Not bad (some spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (4 July 2004)

I actually can't believe that this film is as old as it is (1999). I just viewed it for the first time and I have to say that it was an average film overall. The 3-D animation is top notch by 1999 standards, the storyline matured a bit, but then came the big letdown at the end of the film as the plot reaches its climax.
The first half-hour is something of a "showing off" of 3-D animation with the brilliant Buzz Lightyear game sequence. The next half-hour is perhaps the best of the film, where the oft-talked about theme about the usefulness of toys crops up. I think some very good questions (some of which I wondered about whilst watching Toy Story) were raised, such as "what happens to the toys?" or "do they feel betrayed?", "do they expect to be betrayed?".
The last half-hour is what I call plot fulfillment. Essentially, a the plot had to be wrapped up, a tangible, defeatable foe had to be found and defeated and all had to return to the(relative) norm. It is because of this, that the biggest letdown occurs. The questions raised are never resolved, but are glossed over by the toys' attempt to retrieve Woody. And to give the audience a tangible foe, the writers saw fit to make the prospector a quasi-villain. All of the sudden, he becomes belligerent whereas before, he was a voice of some reason. There is no real reason given for this sudden change of heart. In any case, we're supposed to rejoice at his misfortune of being tortured by some "artist" girl.
I know I can't expect some sort of masterpiece, but I thought this was a major oversight, or, perhaps worse, a deliberate move to sidestep questions the writers couldn't satisfy. In any case, I never have been of the opinion that children need to put their brains in storage until adulthood...
All in all, not a bad popcorn flick, but probably not Top 250 material.