{"id":48,"date":"2010-06-08T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2010\/06\/toy-story-3-welcome-yet-nonessential\/"},"modified":"2010-06-08T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-08T15:00:00","slug":"toy-story-3-welcome-yet-nonessential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2010\/06\/toy-story-3-welcome-yet-nonessential.html","title":{"rendered":"Toy Story 3 — “welcome yet nonessential”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Remember what I said a few months ago about the three phases<\/a> of Pixar\u2019s history, and how this newest sequel-filled phase seems to represent a retreat of sorts from the artistic ambitions of the second phase?<\/span><\/p>\n

The reviews of Toy Story 3<\/a><\/i> have started to trickle out, ten days before the movie\u2019s release, and some of them are echoing these concerns. Take, for example, Peter Debruge<\/a> at Variety<\/i> magazine:<\/p>\n

Andy outgrows his anthropomorphic amigos Buzz and Woody in \u201cToy Story 3,\u201d the franchise\u2019s third (and final?) installment \u2014 and as it turns out, 15 years after launching the computer-animated toon revolution, Pixar has outgrown them, too. Whereas \u201cToy Story 2<\/a>\u201d treated auds to a character-based sequel that handily justified its existence, this tertiary adventure delivers welcome yet nonessential fun, landing well after its creators have grown up and succeeded toying with more sophisticated stories. . . .<\/p>\n

Pixar has essentially set an impossible standard for itself, having previously delivered the rare sequel that improves on the original, then followed that up with a run of exceptional work. This latest script, written by \u201cLittle Miss Sunshine<\/a>\u2018s\u201d Michael Arndt from a story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Unkrich, feels more gag-driven than the studio\u2019s previous efforts \u2014 essentially borrowing a page from DreamWorks Animation, chasing snappy humor over heart-on-their-sleeve sentimentality, within a few months of DreamWorks going the Pixar route with the sincere storytelling of \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon<\/a>.\u201d . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That last comment is especially interesting, given that How to Train Your Dragon<\/i> was co-directed by a former Disney animator who basically left the company after running into creative differences with Pixar chief John Lasseter (over the film that ended up becoming Bolt<\/a><\/i>).<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Steven D. Greydanus<\/a> also links to Debruge\u2019s review, and puts Toy Story 3<\/i> within the broader context of what seems likely to be a rather lacklustre summer, as far as family films go (\u201cIt might be second-string Pixar, but given Pixar\u2019s overall track record of excellence even second-string Pixar is likely to equal, and probably to surpass, the very best the competition has to offer\u201d).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember what I said a few months ago about the three phases of Pixar\u2019s history, and how this newest sequel-filled phase seems to represent a retreat of sorts from the artistic ambitions of the second phase? The reviews of Toy Story 3 have started to trickle out, ten days before the movie\u2019s release, and some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nToy Story 3 -- "welcome yet nonessential"?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Remember what I said a few months ago about the three phases of Pixar's history, and how this newest sequel-filled phase seems to represent a retreat of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2010\/06\/toy-story-3-welcome-yet-nonessential.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toy Story 3 -- "welcome yet nonessential"?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Remember what I said a few months ago about the three phases of Pixar's history, and how this newest sequel-filled phase seems to represent a retreat of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2010\/06\/toy-story-3-welcome-yet-nonessential.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-08T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/TA7AmWky0gI\/AAAAAAAADbQ\/jI4vZocH-vQ\/s400\/toystory3-andy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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