Toy Story 3

"Would I be lost because I didn't see the second installment? Would Buzz and Woody's inside jokes make no sense to me?" I mulled over the answers as I entered the movie theater to see Toy Story 3. I needn't have worried; Toy Story 3 is a good movie--all on its own.

Toy Story came out in 1995. 1995 was the year I stopped playing with my Barbies. Once I made the decision to stop playing, I could not start again. I know because I tried. I set up my Barbie houses with my Barbie furniture, picked out the Barbie dolls I would play with, and started. But, I could not go back once I quit. That was one of the saddest days of my life. My Barbies used to be everything to me. I would play for hours. I kept story lines going. It was absolutely my escape. Once I put a moratorium on playing, my sanctuary was destroyed. I gave it all up because I was afraid a friend would come over and make fun of me for still playing Barbies. No friend in eighth grade (I know...that's how OLD I was) was worth that, but I gave up part of my life anyway. The Toy Story film makers understand and respect each toy. They understand each toy's back story, how it is played with, who would play with it, and why. The film makers also understand the children who love such toys. That, I think, is the charm of the Toy Story movies.

The first movie is sweet in that it explores a child's relationship and devotion to her or his toys. Really, the movie explores how children create their own allies within their own little world. I can relate. I mean, I guess that's why I spent so much time and energy on my Barbie world; it was controllable and intricate and friendly in a real world that was not always that way.

Toy Story 3 brings the charm of the first one, but adds a new dimension. The toys' boy, Andy, is no longer a little boy. He's heading off to college. What, then, should become of his toys? I was not expecting to be moved by this movie in the way that I was. At the heart of Toy Story 3 is this message: Respect your past enough to allow yourself to move on and leave what you can in capable hands. Remember in the first Toy Story when all of the toys worked together (and relied on the Army men) to find out what toys Andy got for his birthday? Well, there's a scene in the beginning of T.S.3 that mirrors that in an alternate universe. The toys work together once again to concoct a plan to make a 17 year old Andy open his toy box. See, Andy doesn't play any more, but the toys think that maybe, MAYBE, just by seeing them, Andy will want to love them again. That scene is a prelude to the tears that will inevitably come for the viewer at the end of the movie. Be comforted that you won't be the only one weeping during the last 15 minutes of the film. I will not say more about it. Just go see this movie.