To Finality (and Beyond?)

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2010)

To admit that "Toy Story 3" wasn't quite everything that I'd HOPED it would be doesn't mean that it wasn't as good as I EXPECTED, and my expectations were high. Of course, eventually Pixar will put out a bad movie (at least bad by their high standards), but I was confident that this wouldn't be it. "Toy Story" is the franchise, and more importantly it's John Lasseter's baby, and John Lasseter would not have allowed a bad "Toy Story" film to be made.
The first 20 minutes or so, as the gang's current situation was being explained, had me fighting back sobs (I was far from the only one in the theater struggling so), and in the last 20 minutes (from the "circle of hands" moment until the end of the movie), I stopped fighting. But the hour in the middle left me kind of..."Well, OK, I guess we HAVE to have a plot." There were plenty of good moments during that hour, but the whole struck me as somewhat recycled: the "Do we trust Woody or not?" moments were too reminiscent of the first movie, and the early arguments about whether they owed it to Andy to escape from the Day Care center were too similar to the ones in "TS2" (even though the speakers were reversed). Lotso's backstory wasn't nearly as powerful as Jesse's song about Emily in "2", and I think Lotso would have been MORE compelling as an adversary if he were MORE tragic.
Again, though, it started strong and ended PERFECTLY, and whatever I felt was weak about the middle I can easily overlook.
Those who've said that the movie might not really be appropriate for younger kids have a point, I think, but while it could perhaps be argued that the movie should have carried a PG rather than G rating, I wouldn't for the world have wanted Pixar to tone it down to make it kid-safe. Yeah, if your 5 year-old loves the first two films from watching them at home, it might still be a good idea to wait a few years before exposing him/her to this one. Despite leaving the door open for "Toy Story 4: A New Beginning", this is a movie about endings. It's about change and loss and saying goodbye, and this shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody because these seeds were sewn in the previous chapter.
I said earlier that it's inevitable that Pixar will eventually make a bad movie, but when they do I hope they fail by trying something too different, rather than by playing it too safe. I'd love to see Pixar make a movie that's DELIBERATELY not intended for children. As it stands, the name "Pixar" means both "You know it's going to be good" and "Bring the kids." But there are things they could be doing with digital film-making other than making "Family-Friendly" entertainment. You know, something like "Avatar", maybe, except GOOD. Disney established Touchstone as a separate imprint so they could put out movies that were too "adult" for the Disney signature. I'd like to see them try some things that would be more appropriate for "Touchstone/Pixar" than "Disney/Pixar."