"The Toys Are In A Different Town." The "Toy Story 3" Review

It's been an interesting day today. I got yelled at by an old woman to stop at a four way intersection right after I stopped. I saw my cousin and his wife (and two kids) at the store while carrying a 24 case of Dr Pepper. Sadly, I couldn't stay too long, and anyone who knows him knows what a good guy he is. I took an hour and a half walk because my neighbors are still trying to kick me out of my apartment by blasting their TV so loud that I can tell you what channel they're watching over my loud (yet soothing) air conditioner. But, the true highlight of the day was watching a movie (as I do on some Tuesdays). What made this movie special was the fact that I watched the other two parts back when I was a kid, and they stuck with me for this long. In fact, I went into this feeling a little nervous that it would ruin the first two movies (much like God of War III did the first two games). Its only natural to hope that your favorite characters don't change too much, or worse, ruined, after ten or so years.

And while I may not be a fan of some of Pixar's works (I still, to this day, refuse to watch Cars and Wall-E), I have to say this with a sense of nostalgia, joy, and, Heaven help me, sadness: Toy Story 3 is truly a classic. Why is this sad?

Remember the day when you were a teenager, and you realized that all the toys you played with, all the fun you had when you were a kids is gone, never to come back? It makes you happy to look back at, but for that moment, the joy is intertwined with a sharp pang of loss. That loss is growing up, and realizing that you want to stay a kid forever, but also realizing that you have to move on. You may have teared up a bit, or bawled like a baby, or done nothing at all except suck it up and move on. That's what Toy Story 3 does.

I have some minor gripes with it, though. The first is the biggest, even though it only lasts for five seconds. Toy Story 3 is a family movie, I think we can all agree on this. For the love of God, and all that is holy, stop putting political views into movies that aren't political. At one point, a character says to another, "Leadership should be chosen by a general consensus, not by brute force." While it isn't blatantly obvious as to what is being referred, this is a family movie: children won't get, and adults won't appreciate any "hidden messages" that may (not necessarily are) inferred from this one line, or any line like it. That line could have been, "We choose are leaders, they aren't chosen for us!" or something like that. See? Points made without being tangled up as propaganda. I had a discussion with the person I saw this with about this line alone. She thought, at first, that I took offense to it because I thought it was a backhand about the Iraq War. I can see why she would have assumed this, what with me being a soldier. If it was or wasn't, I don't really care. I'm tired of politics being introduced in places where it shouldn't be, i.e. family movies or, even punk rock music. Remind me why Green Day, a band that was initially an anarchist punk band is now the mouth of liberal media? But that's a rant for another day.

The other small gripes I had were that it was too sporadic and spontaneous at points (seriously... what was with Ken?), and at least on of the toys being down right scary looking. I mean, seriously, Big Baby and Mr. Tortilla Head were disturbing. Oh, and the joke with Barbie saying "Nice... ascot," very slowly was completely unnecessary. Also the same with some of the "gay" jokes that were thrown is pretty subtly.

Now, for the good stuff. There's a lot of it, so I'm only going to really go into the extremely good points. For starters, the story was excellent. It starts off with a high note (I swear, Alexis and I are going to repeat "Evil Dr. Porkchop" jokes), and ends with one of the most heart string tugging endings that I have ever seen since the end of Pan's Labyrinth. I won't spoil everything for you, right before the middle of the movie, a scene happens that shows how the movie is going to end, and you can't help but make adults chuckle out of the sheer innocence of a child's play time. It reminded me of when I was a kid, and also of when a certain child started to rub my head while telling me about the "shampoo" he was washing my head with. Contrast wise, there is a scene towards the end that will have you on the edge of your seat with true feeling of dread and sorrow of possibly losing a part of one's childhood. Seriously, watching this scene made me feel like I was watching some old friends die (mainly because some of my childhood was playing with a Buzz Lightyear toy), and the pay off is well worth it. You'll get a laugh, but it will be more of a laugh of relief than of humor.

I'm hard pressed to think of any plot point that was just used as filler. The one that I thought was going to be a one time joke, becomes something extremely important towards the over all story. Seeing Buzz Lightyear in Spanish mode was interesting, but I still want to know why he was doing Zoidberg's mating dance. Visually, this is one of the most enchanting movies I have seen done in CGI. There's a scene with Big Baby that strikes fear into your heart, but at the same time, makes you feel sorry for him. There are also scenes where the loyalty of the toys' friendships are put to the test, and the results are well worth the watch.

Again, I don't want to get too detailed with this, because this is a movie that you should go see for yourself. If you have kids, watch it with them. If you don't have kids, watch it with some on you love. Or with friends. Or even alone. Whatever you do, don't let this beautiful animated masterpiece go by because you don't think it'll live up to it predecessors. It does, and more.

I give it 5 and 1/2 out of 6 Boot-Dwelling Snakes.