Toy Story 3

It’s incredible to me that Toy Story came out in 1995. I know people who weren’t even born then. I’m probably one of very few in my London friendship group who actually remembers going to the cinema to see it on the big screen. That to me seems quite bizarre, although I’m sure there are people a little older than I am who find it just as strange that I wasn’t born for early-80s films.

In many ways, though, this film was for my age group. Not to downplay the significance of the film to younger people, but as something of a farewell to a franchise, as a film fundamentally about the changes that come about when you grow older, it works best for people around my age who were just old enough to appreciate Toy Story’s wry layer of adult-oriented gags and references at the time…and, thinking about it, perhaps even more for those just a few years younger than me, who were entirely caught up in the magic of that first excursion.

Toy Story 3 finds us back in Andy’s house when he is no longer a child. He is 17 now, and off to college. He doesn’t play with his toys any more, and clearing out his room means that it is time to put away childish things in a more definitive way than putting them in the toy box. What will happen to the toys now? Will they be donated to a daycare centre? Put in the trash? Stored away in the attic to quietly stagnate in the hopes that one day Andy will have kids of his own to give them to?
What actually happens in the film is not necessarily what Andy intended, but pretty much all of the different possibilities get explored to some degree. And Pixar as ever capitalise on their magnificent ability to give a film heart, to imbue every situation with high-octane adventure as well as characters that are highly sympathetic.

The remarkable thing about Toy Story, though, is how is well-thought-out everything is. It’s not simply something that comes of working for hundreds of hours on every beautiful frame: that is to simplify the story-writing process and to misrepresent how much work goes into a good live-action film. Pixar simply do not let their stories get sloppy. Coincidences are few and far between and palatable when they do arrive: the one who finds Woody, for example, not only being a girl who lives near the place he must return to, but also having taken home the doll who can give him information that proves invaluable later on. The baddie is more than two-dimensional, and has a fitting fate!

I left the cinema with the impression that not only had the writers thought of what would make a good, emotionally rich story, but they also thought of the impact this story would have on an impressionable young audience. Making a story in which we must feel sympathetic for toys getting thrown away could have influenced a whole generation to be hoarders of vast amounts of toys, but instead the message ends up being that it is better to give them to someone who will really value them. The film came close to making it seem like donating toys will only get them smashed up and abused, but averted that at the last minute.

But the real achievement remains the ability to encourage an audience to be emotionally invested. Betrayal, indignation, exultant relief…the sad beauty of being resigned to what seems an inevitable fate but facing it together with your friends – these are the kind of emotional points that more live-action films ought to embrace.

Pixar films are always beautiful, so I wanted to see it in the best possible way. Was slightly disappointed, then, to find that unlike Waterloo’s immense screen, the IMAX at Greenwich is about half the size, and certainly not able to fill the entire field of vision. It was simply a large and very crisp screen with a good sound system. However, once the film got going I realized I was actually getting a better experience than many I have in the full-sized IMAX. The 3D glasses worked the best of any I’ve used since polarizing methods were introduced save in the Taiwan aquarium, and I got no ghosting or blur at all, for a change. Everything was lovely and crisp and fluid. As for the size of the screen, well, sometimes in the full IMAX it’s a nuisance knowing you’re not seeing every detail, but you never are in any film in any case, and I have to say I do prefer it as large as possible!

But it is well worth seeing the film in the best possible visual format. It’s beautiful to look at: action sequences are choreographed with genius, sight gags are timed to perfection, and the pastiches of different film styles are, as ever, note-perfect, from the harsh light of a crime film police interview on Buzz’s face to Ken’s brilliant fashion parade.

My generation will undoubtedly have less prejudice against animation than any before it, and it is increasingly being taken seriously as an art form. Pixar are never going to produce something shockingly mature and adult, but that does not detract from the fact that they create some of the most important films of any currently in production. All reinforced, to my mind, by special thanks to Ghibli staff members and the surprisingly prominent role for Totoro.