Toy Story 3D- (U) - 6 out of 10

Looking back, wasn't everything always when you were younger? Sweets and chocolate tasted better with the added bonus of not having to worry about the effect they have on your teeth and body shape. The summers lasted longer, were sunnier, full of endless hours down the park and no burdens of money bringing one down. You could accidentally brush another person's chest/ arse region/ genital region without the cheeks reddening, awkwardly mumbling sorry and not being able to look them in the eye for two weeks or so. Simpler times.

And of course, films were always better, full of innocence and colour and fun and silly characters and happy endings. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, wasn't it lovely? But alas, age is nothing but a cynicism-creating device where you come out on the other side all gnarled and cynical.

So we come to Toy Story 3 (or 3D if you really must insist). Way back in my own youth, the original Toy Story was the first ever film I saw at the cinema and thus has a very special place in my heart. I loved it and still do to this day. But this new film just feels like a horrible, exploitative piece of bastardisation.

Firstly, it may just be my age showing, but this new offering seemed largely devoid of jokes, apart from the occasional zinging one liner from Hamm (still my favourite character), the extended Spanish Buzz gag and the Ken-Barbie interactions. The one thing animated films need to survive is both jokes for kids and subtler ones that adults will get but Toy Story 3 lacks this.

Secondly, the storyline (solid but not spectacular) took at least half of the film to get going, whilst at times lacked a coherency where it appeared the writers were working ad hoc, not thinking things through, which is unacceptable after having over a decade to produce the film.

Lastly, the gimmick of 3D. So many films since Avatar have jumped on the 3D bandwagon to make a few more pounds at the box office and very few have been worth the additional two quid entrance. They have been largely shot in 3D at last minute so huge swathes of the movie is not done properly and adds nothing to the experience. Toy Story 3D is another example of this where the 3D effect was only noticeable every so often and only to show the distance between characters in a scene, hardly Avatar's sweeping 3D landscapes. Note to film makers, spend less on 3D effect and more on your writers.

Overall, whilst still watchable as a movie, I was left with a feeling that this film could have been so much more than a lame tacking on to the outstanding achievements of the first two Toy Story films. The loss of childhood innocence indeed.