A film for young kids that is unsuitable for young kids!

Rating: 2/10 (28 August 2010)

There are other reviews which cover specific issues around scary characters etc, so I will not repeat. What I wanted to add was that from the outset the film has an uncomfortable feeling which soon turns to being actually sinister, with adult themes played out by kids characters.
The short animation before the film began had my nearly-5-year-old son giggling loudly - but once the actual movie began, it wasn't long before he crawled onto my lap for comfort and after around an hour he actually asked to go home, around the time the scary monkey appeared. I understand that older kids may be able to handle more adult themes, but am at a loss to understand why we would want to subject kids to these themes, as if it was not possible to make a good movie without them.
The toys go through threat of being crushed and incinerated, the Sunnyside toys are run by a cartel who oppress, bully and imprison the other toys, Lotso is finally more or less depicted as being consigned to hell and in the end of it all kids are essentially left with a feeling that it would be better to give their old toys to some other kid who has plenty already rather than pass them on to a daycare centre or somewhere where underprivileged kids might benefit from them instead. Just bizarre that we would consider this good entertainment for children!