Over/Under of the Week: Adam Sandler

So, for the column today, I decided to go in a different direction, rather than give you either something overrated or something underrated, I decided to pick a topic, and then give you both an under and overrated item from that topic.

Today, that topic will be the much maligned Adam Sandler.

Sandler has never been on the same page as film critics. Critics tend to see film as an expression of art and technical talent, Sandler has always seen film as pure entertainment. It's obvious that Sandler enjoys his movies, after all, who wouldn't. He brings in some of the best actors in the business for his films, goofs around and has fun, and then makes tons of money. Sandler will doubtfully ever win an Oscar or gain critical recognition on a large scale, but its good to remember sometimes that film is more than just stuck up critics who don't even have a good time at movies. With that said, oftentimes Sandler can leaving you feel a little burned out from all the yelling. So with a nod to both parties lets look at the under and overrated gems from Sandler's past.


OVERRATED: You Don't Mess with the Zohan




Sandler has seemingly always had 3 gears. His most comfortable gear is the over the top stupidity and guy humor. He's loud, obnoxious, learns his lesson, gets the girl, and has a bunch of laughs. A solid majority of his movies fall into this category, it's what gives him his brand and makes him money.

His second gear is still primarily the loud obnoxious humor, but this time is isn't a blabbering idiot, and he actually is trying to make a "touching" point. These include: Click, 50 First Dates, Bedtime Stories, The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, and you could argue Mr. Deeds. Sandler seemed to make a natural progression to this style as he matured, and now more and more of his movies start falling into this section.

Finally, there is the Adam Sandler who must just like to mess around with critics, beccause he pulls out a dramatic, somber performance, and often gets rather favorable reviews. Funny People, Reign Over Me, Spanglish, and Punch Drunk Love, that's the entire list. The latter even garnered Sandler a Golden Globe nomination, and widespread critical praise. Sandler has shown off this side of himself more and more, though we never can be sure when this Sandler will decide to show up.

Unfortunately, even as it seemed Sandler might have been finding a happy medium in his life, he decided to release "Zohan" and show us just how crude he could still be. However, this time, his crude humor wasn't as funny as his classics like "Happy Gilmore" and "Billy Madison", and instead of just being adolescently crude, he amped up the sexual content and innuendo, and the result was a rather unfunny movie which featured all too many cringe worthy sex references.

Shockingly, some people ate it up. Ebert called it one of his favorite Sandler movies ever and actually LIKED it, which, if you know Ebert and Sandler, you know thats virtually a sign of the apocalypse.

Now, I like Sandler, and I'm a fan of most of his movies. However, "Zohan" struck me as amateurish in a way that his younger movies never did, maybe I just came to expect more from Sandler over the years, but "Zohan" was a major bust in my book.


2 out of 10 Elliots

(In honor of my inaugural Mustache Column, I will be rating things on a scale of 1 to 10 Sam Elliots)




UNDERRATED: Big Daddy





At the other end of the spectrum, is a Sandler movie that was released during the height of his Happy Gilmore/Wedding Singer popularity, and yet kind of missed the boat.

Big Daddy is one of the first Sandler movies to really push into the second phase of his film making. It still has his trademark insults and rebellious streak, but it forgoes the psychotic of Happy Gilmore, and the idiot of Billy Madison and The Waterboy. Unfortunately, because studios want to make money, "Big Daddy" was marketed as another Sandler stupid comedy. The posters and DVD case feature the stars peeing on a door, alienating people looking for a decent feel good story, and then surprising kids when it wasn't the same stupid old Sandler punching celebrities and shouting like a moron.

