Toy Story 3
Rated (PG-13)
Is it worth $10? Yes
Is it worth $14 for 3-D? No
Hudak grades it a B

By Dan Hudak // hudakonhollywood.com

In a summer full of redundant and tired sequels, “Toy Story 3” is, in the very least, a redundant sequel. Andy’s devotion to the toys is questioned, and then the toys are separated and need to find/save one another before they’re taken away for good.

Been here, seen this with this franchise, but thankfully the film has enough of the charm and warmth of its earlier incarnations to make part three a success.

Eleven years have passed, and Andy (voice of John Morris) is ready for college. For his toys, this is traumatizing – will they suffer a lifetime of neglect in the attic? Be thrown away? Be given away? The answer is the latter, as Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and more find themselves in the Sunnyside Day Care Center, where they hope to be played with every day.
Woody, however, believes his rightful place is with Andy. But during his escape from Sunnyside he winds up in the backpack of Bonnie (Emily Hahn), a sweet little girl with an active imagination. Woody subsequently learns Sunnyside is like a prison, and that his friends are in great danger.

Director Lee Unkrich gets adequate mileage out of exploring the toys in new and amusing ways. Slinky Dog (Blake Clark) gets walked on, tangled and abused as never before, the Potato Heads (Don Rickles and Estelle Harris) use their removable parts to great effect, and Buzz gets switched into Spanish mode (Javier Fernandez Pena) after being reset to his factory settings.

The new characters are amusing and serviceable. They include: Lotso Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty), the warden of Sunnyside; Ken (Michael Keaton), who naturally falls in love with Barbie (Jodi Benson); Bonnie’s toys Buttercup (Jeff Garlin), Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton) and Dolly (Bonnie Hunt); and listen closely for Whoopi Goldberg as a purple goober named Stretch.

The script isn’t as laugh-out-loud funny as the previous films, but it does hit the right notes of sweetness to remind us why we love these characters in the first place. What’s startling are some of the perilous situations, particularly one in which our heroes accept inevitable death. In fact, there’s a good 30-45 minutes that’s relatively dark in tone, so be warned that children younger than seven may find themselves more disturbed than enchanted. It may be rated G, but PG couldn’t have been far away.

The film is being released in 3-D (in theaters that have paid roughly $20,000 to convert 2-D screens to be able to show 3-D), but the increased cost of the ticket isn’t worth it as visually there’s nothing here that surpasses what’s been done before. Besides, it’s always been the heart of these films that have made them so enjoyable, and there’s enough heart in “Toy Story 3” to make it a triumph – at regular ticket prices.

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