Review: Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 will make you ponder your mortality.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either.

Pixar studios have made their name loading their films with concepts and themes that, on paper, have no business being in family films and yet time and time again they succeed. Each film feels like a challenge to the rest of the industry to, well, challenge their audience.

Now that this trilogy is complete (and it is definitely complete) the themes it has laid down are clear. The first film was about Love, the second about abandonment and the third, death. The best thing to be said about Toy Story 3 is that this truly feels like a necessary chapter in the story and a worthy finish to the franchise. Compare this to Dreamwork's Shrek the Third and the difference is clear. Consider as well the eleven years since the first sequel, and Toy Story 3 is something to be truly admired.

Taking place eleven years after the events of the last installment, Toy Story 3 sees a 17 year old Andy ready to leave for college. After a mixup during a clearout of his room Woody, Buzz and the gang find themselves donated to Sunnyside Daycare centre a paradise for toys who have "moved on". In most cases toys accept and embrace this new life but Woody cannot let go and sets out to find his owner.

These deep themes have been present throughout but have never been quite so explicit as in this instalment and never have they been so singularly personified than in the film's antagonist, Lotso. Lotso's backstory mirrors Jessie's in Toy Story 2. Both were seemingly abandoned by the people they loved the most and left alone. But while Jessie eventually came to terms with her loss, Lotso got angry. Lotso is a villain who, unlike Sid, Al or Stinky Pete, has nothing to lose. What's interesting is that while all of the toys in the series have been aware that they are just toys, Lotso is the only who realises how disposable they are and that even the most cherished of toys are replaceable. Perhaps moreso that Jessie, his story is the most tragic.

All of which makes the film sound as thrilling as dishwater but it's incredibly exciting courtesy of some stunning setpieces. From the opening sequence which beautifully mirrors the opening scene of the first film, to the truly heart stopping scene in an industrial incinerator the action ramps up throughout the film. There is a huge scope to them, the aformentioned opening rivaling any action scene this summer while the incinerator sequence is so perfectly paced and has an emotional beat so powerful my clenched jaw began to hurt.

Of course it wouldn't be a Pixar film if wasn't uproariously funny and bringing the laughs are the film's secret weapons. The first is "Spanish" Buzz which I won't spoil here and the second is Michael Keaton. Keaton plays Ken, yes that Ken, the surpisingly metrosexual doll (sorry Ken, Action figure) and instantly becomes one of Pixar's funniest characters. From his wardrobe to his insistence that he isn't a girl's toy he is a riot and Keaton easily steals the show.

Once again, in the grand Pixar tradition, all these elements come together effortlessly. Taking over Director duties from John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich balances the humour, action and emotion masterfully. The film does threaten to descend into schmaltz toward the end but it is earned. The last ten minutes are both the ending to a one hour, forty minute film and a four and a half hour long trilogy. In fact it's the ending to a story that has spanned fifteen years. I'm of the generation that grew up with these characters. To see their story come to an end is not only satisfying but in a way quite personal.

Toy Story 3 isn't the best Pixar film and if I'm honest it's not even the best Toy Story film (Jessie's Song from Toy Story 2 remains the absolute peak of the series) but it is an immensely entertaining film and maintains the standard and quality that this incredible studio live by. Some people are cynical about the crop of sequels on Pixar's horizon. Nonsense. This studio is showing no sign of fatigue. At this stage it's easy to become jaded by Pixar's string of hits but it should never be forgotten just how important the studio is and their output shouldn't be taken for granted. If Toy Story is what a Pixar franchise looks like then sign me up for the rest.