I'm a huge Pixar fan, and I adore the original Toy Story. As with any sequel each subsequent film tries to outdo the others and this is no exception. There must've been over 100 new characters in this film, but amid the never-ending chaos is a highly relatable feeling of "why am I here?" throughout the film. The toys are trying to find purpose, or life after life. The journey takes us through ideas of limbo, heaven, hell, retirement homes, and even reincarnation; or just how to make a fresh start during this life. In one scene the characters actually know they are going to die and it's maybe a little too real even for me, but that's Pixar. Apparently they're taking it upon themselves to talk about death in their films, since most children's movies treat kids like they're dumb fragile little glass dolls. I suppose someone has to be the realistic voice in the room... It's funny, for 15 years Pixar has been teaching life lessons with inanimate objects more effectively than most films do with real people.

4 Stars (out of 5)

Under the B-Movie shell of this film was a strange story full of metaphors for human behavior that I found fascinating. Topics covered like childhood, parenthood, sexuality, marriage, infidelity, incest, rape, & our inability to escape our instincts. Splice may be too weird for most folks (like everyone in my theater) but I liked it, despite it's cheese.

3 1/2 Stars (out of 5)