Jackson's birthday is coming up and he wanted to take a bunch of his buddies to the movies and this was his movie of choice. Having loved Toy Story and Toy Story 2, I wasn't disappointed one bit with his selection. Plus we decided Inception was probably not appropriate for 6 and 7 year olds. Yes, we were probably being overly protective, but better safe than sorry.
Anyway, as you probably know by now the film packs a lot more emotion than the first two and to paraphrase the old Superman tagline, you will believe a Dad can cry. I'm pretty sure Jackson's friends think there's something seriously wrong with me but that's okay because I'm positive there's something seriously wrong with most of them. So now we're even.
I'm not going to go over the plot points because you really should see it for yourself but high points include the opening action sequence, the Ken doll (voiced by the very under-appreciated Michael Keaton) and of course the returning cast of characters led by Woody and Buzz.
A word of caution, however, goes to those with really young ones - there are some very intense scenes that would probably be too much for kids of a certain age. Griffin just turned 3 and I'm pretty sure he would have been running to the lobby on more than one occasion had we chosen to take him.
My only complaint - we saw the movie in 3D and I had several problems with this growing trend. First of all, the movie would have been just as good in 2D. 3D added very little to the experience. Hell, the Fifth Dimension could have sat down next to me and sang "The Age of Aquarius" during the previews and it still would've been a great movie. Also, we sat on the side of the theater and the angle didn't quite work. But most importantly, it was 4 bucks extra per ticket and movie tickets aren't exactly a bargain to begin with. Granted, the site of 10 kids all wearing oversized wayfarers was pretty funny to look at but was it worth the extra expense? I say no.
So by all means see the movie - and bring some tissues - but save the extra dough and skip the 3D.