A Film With A Big Heart and One Mistake That Makes It Imperfect

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2010)

I have been a fan of Toy Story ever since I watched the first one when I was 7 years old, so I have a long history with this franchise. Well, where do I start when discussing a movie with this much subtext and baggage attached to it? I'm hoping to go with an objective angle of analysis.
Plot: First of all, I would like to say that I loved the plot decided upon for this film--Andy leaving to college, thereby bringing about the day that was mentioned in Toy Story 2 where Woody would have to deal with Andy leaving for college. Also, the pure surprised involved in the plot and subplot was immensely satisfying and kept me wondering what would happen next.
Characters: The gang is back (minus Jim Varney, but he has a passable imitator) in addition to a bunch of new personalities who add new dimensions to the film. The character who steals the show has always been and will always be Woody, the cowboy character, Clint Eastwood, the man who always doubles back for a friend. Buzz Lightyear is again great, but the real vehicle for our perceptions is Woody, as we see him loyal to Andy to the end, but at the same time doubting his decision as he is played with for the first time in years. The amazing amount of perspectives cast in the characters of Woody, Buzz, Jesse, and Lotso are truly amazing. The villain (whom I wish would have been made into more of an antagonist) is Lotso, who ironically smells sweet like strawberries. Sadly, this is a character who has already been explored quite a bit in Toy Story 2 in the person of Stinky Pete, who was neglected and therefore finds it right to manipulate those around him. Also, for Miyuzaki lovers, there is a nice homage to "My Neighbor Totoro" in the film.
Theme: One reason I love the Toy Story films so much is because of the way that they address the theme of loyalty, abandonment, loss, and change without appearing one-sided or sentimental about it. The third film in the series is no different, where the meaning evoked by the film compels us to care about these people that we only know in real life as hunks of plastic (but also makes us feel horrible for anyone we ever abandoned or rejected).
The Mistake: I realize that in my title for this review, I named one mistake that was made in the film that kept it from being a 10-star movie for me. Though I'm pretty sure this movie is not going to be studied in film classes, I will now elaborate on that, because I believe it deserves some focus. **SPOILER** In the famous Incinerator Scene, Lotso is saved by the gang, and thus repays them by leaving them to their deaths. Then the toys all grasp hands, thus accepting their fate and are saved by "The Claw," controlled by the Little Green Men. This is known, as I'm sure most people know, as a deus ex machina. I found this to be a terribly atrocious way to resolve the absolute major climactic point in the film--truly, after this moment, everything is falling action or denouement. So many things are wrong--or maybe a better way to put it would be to call it "untrue"--in this scene, that it truly threw me out of the story for the first time in the whole movie. I will elaborate on why I found this so horrible because I believe this deserves an explanation. 1: The use of The Claw, while a familiar and maybe even laughter-inducing reference to the first movie, is such a manipulation of the internal logic of the plot that I felt cheated out of the profound moment afforded by both the saving and subsequent betrayal of Lotso and the toys' acceptance of their fates. 2: I felt very disappointed in the toys' "acceptance" of their fates, for some reason and my disappointment was confirmed and exacerbated by their reward of being saved from the incinerator because of their lack of struggle. Of course, their rescue was not predicated upon their placidity, but the way in which the chronology of the plot unfolds shows the toys being rewarded for their compliance and acceptance of their fate with being rescued by the "god from the machine". To me, this sends a very negative message to young people and old watching this film. Maybe it is just me, but I felt that a much better ending would have had to do with Lotso, which leads me to point 3. 3: I believe that the director missed a very great opportunity to do something with the character of Lotso that could have possibly moved Lotso from the black and white villain to the far more truthful grey of an antagonist. As opposed to the acceptance of fate/deus ex machina, I would have loved to have seen a conflict within Lotso once he reached the emergency stop, ending in his rescuing of the gang, because of a sense of duty to repay a kindness. Such a great moment for real character change and revelation was missed in favor of a more palatable ending. The most important thing to mention in this hypothetical scenario is that Lotso doesn't have to change into a nice toy suddenly--he could go on continuing his distrust of humans/chip on his shoulder and still have done at least one good thing. This one good thing would move our attitude toward him from one of being glad that he gets stuck to the front of the garbage truck to one of far more depth and complexity that is usually found in films like this.
Anyway, that is my review and hopefully someone found it helpful.