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Toy Story 3 - Grading, Reviews, Discussion (SPOILERS)

Grade the movie


  • Total voters
    66
"Lotso" Bear was well-voiced but didn't have enough motivation to try to keep the toys at the center. The children wouldn't have been devastated at losing some toys after one day.

Wow, you think so? He had the same motivation as Anikan Skywalker, Lex Luthor, or Hitler.

How much more did you need?
 
I thought it was OK. Way to dark for a Pixar movie though. I loved the ending.
 
"Lotso" Bear was well-voiced but didn't have enough motivation to try to keep the toys at the center. The children wouldn't have been devastated at losing some toys after one day.
That wasn't why he was keeping them there; he was keeping them there because somebody has to be fodder for the little kids, and if not them, then it's someone else.
 
"Lotso" Bear was well-voiced but didn't have enough motivation to try to keep the toys at the center. The children wouldn't have been devastated at losing some toys after one day.
That wasn't why he was keeping them there; he was keeping them there because somebody has to be fodder for the little kids, and if not them, then it's someone else.

But the room already had a lot of toys so that Andy's wouldn't be missed. Granted, some leaving could lead to more going (similar to what Hopper explicitly worried about in A Bug's Life) but his tactics and the others' going along with him in them felt pretty excessive given that situation.
 
But the room already had a lot of toys so that Andy's wouldn't be missed. Granted, some leaving could lead to more going (similar to what Hopper explicitly worried about in A Bug's Life) but his tactics and the others' going along with him in them felt pretty excessive given that situation.

That's just it, let some toys escape and they all will leave. Without an iron fist any toys consigned to the caterpillar room will leave. Lotso has it down to a science and isn't about to show any weakness.
 
Toy Story 3 lands at #11 in the IMDB's top 250, the ninth of Pixar's eleven films to make the list (A Bug's Life and Cars being absent). Standard new movie depreciation should knock it down the list a ways over time (the highest-ranked Pixar film, incidentally, is WALL-E at #47), but I wouldn't be surprised if it finds a regular berth in the top 50, certainly in the top 100.
 
The movie took awhile to get going, but in the end, I was very satisfied. I didn't think it really came to life until it became clear that it was going to go the 'prison movie' direction once they got to the daycare. Before that, I was a little uncomfortable as I found it a bit meandering and was rather dismayed my Woody's constant whining at the other toys.

I love some of the big comedic set pieces, like Potato Head becoming a tortilla, Ken's fashion show, and Spanish Buzz. I think my favourite thing about the movie was the new kid, Bonnie. I loved her imaginative playing...the person I saw the movie with said he saw how she would figure into the ending a mile away, but I didn't, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I think the movie was a bit too dark in places, and like I said, took a bit of time to get going, but the creativity, charm, originality, and fun put into those set pieces and the new characters (toys and human) were enough for me to find the movie exhilarating despite its flaws. Did anyone else think it was weird looking at Lotso and seeing that such a cute-looking character could be such an asshole? :lol: Quite the change from the usual Disney tradition of a character being really dark and ugly-looking (with the exception of Gaston). I also thought the ending was moving and a perfect way to wrap up the journey of these characters that began in the original "Toy Story".

I have not been satisfied with a Pixar movie in a long time. I did not like "Finding Nemo", "The Incredibles", or "Ratatouille" and only enjoyed a few parts of "Wall E" (mostly at the beginning, before he goes into space). I haven't seen "Cars" or "Up". I think "Monsters Inc." is way underrated around here. It's my second favourite Pixar movie after "Toy Story 2" and it was the last one I thought worked from start to finish, being very entertaining, clever, and touching all at the same time. It's nice to feel good about an entire Pixar movie again. Finally, their losing streak with me is over. :D
 
...I found it a bit meandering and was rather dismayed my Woody's constant whining at the other toys.

Isn't this pretty much the only thing he's done in the other two movies? ;)

I mean, Woddy is supposed to be this awesome hero-cowboy character but in practice, he's kind-of a bitch. ;)
 
Argh. Shouldn't have read this thread. I'm stupidly excited for this film already, and we're not getting it for weeks yet.
 
TS3 is easily the best movie this year so far, and I give it a full five stars. It has great humor, action, and pathos. I am one of those who was moved to tears by the ending.

Being on a sci-fi board, I'm sure that many of you can appreciate the similarities of the ending to "Sleeping in Light" in its effect on people.
 
Toy Story 3

Rated: G

My Grade: A+

-------------------------------------------------------

The Toy Story franchise launched an animated-movie empire in Pixar that's taken over as the summer animated-movie must-see. Granted, Pixar was owned by Disney but for years they did what Disney's traditional animation seemed to not be able to do: make captivating animated movies that captured the minds and imaginations of all ages. Over the last 15 year or so Pixar has brought us very interesting characters and has shown great reluctance at doing sequel, Toy Story 2 being an exception and this year we revisit the Toy Story characters in their final adventure and we're show how powerful this movie series is and can be. This movie is an emotional rollercoaster.

The other two Toy Story movies were emotional and deep in their own rights but TS3 goes deeper and will tug at your emotions.

