Toy Story 3 (2010)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Ned Beatty, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Blake Clark, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Michael Keaton, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, Jeff Garlin, Bonnie Hunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey, Jodi Benson, Richard Kind, and a cameo from Erik von Detten
Grade: Classic

The first two Toy Story films were perfect. After a decade, could Pixar and Disney really do those films justice and complete the trilogy in satisfying fashion? It was an extremely tall task, but they actually managed to do it.

Summary

A lot of time has passed between the second and third film, so to remind us of Andy’s (Morris) love for his toys, we see the movie-like imagination that Andy has as he plays with them to open the film. In the middle of the action, Andy’s mom comes into the room with her camcorder to get some home video footage of him playing. This sets up a montage of Andy playing with his toys over the years.

In the present day, Andy is now 17-years-old and is getting ready to go to college. He hasn’t played with his toys in years. Inside the toy chest, Woody (Hanks) hatches a plan (“Operation Playtime”) with Buzz Lightyear (Allen), Jessie (Cusack), Bullseye, Mr. Potato Head (Rickles), Mrs. Potato Head (Harris), Hamm (Ratzenberger), Rex (Shawn), Slinky Dog (Clark), the three aliens, and Sarge (Ermey) and the army guys. They steal the house phone and Andy’s cell phone. They put both in the chest and call the cell phone from inside in hopes of Andy coming over to find it and potentially playing with them one more time. Sadly, Andy finds the phone and leaves, telling his little sister Molly (Bea Miller) to stay out of his room because he assumes she did it. The distraught toys climb out of the chest once he leaves, and we can see the morale of everyone is at an all-time low. The group has also dwindled over the years to our core characters. Usually the optimist, Woody admits this was their last shot. So, Woody and Buzz start to prepare everyone to move into the attic.

On a side note, Mrs. Potato Head has lost one of her eyes.

The group is then interrupted by Sarge and a couple of his men. Sarge tells them they’ve done their duty for Andy, but they’re leaving because when the trash bags come out, the army men are the first to go. They then parachute out the window.

Honestly, he’s right.

Once they leave, the toys panic about being thrown out, but Woody reminds them they’re still here for a reason. They’ve lost a lot of good toys over the years, with Rex reminding Woody about Bo Peep being one of them. A hurt Woody agrees but insists these toys have gone on to new owners. He does point out that even with every yard sale and spring-cleaning venture, Andy kept this core together. There is still some hope about going into the attic. Hell, Andy may even have kids of his own and though he doesn’t promise they’ll get played with again, Woody does say they’ll always be there for Andy. The group isn’t necessarily optimistic, despite Woody’s guarantee. As Woody and Buzz talk privately about the reality of the situation, Woody observes an old picture on the wall of Andy playing with his toys and reminisces. Just then, all the toys hear Andy, Molly, and Andy’s mom (Metcalf) coming into the room, so they all run back into the chest. There, Andy’s mom tells Andy he needs to separate all the items in his room in three different groups: going to college, the attic, and the trash. After Molly wonders why Andy still has his toys in his room, their mother takes Molly into her room and tells her she can get rid of her toys to Sunnyside Daycare Center because they’re always asking for donations. An annoyed Molly starts throwing things in the donation box, including Barbie (Benson). Andy’s mom asks Andy what he plans on doing with his old toys and offers suggestions to sell them or whatever else, but he turns everything down. She says this is fine but reminds him everything not put away will end up in the trash.

Once she leaves, Andy goes over to his toy chest and puts all of the toys in a garbage bag. He picks up Buzz and Woody last but decides to add Buzz to the bag. He throws Woody in the box labeled “College”. Thankfully, Andy decides to put the toys in the attic but when he gets near it, he sees Molly having trouble carrying her box to Sunnyside. He stops and helps her take it downstairs. Unfortunately, Andy’s mom comes by right after and sees the garbage bag on the floor. She thinks it’s trash and takes it. A panicked Woody tries to think. He calls for the family dog Buster, but the dog is now much older and immediately falls asleep upon entering the room. Woody sees the trash bags outside and the garbage man driving up the street.

