What's amazing is that "Toy Story 3" doesn't just match its brilliant predecessor in terms of depth, excitement and humor; it exceeds it in just about every way. The eleven-year gap between installments works in the film's favor, since that passage of time provides the strong emotional undercurrent that drives the story.
SHOOT: Can't wait.
Now comes their 11th animated feature, "Toy Story 3," which is not only the best "Toy Story" of them all (and that's saying a lot), but it also continues Pixar's extraordinary capacity for telling strong, clever and exciting stories that are filled with humor, heart and, most of all, imagination. To that extent, it's safe to say that on a scale of one to ten, "Toy Story 3" goes to infinity -- and beyond.
Then again, the fact that it succeeds as well as it does is a miracle in itself, since trilogies have an unfortunate tendency to go out with more of a whimper than a bang. Witness superior sequels like "The Godfather Part II," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Spider-Man 2," which were followed by inferior threequels like "The Godfather Part III," "Return of the Jedi" and "Spider-Man 3."
Up to this point, the exception to the rule was the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but now, thankfully, you can add "Toy Story" to the list. |