The story behind Toy Story 3 is quite simple; it’s the end of an era. Woody and company have reached the end of their relationship with Andy. Andy is going off to college and he has three choices with what to do with his best friends; the attic, the daycare or the garbage. Andy loves his toys and doesn’t want them going to the dump, so he chooses the attic, but regretfully his mom mixes the bags up and sends them to the curb. Nearly thrown away, they assume Andy doesn’t want them, so they choose to go to Sunnyside Daycare to start a new life. After arriving at Sunnyside, they soon find out that things are not what they seem. On top of this, they lose Woody who tries to tell them that Andy still loves them. Separated from their leader and their owner, the toys do their best to survive in a harsh environment.
Folks, this movie is a must-have. I know I’m suppose to tell you all the great things and all the flaws, but before we go into any of that just know that you must own it. With that said, let me talk about what makes this movie great.
The opening of the film gets the ball rolling as you see Andy and the Toys kind of having a wonderful series of flashbacks. The film does a great job of building you up with happiness and then slowly snatching it away as you see a college ready Andy having to make a horrible decision on what to do with his childhood friends. From that point on you get a very tough story about toys feeling somewhat abandoned and confused. Friendship and love is what keeps the characters together and Pixar keeps it all rolling through various plot points that build this friendship and love up pretty darn smoothly. By the end of the film you’re so unbelievably happy and sad at the same time with the outcome. I don’t want to give anything away, as I can’t possibly prepare you for what you’re going to go through while watching this film. It would be highly unfair of me.
With all this said, while most filmmakers would certainly have dropped the ball somewhere along the way in numerous sequels, Pixar simply takes a story and continually makes it better. Toy Story 3 is the pinnacle of the series, as it’s the moment that children become adults and must give up what they love the most; their toys. You can call this a ‘coming of age’ film, but truly it’s just a kid growing up in a subtle way. It’s probably one of the most ‘real’ stories that I’ve seen in an animated feature. Pixar captures the actual human transition between leaving one’s childhood and taking the ‘next’ step. I think that’s why so many adults cry during this film and so many children don’t feel the effect. Pixar captured the exact moment where we all made that transition and where we all realized that we needed to move on and give up all our favorite things that made us happy. It’s emotional and powerful, and again it’s subtle, but very effective. Seeing the toys realize this transition as well and feel what Andy feels in the silent moment where he sees his toys is just unreal, joyous and heartbreaking.
Anyway, the story is the best of the bunch and the best way for the series to supposedly end. There are simply no flawed areas in this movie, as it flows perfectly and hits its cues when it needs to. I can’t imagine a better way to end the Toy Story trilogy.
As for the look and feel for this third movie, it has improved here and there, but Pixar has clearly tried to maintain the first movie’s look. There are some improvements, which include Lotso’s fur, the grown up Andy and the Octopus. Lotso’s fur is based off a real stuff bear’s fur texture that was manufactured specifically for the movie. It’s accurate, it waves nicely with the lighting and you really do believe that this bear is stuffed. It’s a better texture than what you see in Monsters, Inc. with Sulley’s fur, which was probably one of the more impressive renders on an animated character in some time. It’s very impressive all around and you’ll enjoy the seamless visuals between each Toy Story film, which is important.
Now to make this story even better you need to get the Blu-ray version of the film. Seeing Toy Story 3 in HD is something to behold. Like I’ve stated in the past with animated features in HD, Pixar has perfected the colors and the look perfectly in 1080p. Having had so many years tweaking things here and there, Pixar and Disney put together a visual masterpiece with the final tale in the Toy Story trilogy. I’m not saying that if you don’t have a Blu-ray that you’re going to be sad with what you see, I’m just saying that you would be much happier with the experience in HD. With the Blu-ray technology you can see very subtle things in the environment that you may not have noticed before. Toy Story 3 comes through clearer, crisper and just overall prettier. The better the visuals, the better the experience.
As for the audio, you get some sharp audio in this bunch as well. For animated films like this it’s important to get a perfect sound mix for sound effects. Pixar has shown that their audio mixing and sound effects are some of the best in the animated industry. Toy Story 3 continues this tradition of greatness as you get some really accurate sound effects that sound simply spectacular in DTS-HD. Do I need to talk about the music? Just as good as the visuals in HD and another reason why you’ll be happy with Blu-ray.
Shifting gears to the reason why you really want the Blu-ray you’ve got a lot of choices when it comes to special features. You get your typical, wonderful games for the family on the Blu-ray. You get an large set of interesting ‘making of’ featurettes that introduce you to the making of the third story. You also get featurettes that feature everyone involved in the acting part of the film with good interviews included. One interesting feature you get is how the ‘actual’ toys were made from the first Toy Story to the most recent. In addition to all this, you get a DVD’s worth of some of the same special features and an analog version of the theatrical release of the film.
Here’s a complete list of goodies to expect:
• Toy Story Trivia Dash
• Cine-Explore
• Beyond the Toybox: An Alternative Commentary Track Featuring Leads from Story, Tech, Art and Animation
• Beginnings: Setting A Story In Motion
• Bonnie’s Playtime: A Story Roundtable
• Roundin’ Up A Western Opening
• Life Of A Shot
• Goodbye Andy
• Accidental Toymakers
• Making of Day & Night
• Day & Night
• Toys!
• Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: The Science of Adventure
• Paths to Pixar: Editorial
• The Gang’s All Here
• A Toy’s Eye View: Creating A Whole New Land
• Studio Stories
◦ “Where’s Gordon?” – An animator finds a hidden room at Pixar.
◦ “Cereal Bar” – The majestic and expansive Pixar cereal bar is explored.
◦ “Clean Start” – The Toy Story 3 animators shave their heads to mark the start of the film.
Seriously, just an excellent set of features with a legendary film.