Pixar Review 27: Toy Story 3

August 3, 2015August 4, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

I’ve struggled in writing my review for Toy Story 3 because my nieces hate it. It is a film that gets very intense, too intense for my nieces and I didn’t know how much to take that into account. I had the same struggle with my Pinocchio review, which in my defense was only the 2nd review I had ever written but at the time I said:

Pinocchio is visually gorgeous with good, if heavy-handed moral teachings. It can be scary for kids and has a grim overall feel. I appreciate it but I can’t give it my highest rating because of how I know it affected me as a child.

So I gave Pinocchio a B+ and I’ve gone back and forth on it ever since. In many ways the issue is the same with Toy Story 3. How much does a child’s opinion count in reviewing an animated film? We know that animation isn’t just for children but in the same breath if they don’t like it isn’t that a problem? I don’t know. I honestly can’t decide. What do you think?

Anyway, in the end I can only review a movie based on what I think of it. At least with the Pinocchio review I was taking into account only what I thought of it as a child not other children. I don’t have that luxury with Toy Story 3. But I didn’t let anyone else’s opinions affect any of my other reviews so why should my nieces feelings be any different. I’m just going to tell you what I think. So here goes.

I love Toy Story 3! I mean this was me after watching it yesterday!

And yet I was also laughing and enjoying the tense moments so it isn’t just a cryfest. It may just be the best 3rd installment in a franchise ever. Return of the King, Indiana Jones and Last Crusade may be better but that’s all I can think of. Can you?

Anyway, in this film we are 11 years after the events of Toy story 2 and just as you might expect Andy has grown up and is off to college.

In the opening scenes they lay out two key themes for the rest of the movie:

1. Andy’s Toys are a family and while they’ve lost some they stick together as best as they can.

2. That Andy will play with them one more time.

But both seem like an impossibility because Andy wants to take Woody to college with him and the rest are accidentally sent to a daycare center called Sunnyside as a donation by Andy’s Mom.

At first the daycare seems like a pretty great setup for the toys. They will get played with again after 10 years in dust and that seems pretty great. They are also welcomed by the leader of Sunnyside, a bear named Lots-O (for Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear) voiced by Ned Beatty.

Unfortunately all is not sunny at the daycare and the next section of the movie turns into a prison escape story but it never gets serious for too long. Most of the humor comes from Buzz who gets put on his Spanish setting (so funny!).

And Michael Keaton is also hilarious as the Ken doll who falls instantly in love with Barbie and is very concerned with his wardrobe.

There is also humor from a little girl named Bonnie’s toys who fancy themselves a kind of theater group. We also learn from these toys the true story about Lots-O and how he came to run Sunnyside like a jail.

Directed by Lee Unkrich he is not afraid to push the boundaries of our expectations. Most people assume characters in a movie like this are not going to die but boy do they come close in the famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) incinerator scene. It is such a bold scene:

I still can’t believe they cut it that close but it is incredibly gripping if way too intense for my nieces! I completely get their response because I also feel tense watching it. How can you not?

With the prison escape done we get the end of the movie which is Andy’s chance to say goodbye to his childhood and for the toys, especially Woody, to say goodbye to him. Pixar is so great at these type of emotional, life changing moments and this is one of the best.

Some may say it is unrealistic for a college student to play with his toys one last time but I don’t think it is. Maybe in a previous era it might have been but this is the era of adults trick-or-treating and dressing up for comicon. This is the era of grown men collecting Funko dolls and displaying them proudly.

I’m not the most nostalgic person in the world but even I have dolls displayed proudly in my room and I’m 34 years old. If I had to give them up I would cry because my Grandma gave them to me. There’s no reason to assume Andy would be any less attached to these toys.

But even if you set that reality aside saying goodbye to the toys is symbolic of Andy saying goodbye to his childhood and I think he knows that. In many ways it is kind of like the end of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh when Christopher tells Pooh that he can’t do nothing any more even though it is what he loves most of all.

