Toy Story 3 Review

Director: Lee Unkrich: (Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo)
Screenplay: Michael Ardnt: (Little Miss Sunshine)
Starring: Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan), Tim Allen (Home Improvement, The Santa Clause), Joan Cusack (Working Girl, In and Out), Ned Beatty (All the President's Men, Charlie Wilson's War), Don Rickles (Casino), Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride), Michael Keaton (Batman, Beetlejuice), and John Ratzenberger (Cheers, Every single Pixar film)
Gross Revenue: $1,063,161,943 (Number 1 film of 2010)
Rotten Tomatoes TomotoMeter: 99%
IMDB Rating: 8.7
     Threequels are a risky venture for any company, especially making it several years after the previous film.  Many of the great cinematic trilogies (The Godfather, Spider-Man, Star Wars), have a great first film, a superior sequel, and a mediocre threequel that isn’t on par with the previous films.  So it must have been a daunting task for Pixar when they decided to make Toy Story.  Originally a project within Disney and then taken over by Pixar, the responsibility of making a film that not only lived up to the standards of the previous two films but also stands on its own and concludes a saga, must have seemed next to impossible.  Fortunately for audiences everywhere, Pixar knocked it out of the park, and Toy Story 3 is a worthy addition to one of the greatest trilogies of all time.

     The third entry in the Toy Story saga takes place several years after the previous Toy Story film left off.  Andy is now all grown up and preparing for college, and he hasn’t played with Woody, Buzz, or any of his toys in years.  Through a mix-up involving a trash bag, the toys arrive at Sunnyside Day Care, a toy “paradise” where toys are never outgrown as new children arrive every year.  However they soon discover that Sunnyside is run like a prison, with a toy hierarchy headed by Lotso, a plush bear with a troubled past.  Woody and his pals attempt to escape Sunnyside, in order to get Woody home to Andy before he leaves for college. 

      Toy Story is is a superb entry in the Toy Story saga.  All the regular characters are back and voiced by their respective actors, except for Slinky, who was originally voiced by Jim Varney, but was replaced due to Varney’s untimely passing.  In addition, a whole host of new characters are in this film including the commanding Lotso “Hugg-Em Bear”, Mr. Prinklepants a dramatic thespian, and the funniest and best addition “Ken”, Barbie’s perpetual companion.  Ken steals every scene he is in, and easily garners the most laughs in the film.  There are a lot of toys in this film.  Possibly hundreds of toys populate the halls of Sunnyside Day Care, making it Pixar’s most populous and diverse cast yet.

     The story is structurally centered on a break-out of Sunnyside Day Care, and it is done in the same manner and style of classic prison break-out movies.  It features all the usual aspects of a prison movie: the old time informant, the elaborate escape plan, all with that unique twist that only Pixar can bring.  Seeing the toys work together to escape brings back fond memories of Toy Story 1 and 2, and it’s among the most fun sequences in the film.

     Like any truly great film, Toy Story 3 features both hysterical sequences, and moments of great drama, sometimes within seconds of each other.  It is easily the most dramatic of the three Toy Story films, and it brings the audience to a place they never they would be with a movie about toys.  I shed some serious tears in Toy Story 3.  There’s a point in the film, which I won’t spoil to people that haven’t seen it, where it looks like all the toys are about to die.  Watching it for the first time, I honestly had no idea whether the toys would make it out alive.  For a few brief seconds, I sincerely thought the movie might end with the toy’s dying.  Fortunately that is not what happens.  The movie is also quite hilarious, mostly due to the antics of Ken.  Michael Keaton’s Ken is the definition of scene-stealer, and some of his lines literally left me crying with laughter.

     The End.  Well, let me just say first of all that if someone doesn’t cry after watching the last 15 minutes of this movie, then this person has no soul.  I won’t spoil the ending, but it deals with the end of the toy’s time with Andy.   It’s simultaneously heart-wrenching and joyous, as the door on their life with Andy closes, but the door to their new life enters.   If you are a human, you will cry.  After hearing that the movie was about their escape from a Day Care, I honestly had no idea how the movie was going to end.  I am proud to report that Pixar ends the film with grace that properly wraps up our characters’ journeys in the most touching way possible.
     Now to the ultimate question: How does it compare to the first two films?  There may be some debate among critics about this issue, but I believe that Toy Story 3 is not only a worth sequel to the first two films, but actually improves on them, and is the rare threequel that surpasses their predecessors’ quality.  It’s more dramatic, features better-looking animation, and is all around a better movie then the first two.  However, the film does suffer a few extremely minor flaws.  Unlike the first film, there are really no “quiet” character moments, when two characters are just talking to each other about how they feel.  The film is far too busy for that.  It is also not as funny as the first two, for the seriousness of the subject.  But these are minor flaws in an otherwise great film, and Toy Story 3 continues the Pixar string of greatness.


     The Toy Story films mean a lot to me, and probably have more sentimental value than any other film franchise.  I remember being 3 or 4 years old watching the original Toy Story and wondering how the filmmakers got the toys to move around.  Those initial images were so groundbreaking that in a youngster’s eyes such as myself, I thought they were real toys.  I had my very own Woody doll and Buzz Lightyear action figure, and I can vividly remember sleeping next to my Woody doll as a youngster.  I can even remember watching Toy Story 2 as a pre-pubescent, and being so affected by it that I tried searching for my Woody and Buzz toys, which by then had been long lost.  So when I learned that they were making a third Toy Story movie, I was extremely skeptical.  This wasn’t just a movie anymore, these were my childhood memories, and Pixar better get it right.  Of course, we all knew Pixar would get it right, and get it right they did.  Toy Story 3 completes one of the greatest trilogies of all time, and is an excellent addition to the Pixar film tradition.  Though not quite as funny as the first two, Toy Story 3 is the most dramatic, heart-wrenching, and the best of the Toy Story pictures, and is guaranteed to leave your sides splitting, your heart melting, and your eyes crying.  4.5/5.
" Now Woody, he's been my pal for as long as I can remember. He's brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind, and smart. But the thing that makes Woody special, is he'll never give up on you... ever. He'll be there for you, no matter what."- Andy