New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

5. Toy Story 3 (2010)

Perhaps it was because the original Toy Story came out during my rebellious teenage years (ha!) or because I was too allied still to the old-Disney hand-drawn animation model that spun around the traditional story line with a princess, etc., but I was never a big fan of the original Toy Story. I suspect that revisiting it may change my mind, because Toy Story 3 is definitely among my favorite of Pixar’s films.

Here, the theme of growing up and forgetting one’s past, explored with a vengeance in Inside Out, appears fully and beautifully. At the same time, themes of being old and forgotten - cast aside for shiny new endeavors if you will - is weaved in. The juxtaposition reminds us of the subtle value of consistency but also exhorts us to move among states and stages of life while keeping close at heart the memories from others. In a way, then, Toy Story 3 really is a precursor to a lot of the thematic analysis of Inside Out, and it is perhaps for that reason that it resonates with me today.

On top of that, Toy Story 3 features some of the best caper scenes of the trilogy, and the excitement and danger is the most thrilling. It is not surprise, then, that audiences reacted so well to this movie across the world. Today topped only by Frozen, Toy Story 3 became the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide.

4. Up (2009)

The opening sequence of my fourth favorite Pixar film, Up, is one of the most beautiful of any of its movies. Unabashedly tear-jerking, and with an award-winning score by the talented Michael Giacchino (who also composed what I hope is an Academy Award-nominated score for Inside Out, and a score for that other movie that everyone is talking about, Jurassic World), the epilogue of Up, if you will, sets up beautifully why we should care about the old-age story that is still to come. The story, as it turns out, was both melancholy and redemptive, sweet and sour, and even poetic.

It’s not clear if the old man lead (Carl) is Spencer Tracy, Walter Matthau, a combination thereof, or the grandpa of one of the animators. What is clear is that he is one of the funniest antagonists-turned heroes of any Pixar films, and that the sequences in which he appears are a delight. Speaking of sequences, the high-flying animation sequences topped Pixar’s work to date. The color, together with the wind, provided an exquisite touch to an exhilarating adventure that had audiences at the edge of their seat.

But perhaps my favorite thing about Up is the allegory between the house/home and the human heart. Trapped in his home, Carl is essentially afraid and embittered towards the outside world. But as the house is blown away through earth, it is essentially blown back through his life (as he rediscovers his youthful energy and reasons to live). The house then must be rescued and protected, but one must also not be afraid to venture out of it, for true beauty may lie outside of it, waiting to be brought within.

Thanks to the Best Picture expansion, Up became only the second animated movie in film history to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture (after Beauty and the Beast). It was also the first animated movie to ever open the entire Cannes Film Festival (where Inside Out also premiered). Historically then, it was almost as significant as my following entry, to which Up owes at least some of its critical success, if only by historical accident…

Continued:       1       2       3       4