We saw Toy Story 3 on Monday, June 28, 2010 at the Terra Vista 6 cinema in Rancho Cucamonga. It was the second film we had seen in theaters in 2010 and the first children’s film I had seen in a very long time, possibly since the 1990’s. I had seen the first Toy Story when it came out in the mid 1990’s. I think it was one of the first if not the first computer-generated cartoon major motion pictures. I enjoyed it very much not only for the animation but also the humor, character, and the story. The idea that toys have lives of their own when the kids are away is intriguing. I did not see Toy Story 2 when it came out in 1999. Maybe I felt I had outgrown it or I didn’t want to see it in a theater full of young kids. Within the past couple of years I’ve seen parts of it when they played the DVD at our church’s hot dog Saturday night and when they showed it on TV.
My wife had seen the first two Toy Stories and wanted to see the third. It sounded interesting because it would take place around 10 years after the previous one. Again I didn’t want to compete with the crowds of kids so we decided to see it on a Monday matinee. My wife planned to take the Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) exam in Rancho Cucamonga on Monday, June 28 and I had some spare vacation time. We originally planned to see it at the AMC Theaters at Victoria Gardens shopping destination. They charged $11 for the 3D version for matinee. They also had a 2D version that I believe was less expensive though the price for the matinee wasn’t given online. The evening prices were $11 for 2D and $14 for 3D. Using moviefone.com I checked whether there were any closer and less expensive theaters and found one: the Terra Vista 6 that’s only 3 miles from the test center.
I researched the Terra Vista 6 online and learned that it showed first run movies at bargain prices: $5 for matinees and $7 for evening shows after 5 pm with discounts for students, seniors, and kids in the evening. On yelp.com past patrons said it was an old cinema and I figured (correctly) that it didn’t have stadium seating. They said it was clean and never crowded. On the 28th we drove to the test center on the southwest corner of Carnelian and Base Line in Rancho Cucamonga. We arrived at the intersection 45 minutes early so we decided to “do recon” of the theater and the place where we would have lunch. We drove further south down Carnelian to where it became Vineyard, crossed Foothill, and turned left on Arrow Route. On the Southeast Corner of Archibald and Arrow Route was a strip mall that contained Guido’s Deli where we planned to have lunch. We recalled this place from when we tried to eat dinner there before attending the Fashion Empire 2009 Mood Indigo Fashion Show in June 2009 (see earlier blog).
We found Guido’s that actually has the sign “Guido’s Pizza” above it and continued to drive east on Arrow Route. We turned left on Haven, crossed Foothill again, and turned right on Town Center Drive. There were a couple of drives to the right with signs that said “Food Court”. The MapQuest directions said the theater was on the left side of Town Center Drive going east but we couldn’t find it there, only some open space and a few office buildings. After dropping my wife off at the test center I returned to Town Center Drive for a second “recon”. This time I was more successful since I noticed a building with “Theater” on it on the right side of the road. I turned right into the second drive with the “Food Court” sign and made another left into the parking lot before the drive reached the small roundabout. The parking lot was empty. The theater building was tan-colored and looked a bit like a mission-style building. On the north side it had a row of “buttress” pillars similar to a mission building. I followed them and turned right to the east side of the building where the entrance was.
The Terra Vista 6 did not look older or very different from most movie theaters, at least from the outside. It had ticket windows outside, video games and a long concession counter inside, movie posters, and a large board with movie times and prices above the ticket windows. The entrance was near a plaza and across from ta Subway sandwich café and a taco eatery. There were benches and tables near the eateries for outdoor seating. The theater was closed at this early hour of 9 am. I left, drove west on Town Center Drive and turned right (north) on Haven. I merged to the left lane that led to the 210 freeway west. While my wife took the exam I returned home and shopped for our weekly groceries. She called me around noon to say she was done and that she had passed the exam. I returned to the test center, picked her up and we drove to Guido’s to get lunch (see later review).
