I saw Toy Story 3 yesterday in the beautiful old Cremorne Orpheum. It was a fantastic movie, very multi-layered, great story, and wonderfully made. Pixar are just completely in a league of their own.
But I have issues with it. I'll attempt to avoid spoilers as best I can.
For the third movie in a franchise, Toy Story 3 holds up so well, and there just isn't any hint of it feeling same old same old. The familiar characters are as strong as ever, and the new characters are great and well developed.
However, I did go into it trying to see it through my three year-old daughters' eyes, as I have planned to take her along to see it.
Very sadly, I think I'm going to have to cancel that plan.
In this area I have generally been fairly liberal, perhaps too much so at times. But to me, this movie just felt very full on, and there were some really dark, sinister elements in the film.
I won't give things away, but for those who've seen it, I'm referring to the Fiery Furnace. The Bear. The Nightmare Baby. The Monkey. All enough to give anybody bad dreams, let alone a three year-old.
I think also what pushes it over the edge in this respect is that Good and Evil are not clear cut, which can be pretty unsettling for children. Little e loves The Wizard of Oz, and there are definitely some scary elements in that old film. Hello, melting witch anyone?
But you always know Good is good, and Evil is evil. And Good triumphs. For me, it's when you are not sure which is which, and when there is not that defining triumph, that the age-appropriateness question comes into my head. The three year-old in me needed to see some redemption in the end for the Bad Guy, but it didn't come.
I'm not saying you shouldn't take your kids, but I just reckon err on the side of caution for the really young ones. It is pretty full-on in a lot of ways.
Anyhow, these issues aside, it is really a wonderful film. I laughed all the way through it, and cried. A lot. I'm talking streams running down my neck, and fogged-up 3D glasses. It was very moving, and it brought up a lot of nostalgic childhood emotions.
Once again, trying to avoid spoilers, some great things I liked about it were Mr Potato Head and the Fajita, Ken, The Clown on the Window Sill, Spanish Buzz. And Woody, for just being such a great, well-rounded character. And of course, animation-wise it was impeccable, just as Up was. The human characters were more natural and less clunky than the first two films, and everything just hung together flawlessly.
So, all in all, a great movie, but sadly, probably unsuitable for my three year-old.
4.5/5
But I have issues with it. I'll attempt to avoid spoilers as best I can.
For the third movie in a franchise, Toy Story 3 holds up so well, and there just isn't any hint of it feeling same old same old. The familiar characters are as strong as ever, and the new characters are great and well developed.
However, I did go into it trying to see it through my three year-old daughters' eyes, as I have planned to take her along to see it.
Very sadly, I think I'm going to have to cancel that plan.
In this area I have generally been fairly liberal, perhaps too much so at times. But to me, this movie just felt very full on, and there were some really dark, sinister elements in the film.
I won't give things away, but for those who've seen it, I'm referring to the Fiery Furnace. The Bear. The Nightmare Baby. The Monkey. All enough to give anybody bad dreams, let alone a three year-old.
I think also what pushes it over the edge in this respect is that Good and Evil are not clear cut, which can be pretty unsettling for children. Little e loves The Wizard of Oz, and there are definitely some scary elements in that old film. Hello, melting witch anyone?
But you always know Good is good, and Evil is evil. And Good triumphs. For me, it's when you are not sure which is which, and when there is not that defining triumph, that the age-appropriateness question comes into my head. The three year-old in me needed to see some redemption in the end for the Bad Guy, but it didn't come.
I'm not saying you shouldn't take your kids, but I just reckon err on the side of caution for the really young ones. It is pretty full-on in a lot of ways.Anyhow, these issues aside, it is really a wonderful film. I laughed all the way through it, and cried. A lot. I'm talking streams running down my neck, and fogged-up 3D glasses. It was very moving, and it brought up a lot of nostalgic childhood emotions.
Once again, trying to avoid spoilers, some great things I liked about it were Mr Potato Head and the Fajita, Ken, The Clown on the Window Sill, Spanish Buzz. And Woody, for just being such a great, well-rounded character. And of course, animation-wise it was impeccable, just as Up was. The human characters were more natural and less clunky than the first two films, and everything just hung together flawlessly.
So, all in all, a great movie, but sadly, probably unsuitable for my three year-old.
4.5/5
For a second oppinion, Izaac's written a really good review on his Pixar site.
2 comments:
Saw it over the weekend.
Gave our eldest nightmares...
His little brother didn't seem to mind though.
It was really well done. Definitely better than the first, undecided as to whether it was better than the second - which is far more rewatchable.
I was expecting that redemption moment too - although in one sense, I think it kept the character very consistent - just kept using others for self-benefit, even though it ultimately resulted in worse circumstances. Moral: trust other people (and toys).
You'd think after so many years, they'd actually listen to Woody when he talked though...
Cool, glad you saw it and enjoyed it. It's awesome, hey.
Yeah, I agree about the redemption thing. It made him a pretty chilling character.. for a teddy bear.
Can definitely see where the nightmares came from.
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