Plus, in this final scenes we get the fulfillment of the 2 promises made at the beginning of the film creating a nice sense of closure to the film. Just as we were promised Andy plays with the toys one more time and they all stay together because they are a family. Love that.

I think we all have those moments in life where we put away childhood and become a grown up. It’s like the scripture says:

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things”

That is the ending of Toy Story 3 and it is an emotion almost anyone can relate and respond too. In a way you could call it the great necessary evil of life. Despite what Peter Pan wants we all must eventually grow up.

It practically goes without saying the animation is stunning- bright and colorful, with a clarity and realism to all the characters I haven’t seen in Pixar till this film. Also the voice work is top notch with all our familiar characters and new voice actors such as Keaton, Beatty, Whoopi Goldberg, Timothy Dalton, Bonnie Hunt and Jeff Garlin. Everyone involved in Toy Story 3 did an amazing job.

Thankfully we have Pixar to keep making films for adults and some children who aren’t too terrified! They help keep some of the magic alive within all of us and Toy Story 3 has magic in spades. I loved watching it again and if I ever have kids maybe I will just fast forward the incinerator scene so they can enjoy it too. 🙂

Overall Grade- A+

And for the record I have faith they have a good idea for Toy Story 4 and it will be good. It is not going to be a continuation of the Andy storyline but exist solely in the world of the toys, a romance I’ve been told. John Lasseter is directing 4 so sign me up!

July Youtube Videos

August 2, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Here are my monthly end of month summary videos on youtube. A few of these I haven’t reviewed on this blog because they were bad and I try to keep my bad reviews on here rare.

And here’s my new background and tour of my DVD/Blu-ray collection you guys might enjoy.

I also did this Inside Out tag which you guys might like and anyone who wants to do the tag on their blog go for it!

And another video I did on Movies I Like that Others Dont.

Any comments or thumbs up you give is always appreciated. Thank so much for your support on this blog and the channel.

What if Disney Villains had Kids: My Descendants Movie Review

August 2, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

I definitely want to watch this show but in the meantime will share with you Natalie’s thoughts on the new Disney Channel movie Descendants. Looks like a great show!

Shaun the Sheep Review

August 1, 2015August 2, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Believe it or not the next animated film of 2015 is here, Aardman Animation’s delightful Shaun the Sheep. Based on the BBC series of the same name (which I had not seen till today) it is a spin off of the popular Wallace and Gromit movie and series created by Nick Park and team. However, most of Wallace and Gromit’s humor is based on the PG Wodehouse type dialogue where Shaun the Sheep has literally no dialogue at all so they are quite different films.

The better comparison for Shaun the Sheep is the recent Minions. Both movies are about adorable creatures who can’t speak English and go on an adventure. In my opinion Shaun the Sheep is the much better of the two.

I went with a friend and her two kids. They seemed a little tired so that may have been part of it but they weren’t super into it. I think I laughed much more than they did so make of that what you will. That said, I think this is a funny movie for the whole family without any of that wink-wink humor Minions had in droves. There is a little bit of potty humor but not much. Mostly it is just funny sight gags and slapstick.

The plot is pretty simple (also an improvement from the convoluted plot of Minions). Basically Shaun and his buddies decide they want a break from the farm so they put the Farmer to sleep and attempt to make their escape. Unfortunately the Farmer ends up in the Big City and loses his memory. They must go after him and help him remember who he is.

There is a nice relationship between the Farmer and the sheep I liked. As crazy as it sounds it felt genuine. The sheep seem genuinely worried about their owner.

There is a ‘Animal Containment Specialist’ named Trumper who is the villain of the film. He is kind of like a Home Alone style villain who gets fixated on catching the sheep to his own funny detriment. (A little like the Farmers Wife in Chicken Run).

Shaun the Sheep is a brisk 85 minutes and despite having no dialogue aside from grunting and ba,ba,ba, I was engaged. It’s pretty funny the humans all talk like the Swedish Chef in the Muppets but it works because we get just enough of it.

