Can 147 Critics Be Wrong? Meet the Two Pundits Who Trashed Toy Story 3

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It’s one of the best-reviewed movies of all time, scoring 99% fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. But as far as one critic is concerned, Toy Story 3 is certainly nowhere as sublime as Transformers 2.

Yes, that’s the conclusion of contrarian extraordinaire Armond White, of the New York Press: “None of these digital-cartoon characters reflect human experience; it’s essentially a bored game that only the brainwashed will buy into,” White writes. “Besides, Transformers 2 already explored the same plot to greater thrill and opulence.”

Up through late Friday afternoon, the movie was scoring a perfect 100% on the review aggregation site (check out our gide to the new voices of TS3). Then back to back, White and critic Cole Smithey chose to trounce on the final film in the renowned Toy Story trilogy.

“Once you get past paying the inflated price for an animated ‘3-D’ movie where nothing floats in front of your eyes as with quality 3-D films, the story that unfolds is more sad than joyful,” Smithey wrote.

Who knew that floating sight gags were prerequisites for 3D entertainment? I guess someone should have told James Cameron that the Na’vi needed to throw a few more things at the camera.

The backlash against the two critics has been vicious – presumably unleashed by those who agree with the soaring sentiments of TIME’s Richard Corliss, who deemed the sequel an “instant classic.” Then again, maybe Smithey and White – a lifelong devil’s advocate who has made a career out of railing against popular opinion – used their reviews more as a means of grabbing attention.

If that was indeed the end goal, then consider this article all the evidence you need of their success.

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