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I was a little uneasy about venturing into Toy Story 3, thinking there was no way Disney Pixar could come up with yet another viable story for these characters that we have really come to care about and don't want to see thrown on the screen in a story unworthy of them. Fortunately, the genius that is Disney Pixar proved me wrong and came up with yet another entertaining story that, though traditionally intricate, provides imaginative entertainment with some new fun characters, all wrapped up in a story about the values of loyalty and friendship.
In this third installment, Andy is 17 and is getting ready to go to college and hasn't played with any of our friends (Woody, Buzz, Ham, Jessie, etc.) in years. For some reason, Andy decides to take Woody to college with him and put the rest of the toys in the attic, but his mom mistakes the bag with the rest of the toys for garbage and through a series of circumstances, end up getting donated to a daycare center, where the toys are overseen by a strawberry-smelling Teddy Bear (wonderfully voiced by Ned Beatty, sounding a lot like Disney narrator Rex Allen) who has abandonment issues of his own.
Director Lee Unkrich has mounted a typically complex story but the difference I found here that I didn't in the other two films is that just about everything (the validity of the opening scene is debatable) we are presented is viable to the story and connects to the underlying themes of loyalty and friendship...I love the way Woody leaps into action when he realizes the rest of his friends are going to the daycare center instead of the safety of the attic. There are several hair-raising sequences along the way, including Woody's memorable escape from a bathroom and the climax, which literally had me on the edge of my chair. There are a couple of fun subplots, the best of which is the legendary meeting of Barbie (voiced by Jodie Bensen) and Ken (voiced by Michael Keaton), who actually end up in opposite camps at one point. I also must mention that in my review of the second film, I felt the section regarding Jessie's backstory was unnecessary and brought the film to halt. In this film we get a backstory for the Teddy Bear, that is perfect and works its way perfectly into the Bear's current motives.
This was a wonderfully exciting adult adventure where most of the villains are little kids and the importance of friendship is always paramount and always at the center of what's going on. And as much as I enjoyed this movie (despite the accustomed multiple endings), if there was never to be a Toy Story 4, I would be okay with that.
I was a little uneasy about venturing into Toy Story 3, thinking there was no way Disney Pixar could come up with yet another viable story for these characters that we have really come to care about and don't want to see thrown on the screen in a story unworthy of them. Fortunately, the genius that is Disney Pixar proved me wrong and came up with yet another entertaining story that, though traditionally intricate, provides imaginative entertainment with some new fun characters, all wrapped up in a story about the values of loyalty and friendship.
In this third installment, Andy is 17 and is getting ready to go to college and hasn't played with any of our friends (Woody, Buzz, Ham, Jessie, etc.) in years. For some reason, Andy decides to take Woody to college with him and put the rest of the toys in the attic, but his mom mistakes the bag with the rest of the toys for garbage and through a series of circumstances, end up getting donated to a daycare center, where the toys are overseen by a strawberry-smelling Teddy Bear (wonderfully voiced by Ned Beatty, sounding a lot like Disney narrator Rex Allen) who has abandonment issues of his own.
Director Lee Unkrich has mounted a typically complex story but the difference I found here that I didn't in the other two films is that just about everything (the validity of the opening scene is debatable) we are presented is viable to the story and connects to the underlying themes of loyalty and friendship...I love the way Woody leaps into action when he realizes the rest of his friends are going to the daycare center instead of the safety of the attic. There are several hair-raising sequences along the way, including Woody's memorable escape from a bathroom and the climax, which literally had me on the edge of my chair. There are a couple of fun subplots, the best of which is the legendary meeting of Barbie (voiced by Jodie Bensen) and Ken (voiced by Michael Keaton), who actually end up in opposite camps at one point. I also must mention that in my review of the second film, I felt the section regarding Jessie's backstory was unnecessary and brought the film to halt. In this film we get a backstory for the Teddy Bear, that is perfect and works its way perfectly into the Bear's current motives.
This was a wonderfully exciting adult adventure where most of the villains are little kids and the importance of friendship is always paramount and always at the center of what's going on. And as much as I enjoyed this movie (despite the accustomed multiple endings), if there was never to be a Toy Story 4, I would be okay with that.