar for getting such pure emotions out of situations that you would never think would register emotions
we also meet some great new characters, none that really stand out or look like they'd be a "major" player in the future (of
[Show spoiler]Bonnie's life
, if let's say they made a fourth film, which i hope they don't. i wouldn't mind it. but i loved how the 3rd film ended
) but they get laughs and are enjoyable none the less. i actually thought we were gonna meet a lot of new characters who took up screen time, but glad that wasn't necessarily the case
and then there are the big laughs
there are dozens and dozens of situations i could write here, but i'll keep it to my top few that got big laughs. no real order, just great funny moments
-
[Show spoiler]when Woody calls up Buster and we see this old as fudge dog that can barely move
this got a huge laugh from me and i remember thinking right before we saw him
[Show spoiler]is Buster still alive? that dog has to be super old
sure enough i was right.
-
[Show spoiler]the aliens STILL saying, "you saved our lives. we are eternally grateful" to Mr. Potato Head
absolutely hilarious because of how much time has passed and they're still saying it
- seeing
[Show spoiler]Rex finally with dinosaurs when they first get to Sunnyside
even though he wasn't with them long is so nice to see him with other
[Show spoiler]dinosaurs
- Hamm saying,
[Show spoiler]"i don't think those were lincoln logs" when Mr. Potato Head comes back from "the box"
- Buzz yelling
[Show spoiler]"Help! prison riot!" and then trying to use his laser to get through the plastic container he is trapped in
- when
[Show spoiler]Rex keeps grabbing aluminum cans when he has to grab something metal while in the trash heap and yells "it's not working!" just like he does in Toy Story
in the end, an instant classic and a wonderful way to end the franchise. i loved how the closing shot of
[Show spoiler]the clouds are the exact same as Andy's wallpaper in the first film and that's the first thing we see of Toy Story and the last thing before the credits. LOVE it! . it was extremely fitting. it was sad, funny, full of adventure, witty writing and a great villain. it was perfect
and let's see how well people were paying attention
anyone else catch
[Show spoiler]the cameo of Sid?
if you're wondering where he was, he was
[Show spoiler]the second garbage man we see after the toys escape the garbage heap. he's the one singing to himself and pounds on the truck. you can see it's him by his skull T-shirt
and i was even wondering just minutes before if he would make an appearance. i actually
[Show spoiler]thought he was the first guy who picks up Lotso
that would've been a good ending for him!
(even though he should have "changed"
)
highest recommendation
PQ: 5/5 - it's Pixar, duh
AQ: 5/5 - phenomenal
5/5
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), AQ: 4.5/5
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