Toy Story 3 DVD Movies Reviews

Customer Reviews Toy Story 3

I entered Toy Story 3 with high expectations and guarded optimism. I love these movies and I really wanted this one to be good. It starts promisingly with a playful but derivative sequence (a bit too similar to the “video game” opening of Toy Story 2) and that should have been a warning right there that something was off. As the film continued I remained a disinterested viewer (against my will) as I watched these wonderful characters subjected to scenarios and plot devices they seemingly had little control over and I began to realize the disappointing truth: Toy Story 3 is fool’s gold not worthy of it’s pedigree.

The previous installments were all about the characters, which used to be a Pixar hallmark; it was the characters that dictated the action and propelled the story. In the case of Toy Story 3 the opposite is true–the plot dictates the action and our heroes become almost interchangeable and arbitrary as they are thrown into one harrowing situation after another, all of which paradoxically lack any real sense of danger.

On the plus side, viewers looking for a gloomy Pixar homage to old-school prison epics likely will not be disappointed.

Another problem is Woody’s and the rest of the gang’s motivation for fully 85% of the movie: namely, to return to Andy’s attic where they can sit in boxes and rot for years since he’s going to college. This is a half-hearted desire, at best. I’m not going to say that Walk Disney is spinning in his grave over that decision, but I think he would have demanded that the creators come up with something more compelling than that.

The Barbie/Ken relationship, which I was looking forward to, was handled in a clumsy and cliched manner (Ken is metrosexual and into clothes, yuk yuk) and the entire escape from the daycare center, which should be the high point of the movie, comes off as uninventive and boring. All in all, the characters have very little to do since they spend most of the movie locked up, being abused by toddlers, or preparing to be incinerated. There were also too many cheeky references made to the previous movies which quickly become tiresome, particularly the squeeze toy aliens’ incessant fascination with the claw. It’s almost as if the filmmakers are manipulating our love and knowledge of the previous flicks to get us to cut the new one some slack. Well, I’m not buying.

But hands down, most annoying to me was the handling of Buzz Lightyear. Placing a switch that causes him to reset and essentially become the antagonist for fully half of the film was a creaky creative decision; it reminds me of the old Star Trek episode in which Picard was turned into a thoughtless Borg that threatens the Enterprise crew. Contrived machinations like that are tiresome enough in comic books and old saturday morning cartoons, never mind a big-budget Pixar effort. Then the filmmakers dive full-blown into pure camp by activating a Spanish mode in Buzz which inexplicably transforms him into some sort of obnoxious stereotypical Don Juan that sounds a whole lot like Antonio Banderas. This is a lazy, pointless plot device at least; and perhaps a whole lot worse than that if you choose to read into it.

And I haven’t even mentioned that the “inspiring life-affirming message” of the movie — namely, “get rid of your toys and grow up!” — is a tad bit cynical and will fly over the heads of a large segment of the presumed target audience (anybody under the age of 12). The ending did have some touching moments, but it feels suspiciously like lipstick on a pig.

Anybody notice a trend emerging? I do, and here it is: Pixar is alternating complete masterpieces with movies that are a mixed bag! Look at their last 6 movies: Starting with Incredibles (the high-water mark for Pixar, their best to date); then Cars (the low-water mark for Pixar, their worst to date); Ratatouille (superb); WALL-E (mixed bag); Up (great); and now Toy Story 3 (mediocre, especially by Pixar standards). The good news is given this pattern, Pixar’s next offering, Cars 2, should actually be GOOD. But I’m not holding my breath on that one.

I drank the Pixar Kool-Aid for years, but now it is time for me to face harsh reality: John Lasseter is no longer a genius, Pixar is not infallible, and Dreamworks Animation is breathing down their neck.

I didn’t see Toy Story 3 in 3D, and I’m glad I didn’t. It just sounds like more tacked-on nonsense. I also can focus on reviewing the movie instead of complaining about the way it looked.

Well, I anticipated Toy Story 3. Who didn’t? Well, I guess those who haven’t seen the movies didn’t, but then, who hasn’t seen the movies? I largely disliked Up, so I was ready for a good Pixar movie again. And I didn’t get it.

In this final installment, Andy (still voiced by John Morris), who is leaving for college, has decided he needs to put away the old junk (toys) that he hasn’t played with in forever to the attic for good. Except for Woody, who he’s going to take to college with him. Which is pretty weird, seriously, who really cares about their old toys at this point? It never matters how much you loved them when you were a kid, you stop caring. When I have to go away, I know I’m not taking any toys with me. This whole Andy-needs-Woody thing really seems like it’s simply an un-thought-out plot device.

