Greg Vellante
Correspondent

If I had to make a guess, I would say that about 10 seconds into “Toy Story 3” I felt like a kid again. Showing off its always impressive animated vividness, Pixar begins its 11th film by paying homage to the inspired splendor of its first.

The evil One Eyed Bart and his female accomplice, One Eyed Betty (played respectively by Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head), have stolen a train filled with orphans and are driving it full speed to the edge of a cliff.

On their tail is Sheriff Woody, accompanied by his trusty sidekick Jessie the Cowgirl and faithful steed Bullseye. Just as Woody looks as if he won’t be able to stop the train and it plunges toward inevitable destruction, the stellar Buzz Lightyear appears to save the day and deliver the orphans to safety.

But that’s not the end of our characters’ adventures. They still have to deal with force fields, ravenous dinosaurs, and the evil Dr. Porkchop, who unleashes his wrath by pressing the dreaded “Death by Monkeys” button on his massive ship. This opening sequence is a thrilling blend of stunning animation and adventurous storytelling, only to zip back to reality to reveal that we are witnessing the imaginative process of a child playing with his beloved toys.

Welcome back, Andy.

Unfortunately, those wishing to remain in the innocent days of Andy’s childhood should steer clear of Pixar’s honest intentions. We are reintroduced to Andy the child through home videos of fond memories, yet just as 11 years have passed since the release of “Toy Story 2,” 11 years have passed in the world of “Toy Story” itself. In a pleasant surprise, the same boy who once voiced Andy as a child, John Morris, returns to lend his now mature voice to the now mature character.

Andy is heading to college, and over the years, his toys have succumbed to yard sales, garbage bags and donations. Only the truly special toys remain: Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Bullseye, Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), the Aliens (Jeff Pidgeon), and Slinky Dog (Blake Clark, taking the reigns of the late, great Jim Varney and sounding almost identical).

Andy hasn’t played with them in years, and every toy except Woody seems intent on finding a new home where someone will love and play with them again. Woody promises that Andy will keep them all in the attic, with hopes of eventually being played with by his own kids someday. Woody’s promise is nearly verified, until a mishap leads to the toys nearly being tossed in the garbage, then being inadvertently donated to Sunnyside Daycare.

The location shines with the appeal of a world-class resort, yet ultimately resembles a senior living facility for donated and forgotten toys. Woody manages to escape, while the other toys are sucked into the draw of being played with by new children nearly every single day.

Without revealing much more, Sunnyside turns out to be more of a prison than a haven, led by a pink, fuzzy tyrant named Lotso (voiced by Ned Beatty). Woody returns to save his friends, and the team executes an escape plan that ironically makes Andy Dufresne’s scheme in “The Shawshank Redemption” look like, well, child’s play. That’s the basic outline of where the story goes, but what is most important about “Toy Story 3” is what the story means.

“Toy Story 3” made me laugh, from the hilarious romance between Barbie (Jodi Benson) and Ken (Michael Keaton) to the oh-so-subtle jabs at the latter’s blaring metrosexuality. But most significantly, “Toy Story 3” made me feel.

The smiles were infinite, my heart was warmed, and some scenes even had my tear ducts holding back their gates. Young children will love this film, and adults will be moved as well, but all in all, “Toy Story 3” is the finale to a trilogy tailor-made for people, such as myself, who grew up with the original two films.

When Andy was playing with toys in 1995, I was playing with toys, too. The years have passed, and though I have grown and aged and experienced so much more within this world than I had as a child, those innocent moments of imagination helped shape the person I’ve become today, however monumental or minimal that may be.

Toys don’t judge you. Toys don’t hurt you. Toys will always love you, and will always be your friend. “Toy Story 3” represents the end of a learning experience, a self-induced emotional lesson with a power that can only be grasped through the process of growing up.

As children, we formed relationships with manufactured creations of plastic and stitching within our own imaginations so that we could eventually learn to love in reality. The only element of fantasy to “Toy Story 3” is that the toys actually have the capability to understand, learn and love back. But in the mind of a child, they do. And over the course of 15 years, they have.
Bravo, Pixar. Bravo.

MOVIE REVIEW
“Toy Story 3”
4 out of 4 stars