Toy Story 3 review

When you bring up the subject of sequels to most movie fans, you are likely to hear a collective groan. Over the years I'm sure Pixar owner John Lasseter's reaction was very similar. Nobody wants to go to the well once too often as DreamWorks has done with Shrek. When Pixar was leaving Disney, Disney planned to produce a Toy Story sequel without Pixar. But when Disney purchased Pixar a few years ago, they urged Lasseter to think about sequels to some of their films and agreed to shelve the planned sequel to Toy Story as long as Lasseter thought about doing his own sequel. Toy Story 3 is the first of those sequels and in the near future we're going to see Cars 2 and Monsters Inc. 2. And they have some original projects in the works too. So did Pixar go to the well once too often with Toy Story 3. No and they even set things up for Toy Story 4. I go to Pixar films expecting a certain standard and I don't think this is their best film but I don't think anyone will be disappointed. The storytelling is tremendous.





If you're familiar with the previous Toy Story films, you'll know that Woody and the other toys are owned by Andy. Of course it's inevitable that Andy is leaving home to go to college. What will he do with his toys? His mom suggests that the toys be donated to Sunnyside Daycare so kids can play with them. He decides to take Woody to college and put the other toys up in the attic. But his mom mistakenly puts them out in the trash. Woody helps them escape and tries to explain the mistake. But they won't listen and decide to go to Sunnyside Daycare. It seems very nice when they first arrive and the stuffed bear Lotso welcomes them in a very reassuring folksy tone. But they are put in a room with children way too young for the toys and they get trashed. And then Lotso puts them in cages at night. And he even re-programs Buzz Lightyear to guard them. Woody escapes and needs to get home because Andy is leaving. But with help from some friendly toys, he finds out what is wrong with Lotso and devises a plan to help his friends escape.





Of course the animation is beautiful as usual and the story is wonderful. Toy Story 3 is not just for kids. It's for everyone. I'm not gonna give away the ending but I suggest you bring a tissue. And as I said before, it sets up a sequel and some new characters. All the original voices are back including Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear. And veteran character actor Ned Beatty is fantastic as Lotso. If the character is portrayed too cartoony, it wouldn't work. But it is played as a straight villain. And Michael Keaton is funny as Ken. Toy Story 3 was directed by Lee Unkrich. He was an editor on Toy Story in 1995 and also co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. Pixar owner John Lasseter and day one Pixar employee Andrew Stanton get sceenplay credits. But the bulk of the screenplay was written by Michael Arndt who wrote the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine. The credibility of the basic story of Andy leaving for college is the main reason the rest of the film is effective. That happens in real life. Highly recommended. Here's the trailer for Toy Story 3.