For us fans, we can tell by the t-shirt that the garbage man is a now grown-up Sid (Erik von Detten) from the first Toy Story.

Inside the trash bag, Buzz comes up with an idea to use Rex’s tail to tear the bag open to escape, just as Woody gets down to try and save them. Woody thinks he’s too late after seeing the bags get thrown in the truck and crushed. To his relief, he sees the toys hid themselves with a recycling bin to get back into the garage. The toys can’t believe Andy would throw them out like that, even though Buzz tries his best to calm everyone down. Jessie sees the box for Sunnyside in the trunk and convinces everyone they should go to daycare instead. They all agree, and even Buzz helps them into the box. Woody shows up and tries to explain the mix-up with Andy’s mom, but they don’t believe him, with Jessie saying they need to move on just like Andy. As Woody and Buzz try to discuss what’s best for everyone, Andy’s mom closes the trunk, and they’re all stuck in the car. Woody climbs into the box to try and get everyone out, but they refuse because Sunnyside sounds like the perfect place to be. Woody tries to explain how it’s a sad and lonely place for washed-up toys with no owner, prompting Barbie to cry. Soon after, they pull up to Sunnyside, and Andy’s mom drops the toys off at the counter and greets the worker she knows there. She also greets the woman’s daughter, Bonnie (Emily Hahn). She’s playing with a Jolly Chimp, a stuffed monkey with symbols on his hands. She seems interested in the box Andy’s mom dropped off, but Bonnie’s mother takes it away to the Butterfly Room. There, the group sees a bunch of good-natured kids play with all the toys in the room. Soon after, the kids are all dismissed for recess.

Rex, wanting to see what’s going on, tries to run to the front of the box, but the weight shifts and the box falls off the counter and into the room. The massive group of toys that run the room greet them, including their leader Lots-O’-Huggin Bear (Beatty), a welcoming stuffed bear that smells like strawberries.

Lotso tells them how awesome the place is and how they get played with five days a week. When kids get older, new kids come in. It’s essentially heaven on earth for toys. He brings over Ken (Keaton) to give the toys the tour, and he becomes immediately infatuated with Barbie and vice versa. Lotso and Ken show them around, and it looks like they’ve found every way to make toys feel fresh and comfortable in their new home. Once Lotso introduces them to Big Baby, a large baby toy that was abandoned along with Lotso, he takes them to the Caterpillar Room. This is where the group will be staying. Woody tries a last-ditch effort to get them to come back home with him, but they all refuse because this seems like the right choice for them. Woody calls them all selfish and leaves, refusing to shake Buzz’s hand. They hear people coming, so the group separates. Woody’s escape attempt goes awry, and he crash lands a kite off the roof and into a tree. He falls out of the tree but gets stuck on a branch by his pull string. As Bonnie walks to the car, she finds Woody, now hat-less, and puts him in her backpack. Back in the Caterpillar Room, everyone gets excited because recess is over. They get into their positions, but Buzz notices something is off. He sees the toys that occupy the room cower and hide in fear when they should be excited to be played with.

Immediately after, he finds out why.

The kids that barge into the room are hyperactive maniacs, and they beat the hell out of these toys while playing with them. During the chaos, Buzz sees the Butterfly Room from the window and sees Lotso and everyone having a soft and safe playtime, realizing they got screwed.

