The Great Toy Escape
Times have moved on for Woody, Buzz and the toys as Andy is now a 17 year old and is about to head to college which leaves them all with concerns over what will happen to them as they have been discarded in the toy box for year. Woody does his best to reassure everyone saying that Andy never threw them away so he must care for them and so will probably end up being put in the attic until maybe Andy has children of his own. As his mum forces Andy to choose what to do with his old stuff Andy decides Woody will go with him to college but the other toys can go in the attic except they accidentally end up at day care. Initially hoping that their new home will be fun with new kids to play with the toys discover that not all children are as nice as Andy was and not all toys are friendly.
Pleasantly surprised is the way I feel about "Toy Story 3" as whilst I was impressed by the first two "Toy Story" movies I just had a thought they were pushing things a little too far to make a third movie. But happily I was wrong as whilst "Toy Story 3" continues to the story of the toys it takes a different slant with it being an escape movie. Yes "Toy Story 3" is an escape movie, an adventure movie featuring these toys in a new world of other toys and other kids. And it works especially for young audiences who will enjoy all the new characters including Lotso hugging bear.
But whilst giving us a different storyline and characters including Ken who has a colourful set of outfits it still manages to bring back all the elements which made up the original movies. The opening which sees the toys used to act a western is classic "Toy Story" which evolves to incorporate all the toys including slinky dog and the dinosaur. There are also all the clever jokes which allow adults to smile at the nostalgic aspects such as the Fisher Price phone that introduces itself to Woody at the day care centre.
But what "Toy Story 3" does is also grow up and so when we enter the main story and we have the toys discarded to the toy box as Andy becomes a teenager it makes us think of when we were teenagers as well. It is so cleverly done and when we watch Andy come across Woody and decide that his little friend should go to college with him it connects on such a surprisingly deep level making us think about what it was like as teenagers to let go of our once cherished toys and how hard it was.
What this all boils down to is that "Toy Story 3" is not only on par with the previous two movies but in some ways it is even better as it manages to grow the story up to keep the appeal fresh and the humour fun.
