Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated film, and the third and currently final installment in the Toy Story series. The film was produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Lee Unkrich, who edited the previous films, and co-directed the second, took over as director. In his place, Ken Schretzmann is the editor.

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Jeff Pidgeon, Jodi Benson, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, and Laurie Metcalf all reprised their voice-over roles from the previous films. Jim Varney, who played Slinky Dog in the first two movies, and Joe Ranft, who portrayed Wheezy and Lenny, died before production began on the third film. The role of Slinky was taken over by Blake Clark, while Ranft's characters and various others were written out of the story (Wheezy and Bo Peep, for example, are mentioned in the beginning as having been sold). New characters include voice-overs by Michael Keaton, Ned Beatty and Whoopi Goldberg.

Toy Story 3 was released in theaters on June 17, 2010 in Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore; June 18, 2010 in the United States and on June 24th in Australia. It will be released on July 19, 2010 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Originally the UK release was set as July 23 but has since been pushed forward due to its anticipated release in the country. Toy Story 3 broke the record of Shrek the Third as the biggest single day gross for an animated film, but it was unable to top Shrek the Third's opening weekend and, with a $110,307,189 gross, it received the second-highest opening weekend for an animated movie. It is also the highest grossing opening weekend for a Pixar film, as well as the highest grossing opening weekend for a film to have opened in the month of June. Within four weeks of release in the U.S., Toy Story 3 became the highest domestically grossing Pixar film to date, as well as the highest domestically grossing film of 2010.

Plot
The film opens with a train being driven and everything is calm until we see One-Eyed Bart (Don Rickles) exit a cart with bags of money when we hear a whip and we see Sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks) who gets ready to arrest One-Eyed Bart until he announces he is not alone, and then you see his wife, One-Eyed Betty (Estelle Harris), who tries to scare Woody off the train with her kung fu skills, and then whacks him with her purse, and Woody falls off, only to land on Bullseye, along with Jessie (Joan Cusack). Then, the Mr. and Mrs. set off the explosives and run off on a car driven by the Aliens (Jeff Pidgeon). Woody tries to save the orphans (troll dolls), but the train keeps going and falls off the bridge, and then we see Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) holding the whole train up and putting it down in a safe place and rescuing the orphans (trolls). We then see the Evil Dr. Porkchop (John Ratzenberger), who along with the one-eyed couple, tries to destroy Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bullseye. Rex (known as "The Dinosaur Who Eats Force Field Dogs") (Wallace Shawn) and Slinky (Blake Clark) run off scared. Then you see Andy (Charlie Bright) as a kid finishing the story. His mom (Laurie Metcalf) then comes in with a video camera, and the home video sequence begins.

Andy (John Morris), now nearly 17 years old, is just three days away from heading off to college, and his toys, including Woody and Buzz, are worried about their uncertain future as other toys (such as Wheezy, Etch, and Bo Peep) have been "yard saled" over the years. Andy plans to keep Woody and put the others in the attic, but after helping his sister Molly (Beatrice Miller) with a box of toys (which includes her Barbie doll), his mother accidentally throws them away.

Woody goes to save his friends (trying to have Buster help, but he is too old to help), but it turns out that the toys escaped and are hiding in the back of the Davis' car, thinking Andy has thrown them away. Jessie thinks that the toys should take charge of their own destiny, and convinces them to stow away in a box of other toys headed for donation to Sunnyside Daycare Center, while Woody attempts to explain to the toys that they were accidentally thrown away. Before they can leave, Andy's mom closes the back door and drives to Sunnyside to donate some old toys.

The gang arrives at Sunnyside just as the children leave for recess. The Sunnyside toys welcome Andy's toys with open arms, including the leader of the daycare, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear (Ned Beatty) (A.K.A. "Lotso"), and a smooth-talking Ken doll (Michael Keaton), who falls in love with Molly's Barbie doll (Jodi Benson). The toys are keen on starting a new life at the daycare, except for Woody, who has suspicions about the daycare because of the Chatter Telephone (Teddy Newton), and also thinks that the toys shouldn't turn their back on Andy so quickly.

