WHAT do you get if you weld together an animated version of The Great Escape, From Dusk Till Dawn and The Godfather?
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly the answer is Toy Story 3.
It’s been a long time coming, a fall out between Disney and Pixar meant that it nearly didn’t happen, nearly had a completely different script, nearly didn’t have Pixar’s involvement, and probably nearly wasn't anywhere near as good.
Thank the lord then, that they all made friends and produced the absolute triumph that is Toy Story 3. When a film’s broken records for the highest grossing day in animation film history, taking $110 million in one weekend in the US, you know it’s either very good or massively over hyped. Thankfully it’s definitely the former.
Toy Story 3 sees Andy about to leave for college. Most of the toys have made it this far – although some have been lost along the way – but are living a miserable existence in a box in his bedroom.
The time comes to clear out his room and most of the toys appear destined for the attic. Surely there’s more to life?
But a terrible mix up sees the toys end up in Sunnyside Day Centre – a place filled with children who will play with them every day. A happy retirement, of course not.
Children can be cruel beasts, especially if you end up in the toddler room. But of course it’s not just the children they have to worry about, it’s the other toys.
Sunnyside Day Centre is led by Lot-so, an old purple bear with whom all is not as it seems. Like a cross between Don Corlione and the grandad from the Werthers Originals adverts, Lot-so lures them in – but leaves them fighting for their lives.
A whole bunch of other toys make their screen debut, from a theatrical stuffed hedgehog to embittered octopus.
The film has some genuinely brilliant moments – a gambling den inside a vending machine, most of the action involving Ken, and my three-year-old daughter’s personal favourite, Mr Potato Head using a tortilla as a body before being attacked by a hungry pigeon. She’s still laughing now.
And the button that turns Buzz Lightyear into a hot-headed dancing Spanish version of himself is just absolute genius.
Of course in animated children’s films there’s always a happy ending. Isn’t there?
For a while I thought that Disney had taken an almighty great gamble with this film, and were going for a sad finale.
I thought it was going to be like that episode of Emmerdale where they didn’t know what to do next with half the characters so they just killed them off by landing a plane on the edge of the village.
I don’t want to give away the story and the ending, but it’s safe to say I could see no way out for our heroes. But there’s always someone you’ve forgotten about.
What all the Toy Story films deliver is brilliant family entertainment. How many other films can you name which would see three-year-olds and 33-year-olds enjoying the same film. When you see adults on their own going to see what is deep down a kid’s film, you know that the makers are definitely doing something right.
A friend of mine asked me, in all seriousness: “Did you well up at the end when.... “Well no I didn’t, but I think my wife had a tear in her eye at the end of the film.
It’s been an incredible 15 years since Toy Story came out. Andy’s gone to college, the toys have moved on, is this the end of the road for the Toy Story franchise?
Don’t bet on it. With a whole raft of new characters, seemingly a whole raft of new ideas, and a brilliantly creative team, I reckon Woody and co will be back.
And if they are, I for one can’t wait.
All in all a film that will not disappoint, if you take the kids to see only one film this summer, make sure it’s this one.
Tickets: Cineworld, Shrewsbury