Day 1 - Toy Story 3

I decided to start off with current award season movies that I have yet to see. When I run down the list it amazes me that I have missed some of these films. I think I shall start with best picture possibilities and then move on to the acting awards. Next comes the writing and directing if there are anything missing. Rounding things out will be foreign films with animation sprinkled in to lighten the mood.

The first film on this list should get a best picture nomination, only because there are now ten spots, and will be guaranteed to win best animated film.

I went into the viewing looking for reasons to hate this movie. It started off slow and didn't seem like anything special. Animated franchises can be very hit or miss, Shrek and Ice Age come to mind, and most of them don't get their squeals released in theaters. The longer the movie went on the more engaged I became. The creators of Toy Story 3 really treated this movie as a real life adventure story and not just another animated film about toys. That point really hit home when the gang was planning and executing their escape from Sunnyside Daycare. Other high-points for me were Spanish Buzz Lightyear and the killer Barrel of Monkeys scene that helped to open the film.

My favorite new characters would have to be Chuckles, the Cymbal-banging Monkey, and the Chatter Telephone. There is something about clowns, no matter what form they take, that never fails to put a person on edge. The character of Big Baby scared me knowing where he came from. Included in the video release of Pixar's Short Films is a short with a baby. In my opinion that is one of the scariest moments in animated history. The sad note of the movie was seeing Slinky Dog on the screen knowing that his original voice Jim Varney had died. Overall, Toy Story 3 allowed Disney to recapture some of the magic and humor that they had been missing since Pixar left.