The toys think Woody should stay with them at Sunnyside, but Woody reluctantly leaves to find Andy. Woody escapes from Sunnyside using a hang glider, but ends up losing his hat and getting stuck on the branch of a tree. Woody is soon taken home by a sweet little girl from Sunnyside named Bonnie (Emily Hahn), who takes him to meet her own toys, including Trixie the triceratops (Kristen Schaal), Mr. Pricklepants the hedgehog (Timothy Dalton), Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), Chuckles the Clown (Bud Luckey), Buttercup the unicorn (Jeff Garlin), and Totoro. As Woody tries to recuperate himself and continue his search for Andy, Chuckles explains to Woody the dangers of Sunnyside.

Chuckles tells Woody that himself, Lotso, and Big Baby, one of the toys at Sunnyside, were once owned by a loving girl named Daisy. However, one day, during a family trip, Daisy fell asleep and her parents took her home, accidentally leaving the toys in the countryside. They returned to Daisy's house to find that Daisy's parents bought a new Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear for her, leaving Lotso feeling betrayed and confused. The toys set out on their own (by riding the Pizza Planet truck), and were bumped off over at Sunnyside where Lotso and Big Baby quickly rose to power, transforming the daycare into a toy prison, along with Chuckles before he was injured and taken in by Bonnie. Woody quickly realizes that he must save his friends and get back to Andy before he leaves.

Meanwhile, the rest of the toys are tortured by abusive kids at the daycare. Mrs. Potato Head, through one of her eyes at Andy's house, discovers that Andy is actively searching for the toys and did not mean to throw them away. The toys form a plan to get out of the daycare room which proves unsuccessful. That night, Buzz follows some of the daycare toys into a snack machine where he discovers the evil intentions of the daycare. The Sunnyside toys capture Buzz, reset him into his original Space Ranger mode, and manipulate him to be a henchman for Lotso. When the other toys confront Lotso about this, they are imprisoned for the night by Buzz while they contemplate Woody's fate. All they have as a memory of him is his hat, which was found by Big Baby earlier in the Sunnyside playground.

The following morning, Woody returns to Sunnyside through Bonnie's backpack. He sneakily reaches his friends and tells them that he's sorry for leaving them. They quickly formulate an escape plan to find Andy with the help of the Chatter Telephone. That night, Woody and Slinky sneak through Sunnyside to the main office, where Chatter informed them that a cymbal-banging monkey known as "The Monkey" monitors the security system throughout the entire daycare to prevent toys from escaping. A brief fight ensues, ending with the Monkey locked in a filing cabinet by Slinky. Slinky signals to the other toys, still locked up by Lotso, and while Mr. Potato head provides a diversion, they make their escape. During the escape, the reset Buzz is captured and held down by the toys. They attempt to fix him, but accidentally reset him into Spanish mode, much to the toys' discomfort and Jessie's amazement (Hamm calls it "The Return of the Astro-Nut").

They make their way out onto the playground, and after several close-calls, manage to reach the garbage chute. Here, Chatter tells them, is where broken toys are sent, and is the only way out of Sunnyside. As the toys prepare to leap to freedom, however, they are confronted by Lotso, who had "broken" Chatter into informing him of the escape plan, along with several of his henchmen. Woody, having been informed of Lotso's past, brings up the subject of Daisy, causing Big Baby (and by extent the other Sunnyside toys) to turn against him. A brief scuffle follows, during which Lotso and Woody fall into the dumpster at the bottom of the cute just as the garbage truck arrives. Having been thrown into the rear of the truck, a small TV falls on Buzz, resetting him to his normal self.

The toys find themselves at the Tri-County Waste Plant, where the aliens notice a large crane in the distance, reciting one of their catchphrases, "the claw...," and proceed to venture off toward it. The rest of the toys, meanwhile, are dumped onto a long conveyor belt of garbage heading towards a set of shredders. They manage to avoid the shredders, including Lotso, who is helped to safety by Woody and Buzz. The conveyor belt then moves upwards, however, sending them toward the central incinerator. Lotso notices an emergency shutoff switch at the top of a ladder, and with Woody's and Buzz's help, manages to reach it. Rather than shutting off the belt, however, he betrays them and walks away. The remaining toys are dropped into a large chamber, where the shredded garbage is falling in an enormous bowl toward the central incinerator. The toys seem resigned to their fate, and join hands as they accept their inevitable death. Just then, however, the aliens use the crane's claw to pull them to safety, where they are able to hitch a ride back to Andy's house on a garbage truck.