Eventually and do to the carelessness of Andy’s mom, the toys end up at Sunnyside day-care, where they are misused by little kids who don’t understand how to use them. But wait, shouldn’t they, being toys and all, be accustomed to this, or at least, expect it? Even in the end, this treatment still happens to the toys, but now they take turns.

Anyway, it’s up to sheriff Woody to rescue his friends, break out of Sunnyside, and get back to their beloved Andy. But they already know Andy doesn’t want them (Woody being the exception), so why would they want to get back to him? So they can sit around and rot?

The plot is nothing but a prison break. And I don’t know about you, but since when did these characters who we thought we knew have the capacity to come up with such an escape plan? They’re not doing what they would do at this point; they’re doing what the plot wants them to do.

These characters are not what they used to be. They have become interchangeable or useless or some other form of the unlikable. The only one who really seems to matter to the plot at all is Woody. A lot of what they get to do involves being imprisoned or smacked around. The break out should have been true to who they are and dynamic, yet it was uncreative and sterile.

The full-of-energy friendship between Hamm and Mr. Potato Head was missing. Bullseye didn’t have anything to do and I kept forgetting he was even there. Where was the loving bond we were supposed to see between the potato heads and their squeaky alien foster children? My list of complaints about the characters could go on and on.

Especially a problem was Buzz Lightyear. His reset switch gets pressed and he becomes a sir-yes-sir antagonist. Just when you think everything is going to go back to normal, he gets reset again and becomes Spanish before finally resetting to his original state much later. Why did all of this have to happen? I guess it’s supposed to be funny. But it wasn’t. Buzz is supposed to be a leader, second in command if not right up there with Woody. And yet throughout Toy Story 3 he is nothing but a throw away.

The messages of Toy Story 3 should have been well done ones, in that it’s realistic and involves themes such as moving on or that nothing lasts forever. However, none of these themes can really ever shine through in the right way. The entire movie suffocates them. It doesn’t seem to know how to handle them
I didn’t find “3″ to be very funny at all. And I’m not just comparing it to “2″‘, I mean it genuinely was not funny. I’ve seen the movie twice now, once with my little brother, and neither of us laughed. Actually, I feel almost as if the movie is a bit too grim, scary, depressing, and joyless for younger viewers. While the movie is busy telling us how bad life is, it never takes the time to be optimistic.

Toy Story 3 suffers in comparison to the second movie, the second being the best in the trilogy. Toy Story number one was flawed in that Woody was overly mean and intent on revenge, and the deus ex machina climax completely defeated the point of the movie’s theme. Toy Story 2 saw much improvement, with vigorous use of its characters, energetic journeying and adventure, “You’ve Got a Friend In Me”, Jesse’s back-story, and Stinky Pete’s ominous cynicism.

I knew something was up when I saw Up (no pun intended), and now another disappointment. Toy Story 3 followed with misuse of characters, misuse of themes, a weak plot, and an excessively depressing mood where humor and joy should be.
5 out of 9

To make a long story short, I was there for Toy Story 1 and 2, played the video games, had some Toy Story folders, and other merchandise growing up. So you can bet I was excited to see they were coming out with a 3rd Toy Story movie. Went to see it a couple of days ago…and maybe it’s because I was a bit tired (Thanks to some people who parked in front of my house at 5:00 AM and woke me up when they started talking and bouncing a basketball while I had my bedroom windows open)that I didn’t take to this movie.

First things first, I didn’t like the beginning. It seemed very rushed and forced upon you. The toys all started freaking out that they were going to get donated,and that’s all we heard. Even if there was little proof of it happening. Then Andy opens the attic door and it closes when he walks away. Andy set the bag with the toys RIGHT UNDER THE PULL DOWN ATTIC DOOR and his mom just assumes it’s garbage and puts it on the curb?!?! Okay, she didn’t take notice of where the bag was at?!?! I mean, maybe Andy didn’t get the time yet to open up the attic door and put his toys away!!??!

