TOY STORY 3 (Blu-ray)

Release date: November 11th 2010
Certificate (UK): U
Running time: 86 minutes

Director: Lee Unkrich

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack

Toy Story (1995) was not only the first Pixar/Disney film, but also the first film ever to be made entirely using CGI.

Featuring characters such as Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Rex and Ham who are toys but come alive in a world of their own whenever their owners are not around, Toy Story went on to become not only a huge hit for the studio, but also a part of many kids’ daily lives with the computer games, toys, books, theme parks and 2 highly successful sequels that followed.

Toy Story 3, released in cinemas in the summer of 2010 in 3D, once again follows the adventures of the little toys, but this time the inevitable has happened. Their owner Andy is now 17 years old and going off to college. As he’s clearing out his bedroom he puts his beloved toys in a box to be sent up to the attic, but they mistakenly end up outside the house to be collected by a recycling bin.

While Woody is the only one who sees this happen, he tries to explain to the other toys that they weren’t dumped but they refuse to listen to him. They decide they want to go somewhere else and Woody is forced to go along. Our 8-year old reviewer Squidget explains:

At Sunnyside, they toys find themselves at the mercy of a horde of wild, sticky-fingered toddlers. Pulled apart, messed up, scribbled all over and tied up, they try to stay together while coping with the chaos but their troubles have only just begun. When they meet the huggable pink teddy bear Lotso. They soon find out what kind of place he is running and its not long before Woody is plotting ways they can escape and return to Andy.

I sat and watched this with our little Squidget who was absolutely riveted from start to finish. The film is filled with so many moments he wanted to remember such as the Wild West game the toys were playing at the beginning and his favourite part; when Lotso gets tied to the front of the truck and told to keep his mouth closed.

There were some tense moments when the toys find themselves in an incinerator; I saw a look of genuine concern on Squidget’s face, and to be honest, I think we all felt this was it for the gang.

Well, we’re not sure about that as we still need to get him to clean up his room. Unlike Andy in the movie, Squidget hasn’t quite gotten the hang of packing up his toys!