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Toy Story 3
Has it really been 15 years since the first toy story hit our screens? Not in my house it's not! With a toddler running around, the Toy Story films are spun up on the DVD player almost on a weekly basis so it feels like only yesterday that they were released. This is possibly the greatest testimony of Toy Story: its enduring appeal to multiple generations and despite 15 years being a long, long time in computer animation terms, it still looks great!

Something needs to be said about the preceding short, Day & Night, which is brilliant. In fact it is so good that I feel I should be writing about that rather then the feature that is almost disappointing by comparison in terms of conceptualisation and exploitation of the utilised 3D technology. The short film is a thesis on fear of the new and resistance to change; adult themes lovingly presented in a kiddie friendly format. This is, of course, what Pixar does best and it has never been done better than in Day & Night. It is also a theme that segues nicely into Toy Story 3.

As the feature opens we find Woody, Buzz and friends desperately vying for the attention of their now adolescent owner, Andy, whose interest in toys has naturally waned. Clinging to times passed, refusing to accept that their world has moved on without them, the toys are forced to accept change and realise that it isn't inherently bad but merely something different, opening up a cornucopia of new experiences and challenges. The proceedings mirror closely the plot of Richard Adams' Watership Ship: the toys leave their dying homeland (albeit not of their own choosing), enter the initially promising but ultimately oppressive Efrafa and finally find their everlasting bliss in a Watership Down. It's a successful formula if a tad darker than previous outings, including some of the creepiest elements to ever appear in a Pixar film. It will be interesting to see how a younger audience copes with it. In hindsight, the film is probably closer to a 'PG' rating than the 'G' it has been accorded.

The film eschews the usual slew of pop culture references past and present, including anime, westerns and Transformers, which maintains the entertainment (and nostalgia) quotient at a high level. It is also destined to push toy sales to new highs as old toys of a bygone era are re-released to cash in on the films inevitable success - this is not necessarily a bad thing. Chiefly setting the story in a day care centre gives the crew license to include just about every toy imaginable, so unless you grew up under a rock in Siberia, you'll probably find a few of your toys featured. Indeed your Siberian rock toys are probably there as well.

All the elements of previous Toy Story stories are present here: another ingenious excuse to reboot Buzz to his pre-enlightenment programming is found (with hilarious results), a new romance blossoms, and the usual interplay between the (by now) well-defined characters plays out wonderfully. There's also a heavy hark (almost a cameo) back to Pixar's first Oscar-winning short, Tin Toy, with the character of Big Baby, a brutish stand-over baby toy.

Within the Toy Story canon, this third installment does not exceed the second film in all round quality of story or implementation but, hey, this is Toy Story, y'know? Its only criticisms are as a result of the par for the Pixar course being so high. By any other measure, this is a great film. It does lose some marks, however, for adding to the growing body of redundant 3D cash-in projects but the brilliant exploitation of 3D technology in the preceding short is worthy in itself of the price of admission.
Stuart Jamieson
www.disney.go.com


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