Toy Story 3 is the third and hopefully final film in the Toy Story saga. The films plot revolves around Andy leaving for college, leaving an uncertain future for his and our childhood favourites. Through a series of mishaps the toys end up at a daycare named Sunnyside where they believe they have found the perfect life. However Woody’s loyalty to Andy and the hidden secret regime of Lotso Hugging Bear may just make the toys want to escape.
The first Toy Story was the first fully computer animated picture and the first film by Pixar. Since then the medium and the studio have enjoyed tremendous success. Year after year we see tons of animated films but only one studio are the masters of it and that is Pixar. With Up, Wall-e, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 2, Ratatouille and A Bugs Life they have been one of the most consistent and brilliant film studios working today. Anticipation is high for this film as not only is it following the heels of two of the best animated films of all time it has the pressure of an 11 year wait. Does the film live up to this? Yes and no.
There are many who grew up with the Toy Story films and the films opening is a wonderful nod to that with an exciting action sequence followed by a montage of Andy growing up with his toys and their eventual banishment to his cupboards. The wonder of seeing these characters on the big screen as well as the charming opening set up the film well however the rest of the film save for a few moments doesn’t live up to it. One of the main problems with Toy Story 3 is that it recycles old plot ideas especially from Toy Story 2. The films villain is basically Stinky Pete the Prospector in different clothing, the toys coming to terms with the fact that Andy may outgrow them it just feels like the film is going through the motions in a way and using similar plot devices. Also for a Toy Story film it does not maintain excitement and fun throughout which the first two did so well. The film oddly drags in the middle section and even has its share of dull moments. This is the longest of the three films and that is not a surprise.
However despite the film recycling old ideas and not being as well paced, as the first two it is still an enjoyable film. The characters in the Toy Story films are so loveable that they could carry any film and one scene towards the end at an incinerator shows us just how much we care about these toys and provides perhaps one of the most emotional moments of the entire trilogy (perhaps the film would be better ending there but we wont discuss that here) the film also introduces a prison break theme which works quite well with the highlight being a run down of the daycares security including a Big Brother esque monkey. One scene however that does fail is a flashback from a character named Chuckles; this is obviously the brother or sister to the Jessie flashback scene in Toy Story 2. However in this film the flashback lacks the magic and emotion of the Jessie flashback for one main reason…dialogue. Pixar are the master of portraying stories and emotion through music and images they did it wonderfully in Toy Story 2, Up and Wall-e yet here what could have been a wonderful scene is bogged down by excessive narration.
The animation in the film is gorgeous and it looks great however the 3D is utterly pointless. The 3D does not seem to add anything and you would be better off seeing it in 2D so you don’t have to wear glasses and risk a headache. The first two films and even this one do not need the gimmick of 3D to enhance it the story and characters are enough.
Overall despite it being a reasonably enjoyable time Toy Story 3 lacks the magic, humour and emotion of the first two films, it recycles ideas the series has already covered and even drags at stages. I wanted to love this film but ended up just liking it, its good but for Toy Story and pixar good is just not good enough. Its not as emotional as I and it wanted it to be, with an ending that some will call sad and others over sentimental. However Toy Story 3 has characters you just love, beautiful animation and some great scenes that still make it the best animated film of the year (not much competition there however) one just cannot help but feel this film could of and should have been much better. These films however will still have a place in everybody’s lives to infinity and beyond.
One Sentence Summary: Although not up to the standard of the first two and other Pixar films, Toy Story 3 is still the best animated film of the year.