★ ★ ★ 1/2

Toy Story 3 picks up eleven years after the events of Toy Story 2. Andy has graduated high school and is getting ready to leave for college. His mom is still single (does she ever date?). The toys we have come to love over the years aren’t played with anymore, and Andy has to make a decision about whether to bring them along to college or throw them out. You’ve seen the trailer, and know that through a turn of events, they end up at Sunnyside Day Care, where we are introduced to a new group of toys. And that is all I will say about the story.

What occurred to me while I was watching the film was not only the longevity of these characters, but how the boys from Emeryville, CA have somehow made us care about them. About toys. And this is a quite an emotional film, it being the last of the Toy Story films (or so I assume). From the very beginning, there is something slightly depressing about Andy being grown up, but that is quickly eclipsed by the exciting sequences that follow. There is plenty of suspense, and some surprisingly dark moments as well. I was excited to take my three year old to see the movie, but now I’m having second thoughts. She might be genuinely frightened by a handful of scenes.

If I have any complaints at all, it is that some ideas seem to have been recycled from the past two films. But that is not necessary a problem, as they work for this story. To bring this to a close, there is only one thing to say: Pixar has done it again. But have they ever given us a reason to doubt them?