Good job on "Toy Story 3", Pixar.

So me and a handful of my friends went to see Toy Story 3 on Friday. I should preface this with the fact that when I heard about Toy Story 3, I was kind of annoyed with Pixar about it. I didn't see why a third Toy Story was needed, especially this long after the first two, when Pixar was putting out so many other wonderful films. It was frustrating for me, since I'm not a fan of animated sequels, and especally part three's, since they are notorious for being terrible.



But, guys, this time I was wrong.

Toy Story 3 was not only entertaining and funny, but heartwarming. This was a movie made for all of the kids who had grown up watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2. For all the kids who had been eight or nine or ten when Toy Stoy came out and are now in their twenties. For us, who may have forgotten the things we loved as a kid. It was nostalgic, and sweet, and I commend Pixar on carrying this franchise gracefully from part one to part three.

One really fun thing about going to see a Pixar film is the animated short shown before each feature. Some of my favorite things to come from Pixar are their animated shorts. I recently found a DVD full of these and plan to buy it in the near future but that is a blog post for another day. Back to the tpoic at hand.

The short shown before Toy Story 3 was called "Day & Night", and it blew me completely out of the water.



"Day & Night" blended 3D CGI animation with tradtional 2D style animation for a product that just stopped me dead in my tracks. Watching these two characters bounce back and forth, originally disliking each other and trying to claim superiority to learning to accept each other and enjoy what made them different. It was absolutely stunning.

As I mentioned, I originally met this film with a lot of hostility. After I began seeing trailers and was given a good idea of the plot I was a lot more recpetive to Toy Story 3, but I kept a heavy dose of skepticism about the whole thing. It looked good, but I wasn't ready to get myself over-excited just to be let down with the final product.



But Toy Story 3 met my challenge head on and did not disappoint. It held up to the quality of humor, story, and emotion that we have come to expect from Pixar. Some of the funniest moments, as usual came from Mr. Potato Head. I'm fairly certain "GET THE TORTILLA!" will be my social circle's rallying cry for years to come.

Surprisingly this movie also had it's fair share of nightmare fuel, present in "Big Baby" and "The Monkey". More so in the monkey, since we all screamed any time that thing showed up. That thing was completely horrifying, and all of us are likely to have nightmares about it for the rest of our lives. Ironically, I've never felt more like a little kid than I did during some of the scarier parts of this movie. And yes, there are some really terrifying moments in Toy Story 3. Now I'm not saying this isn't a kids movie. It clearly is. If you've got kids, show them the first two and then take them to this. They will love it. But expect some screams of terror, not just from them but also from yourself.

All of the plot twists in this movie are, really, incredibly obvious. Looking back on them, it's really easy to see everything coming. But when you're watching Toy Story 3, it's so easy to get caught up in the suspense of it all that you end up watching with blinders on. Even some of the most obvious things just come completely out of left field. You will spend the latter half of this movie on the edge of your seat.

And once that all passes, and you reach the last ten minutes or so of the movie, it becomes very apparent who this movie was actually made for...



This movie wasn't made for today's kids. They will all enjoy this movie thoroughly, but this is for all the 18 to 20-somethings who are Andy's age now. Who were kids when Toy Story first came out, many of whom have now had to part with beloved childhood toys. For young adults in tha age group that my friends and I populate. It was just a little something to remind us of when we were young, and of the things we loved.

All four of us; Suri, McLovin, Kyle, and myself, cried through the end of this movie. Now, we are all big toy nerds, so in the beginning we were all like "Why doesn't Andy just bring ALL of his toys to college?" since that's what we do. But I guess logically people that aren't total dorks like we are might want to not do that. The way Pixar chose to end Toy Story 3 was heartwarming, bittersweet, and wonderful. Even now, writing about it two days later, it is hard for me not to start crying again just thinking about it.

If you grew up watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2, go and give Toy Story 3 a shot. If you're nervous about being an adult in a children's movie, find a friend with younger siblings and go with them. But really, you shouldn't worry about appearances. You won't be the only non-kid there. There are plenty of people like me and my friends who will be there too.