Skyfall VIPs

When we are first introduced to the cinematic Bond, in 1962's Dr. No, it is without the benefit of any sort of origin story.  Sean Connery simply saunters on, scintillates between extremely cool and very, very cold, and enters into filmic mythology.

Through five additional actors and five decades of films, very little is told to the viewer about Bond's past prior to his entry into MI6, aside from the hint of military service, presumably in Her Majesty's Navy.  Even the reboot begun with Casino Royale, which places Daniel Craig at the very onset of Bond's 'double-O' career, does so without a personal motivation or score to be settled.

As only the third iteration of James Blond, it feels a little early for Skyfall to be talking about change.  But when M's (Judi Dench) new boss (Ralph Fiennes) talks about transitioning her out of MI6, and questions Bond's ability to return to the field following his being presumed dead, it feels pretty natural.  After all, Casino Royale came out over half a decade ago, and with fewer and fewer gadgets picking up the slack, there is alot more physicality for the actor to pick up, which Craig still does with aplomb.

Skyfall manages to hit all the requisite Bond checkpoints (Chases? Check.  Escapes?  You bet.  Nasty close quarters fights? Absolutely. Bluffing your way into a casino with charm and a tuxedo? Mais bien sur!) without ever feeling tired or played out.  Maybe that's because much of the movie focuses on M, whose leadership is called into question at the start of the movie, and she spends much of the rest of it on the defensive, explaining her actions, including the ones that left Bond for dead before the opening credits.  Dame Judi Dench has always been stellar in her turn as M, but she has a lot more to work with in Skyfall, and the movie is much better off as a result.

Javier Bardem's villainous Mr. Silva is so captivating it makes you wonder why they wait until the second half of the film to unveil him.  In a catalogue that includes some of cinema's greatest villains, Bardem's portrayal of a wounded and disturbed genius is a tremendously well done blend of villainy and vulnerability.  Until the Craig iteration, the Bond villain often had to function as a dyad of Mastermind and Heavy (Goldfinger & Odd Job, Drax and Jaws, etc), but Mr. Silva is credible as both.

It is also a treat to meet the new Q, played by Ben Whishaw, who sets the tone for the enterprise when he equips 007 with his trademark Walther PPK (albeit with a palmprint scanner) and a homing beacon.  When Bond expresses disappointment, Q's smug response of, "What were you expecting, an exploding pen?  We don't really go in for that sort of thing these days," tells both Bond and the viewer that the days of laser wristwatches are well behind us.  (That said, I think more accessible gadgetry, like both the briefcase and shoe-blade in From Russia With Love would be appreciated, at least by me!)  There are a couple of choice moments for longtime Bond fans though, which I shall not spoil for you.

Skyfall works both as an action packed espionage romp, and an exploration about the costs of intelligence work, both individual and societal, in a post-Cold War, asymmetric environment, where telling the white hats from the black gets more complicated every day.  What drives a person to stay in such work, or to return to it when they are given an out?

On its own, it is not quite as fresh or well-executed as Casino Royale, but I enjoyed it far more than Quantum of Solace.  There are not a lot of belly laughs in it, but more chuckles than the first two Craig outings. If you enjoy Bond movies at all, i would recommend checking it out, and soon, you can enjoy being surprised at a couple of points.

This was also my first experience at the Cineplex VIP Cinemas, where you pay a premium price for premium, reserved seating in an 18 years and up environment.  There is a licensed lounge where you can enjoy a beer or a cocktail while you wait for your theater to open.  There are even themed drinks, so Audrey enjoyed an MI6 in a martini glass while the rest of enjoyed pints of Big Rock Traditional, and shared some deep fried dill pickles which were extremely awesome.

