elidirkx

Let me start off by saying that I don't hate Toy Story 3, but in a decade (2001 up to 2010) where Pixar produced no sequels and instead had many strong individual films that even when not perfect, still stood solidly on their own (Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up), why would you choose to end that decade with another Toy Story movie?

It's not even that I necessarily disagree with a follow-up to any pre-existing stories, it's that it just feels so weird when aside from Toy Story 2, the studio had been known (at least to me) as a fantastic team of artists and writers who were able to craft grand new stories, and each new film also employed a new piece of technology that hadn't quite been explored in computer generated imagery yet.

Monsters, Inc. Had the addition of moving, squishing, swaying fur, Finding Nemo experimented with the many situations in which water could be animated, lighted and otherwise displayed.

The Incredibles experimented with more overtly cartoonish stylisation of human characters, Cars had cars in it.

Ratatouille tried (and mostly succeeded at) bringing appealing food on the virtual table.

Wall-E experimented with some of the most realistic CG scenery the studio had put out to date.

Pixar was, at least in my eyes, established as a trendsetting studio that broke new ground with each new release and actively employed new graphical features and technology in the pursuit of technical advancement in computer-generated animation, while also allowing each film produced with them to have its own unique feeling and vibe.

Let's just say that I felt left out with the release of Toy Story 3.

I didn't go out of my way to see it because I just had no active interest in seeing another sequel from Pixar.

It's not even that I disliked Toy Story 2; I actually really appreciated the further character study of Woody and Buzz's personalities.

It was a perfectly fine movie that never felt like a copy of the original.

Eventually, over a year after its release, I did take a chance to see Toy Story 3.

And it just felt like watching a less cohesive Toy Story 2 to me.

It wasn't that anything in particular bothered me, initially.

But I had seen some great stuff at my age then.

I had been greatly surprised by the refreshing qualities of How To Train Your Dragon from Dreamworks earlier, I had had a chance to see more new material from Studio Ghibli like Ponyo on the Cliff.

But eventually I came to realise what bothered me about the film: it had little identity to call its own.

It took the structure from Toy Story 2, changed a few details around, convoluted a few plot conveniences to give us a highly emotional fake-out towards the end.

It felt manipulative, insincere, and coldly calculated.

And it's never been the case that I felt that way with a Pixar film.

I hypothesise that Disney's acquisition of Pixar had something to do with it, but fine, after so many great movies I guess they'll learn their lesson and continue to make great original movies after this.

Which, of course, they did.

In between Cars 2, Monsters University, Finding Dory, Cars 3, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4 (WHY?), Pixar produced many more great original films like The Good Dinosaur (the most remembered Pixar movie of all time).

At an assembly line, forced to churn out sequels on the side to keep Disney's corporate vampires happy and likely leading to heavy crunch which could one day destroy the entire studio if left unchecked in its escalation.

I actually don't think this is a bad movie.

It's got some nice moments, it's got some nice interplay between characters both old and new and of course the visuals are gorgeous.

Though I can't help but feel that Pixar as a studio would have been better off if it had been a flop.

Closing the door for sequels and giving the studio more time and resources to focus on their new films would have been a great deal for them in hindsight.

Alas, what wallets that vote.

PS: The Totoro plush was so cute it brought the score up by three points just by itself.

As I found an old Japanese video game called 'Clock Tower' I found myself thinking this ought to have been a horror film in the first place. A strong female lead, who didn't look all that bad herself... Then when looking for things it might have referenced, I found this. Coincidentally, in both the main character was called Jennifer, and in both the face was just about the same. In both the main character also had to deal with a vicious killer.

Well, enter Phenomena. We deal with Jennifer, a foreign student who just arrived at a Swiss boarding school because her father had to work somewhere else.

She finds it difficult to be accepted in school, main reason being that she seems so odd to other people, and she reveals to us one extraordinary gift; she has the power to control the insect.

Flesh flies, beetles, larvae; and she shares this gift with a scientist played by Donald Pleasence, called John McGregor. As he has searched for an elusive killer, he had also searched corpses for their insects, so that they might help him to determine when those who were killed had in fact died.

Nobody knows who this killer is, only that he kills within the neighbourhood; but maybe Jennifer's gift could just help to turn the tide in their favour, before all Hell breaks loose.

I would highly advise not to try too hard to make sense of it all; just sit back and enjoy.

If you enjoy '80s heavy metal and bands like Goblin and Iron Maiden, that's an added plus.