We drove to the Terra Vista 6, parked, and ate lunch at one of the outdoor tables near the plaza. There was still a lot of time before the 2:50 showing of Toy Story 3 so we walked to an ice cream parlor, Marble Slab Creamery, that’s located on Foothill to the south and east of the cinema. On the way we saw a building with a Mervyn’s sign but it turned out to be closed. We walked south on Aspen and then east on Foothill to a large shopping center that included a Bally Total Fitness. Marble Slab had signs for a “Buy One get One Free” special. Other signs said they made their own ice cream and served freshly baked cones. My wife had the Banana Traveler: sweet cream ice cream with banana, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and caramel. She enjoyed it and it followed an “Elvis” food theme from the days before: “Elvis” crepes of banana and peanut butter at our sister- and brother-in-law’s baby shower on Saturday, and leftover bananas with peanut butter (a.k.a. Elvis Dipping Area) on Sunday.
We returned to the theater where there were many parents with young kids gathered around. They had a queue set up to the right of the entrance for those who had bought tickets to the 2:50 showing of Toy Story 3. There were just a few others buying tickets so we quickly bought ours for $5 each and queued up at 2:24 pm. A mother with a young child in front of us asked if we could save her spot. We couldn’t since the queue started moving at 2:30 pm before they came back. We entered and found our way to Theater 6 to the right of the concession counter. The theater wasn’t very crowded when we got there and we found seats towards the center. All the other seats soon filled with kids and their parents and some teenagers. The theater did not have stadium seating and, unlike what it said on yelp.com, it was crowded with kids, most of them shorter than us so no one blocked our view. Overall the kids were very well behaved throughout, not making much noise during the movie or talking excessively. I didn’t think anyone had to make their way in front of our seats.
Other than the lack of stadium seating the theater did not seem old. Its floor sloped down toward the screen that didn’t look too small or too large. On the screen they showed motion (as opposed to still) ads for HGTV, Sprint, and movie and music trivia. There was a spot for the film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice that starred the guy who played Oswald on Numb3rs and compared the new film to the Fantasia cartoon. There were also spots for Argosy University (targeting the unemployed on a Monday afternoon?), the trailer for the movie Inception available on Sprint phones, a TV movie or show called Standing Ovation, the Toy Story 3 sticker collection, and a Google ad featuring the Toy Story characters. The official trailers began at 2:51 pm. First was the third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader directed by Michael Apted. It would be screened in 3D as I believe was said for all the films previewed. I thought it was a bit ironic that they were advertising these films as showing in 3D in a non-3D theater before a film that was showing in 3D at other, more expensive theaters. Next was a quick trailer for Smurf’d that wasn’t coming until summer 2011. The last trailer was for the animated movie Tangled, a variation of Rapunzel.
Before the feature presentation they showed this very strange short animated film called “Night and Day” that involved these literally transparent cartoon characters who never spoke. I couldn’t really get into it and I was glad it was short.
Then the feature presentation began. I’m not going to give much detail because I don’t want to spoil it but it was excellent. We already knew a bit about it from the previews online and reading reviews. While eating lunch a woman sitting near us told us a spoiler but we still enjoyed the film very much. It has excellent animation, action, and effects, all better than the first two Toy Stories. But it’s the story (the toy story?) that truly elevates it. The main characters are now well-known and have their own histories but we still got to see other sides of them, some hilarious. I thought the film explored deeper and more complex themes than the first two: family, growing up, transitions. Nothing really new, but still different from the toys’ perspective. It made think of the toys I used to play with.
The voice acting by both the familiar and new characters was top notch. I really thought of them as full living characters and not just things, just like how children see their toys. The film has a lot of humor and some suspense that I thought got rather intense for its G-rating. Parts get emotional and I was almost brought to tears as my wife was. Everything is well paced and easy to follow but a lot was unexpected even with the spoilers we knew beforehand. The film lasts for one hour and 45 minutes but doesn’t seem that long. There are many new characters some of whom are well developed and complex, others are hilarious. Overall, I couldn’t find any flaws with the film. It would have been worth seeing in 2D at the AMC evening show for $11 or even in 3D for $14. We got a real steal seeing it for $5. As we left we saw people queuing up for the 5:15 pm showing of Toy Story 3. This crown looked like it had more teenagers. The film appeals to all generations.