Once the theatre opens, you can take your place in a cushy seat, pull out your little table and place an order for either hot food menu items or popcorn and movie snacks, which are brought direct to your seat in a remarkably short period of time.  James and Glen had the Angus burgers, while Audrey and went tapas-style on the appetizer menu and tried the Thai chili chicken bites, yam fries, and spring rolls.  About the same price and quality you would pay in a pub, the experience of having these morsels brought to your seat prior to showtime (along with another pint) is quite the treat.

Be forewarned, apparently an adult-only screening is no assurance against juvenile behaviour, like the git in the front row recliners who felt compelled to check his smartphone for messages every twenty minutes or so.  Is it out of line to go down and ask if such a person is a doctor?  You know, because the messages must be pretty important to keep checking them in the middle of a film like that...

At $20 a seat, I like movies too much to only go half as often as I do, which is what it would take to do this every time.  But for special occasions or busy opening weekends, the VIP experience is definitely worth trying at least once!

John Carter: They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

My good friend Earl J. Woods has already posted an insightful and well-written review of Disney's John Carter movie, but I thought I should chime in with what I appreciated about it.

Classic Leading Man - I've never watched Friday Night Lights, but Taylor Kitsch brings a lot of emotionally intense, square jaw, old-school adventure hero physicality to the role of John Carter, which is really fortunate, because, really, nothing else would do. Ex-cavalryman, treasure-hunter, and adventurer who first appeared a century ago in the pulps, mysteriously transported to a distant planet? Instead of a wordy soliloquy or tearful confession, the reason for John Carter's emotional reluctance is conveyed by nothing more than a series of almost microscopically brief flashbacks and Kitsch's pained expressions. This is very much a larger than life role that Kitsch amply fills out without being subsumed by it.
Classic Leading Lady - In the original stories, Edgar Rice Burroughs spends copious amounts of ink describing exactly how beautiful and desirable Dejah Thoris, the titular "Princess of Mars" is, and it is quite the intro to live up to. Lynn Collins does a fantastic job, creating a character who is not only a royal beauty, but also, smart, brave, and an accomplished swords woman.
Best CGI Character Since Gollum - The chieftain of the green Martian Tharks,Tars Tarkas, is ably voiced by Willem Defoe, who seems to take more to this character than he ever did to other genre outings, like the Green Goblin. The Tharks are wonderfully designed, and director Andrew Stanton gives us many opportunities to observe them in close detail so we can appreciate the texture of their skin, the coloration of their tusks. In medium shots, the expressiveness of their four arms makes their body language almost palpable. Defoe's Tarkas balances the need to be a strong leader of a savage tribe with his need to be curious and to express compassion.
Fantastic Design Work - Where to begin? The opening set piece, a battle in the sky between two brittle and elegant airships, showcases fantastic imagery ranging from the armour of the warriors, to the airships themselves, to the imaginative ways they are controlled, to the vistas beneath them. The architecture, creatures, costumes, weaponry, and archaeology hearten back to an attention to detail not seen since The Lord of the Rings.
Lighter Moments - As you might expect from a Pixar alumnus, Stanton takes care to leaven the action and pervasive threats with light touches of humor, but never at the expense of the dignity of the characters or by underestimating the intelligence of his audience.
Supporting Cast - I have always felt a little guilty when I watch James Purefoy's portrayal of Marc Antony in HBO's Rome, surely it must be wrong to enjoy his swaggering, bullying presence on the screen as much as I do. Seeing him in a more likable role as Kantos Kan, noble of Helium and ally of Dejah Thoris, is a real treat. Speaking of Rome, Dejah's father, Tardos Mors, is played by Ciaran Hinds (Julius Caesar), and John Carter's terrestrial lawyer is portrayed by Caesar's body slave Posca (Nicholas Woodeson).
Danger and Disney - This is old-school kick-ass Disney that does justice to the brutality of the stories that spawned it.  When John Carter wades into a tribe of pursuing Warhoon, it's not as gory as, say, John Milius' Conan, but it's still a savage symphony of sword and sinew that looks like a series of Frank Frazetta paintings brought to life, which is probably the highest praise you can give it.

