Toy Story 3

Sorry it's been so long. I've actually had a post ready for a while now, but I need to wait for the right time to publish it. I thought the moment would have come a lot sooner, but it hasn't, and the few of you that actually enjoy reading this blog for whatever reason deserve something.

But first, a message from my good friend and roommate Taylor Abegg-Lawerence: "Dear world: Barf barf barf barf. Love Taylor."

Yesterday, I finally watched Toy Story 3 for the first time. Mock and ridicule me all you want for going this long without seeing it; I know I deserve it. When my family watched it over Christmas break, however, I was off doing something with friends, and, although they watched How to Train Your Dragon three times, they didn't want to watch Toy Story 3 again. Yesterday I saw it, though, and my top 25 movies list needs some adjustment.

Toy Story 3 got me in a different way than Up did. With Up, I was most impressed with the first 15 minutes or so and spent the rest of the movie thinking it was a good movie. With Toy Story 3, I spent the large majority of the movie thinking it was a good movie and that Pixar had managed to avoid the "we have no story, but we'll still make a lot of money off this movie just because it's part of a great series" problem so many films have today, but I didn't think it was something all that special. Then I got to the last five minutes of the movie. It may just be a reflection of some stuff I'm going through right now, but in the last five minutes, when we really get to see Andy as something more than just a static character, I felt that Pixar had modeled him off of me.

Let's do a comparison, shall we? The whole premise of the movie is Andy moving out to college. They mention in the movie that Andy is 17 years old. Well, when I came to college, I was 17 years old. Check one. The opening scene of the movie is a depiction of a typical Andy playtime scenario. While I used sticks and completely imaginary characters as opposed to action figures, I used to create similar scenes. Check two. Andy has kept these old toys, hinting that though he might not play with them anymore, the stories he used to create with them still had a place in his imagination. The sticks I used to play out mock battle scenes fell by the wayside, but the stories I imagined proliferated. Check three. Andy has a great time revisiting those old games when he donates his old toys to Bonnie. Whenever I spend time with a small child, I immerse myself in their games and am able to play their games as fully as they do. Check four. All in all, the ending of that movie hit me like a brick. I was able to see myself as Andy (something that I think is not uncommon for most people). What a great ending to a great saga. Pixar did it yet again.