At Bonnie’s house, Woody is set up to drink tea and play with her other toys including stuffed hedgehog Mr. Pricklepants (Dalton), dinosaur Trixie (Schaal), stuffed unicorn Buttercup (Garlin), and a female doll named Dolly (Hunt). Despite Woody still wanting to get back to Andy, the group is nice to him, and they have a great play session with Bonnie. Back in the Caterpillar Room that night, the toys are exhausted and beat up. They help Buzz escape the room, so he can talk to Lotso about a transfer. Buzz follows a couple of the toys who were talking shit about them into the vending machine. Inside, he finds Ken and a small group of toys from the Butterfly Room betting Monopoly money on that children’s game with the arrow spinning to a random animal noise with a picture. As this happens, they talk shit about Buzz and the group and doubt they’ll last a week. Buzz sees and hears all of it. He turns to leave, but Big Baby grabs him and throws him on the table. The group apprehends him and takes him to the library. At Bonnie’s, Woody climbs out of the bed to try and get a glimpse of her address written down. The other toys wonder why he would leave, but he admits to them he has another owner to get back to, so they decide to help him. Back at Sunnyside, Buzz is tied up, and Lotso comes into the room. He acts all nice and gives Buzz credit for all his initiative and leadership and agrees to let him come to the Butterfly Room. However, he doesn’t want the rest of the crew. Buzz refuses this because they all come together, so Lotso has him tied back up and brings in the Bookworm (Kind). The Bookworm throws down the instructions of the “Buzz Lightyear” toy. They unscrew his back and switch Buzz back to his original demo mode factory settings.

In the Caterpillar Room, they hear yelling from afar, so Mrs. Potato Head tries to use her eye to see what’s going on from under the door. However, she realizes she can see through her lost eye. It goes back to Andy’s room, and she sees Andy argue with his mom about her throwing the toys away by accident. Finally, they realize Woody was telling the truth! They decide they have to go back, but Lotso shows up with his crew and tells them they’re not leaving. He then has the factory-reset Buzz, who once again thinks he’s an actual space ranger, apprehend the group and lock them in cells, patrolling them as a soldier for Lotso because he thinks they’re minions of the Evil Emperor Zurg. Lotso threatens all the toys, and even throws out Woody’s hat, acting like he had something to do with his disappearance. Sunnyside is now a prison camp.

Back at Bonnie’s house, the toys help Woody find Andy’s house on the computer map. Excited he can get back to Andy because it’s not too far, Woody is about to leave and tells the others that if they ever make it to Sunnyside, tell the others that he made it home. They’re shocked. They quickly ask how he managed to escape Sunnyside, and Woody gets confused. They tell him the horrors of Lotso and how evil he is, so a toy clown named Chuckles (Bud Luckey) chimes in and tells Woody how things came to be. He used to be a part of the same home with Lotso and Big Baby, along with their owner Daisy. She loved them, especially Lotso. After a playtime session in an outside area, she fell asleep after lunch and left her toys. When Daisy and her family drove away, they never came back for them. A determined Lotso led them back to Daisy’s house, but he was heartbroken to see Daisy replaced Lotso with another Lotso. He flipped out in anger and took the group to wander aimlessly until they landed outside of Sunnyside after some hitchhiking. Lotso took over after some time and rigged the system. The only reason Chuckles escaped was because he got broke, and Bonnie found him and took him home. Chuckles tells him that with what Lotso has done, “New toys don’t stand a chance”.

Now, Woody realizes he has two missions. He has to get back to Andy but first, he has to save his friends from dastardly tyrant Lotso.

My Thoughts:

Toy Story 3 should be looked at as the blueprint on how to end a story arc through three films. It ties up all the loose ends, reminds us why we fell in love with these characters in the first place, gives us a new adventure that feels needed for the characters to face rather than a story that feels forced, and lets us know how the future will look now that the story has concluded.

As a devoted fan of the Toy Story series, I would accept nothing less than a perfect ending for our group of characters we’ve known and loved since 1995. For some, you grew up watching the first two over and over again. To revisit these characters one last time, eleven years after the second one no less, is a feat not many would dare try. Can the magic be recaptured? Will the spirit still be there? More importantly, is this a story worth telling, or is this a disguised cash grab (because we know resurrecting a franchise like this will sell tickets off of nostalgia alone)? Why try and recreate the impeccable blend of adventure, humor, and emotion that the first two Toy Story films did so flawlessly? Do you realize you’re risking everything in trying to do it a third time? It would be nearly impossible to do this series justice in a third entry! Well, despite the time lost and the risks involved, we get a trilogy capper that ends this franchise on the highest of notes.