At its heart, Big Daddy is actually a pretty good story about a drowning loser who misses the past, and the little boy who saves him. It features a young Dylan Sprouse, who would later star in one of my favorite TV movies "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" before becoming a Disney Channel star with "The Suite Life of Zac and Cody." Also featuring Joey Lauren Adams, fairly fresh off of "Chasing Amy", Leslie Mann, who he would again star with in "Funny People", and of course a slew of recurring Sandler friends, including the always funny Steve Buscemi, and actually, one of Rob Schneider's better Sandler cameos. Big Daddy is one of Sandler's best, and it holds up well over time. If you think you might want to give Sandler a chance after seeing some of his newer stuff, I advise you to check out Big Daddy, if you already are a Sandler fan, pull this off the shelf some night, it may not get the same pedigree as Happy Gilmore, but its Sandler at his best, funny, but subdued.

6 out of 10 Elliotts


Thats all for today folks, as always, have a great day and check back tomorrow.

-Latin

Testosterone Alley: Driving Like a Real MAN

Turn signals, brakes, appropriate reaction times, common sense - what do all four of these have in common? They're fundamental aspects of operating a motor vehicle which must be implemented effectively if you want to stay out of trouble on the road. Of course, all people of legal driving age know this... but it takes more than just knowledge the basics to drive like a real MAN. We men often find ourselves in dangerous situations; it's in our very nature to tackle the most death-defying challenges, to defeat the odds and come out on top, whether via brute force, intellect and skill, or a combination of both. To drive like a man, especially a man in the midst of trouble, you have to stretch reality to the limits of its feasibility, to have mastery over the very laws of physics themselves. Today, Battle Royale brings you a four-step guide that will have you driving like a MAN in no time.



1. Eliminate environmental threats

Let's say you need to get from Point A to Point B really quickly. The only problem is... there's a bomb fastened to the bottom of your car. You've got places to be, so don't even THINK about stopping. You have to figure out a way to get rid of the bomb while on the move, and here's where our first lesson in physics-bending comes in, courtesy of one Frank Martin, also known as the Transporter:



As you can see, the first thing you need to do is find an incline, but not just any old incline; it has to be positioned in such a fashion that only one side of your car will actually hit the makeshift ramp. This way, as you fly through the air, your car will perform a spiral (in the manner of a good football pass) and, if done correctly, will hit the ground in the perfect upright position. This is pretty basic stuff if you're just trying to impress the ladies. But you're NOT looking to show off right now, you're looking to show off while REMOVING A BOMB.

The tricky part lies in finding something to scrape the bomb off the bottom of the car. In a textbook case, there will be a crane hanging in just the right spot to assist you with this... but we all know that MEN don't operate by the book, we do things our OWN WAY. If there's no crane available, a flagpole, scaffolding, street light, billboard, or any other object that juts out into the air will do the trick in a pinch. Try it out for yourself, see what works for you.



2. Increase altitude to avoid obstacles

You ditched the bomb on your car, but it went off just after you dislodged it. The resulting explosion alerted the cops, and now they think you're the perpetrator. They're hot on your trail... so how do you get away? We now turn to the one and only Batman for our second lesson in manly driving:



The first thing you need to do in this case is survey the scene. Keep a cool head, make sure your poisoned love interest (optional) doesn't get too upset about the fact that she could be dead in a matter of minutes; you don't have time for distractions like that. If, as you careen through the streets, you still can't lose the fuzz, then don't restrict yourself simply to driving on the ground. The simplest solution is, as was demonstrated, to find a parking garage, traverse the ramps until you get to the top, and crash through the wall, barreling forward across the rooftops until you intersect with a bridge. At that point, it's a safe bet that the police haven't been able to follow you for some time.

Of course, not all of us have the limitless funds necessary to secure a vehicle that can in fact break down concrete barriers like that, so you may have to get a little more resourceful. You've already proven that you're adept enough to lift your car off the ground, so the only thing you need now is another incline to lift you over the wall at the top of the parking garage. Perhaps there are some haphazardly placed and unsecured metal beams, or an unoccupied piece of construction equipment; whatever the case, in these dangerous scenarios, there's always stuff laying around where it shouldn't be, so make use of the random junk at your disposal... it doesn't take Ninja training to figure that one out.



