Fabulous!

If you haven’t seen Toys Story 3 yet, my advice to you is:

1. Go!  It was wonderful!

And:

2. Wear waterproof mascara.

Now quit reading this post right now.  I mean it; go away.  You do NOT want to read any spoilers for this film.  You want to experience it for yourself, trust me.  I’m serious; the less you know about this film when you see it, the more you will enjoy it.

Are they gone now?  Okay, good.  We can discuss the film. Obviously, I loved it.  I loved how they started with the familiar lines and characters (we all recognized “One-eyed Bart” right off the bat, and knew that dinosaurs can take down force-field dogs any day of the week).  We experienced strong emotions as we watched Andy grow up; proud of the young man was becoming, but a sense of loss, as well. We saw how this affected his family and his toys.  Then we got a whirlwind adventure as they toys struggled to determine where they belonged, and how to get there.  There was a great villain, and I was so thankful that Pixar didn’t take the cheesy redemption route, but had him stay evil when he had a chance at atonement.  And if you weren’t crying in the fire scene, your emotion chip has malfunctioned and it’s time for a reboot.  My daughter even cried in that scene, and she didn’t cry when Old Yeller died!

This film ran the gamut of emotions.  I loved the humor (Buzz in Spanish mode, Tortilla Potatohead), the edge-of-your-seat thrills, the simultaneous sense of loss and completion during the final good-bye.  I know I’m not even scratching the surface of the real highlights of this film, but to be honest, my emotions are still so raw, so close to the surface, that I think I’m going to need to see the film again before I can provide any sort of an objective analysis of it.  And see it again, I shall.  My daughter clamored to do so immediately, and my husband, Mr. Frugal (or as I shall now refer to him, Mr. Pricklepants) who hates seeing movies in the theater, didn’t argue. It’s another home run for Pixar, and has me even more excited for some of their upcoming projects.  What’s on the horizon?  There’s Newt, the story of the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet forced together by science to save the species, and they can’t stand each other (Summer 2011). Summer of 2012 is supposed to herald in Cars 2, featuring the international escapades of Lightning McQueen and Mater, and even though I wasn’t all that impressed with Cars (by far my least favorite of the Pixar films), I trust Pixar enough to give them another chance on that franchise.

Have you seen Toy Story 3?  What did you think?  Let me know at http://www.facebook.com/disneygene!