Toy Story 3

Editorial

Think about it. How many movie threesomes have been so consistently entertaining, groundbreaking and beloved? Bittersweet joy stems from opening up Toy Story 3 (in delightful, eye-gripping 3-D), which has rag-doll cowboy Woody, space ranger Buzz and their adorable amigos facing the scrapheap and — worse still — little kids. While Shrek Forever After is also a 3-D closing chapter to a popular fairytale franchise, its attempt at darkness, exuberance and goodbye is fairly anaemic and unmemorable beside its energetic, passionate Pixar peer.

Following a pre-college clean up, Woody is the only toy not donated to a childcare centre. Issues of abandonment and belonging bubble away tellingly as Buzz and the rest of Andy's favourite toys lock horns with Machiavellian boss Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (Beatty).

Having Woody bust his pals out of a holding pen for discarded toys opens the merry floodgates for extra characters, an amusing swarm crowned by poncy pretty boy Ken (Michael Keaton). One-liners, visual jokes and bumper action maintain momentum throughout, although your grin will stumble at an unexpected challenge which threatens to be the first time Pixar has bitten off more than it can chew.

Placing the toys in the fiery path of destruction seems too much, and a recipe for children's nightmares. But, apart from starkly depicting how audiences, as well as director Lee Unkrich and his team, are reluctant to let the sun set on the Toy Story posse, this tense cliffhanger gives way to an in-joke, comeuppance and one of the loveliest farewell sequences you've seen.

Ben McEachen