It warmed the cockles of my heart.

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2010)

In yet another triumph, Pixar has skillfully managed to break the curse of the second animated sequel, a pratfall that both DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox have succumbed to with 'Shrek the Third' (2007) and 'Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs' (2009) respectively.
A large part of this film's success of is fuelled by the timeless quality of the two earlier Toy Story films, an asset that is unfailingly retained in the third, as well as our joy in seeing the now very accomplished animation giant return to its humble roots. However, this doesn't seem to be enough, as a bountiful array of new themes, characters and plot devices have clearly been introduced in order to sustain the third installment: Andy (voiced by John Morris) is becoming distanced from his old plastic companions as he is reaching adulthood; the old toy gang has been heavily depleted over the time change, leaving only the principles remaining in Andy's room; the villains are more numerous, and all of them are toys that have been corrupted or mutated; Buzz (voiced by Tim Allen) has since the beginning become a hackneyed sentimentalist, and so is transformed into a childish gag for most of the film by having him malfunction – it's all still more than sufficient, but as with 'Wall-E' (2008) the feat is pulled off not quite as effortlessly as usual.
While it has been a staggering ten years since 'Toy Story 2' (1999) the previous entry in the series, we realize that the fabulous star-studded voice cast, which also includes Tom Hanks and Joan Cusack, must have been quite a challenge to reassemble, and animation is indeed a very slow and painstaking process. Directed by Lee Unkrich and co-starring the voices of Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Jodi Benson, Blake Clark, Estelle Harris and Ned Beatty, Toy Story 3 is definitely not a cheap re-hash of the others, but a serious contender for this year's Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, an award that would sit well alongside those for Wall-E and last year's Up.