Toy Story 3

Director: Lee Unkrich
Year Released: 2010
Rating: 3.0

Eleven years have gone by since the last installment, and this time Andy is off to college to experience drinking, stress and regret (and be liberated from the gizmos of youth), leaving Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks) and the lot relegated to a cardboard box sent to a daycare center, run by a nasty pink bear (Ned Beatty). Though this is more action-oriented than character-oriented - and, subtext-wise, essentially a repeat of the earlier pictures - it's still amazingly fun and consistently inventive, with great voice-over work (Timothy Dalton is a classically-trained stuffed hedgehog) and spectacular use of 3-D. Going for a fourth edition to the series would certainly be pushing it too far - they've essentially exhausted the concept - but it goes to show how Pixar is able to elevate average material and sprinkle the picture with charm (kudos for the Totoro doll!).