Friends warned me about “Toy Story 3.” A few of them know I’m a sucker for crying about my kids during powerful movie moments. Even more know I’ve got a daughter heading off to college in a few short weeks. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, maybe, but dang, is this going to hurt.
“Toy Story 3” was a blast through and through, and hilarious, smart entertainment for young or old nearly every minute. Then the grown-up boy packs up his last box for college and looks over his empty room with his sorrowful mom.
Wham! Did you get some popcorn in your eye, Dad? No, son, I’m just busy stabbing myself with a sharpened straw. Anyone who doesn’t take cartoons seriously should try watching that scene any year their child turns 18.
So if you want a great cartoon without all that deep emotion, I’m recommending instead “The Brave Little Toaster,” which animated inanimate objects long before the original “Toy Story” ever tried.
Watching the opening of “Toaster” feels as fresh as those first “Toy Story” moments, when you wondered why good moviemakers hadn’t done this more often: giving life and voice and character to neglected objects. In a closed-up vacation cabin, some dusty appliances wake up and wonder when their master is coming to use them. These themes hold a power and a wonder that resonates so well in the “Toy Story” series, the question of whether an object even exists if no one notices it.
Master has apparently put them up for sale, so the toaster and a radio and an electric blanket and others set off on a road trip to find their owner. The plot and the music and the voices make a wonderful mix.
Disney/Pixar’s John Lasseter wanted to make the film from the book of “Brave Little Toaster,” but his first pitch to Disney got him fired. Lasseter of course went on to direct “Toy Story” and oversee the wildly successful Pixar franchise, so no worries for him. If you want to see what turned him on before the excellent “Toy Story,” rent yourself a little “Toaster.”
