Toy Story 3

I'm pleased to report that the third installment of Toy Story is a worthy successor to the first two films, which in their own way were classics, and that there is little drop off in humor, adventure, or pathos. I laughed, I got a little teary, and I thought back to my days in political science class, as the film could be used to detail the perils of totalitarianism, or collectivism versus individualism.

Directed by Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3 contains many of the same themes of the second film--the fear of abandonment, as the toys deal with their owner's inevitable aging, and their duty to serve him, whether he plays with them or not. When we pick up with them this time, the owner, Andy, is getting ready to go to college. His toys have sat unplayed with for years in a toybox, and Andy does have a sentimental attachment to them (my childhood toys were long gone by that age). His mother gives him three choices--they go in the attic, get donated to a daycare center, or go in the trash.

Through several near-misses and close calls, the toys all end up at a daycare center, which seems ideal, as their are several children to play with them, and the supply of kids never ends. But, like this seeming utopia has a dark side. It ends up being something like a gulag, and a large stuffed bear (voiced by Ned Beatty) is the place's Stalin, his second-in-command a large, creepy baby-doll.

It is a testament to the writing by Michael Arndt that I was simultaneously charmed by this, as well as challenged by the intellectual implications. I also loved the many references to old prison dramas, such as the hardened inmate (this time a Chatter Phone) or the toy that made it out, and is forever scarred (a clown doll). We also gain insights into the physiology of the Potato-Head toys--it seems that their appendages can function independently. You'd have thought they would used this to conquer us all by now.

The most amazing thing about this film, as with many Pixar films, is how sharply the characters are drawn. These toys, even the minor ones, have more depth that the humans in most films. A flashback showing how the bear got to be the way he is was expertly done (much like the "When She Loved Me" sequence in Toy Story 2). The voice-actors are all great, with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles and Estelle Harris all back for the fun. There are also some memorable new toys--Michael Keaton as a vain Ken doll (this being a G-rated film, there are no jokes about whether he's anatomically correct) and Timothy Dalton as a Shakespeare-quoting toy hedgehog. There's also a great scene in which Buzz Lightyear gets switched to his Spanish-mode, which had a woman behind me in stitches.

Some of the action is a little intense, particularly a Dante-esque scene that seemed to spell doom for the toys, but most of the little children in my crowd seemed engaged. The ending packs an emotional wallop. After you see this, you'll never throw a toy away again without thinking of this film.