I Love Pixar.

I have since 1996, and I always will. The thing about Pixar is that they promise you a great movie, and boy, do they deliver. They never, ever disappoint.

Toy Story 3 was no exception. A perfect blend of adventure, emotion, seriousness and hilarity is sustained throughout the movie. Everything about it is characteristic of the creativity and sense of humor of the great minds at Pixar. It's difficult to get away with a threequel, and difficult to make it as good as the first movie. But as always, Pixar succeeds at what they put their minds to.

Mom took all the kids to see it on Wednesday, except Ian. He gave a new definition to the word "lame" by staying behind. Now, this was on the same day that Eclipse came out. Hence, every single teenage girl at the theater beside me was there to swoon over warring vamps and werewolves. But I, with a two-year-old on my hip and diverse siblings making noise all around me, was there for the toys. I'd watched the video of the first one as a little kid, I had seen #2 in theaters and gosh darn it I was gonna see this one if it killed me. So I looked around at my perfectly groomed female counterparts on their way to enjoy what they liked best, hefted the purse that didn't match my shirt, lifted my chin (and my baby brother), and proudly marched in to see what I liked better. I laughed, I cried...well, almost cried. I've been called heartless for this capital offense of only almost crying when practically everyone I know full-on cried. Can I help it that very few movies can make me shed true tears? Last one was The Secret Life Of Bees. I won't lie, I was positively bawling.
But I digress.

Toy Story 3 was a little emotional for me. Andy is seventeen, I'm seventeen. I'm going to college next year. I felt like this movie meant coming full circle for me. When Ian was born in 96, I remember Mom and Dad handing the Toy Story video tape in its shiny box to Jack and I, as a "gift" from our new baby brother. Jack launched into an obsession. We still have the video from his third birthday party the year afterward, when a very excited, very cute (what happened?) little boy ripped off the wrapping paper to discover his very own Woody doll! You could pull the string and everything. "It's WOODYYY!" he exclaimed in that Minnie Mouse voice of his.

In '99, shortly after our family moved to CT, where we would live for six more years (our record for staying in one place) we went to see Toy Story 2 in theaters.

Woody and Buzz always seem to pop up at milestones in my life. Ian was born; we'd just moved; this time around, thirteen years and six kids later, I once again had a new baby brother. I joke that Max should have been born later, or the movie should have come out earlier, so he could "give" us the DVD. :)

What's left to say, but...

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!