Toy Story 3

In 1988, Pixar studios - masterminded by the brilliant John Lasseter - produced a short film called ‘Tin Toy’, their fourth short about, funnily enough, a small tin toy that is chased around by an excitable baby. It was here that the idea for Toy Story was conceived and eventually realised in 1995, the first ever fully computer animated feature film that is truly a modern cinematic masterpiece. In 1999, Toy Story 2 arguably improved on the first instalment and now, eleven years on, we are treated to the final chapter.

Toy Story 3 opens with a wonderful imagination sequence that swiftly establishes all our old favourite characters with heart-warming familiarity. The imagination is, of course, from the toys’ owner, Andy. Through a lovely nostalgic homemade movie montage, we are reminded of the love for the characters and, more importantly, what they fear they will lose. The first two Toy Story films always hinted at what impending fate the toys had in stall for them - that Andy will one day, grow up and they would no longer be adored or played with, destined for the attic, or worse, the rubbish!

Andy has now indeed grown up and is going to college. The toys that we have all come to love, Buzz (good ol’ Tim Allen), Jesse (the darn-tootin’ Joan Cusack), Bullseye (displayed with an increased, loveable puppyness), Hamm (the hilariously wisecracking John Ratzenberger), Rex (Wallace Shawn, who is a delight when a panicking Dinosaur), Mr & Mrs Potato Head (Don Rickles & Estelle Harris are a wonderful double act), Slinky (voiced by the late Jim Varney’s old roommate, Blake Clarke) and the pizza planet aliens are still led by Woody (the excellent as ever, Tom Hanks). They have tried to win back the heart of Andy in a desperate attempt to be played with again, but concede that they must move on. Woody is the driving force of the film and it is really something when his physical, slapstick humour is paraded on screen (watch out for a brilliant Mission Impossible reference).

One thing leads to another and the toys find themselves at Sunnyside Daycare Centre. They are welcomed by a whole bunch of new toys that reside there, led by Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear (or ‘Lotso’, the wizened sounding Ned Beatty) who promises endless new children that are going to play with them forever. But all is not as it seems. What ensues is a rollicking good fun escape film as our much loved toys endeavour to get back to Andy. Pixar’s ability to tell a story so perfectly, with such confidence and love for their craft, delivers on so many levels. Whether the many faces of Mr Potato Head or a reset button gone wrong, you’ll be guffawing with laughter along with Hamm’s dry wit and Rex’s uncontainable expressions. There is a wild, adrenaline rush of a scene when babies feast on their new toys in the daycare centre that, along with close-ups of the main characters placid faces, enrapture your humour. Lovely little references and nuances from the first two instalments add to the sentiment and there is an eerily dark undertone, led by an unnerving one eyed baby doll and a maniacal cymbal-crashing toy monkey.

Lee Unkrich (who co-directed Toy Story 2) delivers the film at such a wonderful pace that somehow still finds time to introduce to us an array of new memorable characters without seeming fleeting or under nurtured, yet never undermining our established heroes. Ken (Michael Keaton) is one of the highlights, a fashion parade being his standout scene. Mr PricklePants (Timothy Dalton) and a joyous Trixie (Kristen Schaal) are but a few from the feast of new characters. Pixar are masters of their craft and technically, Toy Story 3 is a marvellous achievement: plumes of light flood a background and sumptuous depths of field please the eye, add to this the endless attention of detail throughout. After the success of UP, Toy Story 3 has to be up there for Best Picture at the Oscars.

As the film plays out there are grand, expansive, action set pieces as the toys escape the daycare centre and are forced to a waste disposal facility - poignant because of their fear of rejection at the beginning - where the rug is swiftly pulled from your feet and a terrifying, ‘this is the end’ feeling engulfs your senses. In the end, Toy Story 3 (aided by that movingly familiar Randy Newman score) deals with an issue all will struggle to comprehend. A heart-wrenching, fond farewell opens up Andy, who, up until now hasn’t been given quite this much attention as we realise that his relationship with his favourite toys, Woody in particular, is something we have all experienced and cherished in our past.

This surely completes the finest film trilogy ever made.