MOVIE REVIEW …TOY STORY 3

MOVIE REVIEW …

TOY STORY 3

Babies often receive teddy bears as first toys, although being a more temperamental toddler I was given a plush lion.  That became one of my early best friends and I took it everywhere.  Like many children with toys, I formed an emotional attachment to it as it was one of the first things spurning my imagination.  That’s one of the central themes of Toy Story 3 showing how a toy only becomes exciting as a child’s creativity allows.

With their now teenaged owner Andy moving to college, his toys - including Buzz Lightyear and Woody - are hopeful they’ll find someplace in his new life.  To their dismay they are accidentally put out for rubbish collection and think Andy has abandoned them.  Although Woody knows this isn’t the case, the others decide to create new horizons by going to the Sunnyside Daycare Centre.  Hearing of its delights, they receive a shock when boisterous children and other toys make their lives intolerable.  Plotting their escape and return to Andy, Woody and the gang make a desperate last stand for the good of their fellow manufactured marvels.

 Toy Story 3 is a worthy addition to the charming series successfully complimenting its predecessors with its focus on change and growing up.  A natural progression in its overall scheme rather than a re-boot as the human characters are just as important as the toys with which they play.  The animation is no longer the important selling point. The stories are full of the rare innocence elevating other animated classics.  There’s no deep seated cynicism - just a good natured adventure filled with characters who come to joyful life.

 It isn’t difficult to like Buzz Lightyear and co. given how beautifully rendered they are.  Every scene is vibrant with colour and movement adding the elements needed to make them feel like real people.  The fast paced screenplay helps enormously as each sequence logically flows into the next.  There’s never a frame wasted with the production team appearing in their element as they continually craft more wild scenarios.  It’s a fun film filled with plenty of heart and befits the ‘all ages’ tag comfortably without sinking into sugary sweetness. 

I still have my toy lion, now looking a bit frayed but always there to remind of early creativity which gave me lots of child-hood pleasure.  Toy Story 3 should do the same as its fine escapist fare should effectively capture the thoughts of young and old alike.

Movie Review Rating 8 /10

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

Toy Story 3 released in Australia on Thursday 24 June 2010.

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Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at current movie releases in Australia.

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