Toy Story 3 [Review]

I feel like everyone already knew Toy Story 3 was gonna be an excellent movie.  So I'm not really gonna waste space going on and on about that.  Instead I'll write about the moment I realized this movie was a modern classic.

Like any other Disney/Pixar film, Toy Story 3 had plenty of cute jokes, awesome animation, and subtle adult humor.  And like the previous Toy Story films, there's a certain sense of nostalgia when you see the toys come to life.  So that were to be expected.  What I DIDN'T expect was the emotional roller coaster that came with around 20 minutes or so left in the film.  (Spoilers coming.)

There's a scene where the toys are on a conveyor belt about to be dumped into a huge ball of flames en route to the city dump.  Scenes like these usually bother me because it presents a false sense of danger.  Most movies (I'd wager and say 95% or more) choose not to kill their main characters at the end, so there's no real reason to be afraid for them.  Toy Story took a different approach, however.  Rather than try and throw the impending doom in our face, that used the characters and their emotions to get us to believe in the danger.  For about 4-5 minutes, you really believed the Toys wouldn't make it out alive (so to speak).  You were actually kind of scared for them.  Of course, they were saved with seconds to spare, and in the back of my mind I expected that anyway.  But those few minutes of fear and danger are rarely captured in movies these days.

Then there's the closing scene where Andy gives his toys to Bonnie.  I'm no punk or anything, but I'm not above (almost) crying in a movie; and Toy Story 3 did a better job at tugging on my emotions than any of those overblown, pseudo dramas out there today.  It was extremely well written and I couldn't imagine the franchise closing any other way.

Disney/Pixar had years to perfect the animation and the comedic timing, which they did with ease.  (Spanish Buzz Lightyear was hilarious).  But the fact that they were able to inject so much true emotion into what most will perceive as a "children's movie" is the most impressive aspect of all.  For that reason alone I'd recommend this movie to anyone, young and old.