In theaters. Rated G, 109 minutes. Trailer.
The Toy Story franchise is one of the best and most successful in cinematic history. Even so, I approached the third installment with caution (even Francis Ford Coppolla fumbled the ball in Godfather 3). TS3 finds all of our favorite plastic friends navigating their future as their kid, Andy, packs up for college. Will they go with him? In the trash? To the dump? To the attic? Soon enough they end up being donated to Sunnyside, a local daycare. At first the toys are excited to be played with and to meet their new friends, but they soon learn their new home is not what it seems. Click below for more TS3:
The resident Sunnyside toys appear to be very nice and accomodating, especially their leader, a huggable pink bear named Lotso. Then our group learns the truth about their fellow toys and works to escape their childcare prison. Along the way we see Andy (the toys' owner) head to college and several touching scenes with the toys and the humans.
To some, my B+ may seem like a low grade, but this installment is the worst of the 3, with the original garnering an A and the second a B+ to A-. I found the opening 45 minutes or so to be pretty pedestrian in both writing and story structure. The film soars during their escape from Sunnyside, with the argument with Lotso over the dumpster being my favorite scene of the year. The handholding scene involving the incinerator is very moving and shows the depth of emotion that can be conveyed in animation.
For parents, prepare to cry. I teared up instantly at the shaky videocamera images of the young Andy, and also at the end as Andy heads to college. This may rise to an A- if I see it again (which I'm sure my kids will insist upon). Not to be missed, especially for kids.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Toy Story 3 - B+
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1 comment:
B+ for me as well. I pretty much agree across the board with your assessment. My biggest complaint about the opening 30 to 45 minutes wasn't so much that it was too much kid stuff, it just wasn't all that funny or exciting. However, once it got going, it was great. I'll admit the final scene between andy and the toys got me a little choked up. an excellent piece to saying goodbye to the things you've outgrown or moved beyond. My favorite of the three is number two (1 and 2 are both A's for me). Still, Pixar is the only animated film company that gets me in the theaters pretty much every time.
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