With a few brief blurbs from Variety and Hollywood Reporter (good, not great), Indiewire/Thompson on Hollywood’s Anne Thompson writes of TS3:
My take: This movie is more than welcome, while most of the studio movies released so far this year are utterly nonessential. The third Toy Story installment is a fascinating meta-movie that works on several levels at once. We start inside the vivid imagination of child Andy as he plays with the toys we know and love, led by Woody and Buzz (voiced again by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen). We move onto teen Andy trying to decide which toys to take to college; he keeps Woody and throws the rest into a garbage bag, but is distracted from delivering them to the attic; they end up first in the trash, then at a rough-and-tumble daycare center. Right from the start, Michael Arndt’s script and Lee Unkrich’s direction manipulate us into responding to real threats to these toys, not just to their happiness but their very survival. And parents will feel a familiar pang at watching a child leave his innocence behind.
Pixar does not rest on its laurels here. This is sophisticated storytelling crammed with visual, editing and sonic cues (Randy Newman is back in fine form), as the movie veers entertainingly (not jarringly) from one genre to another and deploys more and more complex technology as it goes. And like Up, it reaches into the heart and squeezes. My bet: with a boost from 3D (which like How to Train Your Dragon and Up is an organic, immersive enhancement), this will be the movie to beat as the summer’s top performer
I think she’s right, money-wise. ¬†The Oscar is up in the air still, but so far it will be Dragon’s main competition. This is what I think about Toy Story 3 and Oscar, and I say this without yet having seen the film ¬†- Pixar is lousy with Oscars already. ¬†Let’s look at their track record:
2001 – Shrek (Dreamworks) – beat Monsters, Inc.
2002 – Spirited Away (Disney/with Lasseter on board)
2003 – Finding Nemo (Pixar)
2004 – The Incredibles (Pixar)
2005 – Wallace and Gromit (Nick Park/Dreamworks)
2006 – Happy Feet (WB) – beat Pixar’s Cars
2007 – Ratatouille – (Pixar)
2008 – Wall-E – (Pixar)
2009 – Up – (Pixar)
So, it’s a bit absurd at this point the amount of Oscars Pixar has won since they implemented the Animated Feature category. ¬†Then again, they’re the best, so they deserve it. ¬†Toy Story, the original, was released before they had a category for it to win in, which it would have in a walk. ¬†Now, some believe that the Toy Story series deserves to be rewarded. ¬†I would tend to agree if it were the same team who created the first two brilliant movies. ¬†It isn’t. ¬†And these early reviews aren’t exactly making my skirt fly up. ¬†It’s a wait and see.
Dreamworks has been doing great work, but Kung Fu Panda and now, How to Train Your Dragon are good enough to win on their own reputation, particularly since Pixar has already has an embarrassment of riches.  Well deserved though they may be.