Toy Story 3 review: These toys should've been recalled

Don't believe all the buzz. This movie is a big, fat downer.

Sad in the beginning, joyless in the middle and dark in the end. Toy Story 3 left me with a feeling of emptiness. I had such high hopes too. Like - how would Jessie and Bullseye work with their new friends? Would Zurg pick up where he left off as the all-american dad? How many have been laid-off from Pizza Planet?

I didn't expect all the funny toys from TS2 to make it into this film, but I thought at least the funny would. I was wrong. The only thing worse than watching Woody and the gang come to grips with their imminent death of being burned alive was watching my 4 year-old daughter come to grips with it. "Shutter Island" was more uplifting.

Adventure is fine, but for some reason Pixar believed adventure could not co-exist with humor. It's no surprise that there are no bloopers at the end of the movie either. What good are funny bloopers after a movie filled with sadness?



Don't believe me? Look at Woody's face! Does he look like he's having a good time? And these are stills taken straight from the official website!

Also - the whole 3-D thing is, I'm convinced, a money-making gimmick only. It brought nothing original to the movie. By having their graphics team spend more front-end time they can charge an additional $3 for every ticket. Bravo. My daughter took them off half-way through the movie and never put them back on. I wish I did the same.

Are there laughs? Sure. By my count there were four. (Five if you count nervous laughter.) In the end I felt like I had opened up my favorite toy on Christmas morning only to discover it was socks and underwear.