3. Your car isn't just a vehicle... it's a weapon

The cops and their pathetic squad cars have been unable to stop you, and so, watching you fly through the air, they decided to bring in an airborne vehicle of their own. Suddenly, you're staring down a helicopter, complete with a rifle-firing maniac hanging out the side. No amount of roof-hopping will get you away from that... your only choice is to neutralize the threat, John McClane style:



By now you're a pro at achieving liftoff with your car, but this is more than just your average jump: this one requires precision, timing, and, most of all, a good eye for the trajectory of a car hurtling through the air.

After you make the tough decision to abandon your car, you have to ascertain whether or not your ramp of choice is in the proper position to strike the helicopter. This shouldn't be too difficult, simply because you are a MAN and as such can ensure that anything in your path (including tollbooths) can indeed propel your car off the ground. Antagonists of this nature rarely take into account this fact and will likely position themselves behind what they think is cover, only to find out that you will use that "cover" to launch your car at them and send them to a fiery doom.

The really hard part is knowing when to bail. If you jump out too early, your car might not have the momentum it needs to achieve maximum height; too late and you're going down in flames as well, or at least losing your legs as your car scrapes along the tollbooth (or what have you) ahead. This is where being a MAN really comes in handy. Reaction time is key at this point, and if you focus (i.e. don't panic like a little girl), your inner Awesome should see you through. When the time is right, jump, tuck, roll, and enjoy the show.



4. No car? No problem.

You've removed a bomb, escaped the police, and blown up a helicopter... but you still haven't reached Point B yet, and now you've destroyed your ride. Running is for weenies, and besides, you need to get there NOW, so what do you do? Take a page out of the James Bond playbook (you may want to take a moment to let it load, as the specific scene comes about 4 minutes into the video):



Any poser can hop into the nearest experimental watercraft and blast out onto the open seas, but your destination is on dry ground. To get there, find a boathouse (preferably one that has a ramp leading into the water; ramps are a key theme here) and use it to access the nearest road. With your mastery of physics by this point, taking corners on a street in a vehicle that has no wheels or brakes should be no trouble at all. And now that you're so close to your goal, don't let ANYTHING stand in your way. Keep forging ahead at all costs (blaring away on your little boat horn, of course, to alert innocent bystanders), no matter how many buildings you have to crash through. Eventually you'll arrive at your destination, even manlier than you were than when you began your journey.



And that's it, folks: four simple steps to driving like a real MAN. If you're reading this and you're not a man, don't worry... I'm sure there's a man out there who would be willing to bring you along as his poisoned female counterpart, and then you can take in all the Awesome firsthand.

Check back with us tomorrow for more adventures in pop culture.

-Billy

The Review Column: New Moon

Today, for the first entry in our weekly review series, I will be examining The Twilight Saga: New Moon. For all you Twihards out there who were well pleased that Taylor Lautner was lauded as Personality of the Week yesterday, buckle up, because you're in for a ride here.


Let me start off by giving you an inclination as to how I felt about the first Twilight movie: it was, in a word, bad. That's not to say it wasn't entertaining; surely I was intrigued by where the story was taking me, and it held my attention for the duration of its two hour run. Upon a second viewing, however, once I already knew everything that was going to happen, I couldn't help but notice how poorly it was made. The editing was choppy, the shot composition left something to be desired (a few too many extreme close-ups, if you ask me), the direction was sub-par, and the acting was pretty stinkish. I did get a good laugh out of Edward's initial reaction upon seeing Bella though. And vampire baseball? In postproduction, somebody must have thought "This concept on its face isn't quite ludicrous enough. I know... let's play 'Supermassive Black Hole' by Muse over the scene. That should make it suitably ridiculous." I won't even get into any of the other absurdities, but I can say that in a movie full of unintentional humor and bored actors, Billy Burke as Charlie Swan and his bits of comic relief were just that: a welcome relief. Ultimately, Twilight was a reasonably engaging but poorly produced story. But enough about the first movie.

