Toy Story 3

Release Date: June 18th, 2010

Genre: Animation / Adventure / Comedy

Stars (voices): Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack

Synopsis: The gang is back after a long hiatus and this time their owner Andy is all grown up and heading to college when his toys mistakenly end up being donated to a day care center from where they must make a daring escape to return home.

AltAss Ratings (On a scale of 1 to 5 asses)

Plot:                                  

Did a good job of providing a lot of adventure and sticky situations for the characters to overcome and ended with a heartwarming conclusion.

Writing:                        

There was some funny but not as much as I remember in the original films which had me rolling at times.  The material was just not as fresh and snappy as expected.

Acting (voices):              

Ned Beatty was fantastic as the villain Lotso and everybody else fell into their old parts rather nicely with no obvious missteps but seemed to lack the old intensity.

Acting (animation):         

It was good but felt a bit stale and not nearly as magical as the orginal films perhaps because we have grown so accustomed to the Pixar brand over time.

Originality:                  

Did not feel different from the previous movies in the franchise at all with the exception of the addition of some nice characters.

Overall:                           

Toy Story fans had to have been disappointed, but an entire new generation of kids were probably thrilled.  The ending was the only part of this movie that drew me in emotionally which its predecessors had so masterfully done for broad audiences from start to finish.  I suppose as third installments of a series typically go, this one was still better than most.

The Laugh Factor

Belly Laughs: 1-2

Chuckles: 6-8