Toy Story 3 Review

When Toy Story came out in 1995, I was 9 years old. For the sake of full disclosure, when the film ended I really did believe that toys came alive when I left the room. This of course led to a series of elaborate schemes in which I intended to catch the toys in the act. As you would expect, they never moved from where I had left them. It’s not that I was an incredibly gullible child. I just wanted to have friends like Woody and Buzz.


So when Toy Story 2 came out four years later, I was excited to see the characters that I fell in love with go through another adventure, and to my surprise, I ended up enjoying the film, in some way more than the original. However, when I heard that they were going to be making a third film, I was worried Pixar would make a film similar to Cars (my least favorite film put out by the studio).  After over a decade of absence, would these characters come off honest and true to their previous incarnations?

Looking back on the films, I see now that each of them are about how we build relationships with others and how they evolve over time as we grow older. That theme is  the centerpiece of Toy Story 3. Andy is grown up and is about to head off to college. His days of playing with the toys are long behind him. The toys are desperate for attention, and are fearful that they may meet a fate worse than death, being thrown away.
I’ll skip a plot summary, as the film is fast paced enough that I’d be going into spoiler territory by the second paragraph. Instead, I’ll delve into what I think this film did well at, and where I think it’s flaws lay.

The film is beautiful in every sense of the word. The toys, scenery, and people have never looked better. One fear I had was that the characters would look too good, but Pixar seemed to find a way to improve on the look of the characters while still keeping them close to their original design. The attention to detail in every room that the toys enter is enough to keep you busy for hours with your Blu Ray remote. Little in jokes, references to prior films, and subtle things like dust bunnies under the bed are one of the hallmarks of Pixar films.

Visual continuity is one thing, but it can fall completely flat if the characters are emotionally drawn differently. Unexplained changes in character can cause an audience to feel detached from the film. This is something seen very often in sequels, especially by the third installment. I’ve seen this film three times now, and it had me tearing up at the same points each time. The film hits emotional beats that are very fitting to the characters, and the overall story arc of the three films.

Watched in sequence, all three films seem to compliment each other just right. Visual motifs and call backs to prior films that fit in just right, make this trilogy one of the best in film history. (Considering Coppola lost it after Godfather 2, that’s saying something)

What didn’t I like? Well the antagonist in this film seemed a bit too reminiscent of the one in Toy Story 2. While I understand the purpose he serves within the narrative, I just felt like they could have changed things up a bit. Also as I stated before, the film is very fast paced, and there were a few instances where I would have liked the film to slow down a bit so I could rest after a big action scene. These are mostly nitpicks though. Overall if you’ve followed the toys this far, finish your journey with them.

David