There once were 3 Stories of Toys

In the decade it's been since part two

The characters (and audience) grew

This tale of maturing

Is really quite stirring

Pixar's earned a great big "thank you."

I'll add my voice to the choir praising Pixar's first threequel – unlike other high-profile followups, this one more than lives up to the hype.

People praise kids' movies for "appealing to adults." Unfortunately, what that often ends up meaning is a bunch of snide jokes or easy parodies in the Shrek sequels – where Pixar excels is in making masterpieces that legitimately entertain the entire family. Because rather than offering up cheap pop-culture pot-shots, Pixar's delivered an unrivaled streak of spectacularly wonderful films that present evergreen themes under a shiny coat of CGI.

I won't recap the plot or share spoilers, but there's a moment in this movie where the overall theme of letting go becomes so sharply poignant that it elevates Toy Story 3 out of the "animation" category entirely. It's a lock for the Best Animated Picture win whenever the Oscars are next year, but based on the 2010 slate so far, it could be in contention for the real hardware. It's that good.