As of five minutes ago when I was writing my Weekend Preview post, Toy Story 3 had 134 positive reviews and no negative ones on RottenTomatoes. But that was before Armond White of the NYPress came along. I have to give Movieline some credit here, because it was just this morning that they were wondering, “Will Armond White write the first bad Toy Story review?” Wonder no more. He has.
Bored Game
Toy Story 3 suckers fans to think they can accept this drivel
Toy Story 3 is so besotted with brand names and product-placement that it stops being about the innocent pleasures of imagination—the usefulness of toys—and strictly celebrates consumerism.
None of these digital-cartoon characters reflect human experience; it’s essentially a bored game that only the brainwashed will buy into. Besides, Transformers 2 already explored the same plot to greater thrill and opulence.
While Toy Story 3’s various hazards and cliffhangers evidence more creativity than typical Pixar product (an inferno scene was promising, Lotsa Hugs’ cannily evokes mundane insensitivity), I admit to simply not digging the toys-come-to-life fantasy (I don’t babysit children, so I don’t have to) nor their inevitable repetition of narrative formula: the gang of animated, talking objects journey from one place to another and back—again and again.
Dissing Toy Story 3 while praising Transformers 2‘s “opulence”? Check. (Said Michael Bay: “F*CK YEAH! Wait, that’s good, right?”) Doubling down on the Toy Story 3 diss by saying it still sucks less than most Pixar movies? Double check. Oh but wait, he’s not done. He works even more Toy Story 3 hate into his Jonah Hex review (…which he liked).
Entrusted to direct the Jonah Hex screenplay by groundbreaking team Neveldine & Taylor, director Jimmy Hayward brings to it the visual craft and genre savvy he learned as an animator on Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and as a writer and sequence-director on the animated feature Robots. So, although Jonah Hex doesn’t effervesce like Neveldine & Taylor’s own avant-garde innovations, Crank and Crank: High Voltage, Hayward yet makes it pell-mell; it’s still got N&T’s anarchic spirit. That alone makes Jonah Hex the best movie to open this week—easily overshadowing Toy Story 3.
Wow, dude. That is some epic trolling. Five stars. “Apocalypse Now? Drivel. It just didn’t effervesce like Pluto Nash. For me it’s all about the effervescingness. You probably wouldn’t understand.”








