A second viewing of “Toy Story 3” is just as wondrous and entertaining as the first. In my initial review, I declared the Pixar sequel a masterpiece and another look only reinforced that. Pixar might be the brightest the star in the darkening universe of Filmdom today, but what a star. And this is coming from someone who was cold towards animation until “Monsters, Inc.” made me completely forget it was a cartoon and “Ratatouille” blew my mind. Pixar brings joy into my life. Pure, unadulterated joy.
“Toy Story 3” wasn’t just the best picture of the year, it was the best picture of the year by a long shot. To drop it in the ghetto of Best Animated Feature is not only a disservice to the film itself, but a disservice to Hollywood’s own history — a history it writes itself every year with every Best Picture winner.
Earlier in the countdown I mentioned that in my opinion only my first choice in this countdown ranked as a picture truly worthy of all that the title Best Picture of the Year should mean, and I meant that. I’m certainly fond of “Winter’s Bone,” “Inception,” “The King’s Speech,” and “The Social Network, but Best Picture worthy? No. To me, a Best Picture winner must tower over more than just a single year’s worth of entries, it must qualify as something as timeless as a Beethoven symphony.
Think about it: Every year literally hundreds of motion pictures are produced by thousands of talented artists putting everything they have into the greatest art form ever devised. In some cases those individuals pour years of their lives and tens of millions of dollars into a project that will all come down to a single moment of judgment – that first screening when it’s determined whether or not every drop of sweat and blood was all worthwhile. But above the money and sweat equity, there are hopes and dreams and aspirations poured into every frame and every edit. And out of this incredible symphony of activity and passion, one film will emerge above all the others and that film must be worthy — and not just in comparison to the others.
The Best Picture of the Year speaks to the year and it should be the picture that says to history, “This is what Hollywood accomplished, what we are most proud of, what defines who we are and what we believe matters.” The winner should be the crown jewel of that year and most importantly, the film most likely to survive, fad, fashion and time. For example, if there’s a civilization in a hundred years, there’s no doubt in my mind my ancestors will be watching “Toy Story 3.” The others, probably not, including “The King’s Speech.”
It’s happened before where the winner wasn’t as timeless as other films produced that same year. Looking back to 1978, how many Best Picture winners over the past 33 years really pass that test? I’d say less than half. The sad part is that there were usually other films more worthy that ended up being passed over. This decade has been especially weak. “The Departed,” “Crash,” Chicago,” Slumdog Millionaire,” “The Hurt Locker”? Are you kidding me?
Evidence of our declining motion picture industry can also be found in just how few films were truly Best Picture worthy this decade. By my count 14 (though I’m probably forgetting a few): “Up,” “The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “Mulholland Drive,” “Once,” “Ratatouille,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Amelie,” “Watchmen,” “The Lives of Others,” “In the Bedroom,” The Station Agent,” and “Sexy Beast.”
All subjective ,I know, but to boil what I’m saying here down to as simple as I can possibly say it, a Best Picture winner should be a film you can never get enough of. And no matter how many times I see it, I will never get enough of “Toy Story 3.”
Here’s the full countdown. Thanks for hanging in there with me.
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