I don’t know if Shaun the Sheep is quite as memorable as Chicken Run or Wallace and Gromit but I suppose that is a tall order. Is it one we will be talking about in 15 years like we do Chicken Run (can you believe it is that old!)? Probably not but I enjoyed it. And like I said compared to Minions it is so much cleaner, smarter and enjoyable.

I also like the design of the sheep. They are so cute but they also talk out of the side of their mouth in a funny way. Stop motion animation is so amazing to watch. It always blows me away.

If any of you get to see it let me know what you think especially if you are a fan of the series, which I am definitely going to check out.

Overall Grade- B+

Here is my youtube review.

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation Review

August 1, 2015August 1, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Growing up my family and I really enjoyed watching the old Mission Impossible TV show. They were so clever with the cases and we loved the team dynamic to their problem solving. When the first Mission Impossible movie came out I was kind of let down because although it looked nice I didn’t think it had that team feel. It was just the Tom Cruise show. Fortunately since the 3rd in the series the team dynamic has returned and the series has gotten better with 3 and 4. I don’t think the new entry Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is quite as good as Ghost Protocol (MI4) but it is an entertaining time at the movies.

I ran out of time today so here is the rest of my thoughts on the movie on my youtube video. I think you guys will really enjoy this film.

A Seuss Strike Out pt 2: The Cat in the Hat

July 30, 2015July 30, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

There are some movies that are just bad ideas from the start. A live action Cat in the Hat was one of those movies. Unlike the Lorax where we have a fairly strong narrative with a fable-like story, the lovely Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss is basically a story about having fun on a rainy day. There’s just not enough heft there for a feature film.

But nevertheless they made the attempt in 2003 and what you got was one of the worst movies ever made. I have yet to hear of anyone that likes this movie.

The story of Cat in the Hat is 2 kids Conrad and Sally bored on a rainy day. Their Mother is gone and they have nothing to do when in walks a cat with a hat who is determined to show the kids some fun.

“It is fun to have fun but you have to know how”

This fun consists of balancing a lot of stuff on a ball while the kids fish complains he is making a mess. When that doesn’t work he unleashes 2 creatures called Thing 1 and Thing 2 who fly a kite in the house and make a mess. Eventually the Cat helps them clean up and everything is good.

That’s it. That’s the story.

What does the movie do with said story? They turn it into a ghastly looking, shoutfest, with double entendres, potty humor, and a general mean spirited nature. Part of the problem is the film confuses chaos with fun. Characters shouting and making messes is not in and of itself pleasant to watch or entertaining. Or maybe it is for 1600 words but not for 82 minutes in a movie!

Mike Myers is the lead cat and it is one of the most ghastly makeup jobs and creatures ever put into a movie. I’m sure someone could redo the film and turn it into a horror movie. In the book the cat looks more lean and lengthy but here it is awful.

Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning are the kids and they mostly scream at the Cat for making a mess and getting them in trouble. Again, not fun to watch.

The fish is there but like most things in this movie looks very disturbing instead of cute.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 arrive and don’t just fly kites but end up taking kids on amusement park type ride and destroy the house. It’s not funny or interesting just exhausting.

Then they add plotlines with the kids Mother played by Kelly Preston and her horrible boss played by Sean Hayes.

She also has a horrible boyfriend played by Alec Baldwin who of course hates the kids and wants to send Conrad to military school. I guess they were trying to add some kind of villain into the mix but it isn’t funny or compelling or fun in any way.

The worst of all is their nanny Mrs Kwan is a narcoleptic who they mock throughout the movie. Some of it I found to be kind of racist and it is all thoroughly mean. She’s treated like a human doll to beat up on and I suppose if she was some awful person that would be one thing but she pretty much sleeps the whole movie. It’s not funny to see a woman treated like that.

Then to top it off we get a rave party scene with Paris Hilton making an appearance. You know who you always want in your children’s movie- Paris Hilton in a skimpy party number. What were they thinking?

