Toy Story 3 (2010)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  9 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: It's not often that you find a series where each installment is better than the previous, but 'Toy Story 3,' is undoubtedly the best of its bunch as it's easily the most emotionally engaging, thematically relevant and clever movie of them all. Yes first and foremost what this story does is to put its central toy characters through real peril as they're all stranded in day-care and their kid is leaving for college so they're lost and still struggling to come to terms with the inevitable. Watching them being put through their paces like that is truly heart-wrenching, and of course part of the reason that that's the case is that we can all again relate to their plight as this is without doubt the film that deals most directly with those fears that we all have around growing up - whether it be ourselves or our own kids doing so. We genuinely relate to the attachment that Woody and the rest of the toys have to Andy's childhood self, and seeing him move on from them is genuinely like seeing it from a parent's perspective.
  But whilst it more directly addresses those themes that the franchise had previously explored, it's the way it then rounds that all off when Andy leaves that makes it such a perfect ending to the trilogy, as the toys learn to appreciate their own lives without their kid and that everything will be alright in the end. It's not hard to see the parallels if you watch as a parent there, and it naturally makes for one heck of an emotional watch that speaks of the ephemeral in a way that's not necessarily tragic, but accepting and graceful.
  Equally though, none of that is to say that it doesn't still pack many of Pixar's usual charms, as there are so many genius little humorous moments here where the concept of talking toys is still played with to brilliant effect and where other filmic tropes are utilised in almost satirical fashion. In the end though, 'Toy Story 3,' is without question the most emotional and thematic of its pack, and that's one impressive feat when you consider how amazing the other two are.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: It may have lost a little of the lightness in its more serious approach...
  VERDICT: The most thematically significant and emotionally engaging movie of its lot, 'Toy Story 3,' is the perfect end to an amazing trilogy, and sits right up there with animation's very best.

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