The movie is already being written off as a flop by many, undoubtedly due to in its inability to garner back a sizable percentage of its considerable budget during its opening weekend. This is a real shame, and a bit unfair to boot. You can pay the same ticket price regardless of whether you are seeing Avatar or The Descendants; the price tag of the movie's production should be of no concern to the viewer. That being said though, I paid a little extra to see it in IMAX 3D, and it was great: thoroughly immersive, non-intrusive, and not dimly lit or dully coloured at all.

Perhaps if a little less was given away in the trailers, or if there had been more toys released to support the imagery (not that this helped Green Lantern I suppose...), John Carter might be doing better box office, but it is futile to speculate. Anyone who paid good money to see The Phantom Menace in its recent 3D re-release owes it to the rest of us to suck it up and go buy a ticket to this movie. It is a reminder of how easily attainable the rapture of classic adventure cinema, from The Thief of Baghdad to yes, Star Wars, can be.
I can only hope that enough positive word of mouth, and perhaps healthy home video sales, get this worthy adventure classic in front of more eyes so that we, like John Carter, might have the opportunity to return to Barsoom.

Old School Heroics - Justice League: Doom Review

If you are the parent of anyone grade three or older, I hope you have shown your offspring the Justice League animated series from a few years back. Since comic books now seem largely aimed at a more 'mature' market, this brightly colored and wonderfully written series is a great way to expose children to this modern-day mythology, and even squeeze in some lessons about unfashionable things like justice, and friendship, and sacrifice. Plus, the writing was strong enough that a number of my friends without kids began watching as well.

When the tv series ended, and was replaced with some flat renditions of Batman and the Legion of Superheroes, I was pretty disappointed, but the 3-4 direct to video releases per year that DC has done have been uniformly decent. My favorite to date had been last year's Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, but it's now been supplanted by Justice League: Doom.

Doom opens up with a fantastic set-piece pitting Batman (and eventually the rest of the League) against the Royal Flush gang. In addition to being a great bit of animated action, it also does a great job of reacquainting us with this iteration of the League. For instance, Hal Jordan returns as the original Green Lantern, and is ably voiced by Nathan Fillion, and while Michael Rosenbaum does similarly as The Flash, he is no longer playing Wally West, but Barry Allen, the original Flash. I suspect these changes (and the inclusion of Cyborg, who I remember most from the Teen Titans comics of my youth) were made to maintain some sort of continuity with DC Comics' gigantic reboot last year, the so-called 'New 52'. Frankly, as long as Kevin Conroy is playing Batman, they can do what they like with the rest.

Despite these changes, Doom feels like an extra-long, bigger budget episode of the animated series, much like Crisis on Two Earths before it. Much of this is due to the excellent screenplay by Dwayne McDuffie, one of the series' strongest writers, who was also one of the few black men writing comics before his untimely death last year.

The story grows around the theft of Batman's 'contingency plans': means of containing his super-powered comrades if they should ever cross the line, become possessed, or be replaced by doppelgangers from an alternate reality.

In the hands of immortal super-villain Vandal Savage and his Legion of Doom, these strategies become highly effective and lethal weapons to be turned against the League, in a series of diabolically well planned death traps and ambushes. After all, what else would you expect from Batman?

Doom is not just entertaining as we watch legendary heroes tested to their limits, but we get insights into their all too human psyches (and yes, this also includes Martians and Kryptonians), and some great debates about the sanctity of trust versus the safety of the world. There are plenty of laughs, too, as McDuffie's dab hand at superhuman banter gets a final chance to shine,

You can see the trailer on YouTube, but I would honestly recommend against it; with a running time of only 77 minutes, there is not a lot of time to sneak in surprises, so you might as well enjoy the ones you can, right?