My wife had seen the first two Toy Stories and wanted to see the third. It sounded interesting because it would take place around 10 years after the previous one. Again I didn’t want to compete with the crowds of kids so we decided to see it on a Monday matinee. My wife planned to take the Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) exam in Rancho Cucamonga on Monday, June 28 and I had some spare vacation time. We originally planned to see it at the AMC Theaters at Victoria Gardens shopping destination. They charged $11 for the 3D version for matinee. They also had a 2D version that I believe was less expensive though the price for the matinee wasn’t given online. The evening prices were $11 for 2D and $14 for 3D. Using moviefone.com I checked whether there were any closer and less expensive theaters and found one: the Terra Vista 6 that’s only 3 miles from the test center.
I researched the Terra Vista 6 online and learned that it showed first run movies at bargain prices: $5 for matinees and $7 for evening shows after 5 pm with discounts for students, seniors, and kids in the evening. On yelp.com past patrons said it was an old cinema and I figured (correctly) that it didn’t have stadium seating. They said it was clean and never crowded. On the 28th we drove to the test center on the southwest corner of Carnelian and Base Line in Rancho Cucamonga. We arrived at the intersection 45 minutes early so we decided to “do recon” of the theater and the place where we would have lunch. We drove further south down Carnelian to where it became Vineyard, crossed Foothill, and turned left on Arrow Route. On the Southeast Corner of Archibald and Arrow Route was a strip mall that contained Guido’s Deli where we planned to have lunch. We recalled this place from when we tried to eat dinner there before attending the Fashion Empire 2009 Mood Indigo Fashion Show in June 2009 (see earlier blog).
We found Guido’s that actually has the sign “Guido’s Pizza” above it and continued to drive east on Arrow Route. We turned left on Haven, crossed Foothill again, and turned right on Town Center Drive. There were a couple of drives to the right with signs that said “Food Court”. The MapQuest directions said the theater was on the left side of Town Center Drive going east but we couldn’t find it there, only some open space and a few office buildings. After dropping my wife off at the test center I returned to Town Center Drive for a second “recon”. This time I was more successful since I noticed a building with “Theater” on it on the right side of the road. I turned right into the second drive with the “Food Court” sign and made another left into the parking lot before the drive reached the small roundabout. The parking lot was empty. The theater building was tan-colored and looked a bit like a mission-style building. On the north side it had a row of “buttress” pillars similar to a mission building. I followed them and turned right to the east side of the building where the entrance was.
The Terra Vista 6 did not look older or very different from most movie theaters, at least from the outside. It had ticket windows outside, video games and a long concession counter inside, movie posters, and a large board with movie times and prices above the ticket windows. The entrance was near a plaza and across from ta Subway sandwich café and a taco eatery. There were benches and tables near the eateries for outdoor seating. The theater was closed at this early hour of 9 am. I left, drove west on Town Center Drive and turned right (north) on Haven. I merged to the left lane that led to the 210 freeway west. While my wife took the exam I returned home and shopped for our weekly groceries. She called me around noon to say she was done and that she had passed the exam. I returned to the test center, picked her up and we drove to Guido’s to get lunch (see later review).
