Movies Reviews

Toy Story 3 Movie Review

By Anne Brodie Jun 18, 2010, 22:06 GMT

Andy, departs for college and Woody, Buzz, and the rest of their toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center . ...more

The cast list of vocal talents reads like the top ten of 1995!  And so it goes, a tradition that’s reliably fun, enriching, and entertaining continues with all its best virtues intact. 

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusak, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, and Laurie Metcalf are back on board for the third offering of one of the best loved franchises of all time – Toy Story.  No on does it like Pixar and my hat’s off to them for their loyalty as well as their imagination and technical prowess.

Tory Story 3 is loaded with fun and life lessons on the psychology of toy warfare and territorial instincts, sentiment, and love against the harsh realities of one’s owner growing up and leaving and being dumped in a place rife with danger and discomfort.

It’s a big lesson for the kids as their beloved troupe of intrepid toys gets packed up and shipped off to a local daycare.  Tommy’s all grown up and off to university.  He’s packing bags for garbage, donation, attic, and college, just as the clutter experts tell us to do, and the toys are suddenly adrift.  Sure, they haven’t been played with in a very long time, but its no justification for sending them away.

Especially when they are sent to Sunnyside Daycare, a nice place to visit unless you’re delegated to the very youngest playroom.  Those little ones have no respect for toys; they tear them up, drool on them, and otherwise deface them.  The toy’s attempts to move up to the older children’s room gets them tangled up with a brutal dictatorship led by the soft and comfy teddy bear who hides a heart of steel and ice under his purple fur.

The bear’s first lieutenant is none other than Ken, that strutting peacock of a boy doll companion to Barbie.  He is ascoted and tanned beyond all sense and a vicious, unforgiving doll Gestapo.  His rock solid jaw is the face of war and oppression.
So much for the kiddies to take in.

Lasseter’s unbroken winning streak has much to do with his respect for young viewers.  His films are complex and layered and ask a child to think and analyse as well as enjoy.  Parents will be delighted with his references to sixties and seventies culture (era of Ken’s wardrobe btw) and musical choices.  This is a highly intelligent and sensitive but realistic depiction of politics, struggle, will, and justice.  It’s a winning combination that cannot fail.

It’s also hilarious.  Pixar’s playful sense of humour and irony are in full swing, and yet in the end, after all the sturm and drang, we likely will go home after the movie, dig out those childhood toys we hid away and remember back to when the world was new, exciting and filled with potential.

Toy Story 3 is a triumph in every conceivable way.

35mm animated adventure
Written by Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich
Directed by Lee Unkrich
Opens June 18
Runtime: 103 minutes
MPAA:
Country: USA
Language: English/ Spanish