A big-screen Justice League does not appear to be in the cards anytime soon, but honestly, these DTV adventures are the next best thing, and they come out far more regularly. If you want some thrilling heroics with familiar, larger than life characters, and a surprisingly legitimate sense of peril, it is well worth checking out Justice League: Doom.

Dinner & A Show

Watching the girls grow up and become more independent is bittersweet to be sure, but one of the fortuitous ancillary benefits is no longer needing to find a babysitter, allowing Audrey and I to step out and splurge for a change.

After getting the girls' dinner sorted out we went to Lazia for our own evening victuals.  An excessively modern Asian fusion restaurant with imaginative food and a comprehensive cocktail menu, even though I opted for their house lager, Drunken Master, brewed for them by Big Rock.  Audrey had a creamy macadamia nut concoction served in a martini glass that was delightful, and then another, as we were attending a movie afterwards just across the parking lot, so there was no need to drive anywhere anytime soon.

We shared an order of kung pao chicken hand rolls, served with crispy noodles and lettuce leaves to bind them up.  This is by no means a practical means of attaining sustenance, but it was messy, fun, and altogether tasty, with the cool, crisp lettuce providing a nice counterpoint to the spicy chicken and cashews.

For dinner, Audrey had the catch of the day, cod served with mesquite grilled prawns.  Seeing the wisdom in her seafood inclination, I ordered a seafood rice bowl teeming with mussels, prawns, and whitefish, served with a mild coconut curry.  The service was excellent, and the food arrived so quickly, we even stayed for dessert to kill a little time, which had not been our intention.

After dinner we meandered to theater and enjoyed a game of air hockey and dinosaur safari in the amusement parlour and then took our seats for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

As with most sequels attempting to build a franchise, the primary rule appears to be "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," and that aphorism is clearly in play here.  There is very little new here, and in some ways it feels as though the original bromantic comedy has simply been extended by a few extra reels.

Not that there is anything wrong with that!  Robert Downey Jr. plays yet another reflection of himself as Sherlock Holmes; a tortured genius who just might be too smart for his own good.  Jude Law remains dapper, jaded, and if not unflappable, certainly flap-resistant as his companion and partner, Dr. Watson.

The welcome newcomer is Jared Harris as the diabolical Prof. James Moriarty, Holmes' nemesis, and possibly the archetype for a thousand pulp and comic book villains in the century that followed his original literary incarnation.  Harris plays Moriarty with sufficient charm but without ever losing the ineffable sense of menace that such a character should exude.

The period references are again very well done, and movie serves admirably as a time machine to Victorian Europe, and the international strategic posturing familiar to students of history and those who play the game Diplomacy.  Sticklers for historical accuracy however, should be forewarned that they could very easily have called this film Steampunk Holmes.  All the hallmarks are here: anachronistic weapons, pernicious automata, gilded lethality, and, yes, brass, and goggles.

Not that there is anything wrong with that!  It has never been the intention of director Guy Ritchie to faithfully recreate the period , setting, or even the plots of the original Sherlock Holmes writings, but to capture the flavour and essence of them, and repackage them in a way palatable to audiences grown jaded with mere fantasy, but inoffensive to fans of the original works.  It is a difficult balancing act and there will be many who say he has failed, but I think Guy Ritchie has pulled it off once again.  His action set pieces are balletic and mesmerizing, and more than his camera work and use of slow-motion, it is his sonic artistry that continues to impress me, using all manner of sound effects and audio cues layered over rapid cuts to simultaneously mislead and provide insight to the viewer, often in a time-delayed fashion.

Simply put, if you enjoyed the first one, it is probably worth a trip out to see it on the big screen, and more importantly, on a good sound system  Audrey and I saw it in one of Cineplex's AudioAVX theatres, which provides a generally excellent viewing experience, in addition to reserved seating (for an expected premium in price, obviously).

