

It’s that it rarely lets viewers really care about its characters. The worst crime of The Good Dinosaur, which went through several incarnations and a lot of behind-the-scenes drama as Pixar tried to figure out what do with its big dino film, isn’t the actual quality of the story or animation. There’s one standard to uphold, though: The best Pixar movies aren’t just beautifully animated and capable of inspiring laughs - they also twist our stomach into knots and make us contemplate the value of life. Ranking Pixar’s movies isn’t easy, since there isn’t really a terrible Pixar movie, just ones that fall flat compared to the most indelible classics. So the Polygon staff got together to deliberate which movies represent Pixar’s most moving, ambitious, and exciting efforts.
#TOY STORY 3 LOTSO MOVIE#
Over the course of more than 25 years, Pixar has done more to redefine what an animated movie can be than any other US studio.īut given that studio has put out nearly two dozen feature films at this point, even animation fans may not have seen them all, and could maybe use a little help in laying out priorities for a Pixar deep dive or rewatch. This beautiful movie weaves together our joyful fantasies of the past, the ones that helped form us, and our darker fears of being forgotten - and in that weave it offers hope that we can somehow reconcile those poles of life for ourselves.Ever since Toy Story hit theaters in 1995, movies from Pixar Animation Studios have been radically raising the bar for American animation, from pushing the technological envelope on CG films to addressing big emotional topics that used to be taboo. The paradox of Pixar is that, using advanced technology, it elevates the old-fashioned, the links to a more innocent form of play. But for grown-ups, the film will touch something deeper: the heartfelt wish that childhood memories never fade. Kids will love Toy Story 3 for its cliffhangers and slapstick spills. In the script by Michael Arndt, who wrote Little Miss Sunshine, the gags are all of a piece, right up to the forlorn yet enchanting finale. At Sunnyside, Barbie is instantly smitten by Ken (who has the voice of Michael Keaton), and all those Ken-is-gay jokes get a new spin: He's a metrosexual elated at finding someone for whom he can show off his disco wardrobe. The toys - especially the cowboy Woody, with the voice of Tom Hanks - see the boy who owns them, Andy, in the way of parents whose kids are growing up and moving on.Īs usual with Pixar, the little things win your heart: Woody escaping out the bathroom window, but pausing to put down a sheet of toilet paper before stepping on the seat.


Toy Story 3 has another dimension, probably the upshot of creators John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and the director, Lee Unkrich, getting older and having kids. The idea is almost Buddhist in how it invests all matter with a life force worthy of reverence. But they have spiritual properties, and to discard them carelessly is to dishonor the past that shaped us. Pixar very likely borrowed the premise from Thomas Disch's The Brave Little Toaster: Objects once prized lose their newness and become disposable. The Toy Story pictures are rooted in a child's fantasy of what happens when he or she turns out the lights and the toys come alive - but I've never thought of them as "kids' movies." At heart they're about aging, impermanence, loss and death.

#TOY STORY 3 LOTSO SERIES#
Yes, there will be pressure to squeeze out more sequels: This is, as industry folks say, a "franchise," a studio "tent pole." But if the people who run Pixar are as savvy as I think, they'll know the series should end like this, on a lovely, wistful high. With any luck, Toy Story 3 will be the last of the Toy Story movies.
