Toy Story 3

Rating: ****

The appeal of Toy Story lies in the chords it strikes in us — a reminder of the endless possibilities of childhood along with the realisation that growing up will follow. Woody (Hanks),the favourite cowboy toy of Andy (Morris),has seen it all: from being the centre of a boy’s life to the threat of a new toy,the prospect of being forgotten,the pain of separation and the inevitable change of circumstances.

Toy Story 3 follows beautifully and faithfully the graph of that story which began one day in the toy closet of a boy and completely changed the world of animation. Andy is all grown up now,and Woody,Buzz (Allen),Jessie (Cusack),Mr and Mrs Potato Head,the Slinky Dog,Rex and the others have spent years in wait to be handled by him. Will he give them away before he goes to college? Will he put them away in the attic? Will he trash them? Is being kept with him,anyhow,their best option?

Directed by Unkrich (the co-director of Toy Story 2),Woody and Co. find the answers to those questions over a ride that passes through everything from a day-care school where a dictator teddy,Lotso (Beatty),calls the shots to a caring home and from a garbage pile to an incinerator.

Pixar pulls off a winner again,infusing its toys with humour,warmth,honour,courage and real menace,the last in the case of Lotso,a monkey that monitors the CCTVs at the day-care and a toy baby with one closed eye. All the characteristics have percolated to them,one way or the other,from their owners.

You feel the desire of those toys to be loved and to please,their companionship (watch out for how they hold hands ahead of “death” in one scene) and their pain at the prospect of all of that ending. A new addition to the toy collection,Barbie-loving Ken (Keaton) is at pains to stress that his dress fetish and dream house apart,there is more to him than being a “girl’s toy”.

The 3-D does little for the film,however. The glasses dull both its lush colours and its finely crafted characters — the dimensions that actually make Toy Story 3 work.

But what makes the last part of this trilogy that began in 1995 really special is the ending. It’s as moving a passing-on as you will ever witness on screen. It’s also a coming-of-age true to the spirit and humanity of Toy Story,where endings often segue into new beginnings.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com