Film Review: Toy Story 3

About the film

Toy Story 3 is the third film in the Toy Story series by Disney. The film was released on 19^th July 2010 and it has a run time of 103 minutes. As this is a Disney film, Toy Story 3 is rated U.

Plot

Andy is now 17 years old and getting ready to go off to college. He hasn’t played with his toys in years and Woody, Buzz and the gang are feeling left out. Andy only plans on taking Woody away with him and puts Buzz and most of the other toys in a bag ready to be stored in the attic. But, Andy’s mother mistakes the bag for rubbish and puts it out on the street. Now wanting to be thrown away Buzz gathers the toys together and they all hide in a box with Barbie, who is destined to go to Sunnyside Daycare. Woody follows and tries to explain the mix up but they won’t listen. The toys think that Andy didn’t want them anymore.

When the toys arrive at Sunnydale, they think that they’re going to be happy there. Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear, Big Baby and Ken give the new toys a wonderful tour and everything seems great. Woody however, does not stay at Sunnydale and instead plans to go back and find Andy. While Woody is gone, Lotso shows his true nature. He runs Sunnyside and captures Buzz. After Mr Potato Head sees Andy (with the eye he lost at home) searching for the lost toys, he knows that Andy didn’t want to throw them out after all. The toys must rescue Buzz and escape from a hellish life at Sunnydale.

Cast

Tom Hanks as Woody

Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear

Joan Cusack as Jessie

Ned Beatty as Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear

John Morris as Andy

Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head

Blake Clark as Slinky Dog

Wallace Shawn as Rex

John Ratzenberger as Hamm

Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head

Michael Keaton as Ken

Jodi Benson as Barbie

Emily Hahn as Bonnie

Jeff Pidgeon as Aliens

What I thought

The Toy Story series of films are some of my favourite things to come from Disney. Until recently though, I hadn’t seen the third film even though my husband had bought me a Lotso bear the other year. He bought me the whole box set on DVD for Christmas and it didn’t take me long to finally see that third film.

In this film, Andy is all grown up and getting ready to go off to college. He doesn’t want to leave his toys behind as they brought him so much pleasure as a child but chooses to only take Woody with him. The beginning of the film was actually really sad, as the previous two films showed just how much Andy and the toys loved each other. However, it was nice to have a different setting and a whole new storyline going on.

Although Andy is gone for the majority of the film, the well-known and much loved characters from the first two films are back. Woody and Buzz are just too funny together but I also love the rest of the toys. Some of my favourites are Slinky Dog and Rex. I really enjoyed how the storyline took the toys to a daycare centre as this introduced a whole new range of characters as well though. Lotso is a super cute looking bear but is mean and old. There is a fabulous purple octopus and a super creepy baby doll. Then there is Ken, Barbie’s love interest and he was hilarious.

Toy Story 3 is a film that is suitable for both adults and children. However, there are a few scenes that children might find quite upsetting or disturbing and also a few scenes that adults might get emotional over. Due to there being a few scenes that aren’t completely child friendly, I would advise to let children watch this one with an adult present or close by. There were actually a couple of points where I didn’t want to watch as I was scared of what would happen and also a couple of points that made me well up.

The animation and voice acting in Toy Story 3 is absolutely spot on and I cannot fault it in any way. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprise their roles as Woody and Buzz respectively although Buzz gets a bit of a makeover during this film. One of the things that I dislike though about the voice acting in this film, and the series, is that you can mostly tell who the actors are playing each part. This makes it hard to think of the characters as cartoons. Children won’t feel this way though but it is something that always bugs me a little bit.

Overall though, Toy Story 3 is a wonderful film and a great addition to the series.