So today i was rudely awakened in the early hours of the morning and by early i mean 9:00 am to be told that because Toy Story 3 was getting such positive feedback I had to go watch it immediately otherwise I would never live down the shame of never completing such an epic animated trilogy. So i stumbled out of bed manged to get clothed (thankfully. otherwise i would have gotten into all kinds of trouble) and headed off to Doha, the capital city of Qatar as fast as possible to catch the first screening of the day.
As a side note to anyone going to watch Toy Story 3 i recommend that you DO NOT pay the extra money for 3D glasses because it's a complete waste of time since absolutely NOTHING in the movie was in 3D. Me and and my friends just sat there for the whole two hours looking like idiots for nothing. The movie is good and all but seriously, save the extra cash and get an extra large popcorn caramel instead.
On to the actual movie....
The plot of Toy Story 3 was surprisingly good and well thought out with a really touching and realistic message at the end about moving on and doing the right thing even though it may be difficult. I suppose they could have tried to put more popular culture references and spoofs but that might make it too "hip wannabe".
The movie starts off with this really cool overly imaginative storyline acted out by Andy whilst playing with his toys and being recorded by his mother. The story involves Woody, the sheriff on the roof of a speeding train fighting Mr. Potato-head and Mrs. Potato-head who are trying to steal a whole lot of diamonds from the train which is also randomly carrying a massive bunch of orphans (don't worry they're just toys). Mr. Potato-head (who by the way along with his wife are rocking some seriously cool eye patches) sets off dynamite on an oncoming bridge and jump off the train with his wifey, exclaiming that Woody now has to choose between the orphans (who conveniently start screaming bloody murder at about the same time) or catching the Potato-heads. The terrible twosome hop aboard a purple toy car driven by the three little green aliens (which was previously driven by Barbie in the previous movie) and drive off into the desert randomly screaming in mirth.
Woody being the cool cowboy that he is shouts for Bulls-eye and Jesse who show up miraculously running faster than the speeding locomotive itself. Woody hops aboard the driver's compartment and pulls the brakes but the train falls down the bridge anyway. All is well though, because "To Infinity and Beyond" Buzz Lightyear brings the train from underneath and saves Woody. They all then chase the escaping thieves who by the way have that slinky dog toy on their side but Woody and Co. have the green dinosaur at their end. This random battle ensues until evil Mr. Porkchop flies overhead and sets loose screeching (and by the looks of it, jelly made) red monkeys on them who cascade all over the Woody team by their sheer numbers. All seems lost and hopeless until Andy's mother and little sister barge into his room and stop the dramatic scene from playing out. We see that Andy's been playing with his toys this whole time and his mother's been recording him.
During that dramatic cowboy-movie-esque scene, some pretty cool dialogue is exchanged between the toys most notably....
Woody: "Looks like you've got a date with justice tonight Potato-head!"
Mr. Potato-head: "Well it's too bad I'm married!" *Mrs. Potato-head jumps out and distracts Woody on the train*
All this is shown to be happy and well with the toys and Andy living best friends forever. However, all of the previous scenes were a recording on a camcorder which skips forward to Andy's birthdays and shows him measuring himself over the years as he grows up with the toys being less and less included into this daily activities. Then the camcorder screen flickers and dies. All is silent. Dun dun duuuuuun.
The movie skips to seven years later and Andy is seventeen years old, just graduated high school and heading off to college in one week. The toys are shown to be packed away in an old trunk in Andy's room where they're carrying out a plan to get Andy's attention again. They somehow steal his mobile phone and the home phone which they carry into the trunk and then dial Andy's mobile from it. Andy comes running into his room, looks through the trunk, grabs the green dinosaur to retrieve his mobile and leaves not having even acknowledged the toys even once. The toys come back to life again shocked and seriously disappointed that Andy would ignore them like that whilst the dinosaur screams excitedly that Andy actually touched him in so many years. The toys are slowly giving up hope on ever being played by Andy again and some of the little green commandos "abandon ship" and escape from Andy's home stating that now that Andy's moving away, they're all going to be thrown out with the little green toys first.
