Toy Story 3: A Heartfelt Adventure Beyond Infinity

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”– Steve Maraboli

Toy Story 3 may well be termed as and ‘Adult Story’ in the garb of children’s movie. It explores the complex adult emotions of ‘leaving’ and ‘letting go’ though its bunch of toy characters led by Woody. The movie explores the feelings of tension and uncertainty faced by the toys as their master Andy prepares to leave for college. It is an emotionally mature film about accepting changes in your life without too much of drama and anxiety.

The toys, when they get to know they have to move on have different reactions which add to the emotional depth of the story. The highest resistance comes from Woody out of his unflinched loyalty to Andy. Jessie wants to skip town rather then get hurt again whereas Rex will do whatever it takes to return to happier times.

The emotions in the movie are heightened as the movie progresses towards the climax. This can be better understood as we analyze the plot and situations in the movie.  In the First Plot Point we find all the toys getting treappe in the van and reaching Sunny Side where they are introduced to ”Lotso” and his assistant Ken. All the toys except Woody are happy at the prospect of attentions received.  Woody wants to be with Andy and move on with him to College.

The First Pinch Point in the movie comes when Woody’s escape plans are quashed as he gets picked by Bonnie, the little neighbor girl. The toys face further pinch when they discover that they have been handed over to a group of ill mannered toddlers who handle them rough. The Mid Point in the plot comes when the true nature of ”Lotso” is revealed to the toys as he turns a deaf ear to their pleads of reassigning to and ”age appropriate room”. Not only that he resets Buzz’s factory settings and using him as a guard to keep the others locked in. In the midst of all this, Woody finds out from one of Bonnie’s toys about ”Lotso’s tragic past”—and that the daycare is not a safe place for Buzz and the rest of Woody’s friends. We also get a thematic Moment of Truth, in which Mrs. Potato Head sees, through her lost eye, that Andy really didn’t throw them away and that he still wants them.

The Second Pinch Point in the movie comes when  Woody returns to Sunnyside and hatches and escape plan for his friends. But then in the Third Plot Point, Just as they’re about to escape, they are stopped by Lotso.  All the toys end up in the Dumpster. There is also an emotional confrontation here when Woody reveals to Big Baby how Lotso betrayed his trust and kept him away from Daisy.

 In the Climax, The toys end up in a fire pit and just as they were thinking there is no way to escape, they are saved by the Green men with ”the Claw”. The Toys then return to Andy where Woody becomes instrumental in all of them getting donated to Bonnie. The Climactic Moment comes when after giving all the other toys to Bonnie, Andy hesitates over Woody—his favorite toy—before finally giving  him as well.

Toy Story 3 also dissects  the final goodbye – Death- as the toys bravely wait for  their end, holding each other to comfort them as well as their selves, and awaiting the worst. This is a short but emotionally powerful scene in the movie.

Toy Story 3 is a few heap of things, but in part it’s about how we define our belonging in relation to other people.. Here—with few single line of dialogue—we see the toys affirm their house is with one another, not a house or a boy.

They make a choice to simply accept their fate, side by side.

Though, there are many emotional highs and lows in the movie, the ultimate structure are very simple. It the desire of all characters – the desire to be felt wanted. The desire to loved and played with. Every toy character in the movie must face this problem of the child master growing up and no longer needing them. A similarity may be drawn here to the Adult- Child / Parent- Child Relationship, where as the child grows up he/she doesn’t need the constant support and presence of an adult/ parent in life and hence moves ahead leaving them. The essential question then is ”how are you able to keep a baby loyal to a toy life long?

Woody’s loyalty and wish to be with Andy as his favorite toy remains un wavered till the end. Ultimately towards the end he accepts the change and lends that status to Bonnie and comes to believe his own words, ”It doesn’t matter how much we’re played with—what matters is that we’re here for Andy when he needs us.” This acceptance frees Woody, who in the final scene is found ‘ loosened up and dancing, satisfied to be part of the cluster instead of its leader; he’s softer with himself, more chummy to Buzz, and more accessible to Bo Peep’s advances.’

But the final choice is made by Andy, a very unlikely choice to mark an end to this trilogy. Andy hands over the box of Toys to Bonnie but hesitates as Bonnie picks up Woody. He seems to have entered into a conflict of his own at that moment. Andy pulls Woody’s motto string, and when Bonnie laughs and reaches for the cowboy, Andy pulls him back. Bonnie is disappointed. Seeing that Andy once again takes a look at Woody and tells Bonnie: ”Woody’s been my pal as long as I can remember. The thing that makes Woody special is he’ll never give up on you, ever. You think you can take care of him for me?”

With this emotional statement   we , hope for a better future for Woody and all the toys at Bonnie’s place. And we do hope that Andy too will have a happy future and an enjoyable college life.

References:

pixar. disney/pixar, n.d.”The Creators Of The Beloved.” Web. 7 Nov 2011.  http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/ts3/tale.html>.

pixar. disney/pixar, n.d.”With Over 150 New Characters.” Web. 7 Nov 2011. .

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