A Sentimental Arcade Adventure With Tons of Style, But Limited Substance

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2013)

Cute, family-friendly adventures with a wealth of buried treasure scattered about for long-term arcade denizens. It's a fun twist on the sentimental framework established by Toy Story, but when the sight gags, winks and grins run out it feels a bit thin. The prologue hints at something really dense, vivid, expansive and bright, especially in the bad guys' support group scene that's featured in all the trailers, but the story never truly delivers on that potential. As a small-scale adventure it's just fine, and I certainly appreciated the efforts it made to secure so many cameos from classic gaming characters. It looks great, both in full 3D and pixelated 8-bit facsimile, and the voice acting is a series of loose, warm, top-notch efforts. The concept feels like it never gets fully off the ground, though, and a long layover in one particular game world puts the brakes on what was, until then, a slick, snappy pace. I guess at the end of the day, the comparisons to recent Pixar and Disney epics are inevitable, and it's a clear step or two below that level of prestige. A good, safe effort that's worth a lazy watch, but not exactly what I was hoping for.