Sweet Catastrophe

Toy Story 3 was absolutely incredible! I saw it Thursday night and it totally met every one of my expectations and surpassed them!

I still remember when Toy Story first came out way back in 1995. It released on Thanksgiving, which is my Birthday week, so my best friend’s family took us all as part of my present for my tenth Birthday! She has a younger brother about five years younger than us, and between the two of them, they ended up with every character toy on the market! We loved ‘em! And we wrote “Andy” on the bottom of all their feet…at least the ones that didn’t already come that way.

Then it was 1999 before Toy Story 2 came out– Thanksgiving again. We were 14 and wanted to pretend we were too cool for Toy Story, but we couldn’t fight it. We went and saw it anyway by the third week it was out and loved it just as much as the first one.

When I found out they were finally going to release a third one– over a decade after the last– I was way too excited to grab that part of my childhood again! I was even more excited last week when I made plans to go! I couldn’t believe I hadn’t already picked up the first two DVDs on sale at some point. They’re both in my top five favorite animated movies. They’re a must-have for me and I really can’t believe I don’t already own them. I think I just got accustomed to always knowing someone who had them so I always had access to them. I’m absolutely getting them the next time I have any extra spending cash.

When I saw the previews, I knew the movie would be great. If nothing else, it was the same team bringing together the characters I already loved, and not only that, but they were still relate-able to me– Andy’s heading off to college. I essentially grew up with Andy, so it tugs at the heartstrings a little to make that connection.

I was blown away though. I never expected it to be that good, but there wasn’t a single disappointing aspect. I even teared up a few times– during one huge climactic moment that got me super emotional, and the final full scene of the movie with Andy had me constantly watering up and holding back. And in a time when so many movies are just disappointing the hell out of me, it felt so good to have one just really hit the mark.

I definitely say it’s worth the cash to see it soon. 3D was cute, but definitely not necessary. We only saw it in 3D because we were going for free and the 3D showtime fit our schedule best.