In Theaters: Toy Story 3

When I first saw the preview for this movie, I was extremely excited that there would be another Toy Story movie. As a baby of the eighties, I grew up with Andy, Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang. While I enjoyed the movies, I never joined the pop culture cults who worshiped the films. That is way I was so surprised when I found myself at the movie theater, an hour early, on opening weekend, to see Toy Story 3. To be honest, I went because there was nothing else to see and I needed a movie theater fix. With the slim pickins out there, it was either Get Me to the Greek (no way) or Sex and the City 2 (absolutely not). So, when I settled in to my seat with my overpriced Diet Coke, I was expecting a basic plot, some chuckles, and at least one crying child in the audience. Boy was I wrong...

The plot for Toy Story 3 flashes forward 11 years from the previous film. Andy is now 17 and is getting ready to leave for college. Before he goes, he has to decide which toys he is bringing with him, which are going in the attic, and which are headed for the trash. The usual gang of toys, minus Bo Peep and some other classics that didn't make the cut for #3, feel bittersweet about this event. While they want to go with Andy, they also crave the attention that they once got when he was a child. In other words, they miss being played with. Andy goes through the toys and chooses Woody to bring to college and puts the rest in a trash bag to go into the attic. The plot starts escalating when Andy's mom confuses the trash bag of toys for trash and puts them out on the curb. As the trailers show, the toys spend some time in a daycare which is run by an evil red/purple bear who smells like strawberries. The ending came as a surprise to me, though I am sure it won't to others, and left me extremely touched with wet cheeks.

The animation is what we have grown accustomed to from Disney and Pixar though I thought it wasn't as engrossing as UP from last year. I should also state that I saw Toy Story 3 in old fashioned 2-D, so my observations on the animation are limited. Still, the true beauty of this film is the story not only the one in this 1 hour and 59 minutes but the entire story from the first film to this one. Within the first ten minutes, I was already teary up as the opening scene showed clips from Toy Story set to the ever-familiar "You've Got a Friend in Me". The characters were just as enchanting as I remembered and seemed to have really come into their own (as much as an animated piggy bank can...).

Unlike other Pixar films that are geared towards children but have adult humor, I felt that this film was much more geared towards my age group who grew up with the story and the toys. Of course there was some child humor, some good action scenes, and a lot of suspense, but the overall story was much more advanced than in the previous films. In many ways, it was similar to that of UP both of which focused on loss and the difficult crossroads in life. For those unfortunate people out there who have not seen the first two films, do not despair! I went with a friend who had never heard of Toy Story until last night, and she loved the movie almost as much as I did.

If I were to write a letter to Pixar right now it would go a little something like this "Dear Gods of Animation, You did it again! Keep up the fantastic work. And get cracking on Finding Nemo 2. Your humble and devoted servant, Dani"