It's time we bowed down to Pixar and stopped slamming their films as Children's flicks

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2010)

Pixar, it seems, have seriously become a force to reckon with. It all started with Toy Story in 1995 and since then, they've consecutively delivered masterpieces after another as if to virtually remove all doubt that Toy Story was a fluke (and no, it wasn't one). The next in line is Toy Story 3 which, quite easily, joins the ranks of Pixar's finest movies (though I'm now struggling to recollect which one wasn't).
In Toy Story 3, we see that Andy is about to move to college. He has to pack up his toys in the attic, donate them, or trash them (that's the choices he has). While he decides to go to the first option, the toys, through a series of misadventures land up in Sunnyside - a place where they'll have plenty of kids to play with them. But all is not as well as it seems since the kids are far from what Andy was when he played with the toys - they thrash them, mercilessly pound them and mess the toys up - enough to make the toys decide to go home.
The best thing about Pixar movies (despite the fact that they're animated movies) has been the characters - something which other movie makers need to learn. Although Toy Story 3 excels in almost every department, the characters are never lost in the background. We still care about the likes of Woody, Buzz and Jessie which is surprising considering that we know they're just pieces of toys. And the voice acting is just incredible. I thought Tom Hanks would have lost his form after all these years and was wondering whether, despite aging 10 years, he'd be able to voice Woody with the same enthusiasm he did back in the previous two Toy Story movies. However, he does a brilliant job at it and so does the rest of the voice cast. It'll make you feel as if the voice recording for the movie was done 10 years ago.
Technically, the film features CGI which is amazingly impressive. There are times when you simply forget that this is an animation movie you're watching. In fact, just like in WALL·E, the only times the CGI looks CGI is when humans show up (which is perfectly understandable given that it's incredibly difficult to make human CGI). Watch the opening sequence to get what I say, it alone is enough to convince anyone of the visual superiority of this movie. Cinematography and Editing are also flawless, the movie never slows down and it feels that there's something constantly happening in the movie. Humor is again good - especially the scene in which Buzz turns into Spanish mode. Hilarious !!
Just like it's predecessors, the most amazing feat of Toy Story 3 according to me is how it makes you emotional and sad towards it's end. It's a perfect example of directorial triumph. And this happens at a time when the characters in the movie just exchange glances at each other, they don't even speak much in that portion of the movie. It's strange to realize you'd become sad by just looking at toys without they saying anything. Without revealing anything all I can say is that the first thing you're likely to do after watching this movie is go home and check out your old toys. You're surely going to miss them - at least I did.
My only gripes with the movie - I'd have loved to see more of Rex, Hamm and Slinky Dog. Rex's lack of confidence is something which came across as wonderfully in the first two movies. That is something that I missed. Also, the humor is less stronger as compared to the first two movies and so are the dialogues. Those are my thoughts. These tiny nitpicks shouldn't deter anyone from watching this movie. And yes, the 3D was simply pointless. I actually wanted to watch the movie in 2D but couldn't since all major movie screens are showing it in 3D. That made it clear that the 3D was more for the purposes of generating revenue than for anything else.
And yes, it's time we accepted that these movies are NOT movies for Kids. They can be enjoyed equally by Adults as well - in fact more so. It's high time people stopped slamming these movies as movies for the kids and skipped them. If you're one of them, you're missing out on something really important here - something you'll regret 10 years from now for sure. Watch this Pixar !!!
Score: 8.5 / 10