What It's About: Andy is growing up and heading to college. The toys are mistakenly donated to a daycare. Hilarity ensues.
What I Was Expecting: It's Pixar. They STILL have yet to make a bad movie 15 years running. And, as usual, the trailer made the movie look stupid, but I was not going to fall for it this time.
What I Got: For the first hour, I thought they blew it. I didn't laugh once. I thought it was too self-referential. Recycling jokes constantly from the previous Toy Story films. It doesn't work on Family Guy and it really doesn't work here. The entire opening is a rehash of the beginning of the first Toy Story. Maybe I was different as a kid, but when I was playing make believe, I varied the stories. I digress. About halfway through the movie, something just clicks. It gets a lot funnier. It's exciting. And it's as emotional as any of the Pixar films. I will admit, by the end, tears were streaming down my face. A beautiful ending to the series.
Grade: A-
Oscar Potential: I don't think it will keep up Pixar's streak of doing well outside of the Animation category, but it would be nice to see a Toy Story movie win there. The category did not exist yet for parts 1 & 2.
Five Random Thoughts:
1. It's obvious they are trying to avoid using Slink too much (previously voiced by the late Jim Varney). But whoever is doing the voice is doing a great job.
2. HEY! It's Michael Keaton! Where on earth has HE been?
3. Lottso is the worst villain in the series. And in the end, not all that necessary.
4. Wow! Did NOT recognize Whoopi Goldberg's voice in this. Such a memorable character, I don't even recall who "Stretch" was.
5. I do not see what benefit this movie would have in 3-D. Just see the 2-D version, your brain thinks it's 3-D anyway.
Trailer Park:
Mega Mind: A very funny trailer about an evil mastermind. They WISELY leave off the actual premise of the movie, thus, not giving it all away. Smart, smart move. (Note: the premise is great comedy fodder, but probably better if you don't see it coming.)
Despicable Me: A very funny trailer about an evil mastermind. (Didn't I just say this?) It looks less funny with each trailer. Here's to hoping.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: And the winner of worst movie title of the year is.... No. Let's not pick on this one. Disney will look like a genius for ditching this franchise. I thought the end of the trailer was cute. "Directed by Michael Apted". I don't think many in the Narnia crowd has seen any of the "7 Up" films. His biggest box office hit was "The World Is Not Enough", one of the worst in the Bond franchise. "Directed by Michael Apted" means nothing to this series' core audience. Or any audience for that matter. Maybe if "Gorillas in the Mist" is your favorite movie of all time.
The Smurfs: It's just a teaser trailer. Not much to see really. Thought the mash-up of the Smurfs theme with Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" was amusing.
Secretariat: Ummm. Okay. It will be hard to separate this film from "Seabiscuit".
Tangled: Hand drawn animation? How novel. Tangled is the story of Rapunzel with a twist (and not just of the hair). An amusing trailer, if a little one-note in its humor. But, I said the same thing about "The Princess and the Frog", which was terrific.
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