We drove to the Terra Vista 6, parked, and ate lunch at one of the outdoor tables near the plaza. There was still a lot of time before the 2:50 showing of Toy Story 3 so we walked to an ice cream parlor, Marble Slab Creamery, that’s located on Foothill to the south and east of the cinema. On the way we saw a building with a Mervyn’s sign but it turned out to be closed. We walked south on Aspen and then east on Foothill to a large shopping center that included a Bally Total Fitness. Marble Slab had signs for a “Buy One get One Free” special. Other signs said they made their own ice cream and served freshly baked cones. My wife had the Banana Traveler: sweet cream ice cream with banana, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and caramel. She enjoyed it and it followed an “Elvis” food theme from the days before: “Elvis” crepes of banana and peanut butter at our sister- and brother-in-law’s baby shower on Saturday, and leftover bananas with peanut butter (a.k.a. Elvis Dipping Area) on Sunday.
We returned to the theater where there were many parents with young kids gathered around. They had a queue set up to the right of the entrance for those who had bought tickets to the 2:50 showing of Toy Story 3. There were just a few others buying tickets so we quickly bought ours for $5 each and queued up at 2:24 pm. A mother with a young child in front of us asked if we could save her spot. We couldn’t since the queue started moving at 2:30 pm before they came back. We entered and found our way to Theater 6 to the right of the concession counter. The theater wasn’t very crowded when we got there and we found seats towards the center. All the other seats soon filled with kids and their parents and some teenagers. The theater did not have stadium seating and, unlike what it said on yelp.com, it was crowded with kids, most of them shorter than us so no one blocked our view. Overall the kids were very well behaved throughout, not making much noise during the movie or talking excessively. I didn’t think anyone had to make their way in front of our seats.
Other than the lack of stadium seating the theater did not seem old. Its floor sloped down toward the screen that didn’t look too small or too large. On the screen they showed motion (as opposed to still) ads for HGTV, Sprint, and movie and music trivia. There was a spot for the film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice that starred the guy who played Oswald on Numb3rs and compared the new film to the Fantasia cartoon. There were also spots for Argosy University (targeting the unemployed on a Monday afternoon?), the trailer for the movie Inception available on Sprint phones, a TV movie or show called Standing Ovation, the Toy Story 3 sticker collection, and a Google ad featuring the Toy Story characters. The official trailers began at 2:51 pm. First was the third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader directed by Michael Apted. It would be screened in 3D as I believe was said for all the films previewed. I thought it was a bit ironic that they were advertising these films as showing in 3D in a non-3D theater before a film that was showing in 3D at other, more expensive theaters. Next was a quick trailer for Smurf’d that wasn’t coming until summer 2011. The last trailer was for the animated movie Tangled, a variation of Rapunzel.
Before the feature presentation they showed this very strange short animated film called “Night and Day” that involved these literally transparent cartoon characters who never spoke. I couldn’t really get into it and I was glad it was short.
Then the feature presentation began. I’m not going to give much detail because I don’t want to spoil it but it was excellent. We already knew a bit about it from the previews online and reading reviews. While eating lunch a woman sitting near us told us a spoiler but we still enjoyed the film very much. It has excellent animation, action, and effects, all better than the first two Toy Stories. But it’s the story (the toy story?) that truly elevates it. The main characters are now well-known and have their own histories but we still got to see other sides of them, some hilarious. I thought the film explored deeper and more complex themes than the first two: family, growing up, transitions. Nothing really new, but still different from the toys’ perspective. It made think of the toys I used to play with.
The voice acting by both the familiar and new characters was top notch. I really thought of them as full living characters and not just things, just like how children see their toys. The film has a lot of humor and some suspense that I thought got rather intense for its G-rating. Parts get emotional and I was almost brought to tears as my wife was. Everything is well paced and easy to follow but a lot was unexpected even with the spoilers we knew beforehand. The film lasts for one hour and 45 minutes but doesn’t seem that long. There are many new characters some of whom are well developed and complex, others are hilarious. Overall, I couldn’t find any flaws with the film. It would have been worth seeing in 2D at the AMC evening show for $11 or even in 3D for $14. We got a real steal seeing it for $5. As we left we saw people queuing up for the 5:15 pm showing of Toy Story 3. This crown looked like it had more teenagers. The film appeals to all generations.
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