This is of course until Toy Story 4 ruined it, but we’ll save that for another review.

In a delicately crafted story, screenwriter Michael Arndt takes into account two very key things. First, this is still a family film that needs to entertain new audiences and all ages attending while telling an intelligent and entertaining story through and through. Secondly, you’re writing for a third film in a franchise that started in the mid 90s. There’s some history here. A lot of the fans going to see it are those who saw it when they were kids. They’re now young and grown adults, or close to it. The story has to age with the film’s fans. It’s the only way to advance the series to the next level of storytelling and break new ground. It would be way too easy to keep Andy as the lovable kid with the wonderous imagination. The franchise needed to move on in life just as we did. Pixar didn’t shy away from this. In fact, they embraced this timeline and opened the film by centering the actions of the characters around the scary question that was on all of our minds when Toy Story 2 ended: What happens to the toys when Andy grows up? With Andy set to go to college and having a hard time saying goodbye to his childhood, as we all do, it mirrors the real-life fans of the franchise that watched the movies, played with the toys, and bought the merchandise. Toy Story 3 is the heartfelt reminder that life never stops for anyone. It moves fast. The fun times come and go in an instant, and you’re left wondering what to do with your life next, now that you don’t have someone there to help you. It’s a moment everyone must face some time in their lives.

Toy Story 3 is written and centered around this scary “next step” many of us have faced or will face in the future, and it doesn’t shy away from the emotional realism of it all. It’s very aware of its own reputation in handling more mature discussions and themes while looking at it through the perspective of a toy. The fact of the matter is that this franchise has always had a generational effect on those that have watched it over the years and the streak continues here.

It’s called respecting your audience to the utmost degree, a staple of the Toy Story franchise.

Toy Story 3 revisits themes of the past like family, friendship, abandonment, love, and when the intersecting lines of loyalty, selfishness, and selflessness meet.

The good times are coming to an end. Woody knows it, Buzz knows it, and Andy’s mom knows it. You even know it. Before Toy Story 4 came out nine years later, this film was the reminder to us that our childhood was closing in on its final days. You could feel the emotion stemming from the story and these characters because the reality of the situation was ringing true for many of us at the time. This is why throughout Toy Story 3, the heart strings are pulled because we’ve all been through this change in life. It’s why we resonate with what happens. As a toy, all you’ve known in life is playing with your owner. Now that this time is over with, what’s next? What does eternity hold for this group when they still have an undying loyalty for Andy? It’s especially hard for Woody. Along with Buzz, he’s always been the favorite toy. This is why his loyalty has never wavered. The same can’t be said for the other toys. Even though they love Andy too, they’ve come to the realization that their time is up, and they need to move on. Jesse says it herself that if Andy’s moving on, so should they. As much as we want to agree with Woody because of all the good times we saw them share together, we can’t help but sympathize with Jesse’s statement. As we saw from Toy Story 2, she’s already experienced this moment once before with her owner Emily. She passed up on the museum opportunity because Woody brought her and Bullseye along to live with Andy and though it gave them so many more years of playtime, it was just holding off on the inevitable. The fun was going to end eventually.

Now, the time has come.

