It was surprisingly good (which is saying a lot, considering it is PIXAR) and it brought a satisfying closure to this story and these characters. Twelve years!!! After twelve years, the studio decided to make one last adventure with the toys, and the way the writers used that inevitable conflict of kids growing up was very cleverly done. It's true that some kids let go of their childhood toys easily (trashing them or donating them to child-friendly places) but others just feel so emotionally attached they want to stick with their toy-friends all the way into adulthood.
Toys always encouraged an imagination. They made me mentally escape the walls of my bedroom and feel like I was the storyteller/narrator in my own life for just a few minutes. It brought fun, laughter, and lots of silliness in my childhood... and I guess the reason I was so attached to toys was because of the fear that letting them go meant letting go of fun.
Watching this film made me miss my childhood boardgames, Barbie dolls & her multiple outfits, those colorful Trolls and My Little Ponies... and to be honest, it made me almost sympathetic to this new generation of kids in the 21st century who're surrounded by digital media and gadgets. Nothing can replace a teddy bear, and yet every time I look at these 8-year-olds with Nintendo DSs or listening to their iPod lazily in a waiting room, it makes me wonder how child's imagination will survive in the distant future. Will they go on adventures with the characters they see in a videogame, or be emotionally attached to these gadgets the same way I was attached to My Little Ponies?
I love the fact that I had a crafty, active imagination as a child because of the toys I played with. I'm just hoping kids don't lose themselves in technology that pretty much does all of the imagination for them.
---> In other news, I start my grad school classes today!!!
