Toon Talk: 3’s a Charm

Coppola couldn’t do it. Lucas couldn’t do it … twice. Peter Jackson did it, but he had a little help from Tolkien. Now, Pixar has done it, “it” being creating a film trilogy that is completely satisfying from beginning to end.

Coming eleven years after its immediate successor, expectations for Toy Story 3 couldn’t have been higher. Impressively, the Pixar team avoids the dreaded “threequel” curse, giving us a film that is rich with humor, excitement and emotion. Building off of and expanding upon the Toy Story universe, director Lee Unkrich and his crew bring the story to a bittersweet end, earning each and every laugh and tear along the way.

Following a gleeful wild west prologue in the tradition of Toy Story 2’s “Adventures of Buzz Lightyear” opening, we learn that a now-17 year old Andy (voiced, as with all three movies, by John Morris) is on his way to college. This particular right of passage strikes fear in the plastic hearts of Andy’s remaining toys, their fates unknown. Woody (Tom Hanks) tries to reassure Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the others that they will stay together, even if it is as just the proverbial toys in the attic. But when an unexpected chain of events finds them all dumped off at the local daycare center, their futures look bleak.

Or are they? At first glance, it looks like Sunnyside Daycare is a great place for a toy, with a never-ending stream of kids to play with, all under the seemingly benevolent leadership of a strawberry-scented stuffed animal named Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty). But all is not as it seems, and Andy’s toys must make a great escape to get back to the home they belong in, even if that may end up being someplace entirely new ...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Toy Story 3 on LaughingPlace.com.

UPDATE: Toy Story 3 is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.