Fall 1999 - during a time when a certain company, who in decades past was beloved and trusted by children and parents alike, seemed to have gone WAY off course by pumping out cheap sequels to seemingly everything and packing many of their "family films" with crude humor and absolutely terrifying small children with it's "rated G" (?!?!) villainous lustful priest character and I (and A LOT of other parents) had come to automatically distrust anything with this company's name on it - which is really REALLY sad! poor Walt, and poor Roy - anyway, during this time a sequel to that sweet and wonderful Toy Story came out and I thought, "great, they're going to ruin that too." I was learning though that Pixar was it's own unit, it's own family, not just a division of Disney, so I was hopeful there, and so happy with another heart-felt story of Andy's toys.
(during that time period DreamWorks released Prince of Egypt which was absolutely wonderful and is still one of my all-time favorites. If you ever get the chance, see it on the big screen with rich stereo sound all around you - just thinking of that opening scene and song gets me all choked up again. And even if they weren't absolutely scripturally accurate in every scene, and we Primary/Sunday School teachers have to repeatedly explain that to children, DreamWorks really wanted to be respectful and truthful to this amazing true story. The music score is beautiful, especially "The Burning Bush.")
Father's Day 2010 - by now, I've come to love and trust any film project of John Lasseter, even another sequel which I figured would be good - but how could it top the first one, right? Dad had introduced us to Woody and Buzz and Pixar all those years ago and I wanted him to be able to go see this one IN the theater WITH grandchildren. Kelloggs had a movie ticket offer and several times in the past several weeks Safeway had the Mini-Wheats for 10.5 cents per ounce (we're eating A LOT of Mini-Wheats). Then R & M and kids were here too, and they also wanted Gpa to see it WITH grandkids and they helped me get enough tickets and ensure that Gpa Jim got to see the toys come to life for a 3rd time IN the theater and WITH grandchildren. Although we split into 2 groups - some seeing it with Dad in a 3D theater before he went to work, and some of us saw the regular non-3-D version that afternoon. Jessica and I, because most types of 3D glasses + our regular glasses = horrible headache and rotten movie experience, and 3-year-old Kate, and Michael, because he was busy during the 3-D showing.
Anyway, I'd wanted to see it, at some point, and without the movie ticket deal I'm sure I would have waited for the DVD release, but once I was sitting there in the darkened theater with all the bright colors of Andy's toys' world on the big screen and the music and sounds echoing around us and little Kate with her big wondering eyes taking it all in next to me (then in my lap), I was glad I hadn't waited. Lasseter and Pixar topped themselves! I'm sure there are all sorts of ways they did this technologically, and good for them, but none of that means anything if the story's no good. This was so sweet, and really got me. I wasn't expecting that. By the end I was BAWLING - this tops the old Hallmark commercials and even the Mormon Ad one with the little girls' sharing cupcakes! Kate kept looking up at me and patting my hand and assuring me, "it's not scary, it's not scary," which I guess was the only reason she figured you'd cry, and I reassured her with, "I'm okay - they're happy tears," which she gave me a funny look for. I'm guessing that everyone of all ages will love this movie (just keep small children right with you when they get to that scene at the dump and reassure them that everything will be alright - which I did for Kate with complete confidence, after all it's a John Lasseter rated G film - and THAT scene is actually pretty brief). I'm guessing though that parents will be the only ones to get so emotional at the end - a really good emotional, a good chance to cry emotional - and in a dark place where no one can see you (Moms - don't bother with mascara on the lower lashes). Thank you Pixar for such a touching story, thank you Kelloggs for the tickets, thank you Jess and Michael for not teasing me too much for bawling, and thank you Kate for letting me experience it with you and your wonderful 3-year-oldness.
