Toy Story 3 Movie Review - Spoilers near the bottom

This evening we went to see Toy Story 3 at the theaters. We opted for the non 3D showing since we did not think my 4.5 year old would last for 2 hours with the 3D glasses. I am not sure if this was the right call because as we walked out, she said to her aunt "I thought it was supposed to be in 3D". Although she did say she would not have wanted to wear the glasses for 2 hours.

We really enjoyed the movie. There are enough nods to the previous movie and toys of old to appeal to the adults (and a few jokes that are subtle enough to go over the kids heads). The kids love the action, the familiar characters and the crazy situations.

We knew the story line going in since we had bought the Toy Story 3 Little Golden Book to add to our collection of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. This did not detract from our enjoyment of the book at all. My daughter did comment about story points that were not in the book that she really enjoyed.

There are some notable toys from the previous movies who do not make an appearance and are missed. They do reference some of these toys and refer that they have been lost on the way. We did miss Bo Peep, Etch-a-Sketch, Mr. Spell, RC Car, and Wheezy the Penguin. Also missing is a reference to Al's Toy Barn which was a major element of the second movie and has a passing reference in the first.

However, the new characters fill in quite nicely. Barbie and Ken are lots of perky fun.

Spoilers below the break




They don't take the happy, cheery way out with the villain (Lotso Huggin' Bear). They have the opportunity to have him redeem himself by saving Woody, Buzz, Jesse, the Potato Heads, and Rex, but he continues his evil ways. Of course, he is fittingly dispatched by the end of the movie, much as Prospector Pete was at the end of Toy Story 2.

I loved how the little green aliens' obsession with "The Claw" ended up being what saved their friends. It was neat to see Buzz Lightyear reset to demo mode where he really believes himself to be a space ranger and the personality change in his Spanish mode is amusing. I also loved seeing a few classic toys like the Chatter Telephone and the Fisher Price Corn Popper.

Unlike many animated movie series, the quality of the films and story has stayed consistently high. While there are references made to events of the prior movies, it could stand on its own as well. Maybe the secret is spacing the movies far apart (5 and 10 year gaps). They have set themselves up to continue the series with Bonnie instead of Andy. If they decide to do another sequel, I hope they take the time to develop a story and treat it with the care they have with the other films.