Toy Story's still great in 3D

 

If you know me in real life, you know I love Pixar movies. I've been able to keep up a 14 year streak of seeing every Pixar film in theaters (though I did miss seeing Tokyo Mater before Bolt, too bad...). That said, for some reason in recent years, I've always seemed to slight the Toy Story movies. Don't get me wrong, they are both fantastic films. But I guess Pixar has taken themselves to new heights since 1995, the more recent films have been much more satisfying.

With Toy Story 3 coming out this June, Disney has decided to re-release both films in 3D. Originally supposed to come out in October and February as two separate releases, they were more recently merged into a double feature so a re-release of Beauty and the Beast could take Toy Story 2's release slot (only to be delayed to December 2011). It ended up being a pretty exciting experience.

Seeing these movies up on the big screen was quite amazing to see again. I won't talk too much about the movies themselves because everyone has seen them and there's not too much to talk about that hasn't already been said. But those three hours went by incredibly fast. I should also note that, well actually my friend noticed it first, how the majority of the theater was not filled with parents with pre-schoolers but rather middle and high school aged kids and younger adults. That's not to say they weren't any younger kids in the audience. I was particularly moved by a girl in the theater who couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 who clearly had never seen Toy Story before that night and she responded to it so well. She didn't make it through Toy Story 2 (it was pretty late after all), but I'm sure she'll have seen it soon enough.

I highly recommend seeing this double feature on the big screen before it closes on the 15th. You won't regret it, even you're paying $15 for two movies you've seen before.

Ten years already?

October 1, 2009 is kind of a bittersweet day in my eyes. A Surprise celebration and a realization that just doesn't seem to right. It was ten years ago that Jim Henson Pictures' third and final film The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland was released in theaters across this fine country of ours. I was seven years old; way too old for Sesame Street but it was still one of the movies I had to see in theaters. The neat thing is that whereas Muppets from Space had snuck up on my when it came out the summer before, I knew about The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland well in advance. I still remember the day I saw it so vividly. It was Columbus Day 1999 if I recall correctly, my mom took me to go see the first showing in the morning. My then 10-year old cousin who was visiting for the holiday weekend graciously came along as well. We were probably the only family in the theater who didn't have a child under age five but that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie.

But the big question is does the movie hold up in 2009? Well, for me: it's not perfect but it's addicting. The visual look of the film is perfect. This is coming from the same team that did the England sets for The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. The sets are just as comparable to the two book adaptation Muppet movies. The puppets look great. Mandy Patakin is the highlight of the movie. The music is also a lot more Henson-like than Muppets from Space was. All in all, I would say it is better than Muppets from Space. None of the Jim Henson Pictures movies were really all that fantastic but it does have a lot of good stuff that outnumbers the bad stuff.

The more negative side of this is that as of today it has been 10 years since the Jim Henson Company released a film worth the fans' time and money. Good Boy! is a disgrace to Jim Henson's good name and is pitiful to see that movie get made while the Muppets stay in despair. MirrorMask, while that film does have an audience, has even more problems. I was infuriated more by the fact that the Hensons had completely ditched the Creature Shop puppets or bad VeggieTales level computer animation. I also found the characters not very likeable and bland and the film moved at an excessively slow pace. I hope with The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made, Fraggle Rock: The Movie and The Power of the Dark Crystal we can get on our way with the long-awaited group of post-Jim classics we need.