A wonderful movie in every single way, especially in the most important way.

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2010)

I am 52 years old and have seen an embarrassingly huge amount of movies over the past 45+ years. Toy Story 3 is one of the best movies I have ever seen.
It took me a few days to figure out why I was so affected by the movie. Toy Story 3 is really funny and imaginative, but so are a lot of other movies. I could see that the audience, including my own two children (16 and 11), were deeply engrossed in the film, laughing and crying, and bursting into applause together after the final scene. It is very rare today to see a theater audience having such a deep and common understanding of something as a group. I had seen this occur more frequently in the past, however, so the shared experience (while very nice) isn't really what makes the movie so great for me.
I think that the movie is great because Woody has to struggle with his age and purpose in way that seems so shockingly real. In the first part of my life, I only wanted to find a role that was worthy of me, an education or a job or a spouse that would let me....well...what I did wasn't really important, only that I be the greatest at whatever unique thing I was supposed to do. In the second part of my life, I found myself doing something that wasn't unique - it was pretty much what others did; Nor was I the greatest - I was only average. But I did it anyway, because the things I was to trying create and help, both in job and family, those things were important, even if they were ordinary. In the third part of my life....I sense there will come a time when I will still be loved but not needed. And it has to be that way, because otherwise death would be too hard to bear, for me and for those I leave behind.
I can accept all of this....but still be really happy when Andy plays with his toys one last time.