“You've got a playdate with destiny!”

Filmology Rating: 4 out of 4

Toy Story is the third installment in this blockbuster-animated franchise from Pixar. This film features a new director, Lee Unrich, who edited the first two films and co-directed the second.

In 2006, when Disney purchased Pixar, Disney now owned the rights to all Pixar film-characters. Disney intended to make a third film with or without the help of Pixar. Pixar panicked because their reputation was being put at stake. So, John Lasseter helped in throwing ideas he had for a third film.

This film features what is left of Andy's toys. Over a decade later, Andy is all grown up and going to college. He has not played with his toys for years. When his toys accidentally end up on the curb for trash pickup, the toys all escape to find themselves in the box to Sunnyside: a daycare where old toys go to be played with forever. Upon arrival, the toys meet Lots-O-Huggin the Bear who seems friendly. However, Lots-O is a deeply disturbed toy who creates a pyramid scheme in the daycare where he sits at the top. The toys plan their escape.
This is the first and only flawless film trilogy. 'Lord of the Rings', yes great, but not perfect. 'Star Wars' not even close to perfect. Dollar Trilogy, great, but not perfect. There are many great trilogies of films, but none flawless until 'Toy Story.' The opening scene of this film is, once again, great. It illustrates the power of a child's imagination and bridges the time gap from young to old quite well.

We then see this is a film that demonstrates what happens when things come to an end. Andy is off to college and the toys are at the end of their shelf life.

So, what happens when great things come to an end? New things arise on the horizon. This film is so touching in its thematic intentions of friends and family.

What is also appreciated is that Pixar never stretches the runtime. Every script for these three films are very tight and everything has purpose. The Sunnyside Daycare scenes were a great addition to what happens in the evolution of a toy's life. It spurred some comedy when juxtaposing the toddlers and other younger, more mature children, and how they treat toys.

This film used 92,854 hand-drawn storyboards. It just demonstrates the amount of work that goes into animation of this caliber.
Over the course of eleven years, the quality of animation between the second and third film is stunning. While earlier 'Toy Story' films looked to have very smooth textures, the third film takes another great leap in animation such as color saturation, lighting, and edgier textures.

Disney was sued for their usage of a Lots-O-Huggin Bear as the antagonist. A company actually manufactured such a thing and found their sales declined due to the portrayal of the bear in the film. Lots-O is also another terrific example of an antagonist done well. He has motivation and it's understood.

This film ends with the story we have been so accustomed to: Andy and the toys. It is a bitter-sweet ending that even touched my cynical heart. When good things come to an end, a new thing is born: Bonnie and the toys. It's an emotionally fulfilling ending that ends with Andy driving off into the sunset. Which is very reminiscent to Spielberg's ending to 'Last Crusade.'

Why is this film so resonating? Not just with children, but adults as well. It's emotional for parents because they may have seen the first 'Toy Story' film when they were younger. The evolution of life in 'Toy Story 3' also displays the evolution of a parent and son relationship. Because not only do toys fear the day they're not played with anymore, but parents fear that day as well; the day they are no longer played with. That is what makes this a great film. I always say, the best children's films are not meant just for children. The whole purpose of the genre is to bring out the child in all of us, not just to entertain children. The ending to this film is so perfect, which is why the fourth film feels so desperate. It's the 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' effect; things just keep coming back. However, after 'Toy Story 3', John Lasseter said that he had a great idea for another film. He got so caught up in it that he insisted the film be made. And Disney surely wasn't going to argue. Pixar has rarely let us down and the fourth seems to be getting positive reviews.

Rating: See It

-Nolan