All in all, a wonderful evening, and a very suitable way to spend our 19th anniversary.  When we were married, having a number of the wedding party still in school meant scheduling our wedding after the end of exams, and perilously close to Christmas, which has since resulted in more than one year where we have had no choice but to honour only the smallest of observances, and to take a rain check on proper festivities that did not always come to pass.

Spending time in a restaurant far more trendy than we are, sipping drinks and sharing reminiscences as well as forkfuls of food from each others' plates, and then curled up together in a theatre watching a hip incarnation of a classic detective story that has at least as much to do with affection as it does with deduction, was not only a welcome departure from many previous years, but it might have actually been ideal.

Happy anniversary Audrey; here's to 1.9 decades of honeymooning!

Heroes: Less Filling or Great Tasting?

I've never really come down off the fence in terms of Marvel versus DC.  Batman and Superman have always held more appeal for me as individual heroes, but I still have mad respect for Spider-Man and Daredevil.  Thanks largely to the excellent animated series, the Justice League will probably always be my favourite super-team, but choosing between the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans of DC and Chris Claremont's run on X-Men would probably be a photo finish.

The difference between the two universes is both subtle and distinct, but I don't think it is easy to articulate.  Both universes run the gamut from street level to cosmic storylines, often in the same book, but I think cartoonist Scott Kurtz once expressed the difference as DC being about tying a towel around your neck and pretending you're Superman, while a Thor fan is more likely to pontificate about the mysteries of the universe.  For myself, I don't know if I can define what makes these two comic book settings unique, but vive la difference!

One area I think Marvel has demonstrated its clear superiority in is in transferring their universe to the big screen.  While DC's animated offerings (Bruce Timm's Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, Justice League) have set new standards of brilliance in doing this on television, Marvel has really outdone them at the movies.  Yes, Richard Donner's Superman has a lot going for it, especially the casting of Christopher Reeve, and Christopher Nolan's take on Batman has been undeniably awesome, but no one in their right mind will try to put these interpretations on the same screen, while Marvel Studios has very intentionally crafted a crafty linkages that not only acknowledge Captain America, Thor, Hulk and Iron Man live in the same universe, but will soon star in the first big-budget super-team movie, The Avengers:


Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this prospect, and watching Captain America: The First Avenger tonight hasn't done anything to dampen my enthusiasm.

Director Joe Johnson showed himself to be a deft hand with period superheroics years ago with Disney's adaptation of Dave Steven's wonderful comic The Rocketeer.  I made a joyful little squee-noise when I heard he'd gotten tapped to direct Captain America, because this is a character which is very easy to get wrong.  Feel free to watch the 1990 attempt if you don't believe me.

I seriously don't think there is a missed note in this movie.  They move very quickly from revenge (never once mentioning Pearl Harbor) to establishing the Nazi super-science division, Hydra, and its leader, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) as the villains of the piece.  When Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci), inventor of the super-soldier serum that will eventually give the Captain his powers, asks scrawny, 4-F Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) if he wants to kill Nazis, Steve responds, "I don't want to kill anybody. I don't like bullies; I don't care where they're from. "

Costumes are often the most difficult element of these adaptations, and although there was some initial concern on the the internet (like there always is), I think they got it spot on here.  Captain America's costume is a brilliant mix of comic book idealism and battlefield practicality, evoking flying aces and paratroopers as much as Jack Kirby's iconic design.

Like Spider-Man did back in the day, Captain America establishes strong motivations for its principle characters, heroes and villains alike.  For the Red Skull, its about the application of power and world domination; for his research stooge Arnim Zola, it's about the application of undiscovered science; for Steve Rogers, it's the moral principle of doing what's right, especially when it isn't easy.  The story brings these characters and the plot around to a very satisfying climax, and while it doesn't pose any really tough questions for the viewer the way a film like The Dark Knight might, it still takes care to show the price of principle.  My worries about Joss Whedon (writer/director of The Avengers) adding his touches to the script in order to make sure Cap is the same fellow in both movies appear to have been needless.

