Toy Story Retrospective/Toy Story 3 Review (Spoilers)
Before seeing this film, I avoided written reviews and spoilers. I wanted to know some of what was going to happen, but not be spoiled completely (unlike Wall-E, UP, The Princess and the Frog...). And after I saw it, I tried not to read any other reviews so I could consolidate my own opinion.
I talked to a few friends before the movie and they professed to not getting what all the hype was about, even with the original film. It's weird for me to think people my age don't like Toy Story because I grew up with the films. I was 8 when the first film premiered - I'm first generation. And Andy seemed to grow up along side me, so why didn't other kids relate to it? The complaints I heard were more toward it being boring or hard to get into - so I started thinking about the themes of Toy Story.
It seems the core of Toy Story is that your toys love just as much, if not more, than you love them. These everyday objects made of wood, plastic, and fabric are really special to people - long after we stop playing with our toys, we keep a few around for sentimental reasons. Toys are the friends you play with when you play by yourself. But if the toys are alive, even just in your imagination, you're not really alone.
What the Toy Story movies really did was take the licensed toys we play with, expand their personalities and give them fears we have sometimes as kids, and largely as adults. In the first movie Woody is worried about being replaced by a newer toy and losing his position as the favorite. It was always interesting to me that while both sequels have direct villains, the villain in the original Toy Story was Woody's jealousy (Sid was more of an incidental antagonist). In the second film the theme centered around outlasting your usefulness and that the true purpose of toys is to be played with, to bring joy to children.
These films deal with aging in a huge way. Toys don't retire, so what becomes of them? Do they get jealous of younger competition, worried you don't love them anymore? What happens when toys get old?
And those aren't always themes that children are interested in - which might also explain why there are so many adult jokes in the films (I recently realized Mr. Potato Head motions for "Ass-Kisser" during the original staff meeting!). It's a film about childhood more for adults than children.
So what's the theme for Toy Story 3? Well, it expands on theme of aging in a troubling way: where do you go when you're no longer wanted? In the case of Andy's toys, they go to a daycare ruled by a tyrannical teddy bear who took his owner's rejection way too hard.
While the toys are still sincere and lovable, there's a pall over the first half of the movie. They believe Andy doesn't want them when we as the audience know he does. It might have been more interesting to show it strictly from the other toys' point of view instead of Woody's so we aren't entirely sure if Andy does care, thus making the reconciliation more satisfying.
And it seems like we go around twists and turns that vary from light to dark moreso than either of the predecessors. The toys have found a playtime utopia but it turns out to be a toy-mangling hellscape (the music oddly reminded me of The Simpsons discordant theme based on Planet of the Apes). Buzz escapes the room and infiltrates the higher ups only to be reset, now acting as a prison guard against his friends. The toys escape the daycare through an elaborate plan but end up in the dump about to be incinerated (BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER FLASHBACKS/THANKS JOHN LASSETER) and THEY ACCEPT THEIR FATE??? I mean, there's dark, and then there's that!
I'm not even gonna front: I had my hands in front of my face silently bawling. I never realized how much I care about these characters that I would get so intensely and emotionally involved. It's true, I sometimes cry at movies but it takes a lot to get me worked up. I couldn't stand that I was about to see my beloved childhood characters burn to death and do nothing more to stop it. I had guessed how they were going to get out of it (which was kind of a cop-out, your friends always have your back solution) but I just couldn't believe what I was watching. I'm still a little traumatized, to be honest.
But the end is basically a love-fest, and a sappy one at that, that helped make up for the horrors of the previous scene. And then the credits provide even more comedy, so the film ends on a happy high note.
It was a movie that pendulum shifts suddenly between light comedy and hand-wringing suspense. Some of the characters are fun and funny while others are foreboding or outright frightening (MONKEY). Sometimes the movie is slow and subtle to blatantly sappy and overwrought... but it's what the audience wants. We want to see these characters existing in our world with all the joy and the danger of it so we can believe they're a part of it. And they will continue to be a part of it.
Some final general notes about the film:
- I love how Woody runs, all gangly limbs a-flailing
- They did an amazing job with el Buzz's animation, especially in the dance sequence (I call this section of the dance... the crab)
- I loved the Buzz/Jessie romance, but I also really missed Bo Peep >8C
- I didn't hear children laughing as much as general laughter, so you could tell the jokes were more all-ages in the literal sense
- Another big Toy Story trope is the novelty of seeing the normal world scaled down to a toy's perspective and the interesting locations you can explore (the Vending Machine was a highlight of this)
- I can't get "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright out of my head! Thanks for that, Ken!
- Now I really want to see a mash-up video between the Chatter Telephone and Lady Gaga's "Telephone"
- Oh, wow! Gipsy Kings did the Spanish cover of "You Got A Friend In Me" (take that, Newman!)
- So, wait - the college-bound grad is playing with the six-year old and no one's raising an eyebrow? Pff, foreshame my overly-suspicious nature. Her parents were in the yard and knew the boy.
- Aww, yeah: more Toy Story to come in the form of Pixar shorts!
My Favorite New Characters:
Bonnie's toys.
I. Love. These. Guys. I almost want another sequel if they could be heavily featured. They are a toy-improv theater troupe staring Mr. Pricklepants, a classically-trained hedgehog in lederhosen, Buttercup, the manly Unicorn, and Trixie, the web-savvy triceratops.
Their scenes are easily some of the best in the movie, as seen here:
Dolly.
Another of Bonnie's toys that's only in the movie for a few minutes and yet she leaves a strong impression. It might have something to do with being voice by Bonnie Hunt, who always sounds warm and friendly - or just her adorable face, aww!
I also loved Bonnie herself, but can't find a picture of her anywhere.
Peas in a Pod.
These guys are ridiculously cute, end of story.
Chatter Telephone.
A hardened inmate, he reveals the ins and outs of Sunnyside Daycare and introduces the creepiest character in the film - MONKEY. Otherwise, he's an intriguing character. What was his past? What made him so hard?
Chuckles
There's a good reason this character doesn't have any promotion material yet. When they cut to him in the film, it's hilarious. He's voiced by Bud Luckey, who did the writing, directing, and singing in the Pixar short Boundin'. This guy is amazing.
And, of course, then there's this guy:
Ken.
Ken was one of the big reasons I wanted to see this movie. He's funny, he's voice by Michael Keaton, he has a bit of an inferiority complex from being a "girl's toy." And I really want to give Pixar credit for not making him an out-and-out misogynist over it. While I thought he'd eventually take it out on Barbie, it turns out he genuinely loves her - probably borne of their mutual love for dressing up. The character really wants to be a helpful, nice guy. He also makes great use of both 60's and 70's fashion and lingo.
And it's funny - Groovin' With Ken, which came out long before the movie, actually cemented my love for him:
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