With all this in mind, Jesse sees the box being sent to Sunnyside, and she’s not going to pass up the opportunity to be played with. It could be the whole group’s last shot at saving their livelihoods as toys and getting to achieve the level of happiness they haven’t had in years. The only way they can achieve this again is to be played with and be loved by children again. This is where the dissension lies because veteran Woody is satisfied with how things turned out. His loyalty is to Andy but again, these words are coming from the point of view of the favorite. Later in the film, when he meets the lovable group of toys in Bonnie’s room, he admits that the playtime session he participated in was the most fun he had in years. However, he still tells them he has to make it back to Andy because that’s his owner. Despite not getting played with in years and potentially missing out on playtime for another so many years, he wants to make it back to the owner that made him the team captain he used to be. This is loyalty. You feel bad for him because you know as a toy, getting played with is almost everything to him, but Woody is different. His loyalty supersedes everything. He was even chosen by Andy to be taken to college. It solidified their bond. Plus, the toys didn’t see that they were supposed to be taken to the attic until Andy’s mom messed everything up because she thought they were garbage. The toys didn’t believe Woody and thought Andy threw them to the side after all these years. Andy’s attachment to them is important to him too, they just don’t know it. Once again, they don’t believe Woody which gets incredibly frustrating.

You’d think after all these years of adventures and misunderstandings where Woody was proven right, they would finally believe him. Annoyingly enough, they once again refuse to believe him. Honestly, Mr. Potato Head deserves to get his ass kicked for this alone. He’s always looking for a reason to blame our hero.

He’s deserved an ass-kicking since the first Toy Story, and I stand by that.

Anyway, Woody doesn’t see the decision-making process from their point of view. He doesn’t understand what it’s like because he was the only one put in the “College” box. He doesn’t see what they see until much later in the film. Buzz knows from the beginning. It’s not a tough decision for him. Before they’re interrupted by Andy’s mom closing the trunk on the toys on the way to Sunnyside, he tells Woody that they have to think about what’s best for everyone. Right there, everything is put in perspective, and the lines are drawn. Though Woody’s not necessarily in the wrong for wanting to serve Andy, calling his friends selfish for wanting to be loved again is a tough argument. However, it makes things interesting because we see both sides of this and how years of context and story development has led to this pivotal moment, showing us the mark of a truly great franchise. Not everything is cut and dry with Woody, Buzz, and all the issues they’re facing. It’s an excellently crafted screenplay, giving us a complex story that gets everyone involved in some capacity and is never boring in its quest to reach a satisfying conclusion for the characters and the fans watching.

You can only say “It’s going to be alright” so many times before you finally come to the realization that it might not be. Though Woody has excelled at this with his fellow toys in the beginning, he even starts to lose his confidence in private, with Buzz being the only one he can admit it too. They know Andy has to move on, and time is running out. Right in the opening, we get the initial montage of Andy playing with his toys, and it’s a friendly reminder as to how much fun we used to have doing the same. It reminds us of those days when there were no worries in our lives. It was all about having fun, without a care in the world. We hear the classic “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” tune being played over the sequence, and the feelings of nostalgia course through our veins. However, once the lyric of “Our friendship will never die” is spoken, the song stops in its tracks. We move to the present day, and we see firsthand how things have changed. Though the love between toy and owner will always be there because we’ll remember the good times, we know the relationship will never be the same after those prime childhood years. At the time, you don’t think about it, and Woody and Buzz try to downplay how serious things are, but they now have to admit the reality of the situation while trying to break it to their very sensitive friends. How can you deliver the news of, “Hey, let’s go to the attic forever!”.

How do these co-captains try to keep things positive, knowing the anxiety and depression the others suffer from? Sometimes, you just can’t talk your way out of it. You have to be honest. It is what it is.

It’ll be tough, but the sole positive from this is that they won’t be doing this alone. They’ll still be together. This is what Woody hangs his hat on, but the question Buzz poses of doing what’s right for everyone is what makes matters difficult. Being the leaders, Woody and Buzz have to put on a brave face for the others and something about it is admirable because we know how hard they’ve worked up until this point to keep everyone close. This is why they’re able to face so many obstacles together and succeed despite the odds always being stacked against them. It’s the mark of true leadership.

