Toy Story 3 is a triumph for Pixar in so many ways: overcoming sequel-itis, thwarting the evil empire, and simply maintaining an unbroken string of hits – which is a lot easier said than done.
Andy is all grown up, and Woody, Buzz and the gang find themselves looking forward to either a life of retirement in the attic, or the threat of being thrown away. Instead, they’re accidentally donated to a kids’ centre where they find a new lease on life with an endless supply of kids to play with them, but all is not as well as it seems…
I found the movie to be a lot closer to the original than Toy Story 2, which is to say that I rank this one higher (but the original is still the best of course). This third and final instalment in the series does what it has always done exceptionally well, which is to combine imagination and the sense of wonder with an emotional core based in reality (unlike that other franchise, which presents vapid parables of adult issues dressed in kids’ fairy tale clothing). Only a person with the coldest heart would be unmoved at the conclusion of the movie.
The plot of Toy Story 3 is not only entertaining in and of itself, but provides a most satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Like everything about the series’ contrivance that allows toys to come to life when we humans are not looking, the resolution is neat, plausible and leaves nothing to be desired.
By the way, don’t waste your money on 3D for this one. It was not specifically designed for it, not does it add much to the experience, unless you really love the novelty of it, and aren’t troubled by the encumbrance of the glasses and the dimness that they cause.
And so we bid a sad, but fitting farewell to Woody and the gang (at least until they release the trilogy on blu-ray…)
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* Huh, I discovered that “integrous” – the adjectival form of “integrity” – is actually a neologism, one of those non-words that entered the lexicon through common usage rather than a respectable etymological history. Ah, the perils of an ever-evolving language.