Andy's mother walks into the room with Andy carrying two boxes. She labels one COLLEGE and the other ATTIC telling Andy that anything he doesn't take to college will be put in the attic. Andy seems slightly reluctant to clean up the toys but eventually puts all the toys except Woody into a black trash bag to put them in the attic. However, he runs downstairs with his sister for a while leaving the bag in the middle of the corridor causing his mother to think the bag is trash and she throws the bag away.
After a seriously long attempt to help his friends escape, Woody and the rest of the toys take refuge in the family car which is filled with Andy's sisters toys which includes Barbie. The mother is about to head off to Sunnyside Daycare center to donate the toys away. The toys all agree that they''ll stick along because Andy clearly doesn't want them anymore.
When they all arrive at Sunnyside, they meet Latso the huggable purple bear who smells of strawberries and many other toys who're really kind and nice. They say that all of them have similarly been discarded from their owners but have found happiness here because in Sunnyside there's always children playing with them and when they grow up more new ones come in all the time. The toys are overjoyed by this news and that they'll finally have a proper home where their hearts won't be broken. However, Woody insists that they all get back to Andy who needs them but the toys refuse to leave causing Woody to leave the daycare alone. During this time, a baby doll complete with a broken blue eye is introduced as a friend and companion to Latso which does all his bidding. Also, Ken is introduced who instantly falls in love with Barbie. The amount of irony and cultural joking during that point was hilarious.
The new toys, led by Buzz are appointed a different room to Latso and the others but the kids in the other room are much younger and don't know how to play with toys properly yet which means that all of our main characters get beaten and misused all day long. When Latso and Ken are finally confronted, Latso says that he needs the new toys to stay in the toddler room so that him and his toy friends can have the good children. When Buzz tries to intervene, the evil toys pin him down, open him up and reset his settings so he goes back into his factory condition mode causing him to again believe that he is from another galaxy and so on. Latso gets Buzz (who has now forgotten his friends) to lock all his toy friends away so they don't escape whilst the whole "creepy-mad-power hungry-monster toy" themes build up dramatically.
Woody who previously escaped accidentally ends up in a little girl called Bonnie's bag who takes him home and starts playing with him. Whilst Woody greatly enjoys this because he hasn't been played with in years still wants to go back home to Andy and uses Google Maps from the Internet to find that he's only half a block away from Andy's home. He's about to leave when one of Bonnie's toys (a sad clown. surprise surprise) tells him the truth about Sunnyside Daycare because the clown used to be a toy in the daycare too but met the same fate as Woody. Woody realizes that he has a choice to make decides to go back to the Daycare and rescue his friends.
When he sneaks back into the daycare, he makes a plan with the toys and they all eventually escape. However, Latso and his friends catch them right at the end and after a series of revelations our main characters and Latso end up in the garbage truck and taken to the dump and thrown into the grinder and furnace. Latso tricks them all and escapes (but ends up being strapped to a truck driver's front bumper for the rest of his life by accident) leaving all the toys to die. However, the little green aliens save them all using a massive picking up machine.
They all eventually make it back home to Andy's just in time for him leaving. They all go back to Andy's room and fall into their designated boxes with the toys in the Attic box and Woody in the College box. However, after Woody hears Andy's mum giving a tearful lecture about moving on and letting things go he uses a post it stamp to write a note to Andy and sneaks into the Attic box.
Andy reads the notes which tells him to donate the box of toys to Bonnie, the girl who stole Woody before. Andy heads over to her house and tells her that all these toys are really important to him and that she must promise to take real good care of them. He begins explaining to her each toy's history and personality. At the bottom of the box, Bonnie recognizes Woody, and Andy reluctantly decides to give Woody to her as well. Andy and Bonnie play together with the toys, Andy's toys at last enjoying the final playtime with him that they've been longing for. Before Andy drives to college, he thanks the toys for all the time they spent together. Woody says, "So long, partner," and the film ends.
I swear. that whole scene was just tearing me up. I was THIS close to weeping (unlike Abdul Rahman, one of my friends who was wiping the tears from his eyes). I shall never look at my old toys the same again.
A few scenes in the credits show that Sunnyside is now under the leadership of Ken and Barbie and is now a good place to stay where everyone is accepted.
