Toy Story 3 (2010)

Like people who don’t like dogs, people who do not like the Toy Story movies are not to be trusted.  Chances are quite good that they’re dead inside, had a terribly unimaginative childhood, don’t know who Calvin & Hobbes are, hate fun, take themselves too seriously and should probably be sequestered on an island far away from people.  On this island would be man-eating tigers.  PROBLEM SOLVED.  However, I will admit to a bit of trepidation when Toy Story 3 was announced to be in production.  I had already endured Cars and was worried that this would be a soulless merchandising shillstravaganza.

Thankfully (no matter what Armond White says) it was a masterpiece.  There.  Review’s over, five stars, perfect movie.  Best Trilogy of All Time.  That’s the easy way to write this review, and I wish I could just leave it at that instead of talking about how I was glassy-eyed and trying not to cry during several scenes.  Believe me, this is an emotionally devastating movie, and I cannot imagine seeing it through the eyes of a child because how could I do that, that’s weird!  I mean, as a kid, 17 years old is a lifetime away.  You say you’ll never give up your toys or whatever, but you grow up, and sometimes you leave things behind.  Some things might stick around far longer than should be healthy for your image though I’m a Pokemon Master.

It’s not just that the wonderful storytelling, the gorgeous animation, the perfect voice casting/acting, etc. that makes the Toy Story Trilogy the Best Trilogy of All Time.  It’s the attention to detail, the little things, like Ken (Michael Keaton) mispronouncing “library” as “lie-berry”.  The Star Wars references that correlate to the Original Trilogy so brilliantly and not in a pandering nerd way.  There’s a sequence in this movie where the toys are in an impossible situation, and the way they accepted it and were prepared to stick together to the end, well if the movie would have ended that way, it would have been dark, but I’d still have loved it.  A bit more bittersweetly, though.

In a way, I hope the Pixar people leave it like this, and don’t go ahead and make a Toy Story 4.  However, if they do, the first Trilogy will have to be called something related to Andy.  Andy’s Years.  Andy’s Trilogy.  Something like that, because sometimes we’ve got to let things go.

5 / 5