Changed my mind about so many things

Rating: 10/10 (21 March 2012)

Toy Story 3 blew me away. I wasn't a fan of the series before; now, I love all the movies and characters. The animation is so beautiful to look at that you couldn't give anything less than a perfect grade in that aspect. The voicework/acting is almost as impressive. It seems like such a miracle that anyone was able to assemble a cast where every player is able to make so much out of their characters. No one falls flat or disappoints. If I have one criticism, it's that it's a little too action-based and busy. There aren't really any moments like in Wall-E where you're just watching things happen--every moment is pushing the story along, explaining things, and moving to the next obstacle. I also thought there were too many scenes of toys finding ways to break out of places. I understand it is basically a prison-escape movie, but there were so many sequences like this, it felt overdone. I can't let these nitpicks affect my overall rating, however, because this movie does something so amazing with the final goodbye sequence, it makes up for all of it. I think that for me, it is the most special moment in any movie I've ever seen. I only wish I could have watched this movie in theater as a fan of the series already. And then all the extra stuff during the credits just adds a tremendous amount of more storytelling. It's so totally satisfying that this almost instantly became one of the movies that I care about so much that I don't want to watch it too often, so that it remains as affecting as possible. Put all this together along with the short cartoon "Hawaiin Vacation," which continues the story, and I am begging for a fourth Toy Story. The filmmakers pulled off a number of miracles, but think about how staggering this is: not only does this movie build upon the characters and their choices over the previous two movies, not only is it more rewarding for culminating all the themes and emotional payoffs in the first two, but even after wrapping it all up with the most beautiful resolution possible--maybe the greatest movie ending ever--it also sets up a new beginning that is just as rich for exploring. Even more than Andy, I want to see what life is like for the toys with Bonnie. I would buy a movie of just Bonnie playing with the toys for an hour and a half. I wish I could let everyone who worked on this know how much it means to me and how inspiring it is. Awesome.