Toy Story 3 (2010) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Growing up in the 2000s, you were bound to have watched the first two Toy Story movies and when you see other franchises, you had to have been counting the days of wanting a third film, as it felt right to explore this world again. When the wait ended in 2010, it felt like Pixar changed the world once again.


PLOT


Toy Story 3 shows Andy Davis (John Morris) grown to be 17 years old and now heading to college. With most of his toys being donated and passed on to new owners, his remaining collection includes: Sheriff Woody, Jessie the Cowgirl, Buzz Lightyear, Slinky Dog (Blake Clark), the Potato Heads, Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Bullseye (Frank Welker), and the three Little Green Men from Pizza Planet (Jeff Pidgeon). Andy has until the end of the week to decide what to do with them before his mom ultimately takes the undecided to the trash. He ends up making a bag for the attic for the remaining toys and plans to take Woody to college. Because the toys don’t see where Andy intended to take them, they mistake themselves to be thrown away. They almost get thrown away by the garbage truck when his mom mistakes them to be trash. Woody does explain the misunderstanding, but they don’t believe him and decide to join the donation bin with a Barbie doll that belonged to Molly, now 11 years old. They all get taken to the Sunnyside daycare center and meet a teddy bear in charge named Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear who promises they’ll always be played with because new kids come in yearly. Woody isn’t convinced to stay with the others as he wants to stay with Andy, which only disappoints both parties as they’ve always done their best to stay together at this point. Woody’s escape doesn’t go as planned when getting stuck on a tree and get taken by another kid Bonnie whose mom works at Sunnyside. Andy’s old toys don’t enjoy the rough playtime with toddlers at the Caterpillar room, where Barbie enjoys being in the Butterfly room alongside a Ken doll, due to being played with less rough kids. When Buzz asks Lotso for his group to be transferred, he agrees to only take him and brainwashes him to demo mode when refusing to take the offer. When Mrs. Potato Head discovers from her right eye she left behind that Andy is looking for him and Woody was right all along, the try to leave until Lotso uses Buzz to imprison them. When Woody tries to leave Bonnie’s home after enjoying to be played with alongside her other toys, they would be in shock to know he came from Sunnyside. According to a clown toy named Chuckles, he & Lotso and a Big Baby doll were once owned by the same kid named Daisy, being accidentally left behind on a picnic. They do find Daisy’s home after a long journey looking for her, but Lotso would be so devastated of her being replacing him that he convinced Big Baby he was replaced as well before finding Sunnyside and taking it over as a dictator. Chuckles only got out of there for getting broke, which led to Bonnie finding him. Knowing his friends will be miserable there, Woody goes back to help them escape before he goes back to Andy. They first try getting Buzz back only to accidentally restart him to Spanish mode and Slinky helps Woody pin down a musical jolly monkey monitoring the cameras at night. Together, they do escape the building and pass through the playground to reach the dumpster outside until Lotso discovers what they were doing through getting the answers out of the Chatter Telephone (Teddy Newton), the only toy that told Woody how to escape. Woody does give his group a chance when exposing Lotso’s lies to Big Baby who stands up to him and throws him in the dumpster. As they try leaving, Woody gets pulled in by Lotso and the others jump in trying to help, only for them to be taken by the garbage truck. Barbie tries to help, but Ken keeps her from going for her protection. In the truck, Buzz gets crushed by a television when trying to protect Jessie. This ends up helping him regain his previous memories. By the time they reach the local junk center, they get moved to a conveyor belt and they avoid the shredder by grabbing onto metal that sends them to a magnet temporarily. Woody does save Lotso, but he doesn’t return the favor when refusing to hit an emergency stop button and abandon them all. They all accept their fate to be incinerated until being saved by the Little Green Men, who were separated, but found an industrial claw. Lotso would be found by humans and get himself strapped to a truck radiator grille. Andy’s toys make it back home when riding another garbage truck to the neighborhood. Just when everyone accepts going to the attic as planned, Woody leaves a note for Andy, making him assume it’s from his mom, to donate them to Bonnie who lives nearby. The now young man introduces his toys individually to her, but would be surprised Woody is at the donation box, revealing he wants to be with a new kid. Bonnie recognizes him and Andy ultimately passes him on to her and after one more time playing with all his remaining toys, he goes off to college. As he drives away, Woody bids a quiet farewell to his first kid and the film ends in an epilogue of him & his group fitting in very well to Bonnie’s collection whereas Barbie & Ken have succeeded in improving Sunnyside’s environment.


