“Toy Story” DVDs or downloads on heavy rotation in your household? Consider taking the kids to see their favorite characters from the films in life-size action right before their eyes.

Families affected by autism can watch the hit new film "Toy Story 3" in a theater where the lights are brighter, the volume is lower, and getting up, dancing, walking, shouting and singing are OK.

From the original Toy Story in 1995 to last year’s Oscar-nominated Best Picture Up, it’s nearly impossible to find fault with Pixar Animation Studios. They’ve hit 10 straight feature films out of the park, none of which you can call anything less than a timeless classic. If Toy Story 3 was the film that broke the studio’s winning streak I would have not only felt obligated to quit my job as a movie critic but, perhaps, boycott the cinema altogether. Like Return of the Jedi and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Toy Story 3 is one of the few threequels that not only lives up to its predecessors but makes its previous installments even better.

From the original Toy Story in 1995 to last year’s Oscar-nominated Best Picture Up, it’s nearly impossible to find fault with Pixar Animation Studios. They’ve hit 10 straight feature films out of the park, none of which you can call anything less than a timeless classic. If Toy Story 3 was the film that broke the studio’s winning streak I would have not only felt obligated to quit my job as a movie critic but, perhaps, boycott the cinema altogether. Like Return of the Jedi and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Toy Story 3 is one of the few threequels that not only lives up to its predecessors but makes its previous installments even better.

"Toy Story" has always been a 3-D film, even if moviegoers never saw it that way.

After completing a full-length, shot-for-shot, live action version of Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story last summer, two young East Valley filmmakers have released the video on YouTube.

Visiting Pixar Animation Studios in Northern California has been a longtime dream of two young filmmakers from the East Valley.

With the holidays fast approaching, television and radio ads herald virtually every high-tech toy imaginable. These toys promise to reap educational benefits for our kids, and can come with a price tag to match. If you want your baby, toddler or preschooler to have tons of fun and learn at the same time, the best toys can be found in your house or among the cheaper items at the store. This along with your time and attention will ensure that your child arrives at school on the first day prepared to succeed.

Shaun Doss pulled up to Maricopa Medical Center in a white limousine Thursday morning. The 4-year-old Chandler resident rolled out, in his pint-sized wheelchair, for a reunion with hospital child life specialist Lori Brinton.

With the holidays fast approaching, television and radio ads herald virtually every high-tech toy imaginable. These toys promise to reap educational benefits for our kids and can come with a price tag to match. If you want your baby, toddler or preschooler to have tons of fun and learn at the same time, the best toys can be found in your house or among the cheaper items at the store. This along with your time and attention will ensure that your child arrives at school on the first day prepared to succeed.

December 15, 2004

WASHINGTON - Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys — including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters — because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

ALTO PASS, Ill. - Soaring 11 stories above southern Illinois’ highest point, the Bald Knob Cross of Peace has been billed as a towering testament to good will. But peace and good will have been scarce lately on the board that administers the 43-year-old landmark about 130 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Seeing a sequel to an animated film might have felt surreal a long time ago. But in the past twenty years or so, every animated feature has become obligated to produce a sequel.

LOS ANGELES - By the end of the decade, Darth Vader could be rattling sabers with his enemies above the heads of moviegoers, and Buzz Lightyear could be flying off the screen on his way to infinity and beyond.

After last fall's gargantuan success of “The Lion King 3D” (which topped the domestic box office its opening weekend and went on to make over $175 million worldwide), Disney naturally lunged at the chance to convert more of its classic titles to 3D.

LOS ANGELES - The animated telling of "Beowulf," who rids a Danish kingdom of the feared beast Grendel, slew the box office over the weekend, giving a huge boost to 3-D films in the process.

Up until the early '90s, Disney animated classics used to be re-released into theaters every couple of years. But with the innovation of home video, which DVD would later dethrone, theatrical re-releases quickly became scarce. Disney re-releases may just be making a comeback, however, thanks to the current trend of 3-D movies. When Disney came out with "The Lion King 3D" last September, they merely saw it as a way to make some quick, easy money. To the studio's surprise, the film opened No. 1 at the box office and brought in more than $90 million by the end of its theatrical run. That's a considerable amount more than what several other animated films grossed last year.