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So last week I saw Toy Story 3 and it was one of those rare film events, a la The Simpsons Movie, wherein I feel I have a million things to say about it. Likes and Dislikes. Questions. Answers. Theories. Blah blah blah, all that garbage. i don’t expect any of you to read this wall of text, but if you feel so inclined, I’m happy to provide it for you.
I went out, appropriately enough, to the same theater I had seen Toy Story 1 in 15 years prior. Quite a head-trip. I wouldn’t surprised if I had even sat in the same seat, knowing how predictable I am. I WASN’T excited about this movie because…
1: It’s a sequel. 2: Nothing in the trailer led me to believe it would bowl me over. 3: It’s a sequel. 4: I hated UP, and because of which Pixar is officially “on notice” with me. 5: It’s a sequel.
…And did I mention it’s a sequel? Remember, there are some people in this world who sincerely subscribe to the theory that sequels should not exist. That the general idea of what they are alone dictates how good they can be. |
Am I one of those people? Not always. But most of the time, yes.
Not to mention the fact that Toy Story 2, while certainly not a bad movie by any means, is probably what you’d refer to as an “expendable” movie. It’s good, but not good enough to warrant it’s existence. I love Toy Story 1. When I was little, I was ALL ABOUT Toy Story. I could probably recite the whole thing to you, which would be a pretty damn adorable thing for an 8 year old to do. And a damn sad thing for an adult to do, which is probably why I’ve stopped doing it. But I never could connect with Toy Story 2 quite the same way.
Factor in all this information, and you might be inclined to think I wasn’t impressed by Toy Story 3. But here’s the crazy part: I might actually rate this movie a 10/10. Not because it’s perfect, but because I grade on a curve. And if Toy Story 3 isn’t going to get a 10, no movie is. I mean, this movie is really good. Like, really genuinely really good. I couldn’t even believe it! I pride myself on being a crotchety, grumpy critic who hates everything, but It has warmed this critic’s cold and hardened heart.
Why do we distrust sequels? Is it because they have such a lousy track record? Maybe. Probably. But for me, one of the most enjoyable facets of storytelling, and film, by association, is the notion of being introduced. Introduced to the characters. Introduced to the setting. Introduced to the world. With the sequel, this cog in the machine is removed, and with it goes all the satisfaction that’s derived from it.
Anyway, as I said, the film isn’t perfect, and in fact, it’s little imperfections seem to be the same flaws that plagued Toy Story 2. The original Toy Story was a buddy movie, very much about Buzz and Woody’s relationship. It was the bread-and-butter of what made it great. Toy Story 2 came with an unenjoyable development: Buzz joins Rex and Hamm and Slinky as a side character, and his influence on the “real” storyline is negligible at best. Woody takes center stage. Does this make ANY sense? It would be like making a Beavis and Butthead movie without Beavis. This problem follows right through to Toy Story 3. FFFFFFFF me no likey!!!!
Bo Peep isn’t in Toy Story 3. In actuality, a LOT of characters from the previous 2 movies aren’t, explaining that they were all sold at a yard sale or something. I could understand wanting to distill the character count down to the bare essentials seeing as they were going to add a bunch more once the plot had progressed to the daycare center, but it seemed SUPER AWKWARD to me that Bo would get the ax. Could they not secure her voice actress? She DEFINITELY struck me as “important enough”. Sure, she didn’t say jack-shit in Toy Story 2, but she was Woody’s damn love interest in Toy Story 1! SO WEIRD.
I have another minor gripe about how the movie was scored musically, and yet another about how the character Lotso was an all-too-obvious rehash of the character Stinky Pete from the preceding film, but they almost seem like moot points. The film is great. Easily the best sequel ever. It almost seems like it actually might even contain more references to Toy Story 1, trying to distance itself from Toy Story 2, as if to pretend that film didn’t exist. In short, the “true” sequel to the original Toy Story, and the one it truly deserves.
I’ll try to keep this out of spoiler territory, but the climactic scene from this movie is so crazy I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It made the whole film amazing retroactively. It is genuinely intense. In a nutshell, this was my face….
And then I was like….
and THEN I was like….
…So yeah, go see it. I mean, it’s got talking toys and sh*t! I mean, what the f*ck! Toys don’t talk!!!! Friggin WACKY.
POSTSCRIPT: Ken was a total riot and I would pay to see a movie starring just him and Barbie cause that would be brilliant.
YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK…
