The Pixar films tend to follow a formula.  (Main character is ostracized from his peer group.  Main character learns a valuable lesson, thus reintegrating him with said group.  Big, splashy, crazy-over-the-top finale ensues.)  I don't begrudge them that.  If the formula works, milk it!

 

The Toy Story films have an even more strict formula.  Woody (Tom Hanks as a classic cowboy doll) gets dumped into a difficult situation where he has to wrestle with his existential angst as a loved plaything of a young boy.  Buzz (Tim Allen as a space ranger action figure) has some delusion he has to get snapped out of.  And all the other toys act selfishly until they realize that Woody was right all along.

 

This film follows that formula just as the others did.  But the difference now is that their owner (Andy), is grown and headed for college.  And the dilemma is less about how often and well they're played with, but their eventual fate.  Will they go with Andy to college and be beloved keepsakes that, nonetheless, are never again played with?  Will they be boxed and sent to the attic for a quieter, lonelier fate?  Or will they be sent to the dump, forever forgotten and likely destroyed?

 

What I always liked about these films is that they don't back away from the potentially tragic consequences of having sentient toys that actually love their owners.  The majority of the film deals with the toys' fate as donations to a local nursery school, and the evil teddy bear (Ned Beatty) who runs the place with a (fuzzy) iron fist.  And all that stuff is fun (especially Michael Keaton as Ken). 

 

But the actual point of the story is the toys' relationship with Andy.  The slam-bang action sequence at the end was engaging and truly heartstopping at points.  Still, it's the final scene with Andy that elicits a hitch in the throat and a tear or two, assuming you don't have a heart made of stone.

 

I hope the film is sucessful, but I also hope they end the series here.  The ending is a great capper for the entire series.