Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 follows Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), and the rest of Andy’s toys as they’re mistakenly delivered to a local daycare center, with the narrative detailing the gang’s ongoing efforts at making their way back home. It’s a solid premise that’s used as a springboard for an inventive and often completely gripping adventure by Lee Unkrich, as the filmmaker, working from Michael Arndt’s screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced comedic adventure that’s rife with a whole host of appealing elements – including jaw-dropping animation, stellar voice performances, and a proliferation of compelling set-pieces. And although the comparatively long running time does result in a midsection that lags just a little, Toy Story 3 picks up with a third-act escape sequence that ultimately carries it into a nothing-short-of-staggering final stretch – with the toys’ perilous exploits within a massive incinerator certainly packing a far more potently emotional punch than one might’ve anticipated. The letter-perfect (and unabashedly tear-jerking) climax ensures that the picture ends on a seriously affecting and memorable note, and it’s difficult, undoubtedly, to recall a more successful trilogy in the history of the animation field (if not Hollywood entirely).

**** out of ****