CAN you believe that 15 years have passed since the original adventures of a charismatic cowboy and a disillusioned spaceman?

Animated movies, digital or whatever, have become two a penny, too much so, with the Shrek franchise surely destined for the forever after, having outstayed its welcome.

For every Up, there is a down, and now that 3D has returned in its latest in-your-face incarnation, animation will thrash itself to the limit.

Thankfully, Toy Story 3 has not a shred of cynicism or exploitation attached it to it (well, as long as you ignore the splurge of wearisome television adverts). In truth, the new ingredient, the Toy Story 3D experience, is anything but essential to enjoying a film of traditional, old-fashioned strengths: good story-telling with goodies, baddies and a theme that plays on the heartstrings while celebrating friendship and loyalty.

Add visual and verbal humour that appeals to children and adults alike, and action sequences with the panache of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and director Lee Unkrich and his design team have delivered a witty, moving winner.

Fifteen years on, doting owner Andy is all grown up and ready to set off to college, packing away his past in the attic, leaving the toys redundant. Except that Andy’s toys end up being relocated as hand-me-downs for a group of over-excitable tots in the Sunnyside day-care centre.

Can Woody (still voiced by a swell Tom Hanks, of course) and Buzz lead the usual suspects back home, or will Sunnyside turn out to be anything but sunny, thanks to the rotten regime run by a spurned strawberry-smelling bear?

So begins an escape venture that encompasses new characters such as clothes-loving Ken and a no-nonsense Barbie, as well as new facets to Buzz (Tim Allen), who is transformed gloriously into a dancing Spanish love machine a la Antonia Banderas.

The camaraderie in the face of adversity is the stuff of westerns; no favourite character misses out on a star turn (watch out for Mr Potatohead’s remarkable capacity for reinvention); and, without being heavy, there is a rare sense of decency, honour and selflessness, in Woody in particular, that would not go amiss in Hollywood blockbusters.

The Pixar animation, it almost goes without saying, it still streets ahead too.

Toy Story 3 Running time: 81mins Certificate: PG

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