I found that, in some areas where Twilight failed, New Moon succeeded. For example, the acting wasn't quite as bad this time around; Robert Pattinson wasn't a total spaz and, at points, seemed to actually care about what was going on. For most of his time onscreen, though, he was his normal aloof self. Kristen Stewart put in what was probably the best performance of her life; at times it almost seemed like she too was more than just a drugged-out robot. Maybe it's just the moody tone of the movie or the brooding natures of the roles, but both Pattinson and Stewart rarely show any emotion via facial expressions, which gives their characters all the personality of two dry chunks of wood. In Pattinson's defense, I think it may just be the role, because I saw a trailer before the movie in which he was featured, and he seemed pretty animated. Stewart, on the other hand, may as well have been playing Bella Swan when she starred in Adventureland, so I'm guessing her interest deficiency is rooted either in her acting ability or her own natural personality.

This is Bella's pensive face. It's also her happy face,
angry face, excited face, sad face, shocked face,
embarrassed face, relieved face, and hungry face.

Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black was also featured much more prominently in New Moon, and as I've already said, he's actually interesting and fun to watch. His character is real and human, someone you can actually relate to, which makes his time on screen that much more valuable than Edward's. Incidentally, Edward spends about half the movie away in Italy, which is just great, because Jacob's dynamic with Bella is far more engrossing than her surreal relationship with Edward.

The biggest problem with New Moon is that, even though it upped the quality a little bit in a few departments, it actually fails in most of the places where Twilight succeeded. My major complaint is that the pacing... in New Moon... is sooooooooooo... slooooooooooow. They took an hour and a half worth of movie and stretched it out to two hours and ten minutes by riddling the dialogue with a mind-bending number of pregnant pauses. Did I mention that there is a veritable metric ton of dialogue? Then there's the plot progression. In the first movie, a setting was established and events were moved forward, however angstily. Bella moves to Forks, Washington, makes friends, meets Edward Cullen, develops an awkward fixation for him, is conflicted by said fixation, learns he's a vampire, struggles to wrap her mind around that fact, spends quality time with his oddly accommodating family, and then, in the most interesting 20 minutes or so, gets chased by a gang of evil vampires who have been hunting people and sucking their blood before being cornered and caught in the middle of a relatively cool vampire fight scene. In New Moon... well, we find out that Jacob is a werewolf. And about half an hour in, after Edward leaves, Bella and Jacob talk. A lot. A majority of the movie is a giant DTR (that's "define the relationship," kids) conversation between Bella and Jacob... and this, aside from the few werewolf action scenes, is the most interesting stuff that happens in the whole film (again, thanks in large part to Taylor Lautner).

Effectively though, I can't really figure out exactly what happened in New Moon that warranted making it its own installment. Aside from the conflicting signals that Bella consistently gave Jacob, the revelation that Jacob was part of a really cool unit of werewolves, and Edward running off to Italy to be an emo kid, basically nothing really happened at all. In fact, speaking of Italy, I don't even know what bearing that sequence had on the rest of the movie. I could plop New Moon into Windows Movie Maker, completely cut out the entire half hour chunk where they go to Italy to see the Volturi, and the continuity of the film would be totally unaffected (if I did that, though, you'd miss out on Dakota Fanning's glorified cameo, wherein she stared intensely at Edward for a few moments). If they don't introduce zombies as another movie monster faction in Eclipse and build up to some kind of apocalyptic war between all these groups, I'm not really sure where this story is gonna go.

Charlie Swan's backyard in Breaking Dawn (fingers crossed)

Upon my initial viewing of New Moon, I decided it was better than Twilight, and by and large, the production quality actually was improved. After digesting it for a while, though, I've concluded that the reason I liked it more at first was because Jacob is just a cooler character than Edward, and this movie features Jacob. The film achieves very little in the area of plot progression, the pacing is way too slow, and it failed to draw me in, even in the capacity that the first one did.

