There was definitely a mixture of nervousness and excitement about going to see the third instalment of the adventures of Buzz, Woody et al, as is always the case with sequels, but this was tempered by the fact that since bursting onto the feature film scene 15 years ago with TS1, Pixar really haven't had a bad movie in all that time. And, it's amazing to think that it has been 10 years since TS2, so this is the first new Toy Story story to be released in Jake's lifetime! We took great delight in being ahead of the UK curve in seeing the second film, as we saw at the end of 1999 during our Las Vegas holiday, a few months before it was released in the UK.
Anyway, as to the film, my review can probably be encapsulated in three words: it was fantastic. Once again it was a film with a great story, lots of fun, and full of heart. Tinged with an undercurrent of sadness (people moving on, toys being neglected ...) it still managed to be positive and upbeat.
Libby Purves wrote an excellent piece in the Times about it last week (I would link to it here but the meanies have started to charge for online content). Whilst I don't really go for the political analogies, I thought that she'd got it spot on with this observation: "In their prison-break adventure they all put aside self, take risks for the group and nobly attempt to save even their fascist overlord. When it seems that they are doomed to the martyrs' fire, they tremble but quietly reach out hands to one another, knowing that what will survive of them it love. Inspiring stuff." And not a dry eye in the house either!
In other Disney movie news, it has been announced that Disney are selling Miramax, looking to concentrate their efforts on the family movie end of the market under their more recognisable labels, presumably in part to tie in more closely with other parts of the corporation (i.e. opportunities for merchandise and related theme park attractions). Got me to thinking that probably a fair few people hadn't realised that Disney owned Miramax anyway, so here are a few more things that are part of the Disney family (at least I think they are - don't quote me on any of this!!):
1. Spiderman - as per one of my previous posts, Disney have acquired Marvel, and hence own Spiderman and a few thousand other Marvel Superheroes.
2. Monday Night Football - we all know how huge (American) Football is in the US, well Disney owns ESPN, the sports network, who pay huge amounts of money for the privilege of showing live NFL action.
3. Desperate Housewives - Disney also owns the ABC broadcasting network (of which ESPN is a part I think) and the tales of Wisteria Lane are one of ABC's hit shows.
4. Kermit and Miss Piggy - Disney acquired the Henson characters a while back and so added all of their characters to the Disney stable (personal favourites - Dr Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker!)
5. Woody and Buzz - may seem obvious but when they were first created, Woody and Buzz were not strictly Disney characters. Pixar was a separate company which had a film distribution deal with Disney. At one point once that deal ended it looked like Disney and Pixar may go their separate ways, but differences were ironed out (possibly thanks in part to the departure from Disney of Michael Eisner) and Disney acquired Pixar a few years back (making Steve Jobs - Mr Apple - one of Disney's biggest shareholders).