Toy Story - 9 out of 10 (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Toy Story - 9 out of 10

10:25am Wednesday 14th July 2010

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It’s hard to believe it has been 15 years since Toy Story (1995) first graced our scenes. It was one of the first mainstream animation films, to be rendered entirely by computer graphics. There was a lot riding on the success of the movie, a little like Avatar (2009) before its release – there was much scepticism as to the ability of the computer-generated graphics to match the old school animation quite so memorably. How wrong they all were. The resulting film catapulted Pixar/Disney as the leaders of groundbreaking animation and they continue to repeat it to this day. However the absolute genius of Toy Story and the Pixar ethos was that no matter how good a film looks, the key to its success was always the story and characters. It may be animation, but it doesn’t mean the script can’t be up to scratch.

The toys’ owner Andy (voiced by John Morris) is about to head off to college. He is packing up his room, his mother (voiced by Laurie Metcalf) insisting on throwing out things he doesn’t need and storing things he wants to keep in the attic or donating them to Sunnyside day centre for children. Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Buzz (voiced by Tim Allen), Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) and a select few toys are all that remain of the original collection we saw in the first 2 films. They have been ready for this day and are looking forward to a quiet life in the attic, so they can be ready for when Andy has children of his own. However Woody, who has always been Andy’s favourite, is picked to go to college with him, while the rest of the toys are put in a plastic bag meant for the attic, but Andy’s mother mistakes them for garbage and goes to throw them out. While they escape that fate, the rest of the toys decide to stowaway to Sunnyside, where children who actually want them will play with them all day. Woody meanwhile follows them and tries to persuade them to return, but they aren’t keen. However Sunnyside and the lovable strawberry smelling bear leader Lotzo (voiced by Ned Beatty) are not what they seem.

The final Toy Story film is a triumph from beginning to end. The opening sequence is a wonderful insight into the imagination of a child, to the emotional realities of growing older and leaving that childhood behind. The toys are as funny and brilliant as ever and as is fitting for the third instalment, the action and stories are bigger and bolder. The animation is better than before and the 3D is effective without being intrusive - but not entirely necessary if one is to be over critical. This film will delight people of all ages and I defy anyone not to be moved by the final scenes.

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