Toy Story 3: The Only Constant Is Change, and Each Ending is a New Beginning

This is my third attempt to write this review. Let's hope cyberspace karma helps me out here.

A few weeks ago, before the current theatrical production in the current theatrical location started consuming my allegedly free time, and before Spout.com finally died its horrific death - and by horrific death, I mean death of the concept that enticed people to be users on the site, such that it is has become one man's supposed ravings about film (without warning to what was left of the site's consumers) - I paid my annual devotional to all things Pixar with a trip to the local multiplex for the latest installment in the studio's annals as well as in the series about walking and talking toys. I have seen every Pixar film in the theaters and would have been mortified to make Toy Story 3 the exception. The trouble is, I was a little leery, a little suspicious, of this release. I found it fishy that Pixar would revisit a well that hadn't been tapped for at least a decade: after all, Toy Story 2 (1999) was the studio's third commercial full-length feature and seemed to leave the adventures of Woody, Buzz, and the gang at a sufficient place of closure as the Pixar films began to drift away from childhood toys. I was excited by the chance to get reacquainted with the characters but also terrified at the prospect that the release of the film would be somehow sub-par, an afterthought, as many repeated sequels are, and one that would do an ultimate disservice to the series when the second film wrapped up so nicely.

Of course, why I would ever doubt this studio when they have never really led their potential viewers, especially one as loyal as me, astray is beyond my ability to comprehend. All of the original actors returned save for a few (some of whom passed away in the interim), and many of the standard Pixar ingredients reappeared for this installment. I wouldn't call Toy Story 3 the masterpiece that some would advertise, but I do think the film is yet another winner in an already long and illustrious catalog of winners - and anyone saying differently is either not predisposed to CGI animation (which begs the question, why watch these or the other Pixars to begin with) or somehow lacks even an iota of a smidge of a heart.

When the film opens, Andy, the formerly-a-child owner of Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie the Talking Cowgirl (Joan Cusack), Hamm the Piggy Bank (John Ratzenberger), Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Rex the Dinosaur (Wallace Shawn), and others is on his way to college, and the moment of truth for his long-beloved toys awaits. Will they be lucky enough to accompany him, adult though he is, to college; spend long hours in storage in the attic, only to be rediscovered years down the road; or be unceremoniously taken to the local garbage dump? Woody's security amongst Andy's belongings going to college is guaranteed, but the other toys are not so sure, and when Andy's mom (Laurie Metcalf) mixes up garbage bags, the toys find themselves on Andy's curb and believing they were tossed out with the rest of the garbage. Woody races once again to their rescue, but, this time, Buzz and the gang aren't buying what he's selling; they think Andy doesn't want them anymore, so Jessie finagles passage into a box being donated to Sunnyside Daycare, a seeming haven for old toys to find new use. The daycare seems to be a paradise for these old toys, a retirement home with luxury repair and relaxation and run by Lotso, the Lots-o-Hugging Bear (Ned Beatty), and his lackeys Big Baby and Ken (of Barbie and... fame, voiced by Michael Keaton), but the toys soon find the idyllic paradise is not what it seems to be. In the meantime, Woody, having left the daycare in his eternal loyalty and quest to return to Andy, unwittingly finds himself the plaything of a little girl named Bonnie, who has managed to find a few escapees from Sunnyside. It is there that Woody learns that his friends may be in for more than they bargained and may never see Andy again.

Toy Story 3 is a rarity: a sequel that incorporates themes from the films that precede it while managing to build upon them and to create a new and meaningful story without over-recycling. While Toy Story 1 dallied with the toys' self-awareness as just that, toys, and while Toy Story 2 grappled with themes of loyalty and being open to change, Toy Story 3 propels the saga further, charging the toys to adapt to new beginnings after a long and illustrious career as one kind child's plaything. There are layers in this story that were not present in the first two films, which is why some critics and viewers may be hailing this to be the best of the Toy Story films to date.

Is it really the best in the series, though? That's a hard question to answer. The emotional depth and complexity of this film is certainly more developed and more enriching than in the previous two films. This Toy Story makes you cry, or should make you feel like you want to cry, even for the slightest of seconds. It also makes you laugh, cringe, and cower in all the right places and is about as well-oiled and sleek of a narrative as one is going to find at the movies these days. The animation, thanks to the advances Pixar has tinkered with progressively in each new film over the years, is eye-popping, brilliant, and textured, including some great camera perspectives from which the older films were unable to benefit. The voice acting is as committed as it ever has been. The addition of Michael Keaton as the ambiguous Ken may top the list of reasons to watch this film - he certainly gives more range and complexity to the slightly vapid Barbie (Jodi Benson). Even Randy Newman's score, borrowing liberally from the previous two outings, manages to evoke a new sensibility, a maturation, that both the characters in the film and the viewers watching the film have officially experienced together.

Is Toy Story 3 a masterpiece? It feels like a tall order to ascribe "masterpiece" status to this film. It's emotionally resonant and wonderfully constructed, and subtly, wickedly tongue-in-cheek, but there is a quality about this film that, I think, prevents it from achieving that ethereal masterpiece status (and not because it's CGI animation or some of the other querulous reasons offered by the naysayers). First, there is a new director on this film, who is really an old director in the sense that he is one of the co-directors of Toy Story 2, but this is his first time flying solo on a franchise film. The look and feel of it is different not only because of the natural evolution of the films and their production studio but because this director seems to have a slightly different bead on this universe. The witty repartee between Woody and Buzz, the cornerstone of the previous two films, was all but absent this time around, which is unfortunate because the voice chemistry between Tom Hanks and Tim Allen is what proved to be so hysterically funny in the previous entries. Some of the situations in the film felt a bit tedious in terms of the pacing or the lull they created, even as other situations were fresh, original, and added vigor to the already economical 90 minutes of story. I remember walking out of the theater and thinking, "That was really good," and that I was glad that the ending was not ruined with another ending, but I also remember thinking that this film, despite its moments of brilliance, was not as fulfilling as Toy Story 2.

What people will remember from Toy Story 3, however, is the incredibly touching and poignant final moments of the film, which may be why so many people are so quick to hail this film as a masterpiece. True, the ending to this film far trumps the abrupt ending of Toy Story 2 (one of that film's only imperfections) and may very well be one of the most perfect endings ever in the history of the world (especially for a franchised series of films), but it may be premature to label the film a masterpiece when the lauded final moments are lauded more than all of the rest of the film before them.

Nevertheless, Toy Story 3 is a great film, with great thematic and narrative structure and savory ingredients for a great film stew, and if you enjoyed the previous two films or anything at all ever made by Pixar, you will enjoy this film. For Pixar, the masterpiece for me is Wall-E, but to each his or her own. In any event, the Toy Story films may have run their course, officially, but each ending is a new beginning, and that's the lesson to be taken away here, even if the new beginning for these toys is long life on DVD or Blu-Ray. In ratings land, I'm hovering around an 8.5, between minor flaws/very good and perfectly entertaining. And, in case previous reviews haven't clued you in to my unchecked love for this studio's output, the mere brand of "Pixar" means that this film passes the test of ownership (in addition to my obsessive compulsive need to own whole series and not just segments of them). In the end, Toy Story 3 is a truly wonderful film, a befitting end, and a good one for the whole family to enjoy. In fact, the effectiveness of these Toy Story films may never change, even as the tastes of filmmakers and viewers alike will continue to change through the ages - quite the legacy, if you think about it.