Reviews::Main

Director: Lee Unkrich Year: 2010 Language: English Country: America

Woody, Buzz and the rest of the toys are back in this sequel to Toy Story. Andy is now 17 and it's a while since they have been played with, as he is going to college, Andy's mum makes him decide which of his belongings are going with him, which are going in the attic and which are getting thrown out. When the toys accidentally end up in the latter pile, they are heartbroken and escape, hitching a lift in a box of toys destined for Sunny Side Daycare. Once at the daycare, they soon find themselves trapped there by the leader of the daycare toys, Lotso Huggin' Bear. Can the toys escape and make their way back to Andy?

As a sequel, Toy Story 3 ditches with most of the character setup for the main toys, it's assumed you know who they are from the first two films. This means we can jump straight into the action. While the plot is kind of similar to the first two films, it takes on elements from a number of prison escape films, which gives adults in the audience lots to look out for. There are plenty of good jokes in here and many of them are aimed at older audience members. While Toy Story 3 is still a kid's film, it also seems to be pitched and the mid-twenties audience who would have seen the original films as children.

The ending is highly emotionally charged and a little bit over the top, but viewers who have grown up with Woody and Buzz will probably enjoy it. I hadn't seen the original films until the week before I saw number 3, so I don't really have any attachment to the characters, but I still found the sequel well made and entertaining.

Overall, a fitting end to a series of movies dear to many people's hearts.

Dave W - 25th July, 2010 - 11:32