Every toy has a story to tell. After three movies, that’s the poignant notion the Toy Story series finally leaves us with. The play things in question are once again Woody the cowboy (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and most of the rest of the gang in Andy’s bedroom. As Toy Story 3 opens, Andy is packing up for college, leaving the fate of his childhood possessions in question. Are they destined for the attic? Donation to a day care center? The trash can? Among the new toys this time around are some ingenious characters, each of which has a sinister edge. Among these is Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear, a seemingly beneficent stuffed animal given a suspicious drawl by Ned Beatty. The bear’s henchman, if you will, is Big Baby, a beaten-up baby doll with a droopy eye. The back story these two share – told in an eerie flashback – has the unnerving sadness of a tragic fairy tale. Throughout, the team at Pixar Animation Studios, including director Lee Unkrich, has maintained the series’ precious combination of wit, animated action and nostalgia – especially for that time in your life when anything was possible if you had a toy or two and an hour or so on your own.
