My top 30 films - No.3

3. Toy Story 3 (2010) - "No toy gets left behind."

The film that made grown men cry. This was the one film I was looking forward to so much in 2010. I, like millions of teenagers and people in their early 20s, had been waiting for this film for 11 years. We all had high hopes and expectations and it failed to disappoint. My sister did warn me in advance to take a packet of tissues with me, because when she saw it the whole cinema, even the ushers, were in tears. I must admit it; it was a little emotional when I first saw it and I did my best to hide it with my most manly of coughs. I am guessing that there was a lot of that. The second time, I was a blubbering wreck.

In this film (assuming that you know who the characters are from the previous two films), the toys haven't been played with for several years and Andy is leaving for college. He doesn't know what he wants to do with: put them in the trash, put them in the attic, give them away or take them with him? He decides that he wants to take Woody (Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan)) with him and to put the others in the attic. However, his mum mistakes the bin liner containing them for trash and leaves them for the oncoming bin lorry. However, they escape and decide they want to be donated to a day-care centre. They arrive there and meet Lotso (Ned Beatty), who guarantees that they'll be played with every day. Whilst all the others seem to like their new surroundings and look forward to a new life at the day-care centre, Woody gives up trying to convince them that they shouldn't be there and tries to go back to Andy on his own. The others soon get played with, or should I say mistreated, in much the same way we used to mistreat toys; such as getting them covered in paint/glue/etc. or eating them. To quote Buzz (Tim Allen), the children they have aren't "age-appropriate".

The main theme of Toy Story 3 is growing up and leaving your childhood behind; it happens to everybody. We have grown up listening to the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, John Ratzenberger and co. as those characters. I first watched Toy Story in 1997, when I was 5 years old and it has stuck out for me. Quite simply, this film will resonate with grown-ups as well as kids. Kids will be in awe of the visuals, whereas adults are more likely to be in floods of tears, because it will mean more to them, as they've shared the experiences that Andy has in the films. The majority of fans may even have been the same age as Andy was when Toy Story was originally released in 1995, or if they are older they may have kids of their own.

There was an article on the BBC website at the time it was released about movies that make grown men cry and had asked some for their opinions. One of the films included was Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; I agree with that, as expressed in a previous post. There was also The Shawshank Redemption, Up, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Babe and The Railway Children. The last two I can relate somewhat to and they were highlighted for their endings. However, one man did say Marley & Me. Why that person went to see that film I the first place I'll never know. Let's just hope he got roped into it by his girlfriend.

There are also a couple of scary moments in the film, as there have been throughout the trilogy, which has led to people questioning the certification. It is a U certificate and there are other Disney films with the same classification that are equally scary. It is more grown-up than most modern animation films, such as How To Train Your Dragon, mainly because of its theme and the main age of its audience. It doesn't do what a lot of animation films do, when they are intended for kids but want to attract adults, which is makes reference to adult films. For example, Shark Tale references The Godfather, Raging Bull, Scarface, Goodfellas, etc. It meant nothing to its main target audience.

One final point, from Mark Kermode. He thinks, and I agree with him, that the Toy Story trilogy is arguably the greatest movie trilogy ever. It's more consistent than The Godfather; it's even more consistent than The Lord Of The Rings (I hate to admit that). The Godfather: Part III was bad compared to the others (mainly because of Sofia Coppala's terrible acting) and The Two Towers did drag on for a bit too long. The Toy Story trilogy is absolutely faultless. There are rumours about a fourth film; to the studios I say "No, you've done all you need do. Toy Story 3 was the best way to finish the series and you could drag it down with a fourth film." If they do release a fourth film, I might just ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. Toy Story put Pixar Studios on the map and they built on its success to make other great films such as Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, WALL·E and Up. Disney films are not as good as they were once upon a time, as they have moved away from traditional hand-drawn animations, such as The Lion King and The Jungle Book, to CGI and live action films, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and John Carter (of MARS!!!)

When it came to choosing my favourite film of 2010, my head said Inception, but my heart said Toy Story 3...