nunyerbiz

I know, I know... I'm sure I'm going to get destroyed over this review. Anything under eight stars for a Pixar movie is blasphemy! While I thought TS3 was an entertaining two hours... it just wasn't quite up to par with the first two entries from the trilogy.

The opening and ending dealing with Andy growing up and the toys outliving their usefulness to their owner was well done Pixar heartstring tugging... no complaints there. The middle act, which boiled down to a prison break movie, was a bit dull despite all the Pixar eye-candy trying to convince me otherwise. There were some gags to be had, a funny turn by Potato Head needing to use real vegetables, some thin and obvious (but still humorous) banter between Barbie and Ken and the now required shtick of Buzz Lightyear getting reset to various memory-wiped settings... but in general the middle 60 minutes of the film just seemed oddly disconnected from the rest. The end result was an odd sandwich effect, with the bread on either end actually being much more enjoyable then the meat in the middle.

While I'm certainly not trying to slag the movie, I don't think 7/10 is anything approaching a hatchet job, I found this one to be clearly a level below the two films that preceded it. Pixar didn't waste the magic they built up with TS1 / TS2... but they certainly didn't expand on it either.

Ohh... he likes Fellini! And speaks in an impossibly pretentious style that only "I'm smarter than you" 16 year olds even attempt to get away with... It's as if the screenwriter conformed to every rule in the "How to Make a Quirky Non-Conformist Teen Movie in Three Easy Steps!" handbook.

Things start out promising enough, the premise is hardly original, but it's presented with the right amount of deadpan flair that is required from these types of films. The narration from Cera is well delivered, the supporting cast gets some chuckles, all signs point to another 90 minutes of pseudo-intellectual, but enjoyable, Juno-like fluff.

Then the romance starts... and really... everything just goes downhill from here. Both Cera's and Doubleday's characters come across as manipulative, borderline sociopathic faux-hipsters. I had very little sympathy for either of them... but I'm well outside the age demographic that this movie was shooting for. I'm perfectly fine admitting that I can't relate to the pretentiousness of the romance presented.

There are some laughs to be had, some good one-liners delivered and some capable work from the supporting actors, but it's just not enough. This one just sort of lingers, seemingly lasting for much longer than the 90 minute running time. Characters and subplots sort of appear only to sputter out, which is a common flaw in movies drawn from books where the screenwriter feels compelled to touch on too many things without being able to properly develop them. In the end, everybody seems like stock characters from the Quirky Movie Playbook as the plot meanders to it's never-in-doubt conclusion. "Youth in Revolt" ultimately comes up short, while it hits all the quirky hipster landmarks, it just doesn't do it with nearly enough humor or focus.

Chimps get shot into space, adventure and self-discovery ensue... You really don't need to know too much more about the plot. Story wise, it's not nearly as fleshed out or satisfying as the "big budget" CGI movies everybody raves about... but it serves it's purpose for the most part. Protagonist learns a valuable lesson and/or sees the error of their ways, good guys come out on top, etc, etc... just the budget version of the same story Pixar has been telling for the last 15 years.

My three and a half year old enjoyed it just fine, it's not knocking Lightning McQueen or Buzz Lightyear of their pedestals... but he's seen this twice and was entertained both times. He asked me multiple questions about what was going on or why a character was doing something, and that's a surefire sign that he's into the movie and not simply zoning out in front of the boobtube.

From an animation standpoint, nothing here is making Pixar nervous... but I'm certainly not going to hold that against anybody. Looney Tunes weren't as technically well done as Fantasia, but Bugs Bunny still made me laugh. Once they get to the alien planet, things take a noticeable downturn... as if they didn't have enough budget to make these scenes to the same quality as the rest of the movie... While I knew this was a budget feature from the get-go, this obvious quality gap within the movie is jarring. The alien world and most of the aliens are just downright unappealing.

With the exception of Jeff Daniels, who seems woefully miscast as an over-the-top alien villain, the rest of the voice cast does their job well. While the dialog has it's share of misses throughout, Adam Sanberg delivers some generally funny lines and Cheryl Hines does capable work as the foil / romantic interest. Patrick Warburton seems to appear in 70% of all animated works lately, and while he's not given much to do, he delivers some gems as well. Outside of an almost unbearable Daniels, the voice work is unobjectionable.

I've sat through this once from start to finish and didn't feel burdened in the least. Sure, it's nothing to write home about... but this isn't horrible either. Three outta five stars for the kids... maybe slightly less for adults with sticks in their behinds...