The reason why this film falls just short of the best Pixar film yet

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2013)

This is a great film. No doubt about it. I am not writing this review to re-inform you that this is one of the best animated films ever, because you should already know that by now.
I am writing this not to tell you all about how great the film was. There is too much to talk about. Instead, I am going to discuss why Toy Story 3 does not deserve a 10-star rating.
First impressions are very important. In films, it's first impression can tell you about the tone of the film, it can introduce you to new characters, and even tell whether or not the film would interest you.
I will say right now that I do not degrade the film because of the surreal idea of talking toys. Why? Because the opening of the film introduced me to these talking toys. It told me "This is going to be a fun family film".
The reason why this is so important is because if a film like Pixar's Ratatouille showed a talking rat 20 minutes in, I wouldn't be surprised. I knew that there would be talking animals. But if a film like The Dark Knight Rises showed talking rats after 20 minutes, I would lose hope in man-kind.
Why? Because the opening of The Dark Knight Rises introduced me to a perilous, dark, and serious story.
You also get first impressions from the characters. For example, when we meet Andy for the first time in the film, we are demonstrated that he is a typical 18-year-old boy.
Here are some examples:
-At one point, Andy's little sister explores his room before Andy gets annoyed by her mere presence, and makes her leave. And that's fine. After all, he's a typical 18-year-old boy.
-Later, his mother walks into his room. She shows to be supportive of Andy going to college but tears up a little shortly after. She gives Andy a hug, and he reluctantly lets her do so, while gently pushing her off so as to not be rude. This behavior from his mother embarrasses him. And that's not unusual. He's just a typical 18-year old boy.
-And when he receives a call from his toys who are hiding in the treasure chest, Andy opens it, retrieves the phone, and closes it. Clearly showing that Andy has no care for his toys anymore. But he's an 18-year-old boy, anyways. There's nothing strange about that.
Now, before I went to go see this movie, reviews saying "the end of the film was beautiful" and "I was bawling in tears at the end" mislead-ed me to believe that I'd see a great film that would lead up to a brilliant conclusion.
Conclusions of good films will often tend to be the most memorable part. The ending of Wreck-It Ralph and How to Train Your Dragon are two great examples of this.
A powerful conclusion to a story can turn a typical 4-star film into a 5-star "this is the best movie ever" kind-of film.
I went to this movie with high expectations for the end that virtually everyone was talking about. Andy drops off a box of his old toys at the house of a little girl. Does he:
A. Give the mother the box of toys with ease like a TYPICAL 18-YEAR-OLD BOY, or does he,
B. Sit down with the little girl, drawing toys from the box one-by-one giving roughly 7-hour-long descriptions of each toy's background story, while slowly growing more and more emotional?
If you guessed the answer was "B", then you'd be sadly correct. And if you're thinking, "Well, he's probably just being playful with the girl. After all, he wouldn't want to just drop off the box and leave! That'd be rude!"
Well, I wish that was a valid thought, but no. He gets very emotional. So much so that when he is talking about Woody and the girl tries to grab his leg, Andy quickly pulls the toy away from her, guarding Woody with his life.
Seriously. Just GIVE THE GIRL THE DOLL! This character quickly went from a normal adult to a 5-year-old. This is NOT a normal adult. If I knew someone his age who behaved the way he did, I would want to stay as far away from him as possible.
Don't get me wrong. I still believe that this is one of the best films ever made, but it's only the second Pixar film to UP, since the so-called "brilliant" conclusion made me leave thinking "Pixar, what happened to you?!"