So touching. i swear, if the 3D had not been so completely useless i would have given the movie 10/10. but i shall give it an 8. Two thumbs up.
And also just for old times sakes and in recognition of Toy Story, i shall link the song "You've Got A Friend In Me" which is featured in all three movies. Enjoy :)
As a side note to anyone going to watch Toy Story 3 i recommend that you DO NOT pay the extra money for 3D glasses because it's a complete waste of time since absolutely NOTHING in the movie was in 3D. Me and and my friends just sat there for the whole two hours looking like idiots for nothing. The movie is good and all but seriously, save the extra cash and get an extra large popcorn caramel instead.
On to the actual movie....
The plot of Toy Story 3 was surprisingly good and well thought out with a really touching and realistic message at the end about moving on and doing the right thing even though it may be difficult. I suppose they could have tried to put more popular culture references and spoofs but that might make it too "hip wannabe".
The movie starts off with this really cool overly imaginative storyline acted out by Andy whilst playing with his toys and being recorded by his mother. The story involves Woody, the sheriff on the roof of a speeding train fighting Mr. Potato-head and Mrs. Potato-head who are trying to steal a whole lot of diamonds from the train which is also randomly carrying a massive bunch of orphans (don't worry they're just toys). Mr. Potato-head (who by the way along with his wife are rocking some seriously cool eye patches) sets off dynamite on an oncoming bridge and jump off the train with his wifey, exclaiming that Woody now has to choose between the orphans (who conveniently start screaming bloody murder at about the same time) or catching the Potato-heads. The terrible twosome hop aboard a purple toy car driven by the three little green aliens (which was previously driven by Barbie in the previous movie) and drive off into the desert randomly screaming in mirth.
Woody being the cool cowboy that he is shouts for Bulls-eye and Jesse who show up miraculously running faster than the speeding locomotive itself. Woody hops aboard the driver's compartment and pulls the brakes but the train falls down the bridge anyway. All is well though, because "To Infinity and Beyond" Buzz Lightyear brings the train from underneath and saves Woody. They all then chase the escaping thieves who by the way have that slinky dog toy on their side but Woody and Co. have the green dinosaur at their end. This random battle ensues until evil Mr. Porkchop flies overhead and sets loose screeching (and by the looks of it, jelly made) red monkeys on them who cascade all over the Woody team by their sheer numbers. All seems lost and hopeless until Andy's mother and little sister barge into his room and stop the dramatic scene from playing out. We see that Andy's been playing with his toys this whole time and his mother's been recording him.
During that dramatic cowboy-movie-esque scene, some pretty cool dialogue is exchanged between the toys most notably....
Woody: "Looks like you've got a date with justice tonight Potato-head!"
Mr. Potato-head: "Well it's too bad I'm married!" *Mrs. Potato-head jumps out and distracts Woody on the train*
All this is shown to be happy and well with the toys and Andy living best friends forever. However, all of the previous scenes were a recording on a camcorder which skips forward to Andy's birthdays and shows him measuring himself over the years as he grows up with the toys being less and less included into this daily activities. Then the camcorder screen flickers and dies. All is silent. Dun dun duuuuuun.
The movie skips to seven years later and Andy is seventeen years old, just graduated high school and heading off to college in one week. The toys are shown to be packed away in an old trunk in Andy's room where they're carrying out a plan to get Andy's attention again. They somehow steal his mobile phone and the home phone which they carry into the trunk and then dial Andy's mobile from it. Andy comes running into his room, looks through the trunk, grabs the green dinosaur to retrieve his mobile and leaves not having even acknowledged the toys even once. The toys come back to life again shocked and seriously disappointed that Andy would ignore them like that whilst the dinosaur screams excitedly that Andy actually touched him in so many years. The toys are slowly giving up hope on ever being played by Andy again and some of the little green commandos "abandon ship" and escape from Andy's home stating that now that Andy's moving away, they're all going to be thrown out with the little green toys first.
Andy's mother walks into the room with Andy carrying two boxes. She labels one COLLEGE and the other ATTIC telling Andy that anything he doesn't take to college will be put in the attic. Andy seems slightly reluctant to clean up the toys but eventually puts all the toys except Woody into a black trash bag to put them in the attic. However, he runs downstairs with his sister for a while leaving the bag in the middle of the corridor causing his mother to think the bag is trash and she throws the bag away.
