With Jim Sabatini

Toy Story 3

Rated: PG
Reviewed by: Frank
Release date: June 18, 2010	Released by: Walt Disney Pictures

This time the toys are playing in 3D as Andy who owns them begins to pack for college. The emotion of separation creates tension, sadness and concern for the play things which Andy collected over his first seventeen years.

The animated toys play on emotion a little more than occurred in the first two adventures. This time their future is in doubt. Will Andy and his mom save, dispose of or give away the toys of a life time? For anyone who passes through the attic as an adult finding little toys of childhood there will be an emotional charge in reminiscing about the past years. For Andy hard decisions face him.

The toys also find confusion in the coming days when Andy is no longer in their lives. Overhearing part of conversations and extrapolating from that point the group assumes they are headed for destruction. The path which flows from the plot brings them close to destruction as we learn that metal is extracted from trash through the use of large magnetic plates.

The script moves the toys from Andy's room to the attic, then a trash bag to a waste treatment truck, later to a child care school, and last to the recycling center for the county. The journey is filled with danger for the toys and comedy for those of us watching.

Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear steals the show when his Spanish language button is pressed and he becomes a Latin lover perusing Jessie. Mr. Potato Head gets pressed flat, falls apart and becomes a tall slender potato. Ken and Barbie challenge each other and begin on opposite sides in the battle for control of toys in the day care center. Wallace Shawn's Rex constantly worries but uses his tail to help after he puts it back on.

Let's call this an enjoyable film for everyone. In this strange film year, to date, How To Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 are probably the two best films of the year. That excludes Ghost Writer which quickly disappeared from art houses.