Another mark of true leadership is seeing Woody go back into the deathtrap prison that is Sunnyside to save his friends in one of the most courageous, character-defining moments I’ve ever seen in an animated film. Just the act of attempting this mission solidifies Woody as a true hero. Seeing Woody’s plan come together, his tactics in moments of desperation, and his quick-thinking in high pressure situations coming back to light feels like this momentous escape sequence was a scene worthy of fifteen years of buildup. He needed every last ounce of strength, energy, and aptitude to pull that off and his leadership to gather his troops when all seemed lost beforehand was about as inspiring as any movie hero you may have ever resonated with. The odds are stacked against them, but he already escaped once. He could’ve left the others to rot because how things ended and because of his goal to get back to Andy, but again, his undying loyalty forces him to do the right thing. With his back against the wall, he fearlessly returns behind enemy lines into this Nazi-style daycare to save his friends Great Escape-style, and it’s so well done, you’re reminded as to why you fell in love with this series all those years back. Buzz may have taken a bit of a step back in this one, but it felt needed to reintroduce Woody as the reason this group is still together and for this story to work.

Though I do wish Buzz had a bigger part in helping during the escape rather than being one of the obstacles, it did add a bit more danger to the scenario because we all know how badass Buzz can be when he thinks he’s the toughest space ranger in the galaxy, so I’ll give it a pass.

Ned Beatty always plays a solid villain, and Lotso is no different. Being the antagonist of a Toy Story film is an honor. You need to be damn good to have a backstory worth telling, while also worthy of striking fear into the hearts of our beloved toys. Beatty does a wonderful job as being this pseudo-warden, as well as the soft-spoken, fake nice, old toy who leads the place. Lotso is essentially the two-faced son of a bitch that Stinky Pete the Prospector was in Toy Story 2, only a lot darker. This strawberry-smelling stuffed bear is an oppressive despot, with an internalized hatred for anyone with an owner after he himself was replaced years ago. It never left him, and his last shred of empathy or weakmindedness left him that very day. Chuckles the Clown was right. Something changed in him that day, and his cold-hearted outlook on life makes him a villain worthy of this franchise. In addition, the new crop of toys in Bonnie’s room were great. They were all very funny and the chemistry between them was evident. It felt like they’ve been in that room together for years. Jeff Garlin’s Buttercup was easily my favorite, but Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, and Bonnie Hunt all had their moments. They were very welcomed long-term additions to the series. Woody lucked out with this group.

You won’t believe how drawn you are to this story. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish, with a final half hour that will move you like no other. If you’ve been a fan since day one, I’m telling you now that the climax in the incinerator will have you on the edge of your seat because you truly don’t know what’s going to happen. The unpredictability of the situation, the expressions of the characters, and everything going into it is just magnificent storytelling. The ending…

The ending is one of the most emotional, heartfelt, wonderfully sad sequences I may have ever witnessed. It pulls no punches as the characters say goodbye, and we say goodbye to them. Most, if not all, will feel this moment to their very core. It’s exactly what we fans appreciated and earned after being loyal for as long as we’ve been. Right then and there, we see our childhood end before our very eyes, but it’s so beautifully heart-wrenching and thoughtful to everyone involved, you still have a smile on your face as the credits began to roll. In life, there are very few films in general that you will feel an emotional attachment to. With animated films, the list dwindles further. Toy Story has done it three times and though the third isn’t the best film of the franchise, the emotions we feel once the film is over is stronger than any of them. It’s legitimately on the list of one of the best endings I’ve ever seen, moving me like very few films have ever done.

You couldn’t have ended a franchise better than with Toy Story 3. With an exciting and sentimental new plot that could impact the rest of the toys’ existence, and our favorite characters getting one last hurrah for fans worldwide, this film pulls off the near impossibility of making each film out of the trilogy a bona fide “Classic“. Though Toy Story 3 prepares us to accept our childhood is over, it simultaneously helps us appreciate our childhood for what it was worth. It’s an incredible conclusion. With this, the film not only ranks among the best animated films of all time, but it’s also instrumental in putting Toy Story in the conversation of greatest franchises of all time.