Toy Story 3 (2010): The Reviews Are In

The highly anticipated TOY STORY 3 (2010) opens today, and initial reviews sound as though it will not disappoint.

Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times says the film is "everything you hoped it would be" and that it "manages to offer jeopardy and thrills plus unexpected moments of melancholy while never forgetting to have the most fun possible. Best, and most characteristic of Pixar overall, it understands genuine emotion and is not afraid to get it up there on the screen."

He goes on to say "...though there's a great deal of atmosphere and suspense...it's the film's comic moments which linger longest" and concludes that the film has "nods to the westerns of John Ford, the animation of Hayao Miyazaki and the kind of prison films where someone plays the harmonica on death row. But more than that, by creating the emotions we have always counted on and so rarely find anymore, this film becomes the kind of love note to movies we want and need."

Times "Hero Complex" blogger Geoff Boucher adds a note that the film is "the best movie of the summer."

Over at USA Today, reviewer Claudia Puig gives the movie a 4-star review, calling it a "masterpiece" and saying it might be Pixar's "most impressive feat of all...the best of the three."

I anticipate seeing the film myself later today and plan to share my thoughts on it sometime tonight.