The greatest finale any trilogy could ask for

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2011)

Words can't describe my anticipation for Toy Story 3. I waited 10.5 years between the second and third films. I geeked out at the 3D re-release of the first two movies (giving me a chance to finally see every Pixar movie on the big screen). And the day finally came for the film to arrive. I wasn't too impressed by Day and Night; the short that precedes it. It just amused me at best, not among Pixar's best. That didn't bode well for the third Toy Story. Would it be great? Good? Average? Or even... terrible? Could it be Pixar's first complete stinker? Yet, all doubt of the film's quality slipped out of my mind after those first amazing seven-minutes, showing the joys and imagination of childhood at their best. The film really shows you how old we've gotten, through the technology, Molly, his mother, but mostly through Buster (he got a good laugh out of me).
The movie starts out melancholy, almost like it isn't a Pixar movie. The toys are sent to a daycare by mistake, and meet an eccentric teddy bear (Ned Beatty, playing one of the greatest Pixar antagonists, ranking up there with Hopper and Randall), as well as the film's funniest character Ken, Barbie's hunky boyfriend.
It switches to fun mode for a while when Woody escapes and goes to a little girl's house, where he befriends many toys, such as Mr. Pricklepants (very adorable and funny). But it all goes dark once someone goes bad. It becomes a G-rated, borderline PG heist/prison film. Woody heads back to save the day.
But after an 80 minute old-school Toy Story movie, it turns into dark modern Pixar for the last fifteen. It has some of the saddest things I have ever seen in animation, ranking up with the old-school Disney tearjerkers. But the last five minutes make even grown men cry. In the end, it's a great way to say goodbye to our childhood friends, as Toy Story has run its course. It sums up the themes better than any other last installment ever has, showing that growing up doesn't mean the end of friendship and that you will always have the memories.
Overall, I recommend buying the DVD/Blu-Ray, and showing it to everyone you know, so that they too can love Toy Story 3, a film for the generations despite not winning Best Picture.