The movie takes place, presumably, ten years after the events of Toy Story 2, Andy's Toys have long-sense been stuffed in a toychest in his room and mostly forgotten, the toys are desperate to be played with enough to the point of stealing Andy's cellphone, hiding it in the toybox and hoping it'll prompt Andy to play with them when he discovers it there. Seventeen-year-old Andy is leaving for college soon and is being harassed by his mom to collect his toys and either donate them to a local daycare center or store them in the attic. Due to a series of contrived mixups and misunderstandings all of Andy's toys end up being sent to a local daycare center save for Woody who ends up in the hands of a young girl who attends the center. At first Andy's toys are glad to be in the daycare center where they'll be played with again until they discover that new toys are stuck in the toddlers' room where they'll be tortured and abused, the strong ones that survive will eventually be welcomed into the room for the older kids. They toys in the daycare center are ruled by Lotso who treats the other toys like they're prisoners and even "reprograms" Buzz back to his start-up persona and uses him as a guard to keep Andy's toys in check. Woody finds his way back to the other toys who're soon convinced they were sent to they daycare by mistake and that Andy intended to store them in the attic so they decide to stage a prison break at the center that'll require A-Teamian ingenuity to outwit Lotso and his cronies.

If there's any problem this movie has it's that it's a bit ambitious in what it asks us to 'believe' when it comes to what these toys do and everything that happens to them, and how much distance they travel, over the course of a couple of days (oh, and apparently Andy's neighborhood's garbage is picked up twice a week.) But that's where Suspension of Disbelief comes in, the movie carries similar themes as the second one regarding the emotions toys go through when it comes to being played with and being separated from "their child" but it really does tug at you. You'll sit there afterwards feeling sorry for your own lost or forgotten toys. Wonderful, powerful, heartfelt movie. I've really little else to say but that, Pixar seems to be unable to make a bad movie.
 
This has to be the most satisfying movie I've seen in a really long time, and I feel like it was definitely made for people my age who saw the first movie when they were very young (I was 10 when the first one came out). This is not a movie for today's kids. This is a movie for kids from 15 years ago.

It was heartbreaking and realistic. My favorite scene was when Mrs. Potato Head "found" her missing eye and was able to see Andy looking for the bag of toys. He was angry, and his mom was so upset with herself knowing that she threw the toys away. He may be 17 and pretend he doesn't care about his toys anymore, but when they suddenly go missing, you bet your ass he cares! I know I would.

I spent the entire ending trying so hard not to cry, but I ultimately failed. I couldn't believe how moved I was watching Andy play with his toys one last time. This was the perfect way to end the Toy Story saga, and it was well worth the wait.
 
My mom was upset that Andy gave away his toys, including Woody and Buzz, she was hoping he'd store them and play with them with his own kids sometime in the future. I told him it seemed more meaningful that he played with them one last time and donated them to the neighbor girl, who loved them and would play with them right away, she also seemed to have the same wild imagination Andy did. :) The "life cycle" of being a toy continuing. The landfill incinerator scene was pretty dark and deep with the toys hold eachother's hands in "anticpation" of going into the fire pit.
 
Absolutely LOVED the movie... but I think I'd still rank it a notch below the first two. For some reason the day care idea just didn't grab me or feel as inspired as I was hoping (perhaps because, no matter how much the movie tried, it never felt like much of a threat).

But of course the Great Escape from the day care comes close to making it all feel worth it. I'm not sure what had me rolling on the floor more, the battle with the monkey in the control room, or the hillarious, absolutely absurd sight of Mr Potato Head flopping around as a tortilla. :D
 
I am convinced Pixar is the best Studio ever. Heck, I'm so convinced, I think I need to see Monster's Inc (My least favorite Pixar film) again just to see if I missed judged it at the time.
I don't think you misjudged it. It's my least favorite as well. Visually it's swell, but the writing just wasn't up to par IMO.

I enjoyed it at the time, but for some reason it doesn't work as well for me anymore. It feels too much like one of those frantic, zany Dreamworks Animation movies now (and I caught some of A Bug's Life on TV recently, and it struck me the same way).

I much prefer the more relaxed, sophisticated stuff they're doing now.
 
I give it an Excellent.

It is at least as good as the previous two.

Some speculation:

Do you think that computers are sentient too in this 'verse, (the hardware that is, not the software) and thus be able to turn themselves off?

(It would be strange to Bonnie's mother if she discovered the computer turned on when she was sure that she turned it off the night before, when the toys had left it on.)

Or maybe they could write a batch file such that the computer would shut down after a length of time if it was turned on after midnight but before sunrise?
 
Five years ago I would've been interested but at this point I think I'm done with Pixar. Last film of theirs I tried to watch was Wall E. and I got bored of that halfway through.
 
This is unquestionably the best movie with a triceratops computer nerd.

15 years ago I would have got her toy for sure. Triceratops being my favourite dinosaur as a kid and being, you might imagine, something of a computer nerd myself (I got my first PC the same year Toy Story premiered, point of fact).

I had all the Toy Story toys, really, and it was very touchingly nostalgic more or less to watch this film (a nice touch, including a lot of little things the original Buzz and Woody Lightyear toys actually did.)

The only criticism of the movie really is the toy's relationships have plateaued and are pretty static; so all the drama had to come externally by forcing them into this or that situation. Even so, it was vibrant and focused enough of a film to not have run out of steam. If there is a little bit of third movie fatigue; it's still a very appropriate sendoff for a gang I quite literally grew up with.

To have Andy grow up and be leaving now really was the one inspired idea this film had (in animation, kids tend to be ageless - Bart's been ten years old since I was three) and they milked quite a bit of earned dramatic weight from it.

Also, Ken stole the show. They really did a number on that poor bastard. The treatment of Ken and Barbie here is exactly the sort of somewhat scathing satire of Barbie you'd expect to get if they couldn't get the rights to the toy's names... so that was rather refreshing.

Do you think that computers are sentient too in this 'verse, (the hardware that is, not the software) and thus be able to turn themselves off?
I don't. If they were, we'd have seen some response from the computer when the toys were playing with it.
 
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