Toy Story 3-Peat

The thing about the Toy Story movies, is that they are always better than they have any right to be. The first one came out in 1995 and was the first feature length computer animated film and could have easily been a huge hit by coasting on its revolutionary visuals and the cuteness of its "secret-life-of-toys" premise but instead gave us a compelling story and characters and a movie that was more dramatically dynamic than most live-action movies. Toy Story 2 came out three years later and, let's face it, seemed like it was going to be a cheap cash in on a popular movie. We didn't really need a sequel to Toy Story but Toy Story 2 is arguably an even better movie than the first one and goes even deeper to explore the existential dilemma at the heart of its premise. Toy Story 2 also helped to expand the emotional palette of animated films with its often bittersweet tone which set the stage for later movies like Wall-E and Up.

Now, twelve years later we have Toy Story 3, which at first glance may seem like an attempt to resurrect a franchise that is long past its prime a la Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. There was plenty of reason to be skeptical of this movie (Superman 3, Spiderman 3, Godfather 3, etc. ) but I believe it is the best of the three. Toy Story 3 takes the depth of the previous two movies, combines it with an action-packed plot, weird and compelling characters, a terrific villian, some genuinely thrilling sequences, and a truly touching finale, and creates a prefect conclusion to the Toy Story Trilogy.

If you take acting and especially improv classes a note that is beat into your head is "Raise the stakes!" No one wants to see characters who are unmotivated and just standing around making jokes. Interesting characters are ones that are dynamic, that have wants and needs that are driving them to do things. Characters need to exist in a universe where actions have consequences which impact themselves and other characters who are actively trying to get what they want and what they want needs to be IMPORTANT. That's the secret of the success of the Toy Story movies. Unlike many animated movies which are about funny concepts, talking animals , and glib pop culture references, the Toy Story movies are about characters who are often trying to avoid some horrible fate such as abandonment, loss of identity, or, as in a particularly Hellish scene from the new movie, complete destruction at the landfill. The Toy Story movies never sit back and let high concept cuteness drive the story.

Toy Story 3 is the best movie ever about existential despair and talking toys.