Last summer in preparation for this years release of Toy Story 3, Pixar brought back the first two Toy Story movies in 3D to wet our collective appetites. Not that they really needed to. Toy Story is the flagship franchise of that studio and proof that not all cartoons have to be for kids or lack heart or humour or soul or brilliance. I went to the double bill one afternoon, mainly because I wanted to see how they looked in 3D and also because this girl I had a crush on really likes pixar movies and it was a way to spend a few hours in her company. Needless to say it was a great time. I hadn’t seen those movies in probably 9 years and since Pixar puts out a classic every summer I didn’t feel the need to re-watch them again. But sitting there in the dark and being brought back into the world of Woody and Buzz and all the rest brought a smile to my face and warmed my heart. I got excited for next year and what they were going to do in the finale of the series.
Toy Story 1 and 2 are such great companions to each other. None of the magic of the first is lost or diluted in the 2nd and in fact the world is made stronger with the addition of a few new characters. The adventure is funny and touching as they like to do at Pixar and the story of Jessie and her owner is almost heartbreaking in its beauty. I know that most of you have probably already seen TS3 and you rightfully should have by now. But if you haven’t and have never seen the first 2 movies, please go get them right now and watch them and then go see the brilliant third act. This is almost as great as trilogies can get. In fact I would be hard pressed to find a series that has had 3 strong offerings in its run. If you know of one let me know because I am drawing a blank.
