I almost want to say Toy Story 3 is even better than the first film. It was that good. I don't care too much for Toy Story 2, but damn. TS3 is just excellent.
What makes TS3 so great (for me anyways) is the themes it deals with. The prevailing conflict in the story is the toys' fear of being discarded by Andy as he begins to move on with his life and their struggle to find a place where they can continue being happy. Of course this theme also pops up in the previous two films as well: Woody is jealous and afraid of being replaced by Buzz in the first film, and again in the second film where Woody deals with a decision to leave Andy knowing he'll grow older and tired of his toy. The second film also introduces Jessie and her lurking fear of being forgotten and discarded as she experienced it from her previous owner. So the third film does a great job of realizing all the toys' fears of being forgotten, stored away in the attic, or worse: trashed.
And so through a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, the gang winds up in Sunnyside Daycare where they believe they'll be happy as a constant stream of children will always be passing through, guaranteeing the toys will always be played with. However, not all is at it seems to be as Lotso, the chief of the toys in this place, has possesses a twisted sense of how a toy should fulfill its duties to its owner, and strives to press his ideals onto all the toys in Sunnyside. The rest of the film is spent as Andy's toys strive to escape the prison-formerly-known-as-Sunnyside and Lotso's tyrannical rule, and make their way back to Andy before he leaves.
For me, I'd describe TS3 in one word: nostalgia. The entire time I'm sitting and watching this movie, I kept thinking subconsciously about which toys I used to play with, which were my favorites, and which I still have. It's almost heartbreaking to see the change in character of all the, well, characters. Andy is a grown, young man, Molly is a perky preteen also outgrowing her toys, and even the family dog has grown old and rather fat. The opening scenes immediately establish a sense of the toys' despair of being forgotten and/or discarded. Like I said: heartbreaking. The ending is also nearly tear-inducing, but ends on a hopeful note. I'm trying not to spoil too much but I'll just say "rite of passage" is what I think of at the end of the film.
I remember how great TS1 was, TS2 was meh, ok, and now TS3 has redeemed the TS line. Those geniuses at Pixar have done it again. I'll now be hard pressed to determine which Pixar film is my favorite.
--I apologize for sloppy writing and grammar. It's 4AM. But Toy Story 3 is seriously moving, hilarious, heart-wrenching, overall: amazing.