While no one goes to a superhero movie for the acting, everyone aquits themselves admirably.  Chris Evans does an equally awesome job as scrawny Steve Rogers and brawny Captain America.  Pride of show has to go to Tommy Lee Jones, who, like so many great actors, really appears to be playing himself as the gruff colonel in charge of the super-soldier project.

And although screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have done a marvelous job of making this film accessible to those with no comics background, it is laden with nods to the larger Marvel universe beyond even what we will see in next year's Avengers.  It would have been terribly easy to use yet another generically evil Nazi labcoat as the Red Skull's right hand man, but having eventual super-villain Arnim Zola in the picture was a great touch. Adding Howard Stark (Tony 'Iron Man' Stark's dad) to the origin added even more structure to this shared universe, and didn't feel at all contrived. Seeing Dum-Dum Dugan was great, but casting Neal McDonough from Band of Brothers to play him made it even better, and knowing that his British comrade James Montgomery Falsworth is also the costumed hero known as Union Jack is just icing on the cake.

There's even some nice nods for film buffs, my favourite coming near the beginning when the Red Skull approaches his mythical prize, the Cosmic Cube: "Let the Fuhrer dig in the desert for his trinkets..."

Best of all, the movie is completely bereft of the rah-rah jingoism that the character of Captain America was practically designed for when he was first created back in the '40s.  The movie and the title character proceed with a balance of power and humility which they never seem to lose, and which epitomizes our southern neighbours when they are at their best.

As much as I am looking forward to the next Chris Nolan Batman movie, I am also surprisingly glad to hear DC/Warner will be looking to reboot Bruce Wayne's alter ego for the movies shortly afterwards.  First of all, who would want to follow that act without a significant re-shuffling of the deck?  More importantly, could this give DC the opportunity to create a cohesive movie universe that could have their seminal characters interacting and even perhaps (gasp) teaming up?

If it does (and I certainly hope this is the case!), I really hope they are sitting up and taking notes at films like Captain America.

Rango ze Tango

It turns out that Gore Verbniski's latest film, Rango, is a wonderful movie to be surprised by.

It's surprising that a guy with a string of successful blockbusters (Pirates of the Caribbean) would make such a quirky and offbeat film.  It's surprising that it would be made by Industrial Light and Magic, and not Disney, who made the Pirates movies.  It's surprising that Johnny Depp, more than modestly in demand currently, would agree and be available to voice it.  It's surprising how well it blends a family adventure-western-comedy with a deeper adult story.  It's surprising how effortlessly it mixes slapstick humour with references to things like Don Quixote, Chinatown, and Hunter S. Thompson.  Given all that, mostly it's surprising that the film got made at all.




Frankly, the less I tell you about the film the more likely you are to enjoy it, and there are a lot of reasons to see it.  Good story, great laughs, very good voice acting and probably the best character design and animation I have ever seen in a family feature, especially in the eye department.  Like a proper western, there are a couple of languid patches in order to let things percolate, make you feel dry, or just to force you to appreciate the vistas, but it keeps a pretty good pace overall.

Massawyrm at Ain't It Cool News liked it even more than I did, calling Verbinski 'this generation's Steven Spielberg' in his review.  I'm not quite there yet, but I can what he's pointing at.  As it is, I'm glad we went to see Rango this opening weekend, and I heartily encourage you to do the same, if you are able. With so little original fare coming out of Hollywood these days, as opposed to remakes, sequels and adaptations, here is your opportunity to back something that is actually unique.

Third Time's a Charm: Toy Story 3 Review

As part of our Father's Day observances today, we got to go see Pixar's latest, Toy Story 3. We've seen every Pixar release in the theater without fail, most of them on opening weekend. It's not as though there are going to be any mad spoilers if we don't get in straight away, but given how merciless the movie industry can be, and how much an individual picture's success or failure seems to reside on those opening weekend gates, it feels good to get out there and vote with our dollars.

