It’s hard not to love Toy Story 3. When most Hollywood sequels offer diminishing returns, the third installment in Pixar’s famed series makes an argument for being the best yet, and, as is the studio’s tradition, offers a beautifully emotional conclusion to a story about what we commonly know in the real as inanimate objects – toys.
The story follows Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and all of their companions once again. Only this time Andy (John Morris), their longtime owner, is growing up and getting ready for college, faced with the tough choice of what to do with the remnants of his childhood pastimes. Most of the toys see it as the end of the road, with the exception of Woody (Andy’s favorite), when they are placed into a bag that is mistakenly taken out as trash.
After a daring escape, they get in the car and find themselves at a daycare center. Everything seems swell at first, with a new universe full of fantastic new toys in an environment that is seemingly the luxury retirement center for used toys. But when the toys begin to learn that the paradise leader Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear is trying to sell them may not be reality, they must attempt to escape the center. Even then, their time with Andy may be up.
The final act of Toy Story may be as much of a tear jerker as many found Up to be. As with many Pixar films, Toy Story 3 is dealing with much more lofty ideas than its flashy exterior lets on, and offers just as much to the older crowd as it does for their children. With fantastic new characters, a great plot and even a noteworthy improvement to the animation of the series, Toy Story 3 is a fantastic film all around – one of the year’s best.
On Disney Blu-ray, it lives up to the standard the studio has set. It looks absolutely beautiful and sounds just the same. The only real disappointment is that despite Disney’s big theatrical push for 3D Digital, and all the 3D advertisements contained within the 4-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital combo pack, the studio hasn’t offered 3D capabilities for the film to the home market, even though the technology is now readily available.
And despite all of the special features packed onto the four discs – and they are packed, between two Blu-rays and the DVD (which contains many of the same extras in standard definition) – Toy Story 3’s release doesn’t quite live up to the standard set by some of the other films they have released in recent years.
There is the “Cine-Explore” feature, which includes director and producer commentary along with things like picture-in-picture concept art; an alternate commentary; and deep looks into different aspects of the filmmaking process. There are also plenty of little animated featurettes, the theatrical short and a trivia game.
But Disney and Pixar have done fantastic jobs in the past of creating incredibly engaging branching featurettes from the main feature, with a detailed index system and more that set the standard for Blu-ray. In comparison, Toy Story 3’s interview segments (which oddly feel like promotional or educational films), simple picture-in-picture exploration and others extras feel slightly shallow in comparison.
Then again, that’s like complaining about a night where Michael Jordan only scored 43 points instead of a record 60-something. Toy Story 3 still gets a phenomenal release on Blu-ray that rivals the best of any studio. It’s a great film with a vast array of features. It’s fantastic all around. It just doesn’t feel like the best Disney has offered.
Special Features
-The Toy Story 3 Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p high-definition 1.78:1 aspect ratio video; English 7.1 DTS Master Audio, English 5.1 DTS Master Audio, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital EX and English 2.0 DVS audio; with English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
-“Day & Night” Theatrical Short
-Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: The Science of Adventure
-Toy Story Trivia Dash – Interactive Game
-Cine-Explore with Director Lee Unkrich & Producer Darla Anderson
-Beginnings: Setting a Story in Motion
-Bonnie’s Platime – A Story Roundtable with Director Lee Unkrich
-Roundin’ Up a Western Opening
-Beyond the Toy Box: An Alternate Commentary Track
-Paths to Pixar: Editorial
-3 Studio Stories
-DVD Copy
-Digital Copy
-More!
About the Writer
Bill Jones is the editor-in-chief of padsandpanels.com, a site dedicated to the coverage of comics and games.