Also, a LOT of cool toys from the original two movies are gone,which is to be expected. kids do get rid of stuff overtime and a lot of parents love putting things out for yard sales, but the problem is no one is there in their place. Sure they tried to put other toys in this movie from the day care or from Bonnie’s house, but MOST of those toys, beside the hedgehog, Ken, and Hugs-A-Lot Bear have little or no on screen time for you to get a feel for them as a character, learn their personality, or become attached to them. They are just bland faces. I’d rather have Wheezy, Etch-A-Skeetch, the little blue robot, RC Car, the small plastic snake, and LASTLY BO PEEP….Getting rid of Bo Peep was dumb. She was a pretty big secondary character right next to Ham, Rex, and Mr. Potato Head. Also, Hugs a Lot is a complete Jerk…in every sense of the word. He doesn’t even bring across that “love to hate them” type feeling, like “Darth Vader” or other really cool bad guys. He’s just extremely mean and down-right nasty, especially considering what he did at the end of this film. I hated having him in this movie!

Which brings me to next point, without interesting characters, the clever banter and humor between toys was missing in this one. No funny one liners or jokes that adults would only get. Just BLAH. Oh sure, the story had a plot and it unfolded decently, and the characters said enough, but I was looking for it to be fun along the way as well.

Another thing is, the childhood innocence Andy had while playing with his toys in the first two movies is missing. Instead, Andy is grown up and we have his replacement Bonnie, whom I just didn’t like. She seemed goofy…and I hate to say that about a child character, but I just didn’t care for her at all. When she was playing with the toys it made me feel weird, awkard, and uncomfortable.

Which brings me to my last reason for not really liking this movie, the ending. I wanted Andy to go put his toys in the attic, and then the toys live on together and are happy. One day down the road, Andy would be going through the Attic, come upon his old toys, pull them out, and fall in love all over again. He might have even tracked down another Etch a Sketch, Bo Peep doll, or RC car that he keeps at his own house for his kids or because he regretted giving them away. BUT…I didn’t get that sense of closure. So give me something else worthwhile!

Pixar and Disney said, “NO!” So what happens is Andy is going to put his toys in the Attic, but Woody puts a post it note on the box to please donate the toys. So Andy takes them Bonnie’s house and they play with the toys together. Now I think this part of the movie was really botched…We could have seen Andy playing with his toys again FOR OLD TIMES SAKE, possibly in slow motion and accompanied to some slow and mellow music. Maybe we could have seen some flashbacks to when he played with them before, when he was younger. You know something to really makes us feel sad about the loss of childhood innocence that has taken place? But instead, Andy plays with the toys as if he doesn’t really care, no real emotion what so ever. Like it’s no big deal.

Then he goes back to his car, and gets in. He’s looking at his toys for a long time with a VERY sad look in his face because he’s leaving behind toys he still wants. I kept saying to myself,” Go back for them then if you are going to miss them!!!” But Andy just drives off, the toys stand on Bonnie’s front porch, and the camera pans upward toward the sky…THAT’S MY SENSE OF CLOSURE?!?

Then random clips of the toys enjoying their new life comes out and we some of the humor that was so lacking in the film. In my opinion, this movie’s ending was horrible. What Pixar should have done is added all the credit scenes of the toys enjoying their new life to the end of the film, and made that the end. You know, a sense of closure that the toys were going to be all right. Maybe have “You’ve got a friend in me” playing to the montage to let us know things are back the way they used to be and the toys are enjoying themselves again.

But instead, this movie’s end feels like a set up for a new movie…I sense Toy Story is going to head the way of A LOT of Disney movies and go down the path of not as appealing, quick cash in, Direct to Video sequels. Toy Story 3 was ALMOST a direct to video movie…So I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this happened! So forget about me getting that sense of closure I was talking about earlier, instead I got a way for Disny and Pixar to dig the franchise up and bring it back to life whenever they want to! Life Lesson 101: Sometimes it’s good when something good ends before it has the chance of going on for too long and becoming stale.

I did however, like the idea of Mrs. Potato Head using her missing eye to see Andy, and how Mr. Potato head transferred himself to a wrap for a taco…but did anyone else think he looked like the Mr. Potato head parody character on Mad Tv’s old spoof of Toy Story? Coincidence?

Also, I did like the part near the end where the toys were going to get melted. They did that well,and it really had me worried and brought out some emotion in me. Thus, making me care. Thus, making me like that scene.

Overall, I liked this movie. But it can’t hold a candle to the first toy released years ago. However, I’d still recommend seeing it at least once, or buying a copy when it released.

Toy Story 3 DVD Movies Reviews