Toy Story 3D

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Toy Story 3D's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Toy Story 3D completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 21 January 2010.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie Toy Story 3D contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Andy (voice of John Morris) has a lot of toys which pretend to be inanimate when humans are around but come to life when on their own. Andy’s favourite is his cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks).

When a space ranger toy, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), arrives with an array of the latest gadgets, all of the toys are impressed but Woody is jealous of the attention being diverted away from him. When Woody's jealousy gets the better of him, Buzz ends up being knocked out the bedroom window. Realizing he must rescue his rival in order to stop the rest of the toys from turning on him, Woody sets off to find Buzz. The ensuing adventure includes planning a harrowing escape from Sid (Erik Von Detten) the mean kid next door’s house.

Buzz and Woody set their differences aside to help themselves, save an army of disfigured toys and attempt to return to Andy before it is too late.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Jealousy

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including

• Mr. Potato Head pulls a plastic pistol on some other toys and tells them that “This is a stick –up.”
• Andy’s toys look out the window and are horrified to see that Sid has strapped explosives to a toy in his back yard. The explosives are detonated and the toy explodes.
• Buzz and Woody get into a fight. They are so busy pushing, shoving and wrestling each other that they don’t realize Andy and his mom are driving away until it is too late.
• Woody is nearly crushed by truck tyres.
• Woody is thrown about in the back of a truck and is smashed and pinned against a tool box.
• Sid’s dog attacks an alien doll and tries to rip it apart.
• Sid steals his little sister’s doll and decapitates it.
• Sid uses the window and the sun’s rays to bore a smoking hole into Woody’s head.
• Buzz looses an arm attempting to fly out the window.
• Woody smacks Buzz across the face.
• Buzz is strapped to a rocket which Sid tries to explode.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, and some children aged 5-8, including the following

• Sid’s room is dark and creepy, a torture chamber for toys. Toys are shown that have been hideously mutated, mutilated or decapitated. They scurry about and hide when they hear Sid coming.
• Some of the toys can be very creepy, such as a spiky, decapitated, one-eyed-doll, head that moves about on mechanical spider-like legs or a clawing hand that creeps across the floor.
• Sid himself is an angry, menacing, child who enjoys inflicting suffering on others, be it his sister or the neighbourhood toy population. There are some disturbing close–up shots of Sid while he is attempting to bore a hole through Woody’s brain and explode Buzz that make him look very sinister, with distorted features and a creepy laugh. That, coupled with how much Andy’s toys fear him may concern some young viewers.
• To save Buzz and teach Sid a lesson, Woody and the mutilated toys concoct a plan which involves resurrecting the ‘undead’ toys buried or hidden throughout Sid’s yard. Woody speaks to him, telling him how unhappy the toys are that they have been mistreated and threatening him should he continue to harm them in the future. Meanwhile all of the mutant toys surround Sid in a menacing manner. Decapitated creatures and dolls with their mouths stitched shut come forth from shallow graves. Some pre-schoolers may find it frightening.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened. Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

It is unlikely that anything in this movie would disturb children over the age of eight.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie

• Mr. Potato Head
• Mr. Spell
• Etch a Sketch
• Candyland
• Tinkertoy
• Barrel of Monkeys

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including

• Bo Peep says suggestively to Woody: “Maybe I could get somebody else to watch the sheep tonight.”

Nudity and sexual activity

None

Use of substances

After enduring a tea party, with Sid’s sister and a retinue of decapitated dolls, Buzz acts as though he is drunk.

Coarse language

There is a fair amount of name calling throughout the film, including

• ‘Idiot’, ‘stupid’, ‘shut up’ and ‘backstabbing murderer’

• Mr. Potato Head indicates that one of the other toys is a ‘butt kisser’ by taking his lips off his face and using them to kiss his own bottom.

The movie's message

Toy Story 3D has the same content as the 1995 animated film, but because it is produced in 3D, the characters seem to come out of the screen. While fans of the original film will likely enjoy this, the 3D effects could make some sections of the movie more scary for younger viewers than they were in the original version.

The main messages from this movie are to see the value within yourself, regardless of what others see, to know your own heart and conscience and be true to what you believe.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include

• acceptance and tolerance of others and those who are different
• cooperation
• persistence and perseverance
  

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as

• being jealous of others
• hurting others to get what you want
• damaging other people’s property
• playing with matches
• playing with explosives. Sid reads a warning on the label of the explosive package about how it is extremely dangerous and should be kept out of the reach of children. His response is “Coool!” Before ripping the package open and strapping the explosive rocket to Buzz. This sends a potentially dangerous message to young, impressionable children, especially anyone who could identify with Sid.