johnlinkmovies

Having not seen the third installment yet, I started rewatching the TOY STORY flicks in the first part of the year. Didn’t think it would take me until Christmas to see the third one, but sometimes that is how these things go. Hey, at least I got them all in in 2011! Some SPOILERS below.

I watched TOY STORY 3 (2010) on 12.25.11. It was my first viewing of the film.

Much of this film is derivative of the other installments. This is not to suggest that it is not amazingly fun, or perfectly crafted. However, we get the now familiar beats of an early play session, eventually we get Woody being alienated from the other toys, and we get a grand adventure sequence in the final act. TOY STORY the first happens on the road as a moving truck is chased. TOY STORY 2 finds the toys escaping an airport. This third edition ends in a dump, with the toys potentially being incinerated.

The intrigue with which a daycare is handled works very well. The Ken-Barbie relationship is exploited to perfection. Spanish Buzz earns a good laugh. A moment with Mr. Potato Head having to use a tortilla to hold his features together is classic Pixar fare. The beats in this movie all work, are all solid.

All of this is fun, jovial, entertaining stuff. Then the last scene happens.

The last scene of this TOY STORY 3 involves Andy, now heading off to college, deciding what to do with his toys. It is a testament to the story Pixar has spun over the last decade and a half that this final scene of the trilogy is so heart-wrenching and satisfactory. I can’t remember the last time an animated kids movie had me feeling so emotional (and I think it had a lot more to do with the content than the flu I was fighting).

The rest of this movie is good, though perhaps not on par with the sheer greatness of the second film. But I ultimately found myself finding this as easily entertaining as the other two. The bar had been set extraordinarily high, and until the final scene, TOY STORY 3 struggle to quite reach it. But that last scene, in to me was one of the great last scenes of any trilogy, puts this right there with the others.

SCORES

FILM: 8; MOVIE: 8; EFFECT: 7; WRITING: 8; BONUS: 1

Not to harp on it, but the wrap up of this trilogy was so rewarding as to earn a bonus point.

8+8+7+8+1=32

FINAL SCORE: 8

Making the three films look like this:

TOY STORY 1:    8.10.9.8.1 FINAL:9

TOY STORY 2:   8.9.7.9.0  FINAL: 8.25

TOY STORY 3:    8.8.7.8.1  FINAL: 8

~ by johnlink00 on December 27, 2011.

Posted in johnlink favorite flicks, ~ T ~, ~~~ 2010 ~~~
Tags: animated