The Cat in the Hat creators need to spend more time with kids to understand what fun is for a child because their attempt to create it falls flat every time. Nothing is funny and nothing is fun. When a kid plays they are random but not usually complete chaos. They may combine their Star Wars and GI Joe characters together in an epic story dominating Barbies (random) but they aren’t just flailing about throwing their toys around the room and if they are they don’t do it for 82 minutes.

That’s what was so ingenious about the Lego Movie. They captured the randomness of a kids mind better than any movie I’ve seen. You had the pirate, Harry Potter and Abe Lincoln all together but there was a story and an inventiveness that worked. It wasn’t just madness all the time.

I suppose the writers were trying to take Myers Shrek style of comedy that was so successful at that time and apply it to this movie. The problem with that is at least with Shrek (not a big fan of those films) there was an actual story and more than one performer to bounce the humor off of. The little asides and adults only jokes are obnoxious in Shrek but I’d watch all 4 of those movies on repeat rather than sit through Cat in the Hat again.

Everything doesn’t need to be a movie and Cat in the Hat should have been stopped at the idea stage. Some of the sets look bright and colorful but in total it feels like an assault to the senses so even that isn’t pleasant.

Badly done Hollywood!! Seuss deserves better than this atrocity.

Overall Grade- F

Why do you still watch cartoons?

July 29, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

This is very well said and very true. For some animation is too separated from reality. For me it is like any other medium it can produce all ranges of emotions and reactions. I mean think we have everything from Winnie the Pooh to Akira to Waltz with Bashir. But I think what excites me about animation is it is literally art on the screen and so even a silly comedy has a new layer that I love so much. So yes I’m 34 years old and still watch cartoons!

Pixar Review 26: Day and Night

July 29, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

I hope you guys enjoyed my review of Up, my favorite movie. It was difficult to write but I did my best. Now for a nice breath of fresh air let’s appreciate Pixar’s delightful animated short Day & Night.

In many ways this short feels like some of the early shorts because it is more special because of the methods they used than the short itself, although the short is charming. It’s more like a Red’s Dream or Tin Toy where they were clearly stretching their artistic and technical capabilities and trying something new.

The new experiment was not just a hybrid of 2D and CG but telling stories with both mediums in the same shot. It’s really quite brilliant. 2 years later we would get the hybrid film Paperman but that’s more of a meshing of the 2 instead of them existing separately within the same story. For people that are down and depressed about the loss of 2D animation (I know many of you readers are) you should take heart at things like Day and Night. It’s sign that while we may not see the 2D film from Disney anytime soon a hybrid using both techniques is certainly possible and I think quite likely.

Anyway, Day and Night is directed by Teddy Newton and it stars 2 creatures, one is Day, one is night. We know this because we can see the world in their bodies from their unique perspectives.

At first they are kind of fascinated by what’s going on in the others world. Then they become envious and frustrated, even angry at the things they don’t have.

They are also very boastful of the things they have especially Day.

But they also learn they can work together and both enjoy experiences like when Night allows Day to enjoy a drive in movie. The movie on screen is the cowboy scene the puppies are watching in 101 Dalmatians.

The sound design and mixing by Barney Jones and Tom Myers is first rate in Day and Night. What’s really neat is the way the 2D and 3D worlds are connected. For instance, when Night is punching Day each punch is coordinated perfectly with a logger chopping down a tree with an ax. Then when the tree is toppled Day falls to the ground along with the tree.

What’s so lovely is the creatures go from envy, to teamwork, to seeing life from the other’s perspective and that I think is the true message of Day and Night. In fact, Dr Wayne Dyer appears as a voice from a radio tower ending with the thought:

“You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe are the most mysterious.”

I like the message and it’s not as heavy-handed as you might think because it is split up into small bits. And I like the idea of walking in another’s shoes before judging them. It’s so important especially in this day and age.

And it looks so lovely. One of my favorite sequences is them battling out Las Vegas which of course looks better at night!

I guess if I was to nitpick the oogling over the bikini clad women I Could do without, but it’s not a huge problem for me.

Michael Giacchino did a great job with the music and having just enough of it to be effective without getting in the way of the sound effects.

