Toy Chest Box

Trilogies seem to be a fad right now. But very few had lived up to its name and outmatched their predecessors. When Toy Story came out in 1995 (?), it was an innovation. It became the first full-length 3D animated movie. Everyone was raving about this new movie making technique. Toy Story not only succeeded in terms of technology but it also captured the hearts of moviegoers. This is the legacy that Pixar has started. When Toy Story 2 came out, I was not ecstatic with it. It's good but it didn't have that WOW factor. It is a movie. Period.

Years went by. We never anticipated that a sequel would be in the works, but apparently, it did. I was in Manila when Toy Story 3 went out and I decided to watch in Imax 3d. Yup, IMAX! Although it costs 400php, I was not disappointed. 

We were again transported back into Andy's Room filled with our beloved toys, Woody, Buzz, Mr and Mrs. Potato, Slick, etc. We saw how Andy grew up and how the toys are finally feeling rejection from their owner. Now that Andy is going away for college, the toys now are abandoned in a Toy Box which was never opened for quite a long time and some of then must suffer the fate of being thrown away, be donated or rot in the attic and they chose the obvious option - attic. The toys feels so "geriatric" when they agreed to be in the attic, as long as they were together. But then, plans changed when accidentally, the toys were mistaken as garbage and then the 2nd best option is to be donated. That is how they end up in Sunnyside Day Care. It was there when they meet Lotso who made matters worse.

There were new characters in the movie which are lovable. Lotsa is the perfect poisoned honey for a villain and some new additions like Ken, etc.

Toy Story 3 aged a lot. This one does not rely on humor alone to enchant its audiences. It's not how the camera works that makes this movie so deep, rather, the movie relied much on its story. Although when the plot was first set in the first 20 minutes of the film, I was amazed on how the story went through without making it sound so far fetched. A lot of movies started right during the first part of the film but come tumbling down at the end trying to fit in a very complicated story and conflicts, Toy Story wasn't. It remained strong as the conflicts unfolded. It explores the deep emotion that are present on these abandoned toys. Though it is represented in such medium, the emotions that were implored in the movie applies to us as humans.

Who can deny that scene where the toys faces oblivion as they were about to be incinerated were one of the most powerful scenes in the movie? It was heart wrenching to see such scene that I really cared like I was a 4 year old losing my own toys. But the last 10 minutes was the most sadistic part of the movie when you have to fight back the tears so as not to embarrass yourself. Giving up things that were part most of your life is indeed hard, and when Woody was unexpectedly placed in the donation box, Andy was reluctant in giving him up but then.... He did. The long dead silence was far more enough to put everyone in Emo-mode, but it reached it's peak when all his toys were lined up in the porch of its new owner as Andy drives away to college.

Toy Story 3 is a bitter-sweet ending to a series which made a mark in my childhood. The movie is enchanting and lovely in its own right. 

GRADE: A+

p.s. Day and Night, the short movie before Toy Story, is such a good metaphor in presenting individual differences and how we can still make the ends meet....