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Duh.

Kim Hollis: For those of you who have seen Toy Story 3, what did you think of it?

Matthew Huntley: I think it's a superior adventure comedy. It's a riot to sit through and, at some points, surprisingly dark and tense. As with most Pixar films, it's got a very tight narrative and assured confidence. Its individual scenes are also unpredictable, even though you can anticipate the overall story arc. The emotion is there, too, so don't be surprised if you find yourself getting choked up.

With that said, though, I did find it slightly derivative of Toy Story 2, especially in regards to its central conflict, the villain and the climactic action sequence. Perhaps the filmmakers wanted to recapture the brilliance of its predecessor so much that they unwittingly recycled some of its elements. This, to me, prevented Toy Story 3 from being a full-on masterpiece and it didn't have the "wow" factor of, say, Ratatouille, with its freshness and originality. But even though the movie felt like familiar territory, it has plenty of new and funny moments to be thoroughly entertaining.





Josh Spiegel: I loved the movie for the reasons that Matthew listed, especially the tight narrative. The movie covers a lot of ground in less than two hours, and not a moment felt wasted or rushed. The emotion is definitely there; though the last 20 minutes aren't all of a piece, with different settings and character-based stakes, they are a perfect combination of encouraging you to bring Kleenex. I didn't find the film derivative, if only because the toys being separated from one another has always happened in the series; I could've found the villain more derivative had his backstory not been so different. Granted, it's not a rat cooking in Paris, but I found plenty of originality throughout all the fun. As with the best movies, this one's for everyone to enjoy and love.

Jason Lee: It is the most beautiful and fitting send off for these characters that I could have ever imagined. It tackled what should be the most difficult moment in a toy's life and did so with honesty, sensitivity and humor. I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire theater during the last 20 minutes of the film.

David Mumpower: I found Toy Story 3 ultimately satisfying but it didn’t take my breath away the way that the best Pixar films have done in the past. In fact, I found a scene I’ll describe as The Inferno at the end of the film to be gratuitous and overly long build-up for one (admittedly superlative) joke. The scene at the end that either closes out the story or starts a new one, depending on perspective, is as good as Pixar gets, though. And by that, I mean it is as good as the cinema format allows. A discussion we’ve had a lot over the years, most recently with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is that the most difficult task is the meeting of expectations in situations like this where build-up and demand are at unprecedented heights. Toy Story 3 accomplishes this and while I don’t think it will be one of the five best films I see this year, it will be a movie I enjoy watching with my family for the rest of my life.

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