Toy Story 3 - 2010

In 1995 Pixar launched the successful Toy Story franchise by unveiling the secret life of toys and their honorable duty to be there for the children they love.

For a toy there is nothing more important than being loved by a child, which was driven home in the 1999 sequel Toy Story 2, where a cowgirl toy named Jessie knew all too well the pain of being discarded by a child who had outgrown her need for toys.

With Toy Story 3, Andy and his toys are revisited and we see from the opening scenes how important the toys were to Andy during his childhood. They were, in fact, his best friends.

All too soon we realize how much time has passed from that first story that introduced us to Woody and Buzz. Andy's ready to go off to college; his need for toys has abated. Of the toys that remain, they sit in a Woody themed toy box alone and forgotten.

Andy's mother announces that since he's going to college (and thereby turn over his room to his little sister Molly), he has to decide what to do with his belongings. Do they go in the attic? Do they go with him to college? Or do they get thrown away?

Andy makes his choice, and the consequences of his actions land the toys on their way to be donated to daycare. At first the thought of being around children who would play with them thrills the group of neglected toys. But soon they learn that daycare isn't all it's cracked up to be, thanks to a new character named Lotso, a pink teddy bear who runs Sunnyside Daycare his way.

In true Toy Story style, our adventurous toys embark on rescue missions and daring escapes trying to get back to where they think they belong.

And, like the Toy Story movies that come before it, it does so with a powerfully emotional undertone that gets you *right there*.

I will shamelessly admit that I cried pretty much non-stop for the last 15-20 minutes of the movie. And the last five at least I was out-and-out sobbing. I sat next to my 18 year old son, my youngest, and understood all too well about time passing, children growing up and new phases of life that involve in many ways saying goodbye to your old ones.

That is the theme of this story, and screenwriter Michael Arndt, who earned his stripes winning an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, certainly brought it home. Not only did he stay true to the characters, but he wove a tale that in some spots were pretty suspenseful as well as emotionally gripping.

It answers what you're willing to do for friendship, the truest form of love.

Lee Unkrich co-directed such Pixar classics as Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc., and on his solo outing he managed to keep that quality about Pixar films that make them so special - their heart.

And sure I teared up with Jessie talked about how her owner abandoned in her in Toy Story 2, and yeah... I still fight tears when Sully opens that closet door to see his Boo in Monsters, Inc. And who can keep it together when Dory tells Marlin she doesn't want to forget what home feels like?

But all that pales in comparison to what these filmmakers do to you in Toy Story 3. It comes in second only to Up, and even then it only loses by a smidge.

Call me silly, but movies that can make me weep like a newborn baby win my respect and my adoration.

That is the magic of movies.

That is the magic of Pixar.

And that is the magic of Toy Story 3.

Acting: 5
Writing: 5
Directing: 5
Overall: 5