Decent movie but 3D is awful

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2010)

First let me say the movie was quite good - though not on par with the first two. The story is very emotional with all of the hazards that the toys went through and while watching I actually wondered if they had not overdone it and if it were appropriate for my 6 and 2 year olds. The story is woven in such a way to have a very happy ending and that made up for a lot of my hesitation but not all (the very dark recycling facility scene brought up images for me of the limbless young Darth Vader burning on the shores of a river...another scene that gave me pause as kids would be watching). Again, overall a good movie but I would like to add some further technical criticism. For such a high budget movie, the 3D was not worth the money at the theater. The scenes that seemed to be done for the most impact looked simply like two planes...a closer plane with 2D characters on a screen doing a scene and another 2D background further off. I remember in an optics class creating a hologram that did actually recreate a wave front and one could actually walk around the image and it was stunning (albeit monochromatic)...are my standards too high? I don't think so with all of the hype around 3D cinema and TV and the disappointing understanding that Disney/Pixar are doing nothing other that 3D from now on. There goes a lot of emphasis on content and their previous standard of stunning visual content. But a good movie overall and I think that it really resonated with the kids and that was what was important to me anyway. And there really aren't any more new toys that I need to buy for the kids...thanks for that Disney.