Toy Story 3

In 1995, a little company named Pixar released their first full length feature, Toy Story, and it forever changed animation. Since then, Pixar has consistently been the top animation studio in the business. Fifteen years later, they are still on top, and once more bringing their beloved Toy Story franchise back for another adventure.

Their latest adventure picks up several years since we last saw the toys. Andy is now grown up and moving to college. The toys have been desperately trying to get his attention for years with hopes of getting played with once more. Days before the move, his mother tells him to either stick his old toys in the attic or donate them. After careful consideration, Andy decides to take Woody with him and put the rest in the attic, but after a mix up, they end up headed for Sunnyside Daycare. Upon arrival, they meet several new toys who may, or may not have the best interest for the new toy in mind. Once there, Mrs. Potato Head sees Andy looking for them through her eye that got left behind at the left, and the toys begin to plan their breakout so they can get back to Andy. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and the rest of the cast all return for the third film.







What I love about Pixar films, is the time and effort they put into making a film. When your watching a Pixar film, you are truly watching the best animation there is to offer. Everything looks smooth and perfect. All though they now convert their movies to digital 3D, it's not the hokey, throw things at your face, kind that I can't stand. They actually use the 3D to compliment the film rather than using it for cheap gimmicks. Toy Story 3 is no different. The animation is beautiful. I felt as if I was constantly looking around trying to take everything I was seeing in before the scene changed.

Another thing Pixar excels at is their creativity on screen. As I'm watching their films, this one in particular, I'm blown away by all the clever ideas they use in their films. Several times during the film, I was sitting there thinking to myself about how cool this idea and that idea was, like Mrs. Potato Head losing her eye and that being how they found out Andy was looking for them, the clever way they design their escape and probably my favorite part of the film, which was the opening sequence with Andy as a boy playing with the toys, but how he imagined it went on in his mind.








The new additions to the film were great as well. The main two were Michael Keaton and Jodi Benson joins the cast as Barbie and Ken, which caused for some funny scenes. Ned Beatty voices the old teddy bear, Lotso who is in charge of the daycare when no one is around. Whoopi Goldberg, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal and Jeff Garlin all also join the cast as new toys.

Much like their creative ideas, Pixar is also known for their unique and creative way of story telling. Unfortunately, Toy Story 3 falls way short of unique and creative when it comes to the story this time. The is by far the only flaw of the film, but to me a significant one. When I read the synopsis for Wall-E and Up, I wondered how in the world they would be able to pull a story like that off, but they did. They always come through. But with Toy Story 3, they use the same stories from the previous two films and really just combine them for a third go around. As I watched the story develop I kept thinking to myself, "Oh they did that in the first one" and "That's the same thing that happened in the second film, only to a different character". I had read that Toy Story 3 took so long to get made because they could never get a story they liked down, and I would have much rather them postponed it a little longer rather than just bringing the same stuff to the table.








Aside from a repetitive story, Toy Story 3 will deliver on every other level. It's funny, beautifully done with some really cool scenes sprinkled in along the way. Whether you are seven years old, seventeen years old, or seventy, people will enjoy this film from beginning to end. I give it a four out five.