Lotso, in the meantime, finds himself strapped to the front of another truck by a garbage man, who'd owned a Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear when he was a kid. The toys manage to return to Andy's room undetected (riding Sid (Erik von Detten)'s garbage truck), where they pack themselves into a box labeled "Attic." Woody, meanwhile, prepares to journey with Andy to college, when an idea strikes. Andy discovers the box, and finds a note Woody left on the top.

He drives the toys to Bonnie's house, where he pulls them from the box and passes them on to her one by one, explaining their names, personalities, and other traits. Finally, Bonnie looks into the bottom of the box and sees Woody, exclaiming, "my cowboy dolly!" Woody, who had jumped into the box before leaving the note, leaves Andy confused about how he'd gotten in there. Andy makes to pull Woody away from Bonnie and toward himself, but then sees the sad look on her face, as well as all of his other old toys lined up together with her. In one last symbolic gesture, he gives Woody to Bonnie, telling her that they've been through a lot together and he means a lot to him, so she's got to take good care of him. Bonnie gladly accepts, and Andy joins her in playing with what are now her toys one last time. Soon, it's time for Andy to leave, and as he sits in his car and prepares to pull away, he looks back to see Bonnie waving Woody's hand at him. He smiles, thanks his toys for a great life together and accelerates down the road.

The end credits show Andy's toys getting used to life at Bonnie's, while Sunnyside is now a happy place for new arrivals as well as old toys, co-managed by Barbie and Ken. Emperor Zurg is also donated to Sunnyside and the last scene is with Jessie and Buzz dancing to the Spanish version of You've Got a Friend in Me.

Voice cast

 * Tom Hanks : Woody
 * Tim Allen : Buzz Lightyear
 * Joan Cusack : Jessie
 * Ned Beatty : Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear
 * Don Rickles : Mr. Potato Head
 * Estelle Harris : Mrs. Potato Head
 * Wallace Shawn : Rex
 * John Ratzenberger : Hamm
 * Blake Clark : Slinky Dog
 * Jodi Benson : Barbie
 * Michael Keaton : Ken
 * John Morris : Andy
 * Emily Hahn : Bonnie
 * Laurie Metcalf : Andy's Mom
 * Teddy Newton : Chatter Telephone
 * Bud Luckey : Chuckles the Clown
 * Timothy Dalton : Mr. Pricklepants
 * Kristen Schaal : Trixie
 * Jeff Garlin : Buttercup
 * Bonnie Hunt : Dolly
 * Beatrice Miller : Molly
 * John Cygan : Twitch
 * Jeff Pidgeon : Squeeze Toy Aliens
 * Whoopi Goldberg : Stretch
 * Jack Angel : Chunk
 * R. Lee Ermey : Sarge
 * Lori Alan : Bonnie's Mom
 * Jan Rabson : Sparks
 * Richard Kind : Bookworm
 * Charlie Bright : Peaty/Young Andy
 * Amber Kroner : Peatrice
 * Brianna Maiwand : Peanelope
 * Erik von Detten : Sid (Garbageman)
 * Jack Willis : Frog
 * Lee Unkrich : Jack-in-the-Box (additional voices)

Non-speaking characters include Bullseye, Big Baby, Totoro, and the Monkey. Emperor Zurg, Buzz's arch-nemesis, makes an appearance in the credits with a non speaking role as well.

Several other characters were written out of the story by being either sold or thrown away after Toy Story 2 (they returned in this film only via archive footage).

The character of Slinky Dog appeared to be in limbo after the death of his voice actor Jim Varney in 2000, shortly after Toy Story 2 came out. Veteran actor Blake Clark was chosen for the part. After Clark was cast to play Slinky Dog, the producers later discovered that Clark and Varney had coincidentally been close friends, making the transition a lot easier.

Development
According to the terms of Pixar's revised deal with Disney, all characters created by Pixar for their films up to Cars were owned by Disney. Furthermore, Disney retained the rights to make sequels to any Pixar film, though Pixar retained the right of first refusal to work on these sequels. But in 2004, when the contentious negotiations between the two companies made a split appear likely, Disney Chairman at the time Michael Eisner put in motion plans to produce Toy Story 3 at a new Disney studio, Circle 7 Animation. Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, indicated a willingness to return even if Pixar was not on board.

