I'm going to go ahead and assume everyone has seen all the Toy Story movies as I talk about this one. Just a heads up.
So I've seen this movie 4-5 times now, and I've even intended to write about it before now. But I kept putting it off because it was a daunting task. This movie is packed with so many different themes that you could write several books about it, which is a lot to say about an animated movie about anthropomorphic toys. Seeing as I just reported on Toy Story 2, I'm gonna start with the continued existential crisis of toys. The movie opens with a brilliant view of playtime as it is experienced by Andy and the toys, filled with action, adventure, and lots of explosions. It is breathtaking. We then get to see another montage of our heroes in their heyday, having countless adventures with Andy. It sets up the stark contrast when we cut to the present, and the few surviving toys are making one last ditch attempt at being played with. You see the desperate loneliness as Woody and his friends realize that Andy and, by extension, the world as moved on and forgotten them. We have a group of characters facing the stark reality of retirement, of being told that they have no use anymore and must adjourn to the nursing home-I mean- attic. The fears Woody struggled with in the second movie have come to pass and he is trying to rally the troops that it won't be so bad, with little success.
All of the Toy Story movies use the fleeting nature of a toys existence as a meditation on our own morality, but the theme of impending death is almost oppressive in this one. The toys are forgotten, almost thrown away, tortured and imprisoned by a sadistic bear, and nearly incinerated. I think what makes this movie so special though is that none of this is needless. The ultimate message of the movie, I believe, is one of learning to let go and move on. The toys have reached the end of their relationship with Andy, but they can see no future without him. When they decide to go to the daycare center, they are making the choice almost out of spite. They just want someone, anyone to play with them. They want to move on, but they aren't really ready yet, and Woody never will be. Some people questioned how dark the movie gets during the landfill sequence, thinking it was unnecessarily bleak. I think it was as dark as it needed to be. Woody and the toys needed to come to an acceptance over their own mortality before they could move on to a new life. It important to note that Woody chooses to get into the box to live with Bonny at the end of the movie. Woody, who spent the whole movie fighting and struggling to bring everyone back to Andy, ultimately decides to leave Andy for a better life. After facing death with his friends, he is finally able to recognize that they deserve better than a life in the attic. He sees that they have value without Andy, and makes the choice to find them a new home where they will be happy and loved again. Because Woody's devotion is so strong, it takes a life changing act for him to change his ways. The movie has to get that dark in order to earn the ending that brought so many people to tears. The toys have a wonderful new home and a new lease on life, and Andy goes to college without fear of being picked on for bringing a stuffed cowboy with him. As someone who lived in a college dorm, I can tell you, the right choice was made.
You cannot complete any discussion of Toy Story 3 without at least mentioning Lotso. This sadistic, strawberry-scented, sociopath is one of Disney's greatest villains. He's a vision of where Woody was headed during the first movie. Although they eventually dealt with it in different ways, both Woody and Lotso were faced with the reality of being replaced, and neither of them took it well. If Woody had succeeded in knocking Buzz behind the desk in the first movie instead of out the window, we might see a world where Woody's increasing jealousy consumed him the way it does Lotso. Fortunately, Woody was given a chance to see the error of his ways and learn that he was loved all along. Lotso never had that chance. He truly loved Daisy, and, as far as he's concerned, she betrayed him and threw him to the curb. His pain went so deep that it broke him. The rest of his actions from that moment stem from his pain and fear of being alone. His fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Sunnyside daycare center where Lotso uses his twisted beliefs to enslave the entire facility. His evil has become so corrupted that even the idea of goodness causes him pain. This is why, even after Woody saves him, he still tries to have them killed. Woody's faith in Andy only further reminds Lotso of what he doesn't have and it makes him furious. Woody isn't consistent with the dark, cold world Lotso believes in, and if Woody is right, that means Lotso has been living a lie, and this is not acceptable. Therefore, Woody must die. It's the kind of twisted thinking you see in extremists of any kind. People who have developed a world view so strict and so narrow that any contradictions must be destroyed and descension crushed. What is so brilliant about Lotso's portrayal in the movie, is that we can still relate to him. We can identify with his pain, and his story becomes a cautionary tale more than just another story of a mad tyrant.
All of this happens and I haven't even mentioned that the movie is a take on a classic prison movie, complete with double crosses, an elaborate breakout plan, and the lifer who finally breaks, in this instance, he's an old fisher price play phone. It's a complete masterpiece, and Mr. Potato head gives us one of the greatest bits of physical comedy I have ever seen. The movie is equal parts touching, funny, and thrilling and it stands as one of the very best in the Pixar/Disney cannon.
10/10
On a side note. I wanted to recommend another take on this movie for anyone interested. Critic Tyler Smith of http://battleshippretension.com/ has is own podcast, "More Than One Lesson" which is an amazing podcast that discusses movies from a Christian perspective. I highly recommend checking out his episode about Toy Story 3, it's truly brilliant, no matter what your beliefs might be. So go to iTunes and check that out too.
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