Not really for young children

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2010)

I note that most of these reviews (so far) have been from people who enjoyed the original Toy Story movies when kids, and who are now adults. For that group I completely agree that this is a great movie. It has grown along with them, and offers a deeper, darker and more emotional story. As an adult, I loved it.
For exactly the same reasons though, as a father of young children I was a bit disappointed. My 5 year old son has watched the first two Toy Story movies countless times, and adores the characters. They are as relevant to him now as they were to others when they first came out. That being said, it's clear that Toy Story 3 was not made for him.
First of all, it's scary. Not haw haw scary, but really scary. Be prepared to comfort a young child often. Secondly, a lot of the humour will go over a kid's head. It still has some great moments, but fewer than the first two films. There's a fairly long scene that involves subtitles, so kids who can't read yet are out of luck. Thirdly, it's long. At almost two hours there will likely be at least one bathroom break required.
I would say the overriding emotion is pathos. It's basically a farewell to much loved characters, but young kids who have just discovered them recently may not be ready to say farewell.
So it's a great movie, but possibly a misleading one for parents with young children. It's not as innocent as the first two, and may leave your kids more sad than happy. It's still worth taking your kids to, but maybe budget some ice cream for afterwards.