You Got a Friend in Me

There’s not a lot of times lately where I go to a movie theater, see a movie and then immediately want to watch said movie again.  I’ll be honest, when it does happen it usually happens when the name Disney is attached to the film and even more so when the name PIXAR is there.  Tonight, I got to see a sneak preview of Toy Story 3 in IMAX 3D and I can say right now I cannot wait to see this movie again.

It’s really funny to me because the Toy Story movies were never my favorites of the Pixar stable (the top spot, for me, has always been Monsters Inc w/ Incredibles and now Up trailing close behind) but sometime last year something changed.  I think, I blame the Toy Story Double Feature they did back in October.  It’s not to say they suddenly became my all time favorites but I’ve gained a new respect for the movies.  Part of this is the technological advances, another part is the amazing character, but the heart of it is really the emotion and the phenomenal storytelling within the films.  They’re buddy comedies but they’re really so much more than that and I think the third installment really showcases that.

It’s hard right now for me not to give anything way in a review.  I want to talk to everyone about everything I saw but I’ll try to give no more away here than trailers & sneak clips have.  The story of course centers around the toys of Andy’s room as they deal with the sad but inevitable fact that Andy is 17 now and ready to head to college.  Through a series of misunderstandings they end up being donated to Sunnyside Day Care; a place that seems too good to be true (and really is).  Leading the toys of Sunnyside is Lotso Huggin’ Bear and his gang of minions.  It’s up to Woody to help bust the toys out of Sunnyside, defeat Lotso and make it back to Andy before he leaves for college.

Again, without spoilers, I can tell you that the first 10 minutes of the film are fantastic!  They’re hilarious and a great callback to the first two movies (speaking of callbacks there’s a really good one that I’m sure only nerds will get involving the fate of a character from the first film.  It makes up for the other character that gets mentioned that actually had me really upset. I’ve said too much).  Spanish!Buzz is amazing but we all knew he was going to be from the trailers.  There is also some really great fluffiness between Buzz and Jessie (but I’m a hardcore fan of them so I’m partial).  The new toys are all pretty good additions, but I still feel like there are just too many of them and most of them we don’t get to spend enough time with in order to form the bond we have with Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the others.

The film is about an hour and 45 minutes and the pacing great.  There was no one second where I was looking at my watch to see how much longer we had (I do that in every movie so not doing that is a big deal).   I heard the kids behind me get a little restless at one point but they were kind of bratty through the whole movie so they’re probably not a good indicator.

As for the story itself, it’s about growing up and moving on.  It’s about friendship and family and doing anything for those you love (even letting them go).  I don’t know how Pixar does it every time but one minute I’m laughing hysterically and the next I’m crying like a baby.  There’s one scene near the end especially where, had I not been surrounded by people I would have just lost it (I mean I cried silently but I would have been blubbering if I was alone).  The end; it was everything one could hope for and though a little bittersweet was mostly heartwarming.  The scenes after the credits went back to the funny and gave me enough time to sniffle and wipe away tears so I could go back into the real world.

So Toy Story 3 is really the perfect ending to the whole Toy Story franchise.  It’s the same amazing storytelling, the same characters we know and love and more importantly it has the same level of heart.  I know I, for one, can’t wait for it to be Friday so I can jump back in line and see it again :D