Toy Story 3 (2010) - Unkrich's B.O. champion is an excellent family animation

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1 Film Excess win:

Best Animation 

1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Animation (won)

 

Woody, Buzz, old friends and new adorn this poster for Lee Unkrich's Toy Story 3

 

Toy owner and former boy Andy has now grown to age 18 and is going away to college, so that his toys Woody, Buzz and all the others face a radical change after years of neglect. As a result they wind up in a daycare center, which is run by a dictatorial teddy bear.

Toy Story 3, which at the time looked like the end of the beloved saga, is extremely satisfying. It balances fun, action, somewhat frightening scenes and real emotions to fit the trademark Pixar come-together experience. The film's theme is the inevitable major changes that life brings about.

The decision to release the film in 3D, - a first in the Toy Story series, - serves no real purpose for the film, (besides maximizing its gross, a major purpose in itself of course.) The many fun details make the film enjoyable for grownups as well, but the raves at the time of release in hindsight begin to look a little exaggerated: Toy Story 3 follows a solid formula well and is excellent family entertainment, - but that's about it.

It is written by Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) with story elements contributed by Andrew Stanton (John Carter (2012)), John Lasseter (Toy Story (1995)) and Ohioan master director Lee Unkrich (Finding Nemo (2003)).

 

Related post:

 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 200 mil. $

Box office: 1,066.9 mil. $

= Blockbuster

[Toy Story 3 premiered June 12 (Italy's Taormina Film Fest) and runs 103 minutes. Due to Disney's seven-picture deal with Pixar, the Toy Story sequel was set to be made without Pixar's cooperation by Disney's Circle 7 Animation, who wrote a script that involved Buzz getting sent to Asia, which was ultimately never used: At Disney's buying of Pixar in 2006, the sequel reverted to Pixar, and a new development of the film began. The film opened #1 to a 110.3 mil. $ first weekend, - the largest Pixar opening, largest June opening and second largest opening for an animated movie overall, - in North America, where it stayed #1 for another week and remained in the top 5 for a total of 7 weeks and grossed 415 mil. $ (38.9 % of the total gross). It is estimated that it sold more than 52 mil. tickets in the US. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 126.6 mil. $ (11.9 %) and the UK with 116.6 mil. $ (10.9 %). The film became the highest-grossing, in North America and worldwide, of 2010, the highest-grossing Pixar film, the highest-grossing animated film and the 3rd Disney release to break 1 billion $. It grossed more than the first two Toy Story movies combined. The film got nominated for 5 Oscars: Best Picture (the third animation to achieve this, following Beauty and the Beast and Up), lost to The King's Speech, Adapted Screenplay, lost to The Social Network, Sound Editing, lost to Inception, Best Original Song: Randy Newman's We Belong Together, which it won along with Best Animation, in front of How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist. The film was a favorite for many, named the film of the year by TIME Magazine and Quentin Tarantino among others. It was the best-selling home video release of 2010 in units sold with more than 10.9 mil. DVDs and Blu-rays sold in North America alone, adding 185.9 mil. $ to the film's revenues. Toy Story 3 is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Toy Story 3?

Rango (2011) - Verbinski's amusing family western animation

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Animation: Gore Verbinski (lost to Kung Fu Panda 2)

Gore Verbinski's Rango features striking character designs as is obvious from this poster for the film

QUICK REVIEW:

An acting chameleon drops out from his terrarium in the middle of the Mojave desert, where he finds the town Dirt. Here he acts like a hero and gets appointed sheriff. But the town has a pressing water problem.

Johnny Depp (From Hell (2001)) is good and funny voicing Rango and leading a fine voice actor cast: Ned Beatty (Life (1999)), Alfred Molina (Magnolia (1999)), Ray Winstone (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)) and Harry Dean Stanton (Wild at Heart (1990)) among others. Unfortunately, Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood (2004-06)) is sorely miscast as the 'Spirit of the West', an old kind of God-figure.
The beginning of Rango promises a uniquely psychedelic, grand animation; gradually, though, the film instead gets bend towards the absolutely recognizable, formulaic direction, which is a shame. The script is by John Logan (Hugo (2011)), based on a story by Logan, director Gore Verbinski (The Lone Ranger (2013)) and James Ward Byrkit (Coherence (2013)).
Rango makes you laugh, and the special animation style is enjoyable throughout.
Verbinski had previously worked with Depp in the three Pirates of the Caribbean movies (2003; 2006; 2007) and did so again in the mega-flop Lone Ranger. After that affair, Verbinski won't be back as a director again until next year with a much smaller film, titled at the moment, A Cure for Wellness.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 135 mil. $
Box office: 245.7 mil. $
= Big flop
[Rango was well-received by critics, (Roger Ebert awarded it 4 of 4 stars!), and it won the Best Animation Oscar. It opened #1 with a 38 mil. $ opening weekend in the US, where it became the first 2011 release to break 100 mil. $, grossing 123.4 mil. $ (50 % of the total gross). The film caused some ratings controversy, since several characters smoke in it, but it still retained its PG-rating. Though the film cannot be counted a commercial hit in theatrical terms, its distributor Paramount Pictures were so satisfied with it that they decided to start their own animation department after their deal with DreamWorks Animation elapsed in 2012.]

What do you think of Rango?