Toy Story 3 (Rhoades)

“Toy Story 3” – A Return to Playtime

 Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

We all must grow up – even Andy, the “real” kid in Pixar Animation’s “Toy Story.” In this movie’s third outing Andy is off to college, leaving his toys behind. In fact, these childish odds and ends – the slinky dog, Mr. Potato Head, Buzz Lightyear, and Woody the cowboy – have been donated to a daycare center.

But those of us in the audience who don’t want to admit we’re grown up know that putting your toys away is not the end of the story. “Toy Story 3” is currently having a play date at the Tropic Cinema.

What you’ll discover is that Andy was merely packing his favorite toys away to the attic, but his mother dumps them in the trash. Mothers are like that. Taking their own destiny into their little plastic hands, the toys decide to go to a daycare facility where they will be played with forever.

A good plan, right? Wrong.

Woody tries to head off this misguided idea, but winds up a daycare captive. Now if he could escape from this toy prison using that kite…

You’ll meet lots of new toys in this edition in the “Toy Story” trilogy. At Sunnyside Day Care: Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, Big Baby, and a smooth-talking Ken doll who falls for (you guessed it) Molly’s Barbie doll. And at the home of a little girl named Bonnie: Chuckles the Clown, Mr. Pricklepants, Trixie, Buttercup, Dolly, and the Peas-in-a-Pod.

Familiar voices are back for this sequel. Tom Hanks as Woody. Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear. Joan Cusack as Jessie. Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head. John Ratzenberger as Hamm. Wallace Shawn as Rex the dinosaur. Laurie Metcalf as Andy’s mom. And, of course, John Morris as our boy Andy.

You’ll hear other familiar voices too. Ned Beatty as Lotso. Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants. Jeff Garlin as Buttercup. Bonnie Hunt as Dolly. Whoopi Goldberg as Stretch. And Michael Keaton as the love-smitten Ken.

Will the toys be rescued by Andy before he leaves for college? Will Buzz be stuck forever on demo mode? Will Woody and Stretch defeat the monkey toy that controls the AV room? Will Sunnydale ever become a happy place for toys? Will Woody and Buzz find a new home?

You’ll enjoy the adventure.

However, I liked the original script that was developed for “Toy Story 3” by Disney back when they were talking splitzville with Pixar. Buzz Lightyear got shipped off to Taiwan to fix a defect, and when the other toys discover that the company just replaces broken Buzz toys with new ones, they head to Taiwan to rescue him.

Alas, this script got canned when Pixar and Disney eventually worked things out, making Steve Jobs the largest stockholder of The Walt Disney Company. Maybe if there’s ever a “Toy Story 4” the plot will involve Woody and Buzz playing games on their new iPads. That would be the ultimate product placement, don’t you think?

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]