The first Toy Story was more notable for the ways it changed animation than in the way the story or characters stuck with you, which made the emotional content of Toy Story 2 so surprising. In the decade since the sequel, Pixar has established that earned emotion as its house style, and built a commitment to story and character unparalleled not only in animation but in any area of pop culture. Their last two films especially, Wall-E and Up, have appealed more to adults than children. It would be hard (but not impossible) for a child to understand to solitary longing of Wall-E, or to emotionally connect to the devastating montage of Carl and Ellie's life together in Up. The Pixar that brings us Toy Story 3 is, then, not the same Pixar that brought us the first sequel, and the film is all the better, wiser, and more resonant for it. Without the success, financial and critical, of the films that preceded this one, Pixar might not have dared to take the story in the sometimes very dark directions that it must to pack an emotional wallop at the end. But the film does get dark-even taking these adorable little characters into the depths of a literal hell. The climactic moment of that sequence is a breathtaking piece of animation, subtle and simple and pure (I won't go into great detail, not only for fear of spoiling, but because I'd like to get through writing this without tearing up). The “performance” on the face of Buzz Lightyear in that scene is the rival of any flesh and blood actor's performance in recent years. But one of the primary reasons that moments like this succeed is how fun the rest of the film is (a sequence in which Mr. Potato-Head finds his body replaced with a tortilla is a comic set piece that recalls Buster Keaton in its fluid brilliance). Toy Story 3 is so deftly plotted and kinetic in its direction that the emotion simply creeps up on you. The film is infused with wit and sadness, and the bittersweet accomplishment of growing up.
Toy Story 3 caps what is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the greatest of all film trilogies. Every other attempt before it has hit a weak patch: for Star Wars it was the Ewoks, for Lord of the Rings it was the dreadfully boring Aragorn/Arwen segments that weighed down The Two Towers, for the Godfather films it was Sofia Coppola, and for the Matrix movies it was...well, pretty much everything past the first one. But with Toy Story we finally have a trilogy that builds on the strength of each installment to a logical, emotionally satisfying conclusion. It is the greatest film yet from a studio whose artistic achievements dwarf all others.
Toy Story 3: A+
