Toy Story 3
In keeping with my recent promise to myself of posting whatever reviews or comments I had about movies that I have recently seen in a more timely fashion, here we go. Just last night my lovely wife and I went to see the most recent (and perhaps last) ?episode in the Toy Story saga. The movie, by Pixar and Disney, lived up the expectations of the name and indeed probably gave us story on par or perhaps slightly better than the original. Given that I saw the 3-D version of the flick, I was even more impressed with the animation of the third installment.
First, a minor gripe. I would have possibly considered the 3-D version anyway, but I was a little bit disappointed when I looked up the show times and there no indication of it being a 3-D viewing. When we arrived at the theatre it was see the 3-D version at the time we planned or wait forty-five minutes to see the regular version. All of this would be a moot point, excepting the 3-D version now cost almost half again what a regular showing cost. In the end, I grudgingly paid the additional amount and once the movie had started I was glad to have done so. 3-D truly made the animation that much more spectacular and if you have seen a Pixar animation you know how awesome and spectacular that can be.
On to the movie content and count this as warning. I will try not to spoil it, but reading further and I may – though I would not want to do that on purpose as I do think it is extremely well worth seeing. That being said, the story itself is very good, even if a bit predictable at times (I suppose with the dual aim of adults and children that predictability is hard to escape). The story picks up just as Andy is getting ready to head off to his first year of college…
Still several days from actually leaving, the toy gang has long been feeling a bit of neglect from Andy as he has gotten older. As the discussions unfold there is doubt about the attic versus just the trash. Andy ultimately decides all but Woody will go in the attic and Woody, well he is college bound. But in a mix up that would do Comedy of Errors proud the toys end up on the curb, less Andy, and the garbage truck is coming. After some heroics they end up at Sunnyside Daycare.
At first it seems like the toys have a winning situation and they remain unconvinced of the Woody’s version of the happenings. Woody heads out trying to get back to Andy and the rest stay. Shortly they learn Sunnyside is less than sunny though and that a lot of toys end up destroyed by aggressive underage play, made all the worse by a care-bear type very much running the place as an almost mafia boss type.
This sets the story for lots of action to come and of course several final show downs in the end. Without ruining the end, lets just say tha that the toys end up getting a good play session with Andy and the story is left just open enough for a follow-up, but clearly is also set for the end of the franchise, especially as has been known in the past.
