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Director: Lee Unkrich
Release date: June 18, 2010
Rating: ★★★★★ ♕
Review:
I don’t think sequels are a blessing for the animation industry, and I certainly think there are way too many of them, but I admit sometimes a sequel can be very strong. ‘Toy Story 2’, for example, was arguably even better than the original ‘Toy Story’, and even more surprisingly, Toy Story 3’ managed to top both and rounded up the story, neatly.
Unfortunately, Pixar/Disney saw a need for a fourth movie, which is not bad, but extremely superfluous and breaking up the harmony of the first three films. At the time of writing there’s even a fifth film underway…
Back to ‘Toy Story 3’. If there was ever a perfect modern American animated film, ‘Toy Story 3’ is a strong candidate (another strong contender is ‘The Incredibles’ from 2004, also by Pixar). The film already starts great with a fantastic fantasy sequence, showing Andy’s unlimited imagination. But then we move many years forward, and Andy’s no longer a boy, but a young man about to leave his parental home to go to college. Like the moving plot of the first film, this sets a deadline to all subsequent events, which unfold in a combination of chance, errors and misleadings.
The film’s central theme is what are toys to do when their owner grows up? And this theme is played out marvelously, leading up to a very moving and great finale. By now the main cast has become very limited, consisting of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex, Ham, Slinky, Barbie, Mr. & Mrs. Potatohead, and the three aliens, and all have enough screentime to shine. But this film also introduces some new toys. After three quarters of an hour the film even turns into a classic prison break movie, and there’s a ridiculously film noir-like reminiscence by a toy called Chuckles (which is a minor highlight in a film rich in great scenes). More importantly, the film makers are able to have new, and pretty brilliant takes on Barbie, Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead, and especially Buzz Lightyear, which I won’t spoil here. We have come to love these characters, and everybody who watches the film up to the finale will experience a range of emotions seldomly felt in such rapid succession.
In all plot twists the film makers keep in mind what it means to be a toy and play marvelously with it. The film is so well told that only after repeated viewing some plot holes become apparent (how did Bullseye retrieve Woody’s hat? How did the toys retrieve Mr. Potato Head’s body from the sandbox?). The only real and immediately apparent flaw of the movie is its deus ex machina scene, which is too much in your face, and not explained satisfyingly, at all.
The animation and rendering, meanwhile, reaches new heights, and by now the humans and animals have left the uncanny valley, and become real characters, too. Anyway, what’s more to say? Watch this film if you’ve never done it before, and I’m pretty sure if you did you love to watch it again, and again…
Watch the trailer for ‘Toy Story 3’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Toy Story 3’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD
Airing Date: December 4, 1996
Dollhouse Drama
Director: Rob Renzetti
Stars: Dexter
Rating: ★★★★½
Review:
‘Dee Dee’s absence in his lab makes Dexter worried, so he concludes his big sister must be up to something.
In order to find out Dee Dee’s supposedly evil scheme, he uses a shrink ray, shrinking himself, ignoring the possible side-effects of imagination running wild due to the shrinking. Dee Dee, who has been playing with dolls all along, makes great use of this side-effect.
‘Dollhouse Drama’ is one of the most inspired Dexter’s Laboratory episodes of all. The episode builds on earlier idea, presented in ‘Dee Dee’s Room‘: that of Dexter’s imagination running wild in Dee Dee’s room. The scenes in which Dexter stars in Dee Dee’s soap opera story are no less than fantastic, and form a faint echo of the drug-influenced Perky Pat plays in Philip K. Dick’s novel ‘The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch’ (1965). I wonder whether this is pure coincidence or not.
The Justice Friends: Krunk’s Date
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Stars: The Justice Friends
Rating: ★★½
Review:
The bridging episodes within Dexter’s Laboratory three-part episodes were always the weakest, and ‘The Justice Friends: Krunk’s Date’ is no exception.
In this episode of the Justice Friends the Infraggable Krunk falls in love with a member of the enemy team, called She-Thing. This episode drags on, and milks the idea of the Krunk falling in love, while the two teams are clobbering each other way too long. Highlight of this tiresome and disappointing episode is the villain, ‘Comrade Red’, who’s some kind of ridiculous Soviet superhero.
The Big Cheese
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Stars: Dexter
Rating: ★★★★★ ♕
Review:
‘The Big Cheese’ is a great episode in which Dexter tries to learn French while sleeping. Unfortunately, the record player gets stuck on a single word: ‘omelette du fromage’…
‘The Big Cheese’ is one of the all time classsic episodes of Dexter’s Laboratory, and one that viewers still remember 25 years after viewing. The whole idea of Dexter being able to utter ‘omelette du fromage’ only is hilarious in itself, but the execution is even better, taking unexpected turns. Especially, the montage sequence is an absolute delight, as is the catastrophic punchline of the episode. But to me the best part are Dee Dee’s first two expressions when she realizes Dexter can only say ‘omelette du fromage’.
Note that one of Dexter’s records is ‘Steven Hawks Sings’, which clearly refers to Stephen Hawking.
‘Dollhouse Drama/The Justice Friends: Krunk’s Date/The Big Cheese’ is available on the DVD ‘Dexter’s Laboratory Season One: All 13 Episodes’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 