The Verdict:

AWESOME
Sweet
Okay
Meh
Poopy



-Billy

Personality of the Week: Taylor Lautner

Every week we'll be choosing one individual (real or otherwise) as our Battle Royale Personality of the Week. On this fine Wednesday, I get to do the honors by selecting the inaugural personality. The first person to receive this lofty award is none other than every teenage girl's favorite werewolf, Taylor Lautner.

Left: Taylor Lautner
Right: The reason I chose this picture

But what makes Taylor Lautner worthy of such high-profile praise? The reasoning for my decision was based on the following principles:

1. New Moon is kind of a big deal
If you haven't heard, The Twilight Saga: New Moon (to use its full name for formality's sake once in this post) pulled in 140.7 million dollars in the U.S. in its opening weekend, placing it third on the all time list behind The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. Thanks to an army of rabid female fans, Taylor was part of a project that was about $17.8 million away from making history. Just being associated with something like that is enough to raise awareness, but being one of the stars helped secure his title this week. I haven't actually seen New Moon yet (I'm going today, and I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about it, in due time), but honestly, at this point it doesn't really matter whether or not it's even any good, at least for the purposes of this award; it's become a cultural phenomenon of which Taylor Lautner is a part.

2. He was the best thing about Twilight
Someone please tell me why "Team Edward" even exists. Who in their right mind would pick a pasty, prissy, metrosexual vampire toolbag who perpetually seems either bored or confused by his surroundings and spends much of his time making sure his hair has that perfectly messed-up look over a down-to-earth, naturally friendly guy who is secretly a werewolf? What's that you say? Edward sparkles in sunlight? Shame on me for forgetting that most paramount of vampire characteristics, that makes ALL the difference. But seriously, even from a the standpoint of a potential heterosexual friend, Jacob Black is way more likeable (not to mention approachable) than Edward Cullen, and though he had only a small part in the first film, he stood out to me as the most interesting thing about it. The only downside to Jacob in Twilight was that his hair was ludicrously long, but they rectified that for New Moon, so all is well. I realize that all the things I just detailed are traits of the characters played by Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, not of the actors themselves, but then again, I think part of the reason that Edward Cullen looked so bored/confused throughout the movie was because Robert Pattinson's not that great of an actor. Taylor Lautner, on the other hand, gave me at least a believeable performance.

3. His acting abilities don't limit him to playing werewolves
Don't try and typecast Taylor Lautner as one type of human/animal hybrid:

Exhibit A

4. He's dating Taylor Swift
This one's a no-brainer. I mean come on, it's Taylor Swift. Not only is she beautiful (albeit freakishly tall), but she's winning every award imaginable (I mean sure, she hasn't gotten the Battle Royale Personality of the Week award yet, but we gotta take this thing one Taylor at a time). As a guy, I have to give major props to the one who can rein in Taylor Swift, and the fact that they share a first name just gives them extra novelty points.

And there you have it. If you don't think those reasons are good enough, go soak a rope in kerosene (all this early Christmas spirit is apparently getting to me). Next week you'll get to see Danny Latin's first pick for Battle Royale Personality of the Week, but we've got plenty more coming for you in the days before then, so don't forget to gather all your friends and come back tomorrow.

-Billy

Weekly Glance Back: Great Characters in Cinematic History

Every Monday we will take the opportunity to glance both at what is upcoming in pop culture, as well as peer back at some of the biggest names, films, and fads that have dominated the headlines from years past. One week we may look at celebrity power couples from decades ago, another week we may look at some of the biggest toy crazes that the nation has known.

This week we start a series detailing our love (or hatred) of classic movies characters. We start this week with everyone's favorite bumbling detective, Jacques Clouseau.


Clouseau, of course, is the protagonist of the Pink Panther films. A creation of Blake Edwards, and more prominently, Peter Sellers.

For what it's worth, I regard Sellers as possibly the funniest man to ever have walked the earth. While I'm quite sure many would offer counter claims, I'm equally sure I'm not the only one to feel this way. In the same vein, Clouseau is undoubtedly Sellers' most enduring character. Many feel his performance in "Dr. Strangelove" as a host of memorable characters, is his best performance, and one can hardly argue, however, Clouseau is his most repeated and imitated performance.


