The story continues

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2010)

I watched "Toy Story 3" not long after the very disappointing, played out "Shrek 4" (sound like a football score) so my hopes weren't high and indeed, half an hour in thought that I was in for a marshmallowy cloying tale with no thrills drama or edge to it. I should have known better of course and even if said thrills drama and edge not unnaturally lacked something in terms of originality, still a satisfying conclusion was delivered with plenty of fun along the way.
Pixar has totally taken ownership of the Disney mantle of purveying animated features that appeal on a basic level to children and the child in adults, intuitively tapping into the latter's fading memories of our own childhoods, never more so in the opening scenes where the toys play out a fully-realised fantasy adventure in the mind of the child in the movie and by extension, the child in us before reality intrudes.
The rest is pretty formulaic with the customary themes of nostalgia, family ties and loyalty reworked, taking in neat comic vignettes on the whole Ken and Barbie relationship, just how destructive and anarchic a children's play-group can actually be and a homage to Latin lovers everywhere when Buzz's controls are reset to (Spanish) factory settings. As ever there are more than enough knowing lines inserted for grown-up consumption, my favourite hidden-away gem being John Ratzenberger's Cliff from "Cheers" retort of "negatory", but there are a fair sprinkling of other comedic nuggets, while the sequence of Ken modelling his entire wardrobe is surely destined for classic status.
Of course, the movie assumes a universality of remembrance for an American child's infant years which can never resonate wholly with everyone, but nevertheless "Toy Story 3" maintains the high standard of its predecessors with its winning combination of great animation, subtle characterisation, action adventure and that magic ingredient of childhood evocation to which we can surely all relate.
Can't see where a further sequel can arise however from the dead-end into which the writers have painted themselves, but I guess I thought that about James bond and Star. Trek too...