Iconic Disney Toys Finally Confronted to the "Circle of Life"...

Rating: 8/10 (25 September 2016)

As the most anticipated animated film of 2010, "Toy Story 3" fulfilled everyone's expectations, crossing the billion mark, topping the box-office above notable champions like "Alice in Wonderland", "Harry Potter" and "Inception", while the rest of the Top 10 was crowded with the other animated contenders as "Shrek IV", "How to Train Your Dragon", "Despicable Me" and "Tangled". "Toy Story 3" became the all-time most successful animated film before being dethroned by a freezing princess in 2013 and one of the few sequels and animated movies nominated for Best Picture.
But it doesn't take the highest IQ to figure out that the third opus of the 3D saga couldn't possibly fail. The "Shrek" franchise was getting out of breath, "Tangled" had a better story than marketing management but "Toy Story 3" had everything, the title, the characters and the sentimental value. After one decade, kids who've watched the first in the theaters were ready to be taken back to their childhood memories, and those who weren't even born in the 90's knew the movies from the DVD and merchandising so the film could count on a wide audience. That is to say, if I was the CEO of Pixar, I'm not sure I would have given a raise to the marketing manager for all that.
Now, to the story: in the first, we were discovering toys through their sacred relationship with their owners; the sequel carried more existential undertones: Woody took pride in being a valuable item because of his rarity, while Buzz realized he was only one article among thousands of others. But in the end, it came down to their value as Andy's toys. Still, the introduction of Jessie left one important point suspended, Jessie belonged to a girl who ignored then abandoned her when she grew up, and in a way, by ending up in Andy's room, they were only getting a suspended sentence. When "Toy Story 3" opens, Andy is a young man preparing to go to college and assigned the difficult task to get rid of his toys.
We saw that coming and the scenario is quite simple: donation, attic or trash? Only Woody is privileged enough to be packed with the college stuff, as Randy Newman would say "he's got a friend in him", but all the others (including Buzz Lightyear) are put in a garbage bag although Andy meant to take them to the attic. Unfortunately, the mother bumps into the bag before Andy comes back and she puts it near the trashcans. Woody manages to slip from the box and save his friends who are then taken to Sunnsyide, the daycare center. The toys are convinced that it was the right choice although Woody tries to convince them that Andy didn't want to abandon them. Anyway, the reception they receive in Sunnyside announces the sunniest future indeed.
Lotso, the Teddy-Bear chief Toy welcomes the newbies, with the demeanor and reassuring voice of an old patriarch, his crew includes a creepy baby doll walking like the Frankenstein Monster and Ken. Ken who? Well, Ken the Barbie-gay, I mean guy. I wish it didn't take me six years to finally see "Toy Story 3" because I knew already about Lotso being the villain, so I knew there was a catch behind his friendly tone and Vito Corleone father-like personality. I'm not sure I would have seen it coming in the theater, not even expected that Lotso would be the worst antagonist of the entire trilogy.
So, I kept waiting for the catch and it didn't take long to show, these plastic bastards put them right in the younger children section, and being the father of a three-year old girl, I know the evolution of behavior that goes from the age of two to three and seeing our beloved toys, being licked, hit, thrown on the wall by children was the closest thing to a torture a Disney film could get. It was sad enough to see them put in a garbage bag, but they had to go through this, and this wasn't over yet. Buzz is put in demo mode and recruited as a guard while they are imprisoned in the room and the whole center is managed like a concentration camp. The only way out is the dumpster.
"Toy Story" was about friendship, the second, existence and the third, martyrdom. Even the antagonist had reasons to be angry and cynical, accidentally left by his owner's parents, he was shocked to see that she immediately replaced her. Something snapped. Of course, this issue was already tackled in the second film, and the likeliness of being thrown somewhere is supposed to upset us. But "Toy Story 3" goes as far as possible and I seriously don't use the word 'concentration camp' lightly, because the moment where all the beloved toys are about to be thrown in the fire, and for the first time, they were powerless, and all they did was to hold their hands and waiting for death to come, was like watching the Holocaust of Toys.
I must say that was perhaps the most intense climax I've ever seen in a Disney film, and I heard so many things about it being an upsetting tearjerker that I thought that would be the end, no kidding. Well, I'm glad they kept that ending but God. Andy realizes that the sentimental value of his toys depend on their current utilization as much as their past, kids in school can play with them, but there's "playing " and "playing". We get the nuance when Andy gives all the toys to the little girl who loves toys and perhaps that emotional hesitation before he finally gives Woody is the film's emotional highlight.
For the first time, there's a voluntary separation between the two partners, it's an end of era but also a new starÂ… indeed, the good old circle of life, also affects toys.