Here is a collector's insight into the Pink Panther series:

"The Pink Panther"
1963

Ironically, it was never intended for Clouseau to be such a star. Edwards intended the star of his "Pink Panther" films (named after a diamond which appears in roughly half of the movies to date), to be Sir David Niven, who played the jewel thief "The Phantom" in the 1963 original. Sellers played Clouseau, the idiot French detective who serves as the Phantom's bumbling antagonist. Seller's natural comedy and charisma stole the show away from Niven, and changed the tone of the entire series.


"A Shot in the Dark"
1964

Sellers began to develop his character into the over-the-top idiot that he eventually became. Enter Seller's ridiculous accent, and the beginnings of the trademark physical humor, as well as the introduction of a memorable supporting cast including Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk.


"Return of the Pink Panther"
1975

After 10 years away from the series, and an ill-advised Alan Arkin reboot, Sellers and Edwards return with a vengeance. "Return" again focuses on the theft of the diamond, and gives even more air time to Sellers and Kwouk and their wacky antics.


"The Pink Panther Strikes Again"
1976

In my opinion, this is easily the best and most humorous of the "Panther" films. It features a comically absurd plot and a resolution which was hilarious in its finality. In fact, this movie so altered the canon of the series, that the next "Panther" film was forced to completely ignore the movie and revert back to "Return". Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk are at their best in this film, and Sellers uses his mastery of physical comedy to perfection. His interrogation of the Castle staff remains some of the funniest stuff ever captured on camera.


"Revenge of the Pink Panther"
1978

While "Revenge" had to ignore the previous installment of the series to maintain any kind of continuity with the series, it still remains one of the better movies of the bunch, this would unfortunately by the last "Pink Panther" film for Sellers, as he would pass away due to a heart attack in 1980.


"Trail of the Pink Panther"
1982

Edwards filmed this as a tribute to Sellers, using unused clips from previous "Panther" films. It follows the story of a female reporter who searches for Clouseau and the diamond when both go missing suspiciously. While meant as a tribute to Sellers, without him the film falls flat on its face, and marks the beginning of dark days for the "Panther" series.

"Curse of the Pink Panther"
1983

In an attempted re-boot with Ted Wass as a new bumbling detective, Edwards tested the waters without Sellers, featuring Clouseau only in a cameo as a "disfigured" Roger Moore. The film was a disaster, however, Moore is quite funny in his limited scenes.


"Son of the Pink Panther"
1993

A decade later, Edwards tried again to revive the series without Sellers, this time with Roberto Benigni as Clousea's illegitimate son. As before, without Sellers neither critics nor audiences payed much attention, and rightfully so. This would mark Edwards' last foray into the series as it would later be rebooted without him.


"The Pink Panther" and "The Pink Panther 2"
2006 and 2009

Recently, Steve Martin was cast as Clouseau in a modern take on the "Panther" franchise. Martin has become a similar master of physical comedy, and his casting as Clouseau seemed natural for a reboot of the franchise. The reboot proved to be a relative success, due to Martin's considerable appeal and talent, as well as new target audience and therefore themes. Gone are Clouseau's bed-hopping ways. Gone is the over the top insanity of Dreyfuss, and the transgender criminals of Clouseau's past. The series undoubtedly has been dumbed down for a younger generation, and will most likely stay there permanently. While Martin is a passable Clouseau, and does not insult the series as previous incarnations have done, it is no small thing that Edwards commented that Sellers was the one and only Jacques Clouseau.


For those that have merely seen Martin's adaptation of the series, I encourage you to investigate the originals. The non-Sellers adaptations can be dismissed and ignored, however, the '63 original, "Shot in the Dark", "Return", Strikes Again", and "Revenge" are all worthy additions to a netflix queue (or for that matter a DVD collection), though if you doubt your ability to get through all 5, the first two can be passed over with little problem, and one can jump right into "Return" and "Strikes Again". If you find yourself watching "Strikes Again" and cannot seem to crack a smile, I implore you to visit the doctor and diagnose what happened to your sense of humor.

