Toy Story 3 is getting five star reviews across the board. Up until a few days ago, it had a 100% over at Rotten Tomatoes. I have to admit to feeling a bit cynical when I say down to watch it, I figured maybe the critics had been overly fawning over it as they did the previous movies(which I loved, but always thought they were just a BIT over rated). Anyway, any cynicism vanished as soon as I transported back into the world of Buzz, Woody etc.
Plot wise, the third film actually sticks to the fairly well worn theme of the previous ones. Toys in peril, need rescuing..and there's even the old seemingly nice toy that turns out to be a bastard shtick. But its a minor complaint because of how well the story is told. Andy is 17 now and getting ready to head off for college. His toys are worried about what will happen to them when he goes. Will they be placed in the attic, sent off to the day care center, or even end up in the trash? Turns out Andy plans to put em in the attic, but a mix up sees the bag placed outside for the dreaded jaws of the dump truck. The toys manage to escape and find themselves instead off to the day care , which for most of them seems like a dream come true but Woody is determined to get back to Andy. He leaves his friends and sets off to do so, but when it turns out that the day care and its resident toy leader Lotso the bear hide a sinister secret, he has to return to break his pals out.
Once again, the animation and voice acting are as impeccable as ever. Like the best animations, you forget that your listening to Tom Hanks, Tim Allen etc and completely believe its just Woody and Buzz there talking on the screen. All the old gang are as effective as ever, with Mr Potato Head and Hamm the piggy bank getting the best lines. Out of the many new characters, Lotso(Ned Beatty) makes a great miserable git villain, despite looking as cuddly as a care bear. His right hand man, Big Baby is also creepy and sad at the same time, and Ken Doll(voiced Michael Keaton) is a riot. The secret to making a successful "kids" movie has always been the right balance to keep the parents entertained while making the kids stare in wonder..well this movie succeeds in keeping all parties gazing in awe. It basically plays out like a prison break comedy, and its both hilarious and tense..boy is it tense! I mean as adults, we know that everything is going to be ok but it still manages to keep you on edge, something that more "grown up" fare like
The A-Team for example failed so miserably at for me. One scene in particular actually takes not only
Toy Story, but Pixar/Disney films in general to a darker place that I have ever seen any go before. In fact I recommend keeping an eye on the little uns as they watch ..don't worry, you'll know it when it happens. But of course, its mostly about the funny. 2 scenes in particular had me in stitches. A fashion show by Ken and when Buzz is accidentally switched to Spanish mode. But there are plenty of giggles, chuckles and guffaws besides.
This film breaks the rule of disappointing third chapters by not only being as good as its predecessors, but better. With Pixar doing such fantastic work, I really hope that they do decide to take it up to a slightly more adult notch, and use some Marvel characters for future movies. But then again, maybe the reason these films work so well is that they are aimed at the kids. The story brings us all back to a more innocent time in our lives. But that being said, at the end of the day this is also a sweet, at times melancholy story of loss, acceptance of growing up/older and ultimately friendship all seen through the eyes of a bunch of cartoon lumps of plastic. And to think this film has actually had people welling up! HA! *ahem*, ridiculous!:)
This is only the second film since I began reviewing on here that I have given the full 5 stars. The other being
The Road, which didn't feature on the main page as it wasn't CBM related. Anyway, 5 stars doesn't mean perfect, nothing is perfect, it just means that its an outstanding, hard to fault example of its genre, and
Toy Story 3 most certainly is that, In fact I would say its the DADDY of animated movies(yeah I know, happy fathers day!) go see it!
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