Toy Story 3 (2010)

(Director) Lee Unkrich
(Producer) John Lasseter
(Distributor) Walt Disney Pictures & Pixar Animation

*You don't have to read this first paragraph if you don't want to. It's simply a blurt about my previous thoughts on the production of this picture.

*I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't an ominous, dark cloud of bitter bias hovering over me as I waited for the picture to begin. The years of following this movie have been a bittersweet experience that I believe a lot of fans can relate to. Though I have to defend myself by saying it's with good reason that the idea of this movie made me feel unsettled; the film has had an extremely bumpy road paved for it. The idea began after the immense success of "Toy Story 2", they obviously wanted to cash in on another sequel and complete it as a trilogy. Problem being this was during the fiasco of Pixar vs Disney, when Pixar was refusing to even work for the company anymore. After the companies went their separate ways Disney decided to, surprisingly, continue with production of the sequel. This outraged millions of fans everywhere and heavily backed petitions began to arise (some of which I signed). Eventually due to pressure and maybe a lack of confidence, Disney shelved the project entirely and we thought that would be the last breath of it. That was until Disney bought Pixar; the film was almost instantly brought back into works. During the process it went through a lot of rewrites (even the actors didn't like some of the original ideas) and a lot of struggling. Here we are now though, June 2010 and the film is finally seeing the light of day. Regardless of my questionable past with the making of this movie I promised myself to watch it with unbiased eyes and to review it with the same frame of mind.

With that being said...I'm glad this movie was able to overcome production hell because I feel like it was the most mature, entertaining and heartfelt film of the trilogy.

Toy Story 3 is one of those rare cases (the best example I can think of is Terminator II) where a movie captures you immediately during the opening credits and doesn't let you go until the very end. The story takes place several years after it's predecessor; Andy is now seventeen years old and is heading off for college. During his packing process the toys are mistaken for donation and sent off to a daycare center named "Sunnyside." Starting off, I have to say that a pretty remarkable job was done with Andy's character. While they added in the slight teenage irritability you could still see the original Andy shining through. His character gets a lot more screen time than the first two films and rightly so considering he's pretty much one of the main characters in the plot. Pixar didn't forget that this movie was about a BOY and his toys; not just the toys themselves. I felt like the emphasis on this aspect of the story was very appropriate for this movie considering its final scene.

A good handful of familiar toys are back this time around and while a good handful are also missing (reasons why are explained very early on in the movie and it's actually darker than what some people may be expecting) it doesn't take away from the chemistry between the characters we are left with. That is one thing that really struck me throughout this film; nothing felt missing. The entire movie feels so seamless, well put together and creatively thought out that nothing really feels out of place. You don't get this sense of "Well Toy Story wasn't like that." or "Toy Story 2 had THIS in it." You almost completely forget that the characters on screen are living up to movies that came before it. Instead you just get this feeling of happiness and nostalgia that grows more and more throughout. As I stated before, the characters interact really well and all their personalities are true to themselves. There's also a very large cast of new characters, some of which are very creative. A very small complaint (which isn't even a complaint, more like a wish) is that it would have been nice to have gotten the time to see more development in the newly introduced characters. Some of them you became quite interested in and they didn't get as much screen time as our returning heroes. But again, this doesn't take away from the movie at all. It simply makes you yearn for more instead of feel frustrated or like something is missing.

The story itself is pretty cookie cutter but it's also meant to be. The creators themselves said that it's based off old prison break movies and that they actually watched TONS of these movies before making Toy Story 3 in order to get a similar feel. I have to say, they hit the nail on the head a times. You can feel the intensity and danger quite realistically during a lot of the scenes. The entire movie is very action packed but there's also your touching moments, like any Pixar/Toy Story movie. Basically, you can kind of expect what to get when you walk into the theater but you'll be pleasantly surprised at how fresh they were able to make it and how involved you become. On that note, there is an aspect of this movie that they added in that caught me by surprise; thriller/horror/creepiness. There's a few scenes that might honestly scare the living heck out of your kids because they even slightly terrified my wife and I. I'm not going to go into detail because I don't believe in spoilers but just be forewarned, kids under six or so might be a little freaked out but in the end, the action and humor will most likely make them forget about the horrors pretty quickly. On top of this the comedy aspect was spot on. I've never laughed this much at any Pixar movie before and it's truthfully one of the funniest comedies I've ever seen. The jokes are spot on, the gags are timeless and overall the laughs feel very genuine.

Something that might also catch people by surprise are the graphics. You can't tell from the trailers but the CGI in Toy Story 3 is THE best Pixar has ever produced, hands down. From textures, to lighting, to movement to little details this movie was absolute eye candy. It felt like it had the impact the first movie did, when all this technology was new and people were watching something that had never been done before. That's pretty much how I felt while examining the graphical details of this film. Everything looked so real and in this universe but at the same time had that symbolic Pixar/Toy Story look to it. I also saw this movie in 3D and I have to say, it's not worth it. It wasn't even filmed in 3D but that was the only version of the film available in my area. So please, if you can, just see the movie in its normal rendition. Trust me, you're not missing out on a thing.

Complaints? There's minor inconsistencies and honestly, I can only think of one off the top of my head at this moment. Other than that, nothing. I don't feel like the movie slowed down or dumbed down or even jumped the shark at any point. You may find the emotional scenes pretty cheesy or cringe worthy depending on who you are but I didn't feel that way. The movie was near perfect and that's that.

Overall, Toy Story 3 caught me heavily by surprise. I laughed so hard and I also nearly cried several times. I became deeply involved with the story, the characters and the tremendous amount of warmth the movie had to offer. I felt like I was a kid again. The movie had a very strange affect, like you were back in the 90s, sitting in a theater and watching the original Toy Story. Like no actual time had passed between then and now and you were just...there. Toy Story 3 has something everybody can enjoy and a feeling of happiness that everyone can walk away with.