Friends to the end

A darker ‘Toy Story’ takes a while to lift off, then soars into the realm of Pixar’s best

June 18, 2010|Ty Burr, Globe Staff

When it comes to movie sequels, the third time is rarely the charm. Threequels are usually a desperate attempt to squeeze life out of a fading brand, and there’s not much in the first half of “Toy Story 3’’ to make you think any differently. How can this be? We’re talking about Pixar, the gold standard not just for family films and computer animation but pop culture as a whole. How can John Lasseter’s gang of super-geniuses fall asleep at the switch?

Turns out they’re only playing possum. After an hour or so of going through the motions — albeit entertainingly — “Toy Story 3’’ rouses itself, rung by rung of visual and conceptual invention, until it can stand close to the level of Pixar’s best. More than that: The heart still beats in this franchise’s digital chest.

Not to scare you off, but “Toy Story 3’’ is also about death, and life after death. It’s certainly about endings. What happens to toys when the child grows up — when the beloved Andy (now voiced by John Morris) heads off to college? Most of his playthings are headed for the limbo of the attic: spaceboy Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack), timid Rex (Wallace Shawn), doughty Hamm (John Ratzenberger), the Potato Heads (Don Rickles and Estelle Harris).

Only Woody (Tom Hanks) is granted entrance to Paradise: Andy wants to take him along as a dorm-room mascot. Before that can happen, though, mistakes and misadventures result in all the toys being rerouted to a place that only looks like heaven: a local day-care center run by an after-hours cabal of toys with an ax to grind. Chief among them is Lotso (Ned Beatty), a plush, strawberry-scented huggie-bear who’s a little too reminiscent of Andy Griffith in “A Face in the Crowd.’’ In other words, don’t turn your back on this guy.

Up to now, the movie has been engaging but not close to Pixar’s usual game, especially since the company upped the stakes with “WALL-E’’ and “Up.’’ (By contrast, the short that plays before “Toy Story 3’’ is a breathtakingly ingenious comic collision called “Day and Night’’ — so inherently visual I can’t describe it in words — that announces a new Pixar talent in writer-director Teddy Newton.)

Despite Lasseter gaining control in 2006 of Disney animation in general and this sequel in particular, there’s an ordinariness to the dialogue and too many contortions to get the characters where they need to be. The jokes seem old. The toys do, too. That’s the point, but it’s also beside the point.