THOUGHTS


If you weren’t seated with what Illumination and Dreamworks were releasing in 2010, you were responsible for Pixar’s first billion dollar success. Lee Unkrich was able to helm the director's chair left behind by John Lasseter and owns this world like it was always his. The animation is of course stunning as the new decade begun because it's sharper than before. You're instantly amazed with the cold open that is Andy's perspective of playing with his toys as if it was a sci fi epic. Then the other details besides the distinguishable toys would go to things like the realistic rainwater during Lotso's flashback or the intimidating incinerator. You still get your fair share of luaghs with the mix of recurring and new characters. Don Rickles arguably gave the most due to each delivery as Mr. Potatohead who is so fed up with the roller coaster he shares with everyone else. The difference is only he copes with temporarily being a tortilla and cucumber in the same night. His delivery of "You will not believe what I've been through tonight" had me dying because he says it with such disdain and you believe it. The same can be said with Estelle Harris still being a great equal as Mrs. Potatohead because it is her own dilemma having a missing eye. He freaking out with Buster sniffing it had me lose my breath with all the laughing. It's even ironic that the Little Green Men went from being raised by a claw to saving others with one. Going into the new characters, Bonnie's toys fit into the mold very well because they match the spirit in wanting to have a good time. They know Bonnie is full of energy in her youth and they cherish every second. It's a nice easter egg to see Peas in a pod and Totoro because part of her collection, but then that's just the beginning. Kristen Schaal was awesome as Trixie because she was Rex's polar opposite for being very open minded like the others. Jeff Garlin fit right in as Buttercup because he's just as sassy as Hamm. Timothy Dalton was a treat as Pricklepants because he enjoyed being theatrical. Bonnie Hunt may not have much lines either as Dolly, but she made them all count for portraying her to be just as optimistic like Woody would be in his prime. We knew it would be a bad idea to not bring back Barbie because every kid had one at some point in their lives before or after they joined the second movie. The bonus here is getting a Ken to come with it. Jodi Benson was somewhat an ideal choice to voice the iconic doll for picking up the pieces that her character was always meant to be ditsy yet strong willed. I say that because she managed to get back on her foot after being donated due to meeting an equal. Michael Keaton is a predictable polar opposite as Ken because he's the flamboyant who encourages her and everyone else to embrace all that makes us happy, making him an ideal leader to Sunnyside after Lotso is gone. Plus, he makes fashion shows better actual models. Having said all the things that made me smile, this movie truthfully becomes the franchise's best entry because it's the strongest platform to tell viewers the importance of growing up and also accepting the new chapters that come with it. Because Andy grew up, it became clear to kids in my generation that it is a special part of our lives no matter how complicated it can get. Nevertheless, it ends up helping us get to where want to be at some point. Most of Andy's toys were far more on the accepting side of it, but it was quite the given to say Woody had the dilemma of such preparation. Tom Hanks does a great job showing the cowboy doll reflect such paranoia of wanting to maintain what he has with Andy. Because he still wanted to take him to college originally, he felt that he had to be there no matter what. The real moment he chooses on is because of how Andy tells his mom he'll always be with her in spirit when afar. Knowing that is how it would work for her, he understood that the same will apply for him and the other toys. Woody meant so much to Andy as his favorite for so long because he really was there for him in dark times we never got to see. His dad was never around, but Woody always was and that says a lot for nay kid that had an absent parent. It may sound too cheeky, but Andy's last playtime with them all sealed the deal he was ready to move on and we choke up with him because we get the value of toys thanks to him. With Randy Newman’s song “We Belong Together” expressing the enduring bond of friendship, it’s a given to say Woody would've not been encouraged to move on had it not been for the others who spoke up and were more prepared for it. Joan Cusack really spread more confidence as Jessie because she knew like Emily, it wasn't gonna last forever and saw the big blessing of moving on to other kids. Tim Allen shares that philosophy as Buzz because he knew there would be no point in holding on to the point. Since he let go of what he used to be, it felt easier for him to let go of Andy too, no matter how much it would surprise Woody. I too was surprised he chose to stay because I assumed his loyalty to Woody would be a factor until it wasn't. Nevertheless, it was a relief they were still together at the end of this chapter with the others. Ironically, we would also get to see a mirrored version of their relationship through other toys. Bud Luckey showed Chuckles to be if Buzz was depressed of losing a close friend to obsession. And Ned Beatty absolutely crushes it in making Lotso Woody's doppelganger in terms of the determination of doing things his way. Seeing him be so manipulative to everyone else that knows him personally is uncomfortably relentless. We do relate to his heartbreak because it reminded me of what would Stinky Pete do if rejected like so. He goes out of line in restarting Buzz solely off of being jealous he has a family where he got replaced by his last one. That is where Woody differs from him because he knows it's wrong for him to punish others for something that wasn't anyone's fault. He couldn't help saving him because that further makes him different. It was still worth sparing him even after betrayal because they still survived. Woody and the gang would still have his share of enemies as the franchise would surprisingly progress, but it would be a relief noticing each conflict would change him for the better. I'll always favor this one as the series' best, but the many times of re-watching has led to me picking up on many things that don't make much sense. For starters, why are there only three Green Army Men left? If the rest of the bucket got thrown out or donated, Sarge (R Lee Erney) should've left sooner with his two remaining comrades. They're definitely lucky to not be spotted as they glided away with their parachutes, but then their luck is topped by the rest of Andy's toys who got out of the trash bag without notice, since Sid the now garbage man was too distracted of his music to notice. They also should've given Woody the benefit of the doubt since they mistook him to have murdered Buzz before. Moving on, why was that trance open for Buzz to get out? I know we need an excuse for his group to find out Lotso is bad, but there was no good reason for the adult workers at Sunnyside to leave it open. And why does it take so long Mrs. Potato Head's other eye to notice what's going on at home? If that eye can sleep on its own when separated, that's just pretty scary. I even say it was on the parents of Daisy to have forgotten their kid had three toys on her during that picnic. Even though they try redeem themselves personally by replacing Lotso, it's on them for not paying attention whereas Daisy was depicted too young to know better. I then don't see the point of how past toys like the toy truck don't try to escape at night when thrown in the garbage bin. It doesn't seem like Lotso goes that far in imprisoning toys when they're broken, so it's crazy the train didn't try at all. Lastly, it's kinda crazy Andy didn't second guess how his toys came back and assumed his mother had them. Him not even asking her or Molly how it happened is wild because I don't see a reason for him to ignore it other than to have the toys live high on luck. Other than that, this entry remains as the series' best of times. In conclusion, Toy Story 3 will personally be Pixar's very best in my opinion for being an epic sendoff of an era we've been grateful to watch together; hence earning the Animated Feature Oscar and Best Picture nomination. If you've enjoyed all of Pixar's past work at this point, see this one now.