Jim Herzfeld wrote a script for Circle 7's version of the film in which Buzz starts to malfunction, causing his speech to flare up and one of his hands to pop off which scratches Andy. The toys decide to ship him against his will to Taiwan (where he was built) believing that he will be fixed there so Andy will accept him again. While searching on the Internet, Hamm finds out that many more Buzz Lightyear toys are malfunctioning around the world and the company has issued a massive recall, meaning that Buzz won’t ever come back if he reaches the factory. Fearing Buzz's destruction, a group of Andy's toys (Woody, Rex, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Hamm, Jessie, and Bullseye) have themselves shipped via a faster service to rescue Buzz. At the same time Buzz meets other toys from around the world that were once loved but have now been recalled. Some of these characters were Cozy Rosey (a tuck-in rag doll/bedwarmer whose heating element catches fire), Cindy Scissors (who has scissors for legs), Don B.B. (a wind-up Mariachi themed robot toy) and his tin donkey Little D, and Apology Bear (a plush bear with a faulty voice box). One of Buzz's toy makers would have supposedly been an elderly Chinese man named Mr. Kagoy.

In January 2006, Disney bought Pixar in a deal that put Pixar chiefs Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter in charge of all Disney Animation. Shortly thereafter, Circle 7 Animation was shut down and its version of Toy Story 3 was shelved. The following month, Disney CEO Robert Iger confirmed that Disney was in the process of transferring the production to Pixar. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and Lee Unkrich visited the house where they first pitched Toy Story and came up with the story for the film over a weekend. Stanton then wrote a treatment. On February 8, 2007, Catmull announced Toy Story 2's co-director, Lee Unkrich, as the sole director of the film instead of John Lasseter, and Michael Arndt as Screenwriter. The release date was moved to 2010.

Instead of sending Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger scripts for their consideration in reprising their roles, a complete story reel of the film was shown to the actors in a theater. The reel was made up of moving storyboards with pre-recorded voices, sound effects, and music. At the conclusion of the preview, the actors signed on to the film.

Marketing
The film's first teaser trailer was released with the Disney Digital 3-D version of the film Up on May 29, 2009. On October 2, 2009 Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were re-released as a double feature in Disney Digital 3-D. The first full-length trailer was attached as an exclusive sneak peek and a first footage to the Toy Story double feature, on October 12, 2009. A second teaser was released on February 10, 2010, followed by a second full-length trailer on February 11 and appeared in 3D showings of Alice in Wonderland. On March 23, 2010, Toy Story was released on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack which included a small feature of "The Story of Toy Story 3". Also, Toy Story 2 was released on that day in the same format which had a small feature on the "Characters of Toy Story 3". On May 11, 2010, both films had a DVD-only re-release which contained the features.

Mattel Thinkway Toys and Lego are among those who will make toys to promote the film. Disney Interactive Studios has also produced a video game based on the film which was released on June 15, 2010.

Toy Story 3 was featured in Apple's iPhone OS 4 Event on April 8, 2010, with Steve Jobs demonstrating a Toy Story 3 themed iAd written in HTML5.

Pixar designed a commercial for a toy, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, and formatted it to look like it came from an old VCR recording. The recording was altered with distorted sound, noise along the bottom of the screen, and flickering video, all designed to make it look like a converted recording from around 1983. A Japanese version of the commercial was also released online.

On Dancing with the Stars' May 11, 2010 episode, the Gipsy Kings performed a Spanish-language version of the song "You've Got a Friend in Me". It also featured a paso doble dance which was choreographed by Cheryl Burke and Tony Dovolani. Both the song and dance are featured in the film.

Sneak peeks of the film are shown on Disney Channel. One sneak peek was shown on Cartoon Network in the United States on June 10, 2010.

Reception
The film has received universal acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 99% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 225 reviews, with an average score of 9.1/10. The critical consensus is: "Deftly blending comedy, adventure, and honest emotion, Toy Story 3 is a rare second sequel that really works." Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 100% based on 33 reviews. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 91 based on 38 reviews.

