Toy Story 3

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I used to have all these Barbies when I was little…they even had names. The first one I got came with a little ice-cube maker that made heart-shaped ice cubes. She was called Wendy. Then there was Rose, who was a kind of three-in-one Barbie: she had ballet shoes and regular shoes and something else that I can’t remember right now.

Then there was Linda, who wasn’t actually a Barbie (she was a brunette) but was accepted into the Barbie fold anyway, there was Diamond, who briefly replaced Rose as my favourite (she was a Mermaid barbie!) and a Ken, whose name was just Ken… and I think that was all of them, actually. Unless I’m forgetting someone. I probably am.

Anyway, eventually I grew up and I dunno what happened to them. I think they ended up in the attic. Poor things.

Toy Story 2 was released in 1999. For some reason that seems an ridiciously long time ago, and I was what, twelve? It occured to me after leaving the theatre that kids who were Andy’s age when the first couple of films came out would be college age now. And then it’s so incredibly weird seeing Andy as a seventeen-year-old, and Molly as a preteen, and most of the toys (Bo! Weezy! Etch-a-Sketch!) gone, and it’s…it’s just so sad! All of it. Of course, it’s hilarious too, but it’s so sad.

Hey, who would’ve thought the tiny green aliens would end up saving the day? That whole scene with the incinerator was just…wow. It’s one of those scenes that lingers in the mind long after the movie’s finished, and probably will stick around for long after that. First you have Lotso (the only evil toy?) abandoning them just when you think he’s going to get a shot at redemption, and then they all just…hold hands. And accept it. I honestly thought the movie was going to end there! I know that Pixar would’ve tramuatized millions of children by doing that, but then again this film wasn’t really for children, it was for their parents, for all adults. I really truly thought all hope was lost. Mrs Potato Head had just lost her ‘children’ (the aliens) which in itself was pretty horrific, and they’d just saved Lotso when they could have easily left him to die, and he responds by leaving them to a horrible death, and they were just seconds away from the fire that actually looked like hell…thank God for those little aliens.

Oh, but then they all get a happy ending with the little girl, Bonnie. Didn’t Andy ever wonder how Woody ended up in the ‘donate’ box or how all the other toys avoided being thrown out? Guess not. I also can’t help but wonder what the daycare center staff must have thought when they found the place ransacked (and the cymbal playing monkey tied up in a drawer) the next morning…but I guess that’s because I’m viewing it as an adult and not as a kid.

Did anyone else get the feeling that Bonnie was autistic? I did, but I’m not even sure why.

Andy seems to have led a pretty friendless life so far: all his old videos are him and his toys and there’s not another kid in sight! Oh, and Sid has all grown up and is working as a garbage man. There’s only one scene where Andy and Sid are in shot together, and they don’t acknowledge each other, but it would have amused me no end if they’d ended up friends after growing up. (Sid was originally envisioned as a kid who bullied Andy, waaaaay back when they were making the first film.)

I’m sure this film works on so many more levels than I can think of right now, but it’s so funny and touching and heartbreaking. Really. I think it’s probably the best film of the year so far.

I hope my Barbies are having fun in the attic. Sorry, girls.