Technically brilliant and enjoyable but it still left me a bit flat.

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2010)

You should by all means see this film--it is quite enjoyable and Pixar should be proud. And, a week after its debut, the film has earned $2138123413713471035 dollars (more or less)--so it's obviously a huge hit. And, I did enjoy the film....BUT. There's that nagging 'but'...a certain odd something that I felt was lacking in the film. Personally, I STILL prefer "Toy Story 2" and "Up". I also am a bit concerned whether this is the best film for the youngest members of the audience.
Technically speaking, this is probably the best looking CG movie made to this point--though I am sure in the next few years they'll manage to exceed this one--that's the nature of things. There are so many scenes where you just marvel at all the elements--there is just so much to see and your eyes just delight in this. One of the examples are the amazing daycare scenes--with so many toys, kids and knick-knacks about the rooms, you can't believe the Pixar folks could do it! The other is is the scene at Bonnie's yard at the end of the film--the colors, textures and depth were just mind-blowing. It was first-rate in just about every way technically, though the 3-D aspects were very good but not great. Yes, they looked nice but they weren't 100% necessary to the film and didn't seem to use e 3-D to its fullest (like they did in "How To Train Your Dragon"--a film that did manage to use the 3-D as more than just a nice novelty).
As for the plot, I really don't want to recapitulate what's in the film. There have already been a ton of IMDb reviews that have done a very good job of detailing the plot. Instead, let's talk about I think this was actually a bit weak. Sure, the old characters were mostly back and I loved a few of the new ones (Ken was great), but the film had a dark and slightly unsavory element to it that bothered me. A lot of families would naturally bring kids to see it--kids too young not to be terrified. While another recent CG movie was terrifying ("Coraline"), as least it was not rated G and did not have the family-friendly aura about it. In this films, the problems were not like they were in "Toy Story 2"--whether or not the toys could make it home. Here in "3", they not only struggled with this but also were often in jeopardy of being completely destroyed--either shredded or incinerated!! Also, while they didn't bother me at all, a couple of the new characters were downright creepy--such as the baby and the crazed monkey! Yikes--imagining a 3 or 4 year-old seeing this makes my skin crawl! Aside from these concerns, I have to hand it to the film. It was highly manipulative and will make you shed a tear--even if they are only toys! And, it certainly was lovely--real eye-candy!
UPDATE: This film just won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. In addition, it's now #31 on IMDb's Top 250. Considering it's a sequel, I just don't get this....