Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010)

***Contains very minor potential spoilers***

It’s not just Kids that like these toys.

Pixar are arguably the best film makers of this generation. They are pioneers for the future of cinema whilst they embodying the story telling techniques of classical film. This is a film where all the wiz bang technology on display, the flawless CGI and now standard digital 3D, goes relatively unnoticed due to the masterful narrative and characterisation on display. It is this year’s first masterpiece, the best of the Toy Story trilogy, and the best computer animated film ever made.

Like this summer’s other stand out film, Inception, it is a film that works on many levels of both the conscious and subconscious. It has more genuine laughs, frights, thrills and heartache than any film in recent memory. Its themes of growing up, abandonment, growing old, and death retain a mature darkness within the film which will engage adults, whilst the consistent humour and light touch ensures that children will remain enthralled.

The film beings with an exciting action sequence which introduces the now comfortably familiar cast of action figures, dolls and plastic delights; it also demonstrates how much joy they brought to their owner, Andy, as a child. The scene shows youth in its prime, of both the then, new shiny toys and the child playing with them. This is followed by a montage of home movies that show Andy and his family growing up. This sets the tone for the inevitable abandonment the toys will face. The next scene shows Woody desperately clinging to a phone longing to get his owners attention along with the rest of the toys, all now placed in a box in Andy’s, who is now 17, vastly changed room.

Andy is going to college and the toys, particularly Woody struggle to accept the changes ahead that they face. A serious of events leads them to be accidently donated to Sunny Side Day Care Center, in which they are imprisoned by the Machiavellian and creepily cute Lotso the Bear. They are subjected to rough play, aka torture, from toddlers who don’t know how to play with toys yet and thus begins the familiar plot to get back home to their rightful owner Andy.

Much has been made of the films darkness, and there are elements in this film that are unbearably melancholic. Arguments have been made that the film is too dark for children. Certainly Lotso’s companion, Big Baby, a large doll with one eye, is terrifying at times, along with a demented Monkey who watches the CCTV with his all seeing blood shot eyes. This is all counteracted though with moments of comic genius; witness Buzz Lightyear’s Spanish mode which turns him into a Salsa dancing, poetry spouting lady charmer, or Mr Potato Head’s travesty when he is forced to transfer his body parts on to a tortilla.

Along with the scares and the laughs comes the pathos. Never have so many people felt so much empathy towards personified plastic objects. One scene in particular, in which the Toys realise they face an almost certain fiery death and hold hands waiting to die, is easily the bravest dramatic choice in a family film in decades. Articles have recently arisen over why the film is making grown men cry, and I asked myself the same question. Why are we so utterly moved by the adventures of a cowboy doll, an electronic action figure and a dog shaped slinky?

Toy Story 3 is a rare film, in that it hits you on a subconscious level. When the first film was released, many of its spectators were young themselves, and watching Andy grow up and abandon his childhood joys is a chance for reflection and meditation on the loss of our own youths. Similar for parents, they are forced to think about, or relive their offspring leaving the nest. The film is at heart, about saying goodbye to childhood and moving on to the next stage. As the camera pans up to the clouds after the films bittersweet conclusion you’ll be grateful that those 3D glasses hide your teary eyes. Pixar have broken new ground once again, they have uniting cinemas full of individuals of different ages, backgrounds and attitudes by invoking the most personal of themes, the changes we face when ourselves and those around us grow up and move on.

Verdict

Pixar saved the best till last. Go see it and you’ll find yourself, amongst the loud obnoxious shouts and bangs of the other screens showing mindless summer blockbusters, absorbed into a film that is both uplifting and devastating. A cinematic masterpiece.

*****

The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, 2010)

Boom Boom Pow... (yawn)

As most of the Expendables cast made films in a time before email and blogs were popular, I thought I’d start with an old fashioned letter:

Dear Mr Stallone,

May I extend some serious respect your way for managing to work miracles and make a good, convincing Rocky movie a few years ago. Against all odds, you showed cinema goers there was life in the old ‘underdog’ yet. When you were in that ring, I was in there with you. As you may be aware, there has been a 80s revival in this new millennium, and I am pleased to say you are the only person to bring an old Action icon back with dignity. Indiana Jones showed signs of dementia in his last film as he was clearly convinced he could still cut it. John McClain needs to go into retirement, despite fighting a jet and winning, his latest film died hard.

It is with regret I must inform you that in your recent film, you have shown the world why 80s action stars belonged in the 80s, and why now in these times we welcome our Dark Knights, Jason Bourne’s and grittier James Bond’s with open arms. Times have changed, move with them, and let sleeping dogs lie.

Yours faithfully,

Roper Review

P.S Please don’t make another Rambo

Stallone’s latest film should be the final nail in the coffin which contains this ill fated attempt to milk the various action hero cash cows of the 1980s. These films are built around nostalgia and warm affection from fans, in the hope that they will forgive the creaks in the script and the actor’s bodies. However, nostalgia cannot save what is an otherwise poor film in all respects. This is a film in which Stallone got his cast first and built his story around them. Now, to synopsise the script:

Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom – homoerotic banter – token good looking girl in hot pants – boom boom – pointless cameo- boom –Statham Stallone and Rouke compare ‘knife size’ – boom boom – moral of the story – boom X 100 and get increasingly louder.

Let it be clear there is nothing wrong with an action film that is heavy on the action as long as it is entertaining to watch. The Expendables is like watching a video game you are not allowed to play. Stallone is so determined to display that these 80s stars have still got it, that you never fear for their lives as they gun and stab their 100^th victim. During the last, very much extended, action sequence, it felt like watching children run around the playground shooting each other with their fingers, apart from with ear splitting sound effects.

I really wanted to enjoy this throw back to the shamelessly macho men films that used to dominate the cinema screens, However Stallone chose to include an action style used far more effectively in the Bourne films, a handheld camera style of shooting. This means for most of the film the shots are that quick and unstable that everything becomes a blurry mess of crimson blood and muzzle flashes.

The script is as sloppy as the direction. This is a film which has been written around its cast, so there is a token Jet Li fight scene where he can show off his skills and then recieve lots of banter from the rest of the cast about his height. Jason Statham, who is the only credible action hero in the film, gets bantered about the size of his head, and of course the big cameo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has a joke thrown towards him about wanting to be president. The much hyped scene with the Governator, Bruce Willis and Stallone, is over within minutes, is completely arbitrary to the narrative and consists largely of a contest over who has the hardest, most masculine stare.

Verdict

This is a completely unnecessary summer blockbuster that will undoubtedly make a lot of money due to its star power. It is a film that’s not so bad it’s good, it is just bad. It is clearly hoping that fond memories will bring in punters, but these punters will leave feeling confused. Like a racist grandparent, it needs to be told that things have moved on since their heyday. Stallone, it’s time to get with the times or get to retirement.

*1/2