Is it my favorite Pixar short? Probably not but I really do like Day and Night. Definitely worth seeing and I hope we see even more hybrid and 2D elements in future Pixar shorts and films.

Overall Grade- B+

Hit Me with Your Best Shot: Safe

July 28, 2015July 26, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

This week’s Hit Me with Your Best Shot is another film I had never heard of (hence great thing about being a part of the project!) called Safe. It is directed by Todd Haynes and is definitely not for everyone. In fact, I can say confidently that most of my normal readers will hate it.

You see how it says “Best film of the decade” by the Village Voice on this poster? Well, let’s just say that Safe seems exactly like the kind of movie which would be the best film of the decade for the hipster Village Voice magazine.

That’s not to say I didn’t like it but it is such a weird movie. It’s slow and puzzling and not a lot happens. Most of my readers will find it extremely boring but I thought it was interesting. Not one I will watch again but it was strange enough to be worth a watch.

The story centers around Julianne Moore’s Carol who is a homemaker that suddenly becomes ill without any seeming cause. It is later defined as ‘multiple chemical sensitivity’. The movie never really explains if this is a quack diagnosis or a legitimate illness. The doctors in the movie don’t seem to buy into it but she just keeps getting sicker.

They send her to a shrink convinced it is a psychiatric problem but he is of little help. She tells him “aren’t you supposed to be the one asking all the questions”. But it may be a psychiatric condition because she does seem to be embracing chemicals like when she gets a perm and a manicure at the same time (any more chemical thing than that?).

It’s hard because we don’t know enough about her before the illness to know whether it is psychiatric or not. She’s a very strange character. I can’t think of any other way to describe it.

Safe is one of those art-house pictures where the suburbs are stifling and housewives do nothing but go to lunches and have babies. They try to make her husband seem like a bad guy but I never really bought that. He doesn’t ever get angry. He comes and visits her later on and he does ask questions. She’s so quiet and mousey that I felt kind of sorry for him. How is he supposed to know what is going on when she is so non-communicative?

But regardless it is clear they don’t have much love as a couple and are more comfortable with their lifestyle than anything else (both of them). Then Carol gets sick and she keeps running into different chemicals whether at a baby shower or at the dry cleaners. Eventually she ends up in the hospital where she see’s an ad for a treatment center.

It is billed as a clean spa but it turns out to be a cult led by Peter Dunning played by Peter Friedman. He uses a lot of self help junk that in the end blames the ill for their illness and doesn’t really help them to get better.

In fact, Carol seems to be getting worse despite eventually moving into a completely sterile igloo. This hastening is blamed on her in the counseling sessions.

And yet is it her fault?

She’s still sick but oddly enough in her new home she is happy, cult and all. So what is Carol sick from? And will she ever be safe?

We leave the movie with her smiling and happy. The people in the cult have thrown her a Birthday party. They seemingly love her. What does that mean for her? I have no idea! That’s what makes this movie weird. The cult is a happy ending and seemingly preferable to suburban life. So weird but it oddly works.

As someone who has dealt with my own share of mental illness I found Safe’s lack of answers both intriguing and frustrating. I like to think there is the one thing I can do that will solve the problem and I will never have a panic attack again but that’s just not the case. I’m not sure if that’s the message of the movie? Maybe? Who knows?

Best Shot-

Safe looks great throughout so it is hard to pick a best shot. Cinematographer Alex Nepomniaschy did an excellent job capturing the isolation of Carol in her 80’s suburban life. I’m sure a lot of people will pick this shot but at the beginning we see Carol in a long panning shot drinking a tall glass of milk. Behind her are painters with fumes, plastic that smells and she’s staring right at the camera which is unusual for any movie.

Carol feels very small amongst all the whiteness on the curtains, painters, cupboards and even her milk. This moment not only foreshadows the future allergens that will consume Carol but it also shows how unnatural she is in her own environment. Look how stiff she sits in her chair, and who drinks milk in a room like that with people painting? Why not go outside and drink? There’s just something so strange about it and in a way that captures this movie. It’s a weird but intriguing film.