Toy Story 3

Released June 18, 2010
Directed by Lee Unkrich
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Micheal Keton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Jodi Benson, John Morris, Emily Hahn

First Viewing: June 22, 2010
Roger – 4/5 stars

I’ve been wracking my brain since I saw this movie, trying to think of another trilogy in movie history that uses the same cast of characters as successfully as the Toy Story movies. I can’t think of one. Pixar and Disney have struck gold for the third time. Toy Story 3 is just as funny and genuinely heartfelt as the first two, while incorporating familiar characters into a fresh scenario. Toy Story 3 is well done. It’s both familiar and fresh, and manages to retain the spirit of the first two while keeping things interesting. The animation is stellar, as usual, and the themes and messages are interwoven nicely throughout, so the plot doesn’t feel too heavy-handed.

     Toy Story’s main audience is now made up of the 20-something generation (which I am currently part of), and the writers know this. Andy, the toys’ owner, is a child no more, and is off to college. Woody, Buzz and Co haven’t been played with in years, and fear that this is the end of the line for them. Specifically, the trash can. Andy, however, isn’t the throwaway, abandoner type, and he puts his beloved toys in a bag for safekeeping in the attic. After a miscommunication, though, the toys are set out on the curb – with the trash. In desperation, they make a bid for freedom in the donations box, on its way to Sunnyside Daycare, where all is not the Sunny Side that it seems.

     All the beloved characters are back, and true to their previous form. Woody and Buzz, Jesse and Bullseye, Ham and Rex, etc. There are new characters that come along with the Daycare, as well, including an old “Lotso” Hugs Bear, and a Ken for Barbie (these two together get a lot of laughs), and a tough, wise old toy telephone, who reminded me of a gruff old teacher, passing the torch.

     Toy Story 3 is slightly more nostalgic than the previous two. “Growing Up” is no longer a future, distant idea, but a reality, and anyone over the age of 10 will relate to that disheartening experience of realizing that toys are no longer the magical creatures they once were. Saying goodbye to toys, and that particular stage of life itself, is unsettling and bittersweet. Among the themes of friendship and acceptance, this movie is tinged with sadness. The toys feel it, and the audience feels it.

     However, for all that, there are a lot of laughs, and almost all of them clever. Just like the first two movies. There is a scene in which Woody is in a little girl’s room, among new toys, and it had me laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes. The girl’s imaginary scenario combined with the toys’ reaction reminded me of myself – I had much the same pattern of play, and my own toys would have probably felt the same inspiration/exasperation. Buzz is temporarily switched to Spanish Mode, which leads to some funny stuff, and Ham always has some great one-liners thrown into the mix.

     There comes a point where Andy makes the decision to pass his toys onto the next generation, and carefully chooses a little girl that the audience has come to know through the story. Bonnie, we know, is worthy of caring for these toys. As Andy drives off for the next adventure in his life, we are reminded that while we all grow up and leave that innocence behind, there is always another child somewhere, in the next generation, ready for a whole new toy story of their own.