A. O. Scott from The New York Times states: "This film -- this whole three-part, 15-year epic -- about the adventures of a bunch of silly plastic junk turns out also to be a long, melancholy meditation on loss, impermanence and that noble, stubborn, foolish thing called love." Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A, saying: "Even with the bar raised high, Toy Story 3 enchanted and moved me so deeply I was flabbergasted that a digitally animated comedy about plastic playthings could have this effect." Gleiberman also wrote in the next issue that he, along with many other grown men, cried at the end of the movie. Michael Rechtshaffen from The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review, saying: "Woody, Buzz and playmates make a thoroughly engaging, emotionally satisfying return." Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, while praising the film with 3 out of 4 stars, wrote that it is "a jolly, slapstick comedy, lacking the almost eerie humanity that infused the earlier Toy Story sagas, and happier with action and jokes than with characters and emotions". Writing her review for USA Today, Claudia Puig gave the film a complete 4 star rating writing "This installment, the best of the three, is everything a movie should be: hilarious, touching, exciting and clever." Lou Lumenick, film critic of The New York Post, wrote "Toy Story 3 (which is pointlessly being shown in 3-D at most locations) may not be a masterpiece, but it still had me in tears at the end." Michael Phillips gave the film 3/4 stars writing that "Compared with the riches of all kinds in recent Pixar masterworks such as Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up, Toy Story 3 looks and plays like an exceptionally slick and confident product, as opposed to a magical blend of commerce and popular art." Orlando Sentinel film critic Roger Moore who gave the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars wrote "Dazzling, scary and sentimental, Toy Story 3 is a dark and emotional conclusion to the film series that made Pixar famous." David Roark of Relevant Magazine called it mildly accomplished but, in the end, gratuitous.

Box office
Toy Story 3 made a strong debut, grossing $41,148,961 on its opening day at the box office from 4,028 theaters and was set to be the biggest opening for a Pixar film, surpassing The Incredibles's $70,467,623. In addition, Toy Story 3 had the single-highest opening day gross for an animated film on record, beating Shrek the Third's $38 million. During its opening weekend, the film grossed $110,307,189, ranking it #1 for the weekend. The film had the second highest opening for an animated movie behind Shrek the Third's $121,629,270 and also had the third best opening for a movie in 2010 behind Iron Man 2 and Alice in Wonderland, which grossed $128,122,480 and $116,101,023 respectively. With this, Toy Story 3 also became the highest opening weekend film in June at the box office, beating Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Toy Story 3 also became the biggest opening G-rated film, the tenth biggest opening weekend of all-time, and the eighth top summer opening weekend of all-time. On its second weekend, Toy Story 3 lost 46.2% grossing $59,337,669, and remaining the #1 spot for two weeks defeating the new releases Grown Ups and Knight and Day. As of July 17, 2010, Toy Story 3 has grossed $350,967,102 domestically and $221,900,000 in foreign countries which totals up to $576,292,102 worldwide. , more revenue than the previous films in the series.

Reaching $300 million domestically in only 18 days, Toy Story 3 tied with Shrek 2 for fastest reaching $300 million domestic animated film, and sixth overall tie with Shrek 2. It has also already eclipsed the previous two Toy Story films as the highest grossing in the series, as well as the second highest grossing Pixar film. Toy Story 3 also became the fifth animated film ever to gross more than $300 million domestically, after The Lion King in 1994, Finding Nemo in 2003, Shrek 2 in 2004 and Shrek the Third in 2007. On the weekend lasting from July 9 - 11, 2010 Toy Story 3 surpassed Alice in Wonderland to become the highest-grossing film of 2010 domestically, and then outgrossed Finding Nemo on July 12, 2010 to become Pixar's highest-grossing film domestically. Reaching $350 million domestically in only 28 days, Toy Story 3 was the sixth fastest film to reaching $350 million domestically, and second fastest for an animated film behind Shrek 2 with 26 days.

Future
According to an article on NOLA.com, director Lee Unkrich has confirmed that Toy Story 4 is not planned. "Well, we don't have any plans for Toy Story 4, Unkrich said. "I'm flattered that people ask about it -- it reminds me how much people love the characters. (But) it was really important to me with this film that we not just create another sequel, that it not just be another appendage coming off of the other two." However he did say, "Now, that being said, there may be opportunities for Woody and Buzz in the future, but we don't have any plans for anything right now". Lee Unkrich further says in an interview on MSN.com, "We have announced we're going to do a short film in front of Cars 2 that uses the Toy Story characters. We're going to keep them alive; they're not going away forever." Also, Buzz's voice actor Tim Allen has stated that he would want to reprise his role in a Toy Story 4.

Attached short film
The theatrical release of Toy Story 3 includes the short film Day & Night, which focuses on what happens when an animated personification of daytime (Day) meets his opposite, nighttime (Night) and the resulting growth for both.

Soundtrack

 * Main article: Toy Story 3 Soundtrack