Toy Story 3

“Toy Story 3”

USA. 2010. Directed by Lee Unkrich. Screenplay by Michael Arndt from a story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich. Starring: the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Morris, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Jodi Benson, Emily Hahn, Laurie Metcalf, Blake Clark and Teddy Newton.

Rating: ★★★

Toy Story 3 returns to the only franchise that Pixar Animation has inspired sequels for thus far and, true to the animation studio’s high standards of creating a deft story, breathes new angles to the characters we love from the first two Toy Story movies. Yet, considering the recent great streak of transcendent works from Pixar such as Ratatouille, WALL·E and Up, this new sequel arrives as a more measured achievement in their cannon. The action and comedy are enjoyably amusing and the story and characters are kept on the forefront but the sense of wonder is slightly evaporated.

Of course, this is speaking in relative terms, as Pixar has set such an impossible standard with their last three films and any other studio would still be envious to make a film of this caliber. Just as Howl’s Moving Castle was a slight step down from Spirited Away for Hayao Miyazaki, comparing Pixar movies or Miyazaki’s works are like comparing the karat value across jewels. And, despite my reservations about the more familiar action, there are two astonishing sequences I know I will be returning to again.

One of them is the exhilarating opening scene, which puts the Western genre into a pure cinematic blender. Woody is riding along with Jessie to catch the Bonnie and Clyde like robbers of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head getting away on a train with stolen treasure and some hostages. Hmm, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head as Bonnie and Clyde-like robbers: now that is a phrase I never thought or imagined I would ever be using.

It would be disingenuous to even try to describe the zippy action and the impeccable timing with which it inserts all our beloved toy characters from Hamm the Piggy Bank as the evil Dr. Porkchop to even Buzz Lightyear finally. Then, just at a cliffhanger moment, the action shifts to Andy’s room where he is playing with his toys and we see the scene has added to one of the cleverest visualizations of childhood imagination on film.

It also wonderfully recaps the characters from the first two films including Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (Don Rickles and Estelle Harris) and the rest of the gang. This time, the story begins the day the toys have dreaded since where Toy Story 2 left off: the day Andy is going off to college. As Andy (John Morris) decides on what to do with them, the toys fear being put in the attic and never being played with or worse, being thrown in the garbage bin.

Andy finally decides to store the toys in the attic but things somehow go awry and after a series of complications, Woody and the gang end up in Sunnyside Daycare Center. They are initially welcomed there by the daycare center toys led by a seemingly cheerful and warmhearted teddy bear named Lotso (Ned Beatty), who brings the gang to the Caterpillar Room. Woody manages to escape, only to briefly land at the hands of Bonnie (Emily Hahn), but Buzz and the other toys realize that the Caterpillar Room is where the toddlers do not play nicely with the toys but rather manhandle and almost maim the toys they play with.

Woody returns and then hatches a plan to escape and the film’s feel and various references to the classic escape films like The Great Escape are fun to behold. But, when the film finally resorts to pure action mode, which this third movie has a greater quantity of, it starts to feel more like a rehash of the elements of the first two movies, especially the second one. There is a maniacal toy villain to go up against once again and there are little humorous quips and asides there from Rex (Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (Blake Clark) and Ham the Piggy Bank (John Ratzenberger). In addition, in making the film more action-oriented, a few lapses in logic appear where the toys have migrated on their own from one place to another but the humans do not question that (the past two films avoided this small issue by essentially having the plots revolve around the toys coming back home before Andy sees them).

As usual though, some of the funniest moments come from the new characters like Ken and Barbie whose loving, longing stare at each other with the background music of “Take My Breath Away” elicits the biggest laugh in the film. And what inspired choices to cast Michael Keaton as the voice of Ken and Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in The Little Mermaid, as Barbie. The other slapstick jokes also work well, such as when Buzz Lightyear gets reset into Spanish dancer mode and starts to sweep Jessie off her feet. Another nice touch is in how Mrs. Potato Head’s detached eye serves as a kind of spy cam for Woody's gang. Also, a particularly humorous twist involves the spy cam on the villains' side that is being watched by a chattering monkey with cymbals, which might be scary for some kids but reminded me of Abu's brief fate in Aladdin after getting zapped by Jafar.

The action comedy elements are satisfying in a familiar way but the film suddenly shifts gears to a closing scene that finally brings Andy fully into the center. I will leave you to find out what specifically happens but the final scene is a beautiful crystallization of a crucial buried theme of the Toy Story movies, which is how toys serve as the first instruments through which we make sense of our own world and perceptions. By the time the scene was over, I started wishing the whole film had brought Andy to the center and made this theme drive the whole story.

All the same, however, I am grateful to the Pixar folks for making this worthy sequel that does not forget about character and story, especially in this increasingly disheartening summer of slothful remakes, sequels and franchises. Only they could manage to discover fresh sources of emotions in their characters a third time while providing the summer blockbuster action the audience expects. Now I eagerly anticipate the next wholly new universe Pixar will introduce me to.

Note: I did not mention the 3-D because I viewed the film in 2-D. Neither the brilliant opening scene or the moving closing scene would have been enhanced, I think, by the extra dimension, which should make people even more skeptical about the necessity of 3-D.