Toy Story 3

The fabulously charming TOY STORY 3 is yet another triumph for the folks at Pixar. In a time in which cinema seems to be lacking creative minds and multiplex screens are swamped in the dross of lame remakes and reboots, it is incredibly refreshing to see something so thoroughly entertaining and original, an animated movie that will easily satisfy audience members of all ages. TOY STORY 3 is the best animated film since WALL-E, and it is leagues above every other film I've seen this year so far.

Although the first two TOY STORY films came out in the 90's, this third entry to the franchise could've easily picked up right where it left off. However, the filmmakers apparently made the decision of acknowledging all the years that have passed by and integrating that reality into the story. Therefore, Andy (John Morris) is now a grown teenager who is getting ready to go to college. For a long time now, his toys have been inside a box, and it's been several years since Andy has played with them. Of course, now that Andy's leaving his room, a decision has to be made as to what to do with them. Even when I became too old to play with my toys, it was always hard not to get a sense of nostalgia on the random day that I would be cleaning my room and suddenly found one of my old toys stashed in a drawer somewhere. Will Andy get nostalgic and take his toys to college, or will he leave them so they can gather dust in the attic? Or will he simply ask his mom to throw them away? All I'll reveal is that, after a contrivance or two, Andy's toys end up at Sunnyside Daycare. Initially, the toys are thrilled to meet some other toys and to discover that now they'll be played with by the dozens of kids at Sunnyside... but, well, soon we discover that things aren't quite as sunny as the toys expected.

TOY STORY 3 doesn't once stray into boring territory. The chase sequences and other more action-packed moments are predictably entertaining, but the fun doesn't stop during the banter between the toys, which is often a delight to listen to. There's a hilarious sub-plot (which I suspect will also stir nostalgia in a lot of older viewers) involving the popular girl toys Barbie and Ken (voices by Jodi Benson and Michael Keaton). A scene in which Ken tries on different clothes and models them for Barbie is delightfully unconventional and likely to stir more laughs among adults than children, and the same goes for the subsequent scene in which Barbie pretends to be Ken but forgets to remove her heels. However, if I'm forced to come up with the best of all the strokes of genius in TOY STORY 3, I have to go with one toy's switch to Spanish mode - I suspect that, as a Spanish-speaker, I was able to enjoy this more than people who were forced to read subtitles, but there's no doubt that this is incredibly creative and hilarious, a brilliant idea. If there's a narrative misstep in the film, it has to do with the way it disposes of its center villain. It's one of those cases of "bad guy turns good, but then turns bad again at the last minute," which works sometimes, but feels somewhat awkward here. More importantly, the ultimate fate suffered by the movie's chief villain feels a bit anticlimactic. Considering how developed the bear Lotso was (with a great background story to explain his motivations), we deserved a little bit more closure.

But that quibble was quickly dispelled from my mind during the amazing, heart-wrenching final act of TOY STORY 3. The plot had, of course, focused so much on its title characters that it comes as a bit of a surprise that the film chooses to dedicate time to the sudden sadness of Andy's departure for college. One may expect that, because Andy and his mother are mere secondary characters, the filmmakers wouldn't waste their time and energy into this, and you have to applaud them for doing so. The scene deeply affected me on an emotional level because it was obviously reminiscent of the day when I had to say goodbye to my parents a couple of years ago to go off to college, and it's hard to imagine that this won't resonate just as well with the zillions of people who have faced the exact same situation. But that's not all. I haven't yet even talked about the movie's final scene... which made me cry. I didn't think I'd ever say that about an animated movie. Anyone who has a heart will be hard-pressed not to at least feel an emotional tug during this film's coda. Anyone who's had a hard time letting go of something or someone, or who understands the pain of moving on in life, will surely be deeply affected during these final moments. If this is the last entry in the TOY STORY saga, it is a supremely worthy conclusion, and probably one of the best third films in a franchise ever.

8/10