After a seriously long attempt to help his friends escape, Woody and the rest of the toys take refuge in the family car which is filled with Andy's sisters toys which includes Barbie. The mother is about to head off to Sunnyside Daycare center to donate the toys away. The toys all agree that they''ll stick along because Andy clearly doesn't want them anymore.
When they all arrive at Sunnyside, they meet Latso the huggable purple bear who smells of strawberries and many other toys who're really kind and nice. They say that all of them have similarly been discarded from their owners but have found happiness here because in Sunnyside there's always children playing with them and when they grow up more new ones come in all the time. The toys are overjoyed by this news and that they'll finally have a proper home where their hearts won't be broken. However, Woody insists that they all get back to Andy who needs them but the toys refuse to leave causing Woody to leave the daycare alone. During this time, a baby doll complete with a broken blue eye is introduced as a friend and companion to Latso which does all his bidding. Also, Ken is introduced who instantly falls in love with Barbie. The amount of irony and cultural joking during that point was hilarious.
The new toys, led by Buzz are appointed a different room to Latso and the others but the kids in the other room are much younger and don't know how to play with toys properly yet which means that all of our main characters get beaten and misused all day long. When Latso and Ken are finally confronted, Latso says that he needs the new toys to stay in the toddler room so that him and his toy friends can have the good children. When Buzz tries to intervene, the evil toys pin him down, open him up and reset his settings so he goes back into his factory condition mode causing him to again believe that he is from another galaxy and so on. Latso gets Buzz (who has now forgotten his friends) to lock all his toy friends away so they don't escape whilst the whole "creepy-mad-power hungry-monster toy" themes build up dramatically.
Woody who previously escaped accidentally ends up in a little girl called Bonnie's bag who takes him home and starts playing with him. Whilst Woody greatly enjoys this because he hasn't been played with in years still wants to go back home to Andy and uses Google Maps from the Internet to find that he's only half a block away from Andy's home. He's about to leave when one of Bonnie's toys (a sad clown. surprise surprise) tells him the truth about Sunnyside Daycare because the clown used to be a toy in the daycare too but met the same fate as Woody. Woody realizes that he has a choice to make decides to go back to the Daycare and rescue his friends.
When he sneaks back into the daycare, he makes a plan with the toys and they all eventually escape. However, Latso and his friends catch them right at the end and after a series of revelations our main characters and Latso end up in the garbage truck and taken to the dump and thrown into the grinder and furnace. Latso tricks them all and escapes (but ends up being strapped to a truck driver's front bumper for the rest of his life by accident) leaving all the toys to die. However, the little green aliens save them all using a massive picking up machine.
They all eventually make it back home to Andy's just in time for him leaving. They all go back to Andy's room and fall into their designated boxes with the toys in the Attic box and Woody in the College box. However, after Woody hears Andy's mum giving a tearful lecture about moving on and letting things go he uses a post it stamp to write a note to Andy and sneaks into the Attic box.
Andy reads the notes which tells him to donate the box of toys to Bonnie, the girl who stole Woody before. Andy heads over to her house and tells her that all these toys are really important to him and that she must promise to take real good care of them. He begins explaining to her each toy's history and personality. At the bottom of the box, Bonnie recognizes Woody, and Andy reluctantly decides to give Woody to her as well. Andy and Bonnie play together with the toys, Andy's toys at last enjoying the final playtime with him that they've been longing for. Before Andy drives to college, he thanks the toys for all the time they spent together. Woody says, "So long, partner," and the film ends.
I swear. that whole scene was just tearing me up. I was THIS close to weeping (unlike Abdul Rahman, one of my friends who was wiping the tears from his eyes). I shall never look at my old toys the same again.
A few scenes in the credits show that Sunnyside is now under the leadership of Ken and Barbie and is now a good place to stay where everyone is accepted.
So touching. i swear, if the 3D had not been so completely useless i would have given the movie 10/10. but i shall give it an 8. Two thumbs up.
And also just for old times sakes and in recognition of Toy Story, i shall link the song "You've Got A Friend In Me" which is featured in all three movies. Enjoy :)
