I recently saw the movie Toy Story 3 with my youngest daughter. She, along with her older brother and sister, don't know of life without the Toy Story franchise - like millions of children their age. Watching the movie was almost like reliving my childrens' collective childhoods within an hour and a half. Buzz and Woody, and the rest of the Toy Story toys, were involved in nearly every daily activity of my kids' lives for much of the past 15 or so years. They were involved in everything from bedtime, to meals, to potty training for our oldest child for crying out loud ("you don't want to mess up your Buzz and Woody underwear, do you?!"). We had all the plates, cups, clothes and, of course, the toys.
I distinctly remember a fantastic outing several years ago at Six Flags Over Texas when my son threw up on his Buzz and Woody shirt. That shirt was his favorite, which we had to wash 3 or 4 times a week because he wouldn't wear anything else. He was distraught that his shirt was dirty and wanted to go home. But the park had only been open for 45 minutes. We went to the bathroom to clean the shirt. When that didn't work, we stood on the bridge at Splash Water Falls (or whatever it's called today) so he could wash his shirt. The poor kid got pelted by a gigantic wave (smothered is probably more appropriate), but that shirt got clean enough so we could stay for the rest of the day. On the way home, his Buzz and Woody dolls sat in his lap for the drive and slept in his bed at home. That was how important those characters were in just one kid's life.
But, this wasn't just my kids' childhood. Children all over the world undoubtedly saw those movies, bought the toys and played make believe with them. For the longest time, the image of Buzz, Woody, Mr. Potato Head and others could be seen anywhere. Oddly enough, many of those same toys in the two previous movies (with the exception of Buzz & Woody) were in my own toy box, at one point in time or other. Particularly, there were others that I wanted but never got (I still want a set of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots). There they were again, drumming up every memory possible of when those same toys entered my own life. They were alive!
I'm a little weird about movies. I like to read movie reviews before I watch any movie. (I want to know what other people are saying before I put down the big bucks to see a movie in a theater. I save the self-discovery for home video.) I read reviews extensively for this movie. I wanted this one to be fabulous, not be some knock-off sequel. One of the reviews I read beforehand said that this Toy Story movie covered some new emotional ground not seen in the previous movies. That is possibly the biggest understatement in showbiz within the past 2 decades. I wasn't prepared for this installment. I laughed. I cried. Then, I cried some more.
Without giving anything away, the toys find themselves at the end of the line with their owner, Andy, who is preparing to leave for college. Who could imagine the emotion from the perspective of a toy - the proverbial "fly on the wall" - in a kid's life?! That emotion takes a turn and makes that emotion connect with the viewer. It's not just the toys who are dealing with the changes of growing up. Everyone around them is having to cope, too. Suddenly, I began to see the parallels in my own life and I feeling all those same emotions first hand. That is HEAVY stuff for a kids' movie!
Everybody grows up and they have to cope with the process. Toy Story 3 depicts coping with growing up, which makes it such an incredibly gripping movie. Toy Story depicts an American life which could belong to anybody...me, you or the family next door. When a story does that, it's gone from being just a story to being a phenomenon. Pixar is a master of churning out those stories. What will they come up with next?!
So, if you haven't been to see Toy Story 3 yet, go. Just be sure to take along some Kleenex. You're going to need it.
