Toy Story 3

[cinemabon]

Toy Story 3 (2010) – directed by Lee Unkrich


When we leave our home, our things, our world behind and go away to attend college, we transition from dependent children into adults. We put away the things that attach us to that world we once knew. Our parents enter our bedroom and usually throw out everything in the room or sell it. Hence the accusatory phrase, “My mother threw out my [valuable] comic books!” Mothers have a penchant for cleaning and organizing. This is the premise of the third “Toy Story 3” installment directed by Lee Unkrich (director of Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo). Andy is grown and headed to college. The toys know and fear they will be stored in the attic or worse, discarded.

The storyline follows other Toy Story scripts in that the toys come to life when adults or children cannot see them and act on impulses they feel. In this case, the toys are familiar to us: Woody (Tom Hanks) is the practical lawman with a sense of fairness, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the hero and a bit stuffy, Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) cracks oneliners, Rex (Wallace Shawn) is the timid T-Rex, Hamm (John Ratzenberger) is also full of jokes, and more recently added Jessie (Joan Cusack) the female opposite of Woody. The reoccurring group present in all three films (except Jessie) have been lost, stolen, and run around the town only to end back up in the safety of Andy’s bedroom. This time however, they face extinction. The mother accidentally takes the toys to a day care and the film changes to a darker side (similar to what happened in the first film with the demented neighbor). Determined to stay one of Andy’s toys, Woody sets out on his own. However, when he discovers the fate of the other toys from the original group, he sets out to rescue them. The film has wonderful twists and turns along with some very funny moments as filmmakers put the characters through their paces.

The most poignant moment in the film comes when Andy realizes he cannot keep the toys forever and makes a bold decision. That moment and others comes not so much as a surprise to us, but more as relief. For we cannot cling to our past, as beings we can only grow if we constantly embrace our future and change. That is why our species evolved and continues its forward progress. Few movies simply express this sentiment in such a beautiful and straightforward way as “Toy Story 3.” I attended the showing with a packed house just a few minutes ago. We saw the 3-D version with the “dark sunglasses” which worked well. I did not notice any overt attempts by filmmakers to throw things at the screen. However, the short before the movie called “Day and Night” was expressly made for 3-D and showed off the contrast between three dimensional scenes and two-dimensional scenes purposely laid over the top of each other in an extremely clever way that smacks of Oscar all over it. What did I find wrong with “Toy Story 3”? Absolutely nothing. Probably one of the best movies, if not the best film I’ve seen this year because simply put, it expresses what we feel about the toys we cling to as children and why some of us prize them into adulthood, and finally because they also connect us to that wonderful world of imagination that is full of love, forgiveness, and friendship. “Toy Story 3” is not so much a goodbye to our beloved characters we’ve grown so accustomed to but an embrace of all that is beautiful about being a child.