Another factor is that Pixar has never failed to delight, amaze or, at the very least, entertain me at every turn. I have loved every film with the exception Cars, which I didn't necessarily dislike, but really had no passion for. As far as worst things one can say about a movie studio, they are batting pretty high.

Despite being a threequel, Toy Story 3 has all the heart, pacing, character and brilliant storytelling of its predecessors, and never seems to feel tired or forced. Even when they re-visit familiar ground, like Buzz Lightyear acting like he's just come out of the box again, they still manage to change it up enough to make it enjoyable and at least a little unpredictable.

Truth be told, there is a lot of familiarity here; the themes of childhood and its passing, loyalty and friendship are all present and accounted for, with the major challenge being that their owner Andy is 17 now and heading off to college. His mother brings in a box for the attic, a bag for the garbage, and tells him everything not going with him needs to go in one or the other. Strangely, you really start to feel things getting ominous when the green army men (led by perennial favourite R. Lee Ermey) declare their mission with Andy completed and let their tiny plastic parachutes carry them away.

When they end up in a utopian daycare environment, with the promise of perpetual play, it is not easy for Woody to convince them that this is not where they should be. In fact, it's impossible.

The new toys introduced at the daycare are great, especially Lots O'Huggin' Bear (Ned Beatty) and of course, Barbie's counterpart, Ken, voiced by Michael Keaton. Beatty's bear is a folksy charmer, with a hint of something else beneath the surface, while Keaton's Ken brings a strange mix of vapidness and sincerity to the proceedings at Sunnyside daycare. Tim Allen, Tom Hanks and the rest of the original characters do a marvelous job of voice acting, as they always do, but what I love most is how the Pixar crew have learned to let the characters be quiet and allow their faces to do the talking, a real tribute to the well-deserved confidence the studio has in their animators; 'pixel artists' indeed!


The movie is significantly darker in tone, hitting a lot of the same beats as a gothic horror, like alienation, betrayal, and confinement, without ever becoming horrific or full on terrifying. That said, if you had told me that a Toy Story movie was going to echo a lot of the elements from Dante's Inferno and Stalag 13, I would have found that pretty implausible, but it turns out that is just one more impossible thing the wizards at Pixar have accomplished again.

Due to my mis-reading of the schedule, we ended up seeing TS3 in 2-D, but I honestly think that may have been better. Director Lee Unkrich, who co-directed TS2 with original director John Lasseter, proves a deft hand with the film, although I have to say, he seems to spend more time than Lasseter on the escape and chase sequences, which may be an attempt to max out the 3D appeal. He doesn't do this at the expense of character, and the pacing is still robust enough to tolerate the diversion that these excellent gags and set-pieces provide. I'm really beginning to hanker for a straight up adventure film from this studio, even though The Incredibles came mighty close. Who knows, maybe that will come from Pixar alumnus Andrew Stanton with his adaptation of John Carter of Mars in 2012.

That's probably all I can really say about the story without inadvertently giving something away, and since every little surprise in a film like this is such a gem, I'd like to avoid that and encourage you all to see it so we can talk about it later. The one thing I'd like you to keep an eye open for, when you do go, is whether or not Toy Story 3 has something to say about the rewards of faith; not necessarily spiritual faith, but more than just faith in your friends. Woody never loses his faith in Andy, even though the shape and colour of that faith changes somewhat over the course of the movie. And there's even a little something for the three-eyed aliens and their faith in The Claw which chooses "who will stay and who will go."

As a guy who has always found significant change a little hard to deal with, the theme of this movie struck me even more than those of the first two, but at least there wasn't a childhood's end montage with a Sarah McLachlan song because even on re-watching, that scene destroys me. Seeing how Buzz and Woody and the other toys deal with Andy's maturity and the changes it brings was probably the perfect mix of bitter and sweet, and a great finale for the Toy Story series if they wrap it up here.