With all that said, we leave you to the rest of your Monday, be sure to check in tomorrow for something completely different.

Monday Morning Pathfinder: Toy Story 3

What better way to begin this blog than with a post about my favorite animated franchise of all time? Today, ladies and gentlemen, we'll be looking ahead to Toy Story 3 to be released on June 18th, 2010. If you haven't yet seen it, check out the trailer now:



When I first saw the trailer for this movie before the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D Double Feature back in October, I nearly peed my pants in excitement. Up until I saw that double feature, I had a little trouble deciding which of the two Toy Stories I liked better. During the second movie, however, I realized that Toy Story 2 is in fact the better movie, and from the looks of this trailer, Toy Story 3 has the potential to be the best of the series. That's no small accomplishment, considering the fact that Toy Story 2 (followed closely by the first) is the best animated film ever made (regarding all the buzz about Up, I haven't seen it so I can't weigh in on it; I'll let you know what I think when I do see it).

There was talk of an earlier draft of the movie being focused around a Buzz Lightyear recall and the toys' journey to Japan to rescue Buzz, but as much as I thought that could be cool and funny, it sounded a little too much like the main storyline of Toy Story 2 with a different plot device. I think it's appropriate, now that 10 and a half years will have passed between sequels at the time of 3's release, that Andy is now college age, and I'm curious to see how the toys themselves respond to being dumped off at a daycare, since the theme of being forgotten and given away by the children who loved them was discussed often in 2. My only minor complaint is that the younger Andy in this trailer doesn't exactly look a whole lot like the Andy I remember from the first two movies. Sure, the technology has gotten better and Pixar has certainly improved their animation skills, but even though he does look more "realistic," something seems a little off about his appearance... "chubby" isn't quite the right word, but he looks a little more rounded.

The main cast has returned for this film, barring the late Jim Varney, who has been succeeded by Blake Clark. I'm torn on this; I'm never a fan of recasting, and I think the situation was handled well in the animated short featured before Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (a great movie in its own right, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it). In that clip, all the major characters from the Toy Story series had speaking parts except for Slink, who just moved about and gestured when appropriate, and I think that worked perfectly fine. On the other hand, it's easier to hide a character's silence in a 3 minute animated short than it is in a feature length film. The only way to avoid recasting Slink would have been to cut him out of the movie completely, and that's not a good idea either. From what I've heard, Blake Clark sounds enough like Jim Varney to get the job done, and I suppose that's all I can ask for. One of the most promising things I see on the cast list is Michael Keaton as Ken; I think this has potential to be really funny. If you asked me to put a voice to Ken, I'd be more likely to go with Cary Elwes, but that's just my personal preference, and Keaton is a solid choice.

It seems like the great adventure of this movie is going to be the escape from the day care, and I wonder just where they plan on going once they do get out; perhaps, in a Brave Little Toaster-esque scenario, to find Andy? The malfunctioning, Spanish speaking Buzz Lightyear looks mildly amusing, but I have a feeling it could get old quickly. The way the fake Buzz led them through Al's Toy Barn and the apartment building was one of the funniest things about Toy Story 2, so the idea of "resetting" him could be humorous enough, but the language barrier might keep it from being truly hilarious, and if it goes on for too long it could get downright annoying. The rest of the charming humor incorporated in the first two films looks to be intact, however, and I look forward to seeing how Andy's toys interact with the new toys they meet in the day care.

I'm doubtful that there will be a fourth installment in this series, so this will probably be the last we see of Woody, Buzz, and the gang. I can't wait to find out how it resolves and where the toys ultimately end up, but I'm sure wherever they go, it'll be a great ride. With all the elements in place for another superb piece of computer animated cinema, and being the second sequel to the film that started it all, Toy Story 3 is my most anticipated movie of 2010.

-Billy