Toy Story 3

We decided it was time to take Elise (now 5) to see her first ever movie in a theater. A couple of her friends had already seen Toy Story 3, so on the recent holiday weekend, we took the whole family (including 2.5 year old Luke *insert suspense chords*) to see the first showing of the day at a local theater. I knew it was going to be entertaining when the guy at the ticket booth appeared to be still drunk from the night before and slurred, “This is not my day of time. I mean, time of dayyyyy…uhhhh.”

After the 25 MINUTES of previews and things-that-are-not-Toy Story 3, Luke declared “I go on walk.” And thus began my movie-watching enjoyment. (And I wondered why we hadn’t done this before?)

So, this review missed the opening sequence and whatever was shown while I rode up and down the elevators at the mall 5 times, but to suffice it to say, I saw the majority of this Pixar masterpiece, and it truly was a masterpiece.

Like most movies in this genre, there are plenty of laughs for kids and probably more for the adults. There were plenty of references and jokes that flew over the heads of the child-set, including lines from other movies like “Cool Hand Luke” and “Legally Blonde.”  So there we were, laughing out loud asynchronously: the two adults laughing together to a more sophisticated joke, the 5-year laughing to one of the silly physical jokes, the 2.5 year old laughing randomly at animated peas or something.

I really appreciated the kid-bladder-sized length (under 2 hours). The narrative moved swiftly and purposefully. I also have always found Tom Hanks’ voice (who plays main hero Woody) very comforting - also loved having voices of Joan Cusack, Tim Allen, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, etc etc. There was only one suspenseful sequence involving a conveyor belt leading to some trash jaws of death that got Elise a little scared, but it passed quickly and then she was okay. And the end? OMG, the end was perfect and sweet and touching AND I CRIED. I did. At 11:00 in the morning, holding a massive 2.5 year old on my lap and watching computer-animated figures, I cried like a prominent character in the movie, Big Baby.

We loved it. Well, the 3 of us loved it. Pretty sure Luke has no idea what happened for 2 hours.

Note: We did not see the rest of the series, so clearly you don’t need to have seen those to understand and appreciate this one.

Go see it! You will not be disappointed.