Toy Story 4

Toy Story is an iconic franchise that has lasted the test of time for its timeless story, lovable characters with distinct adult voice actors, surprisingly adult writing with relatable situations that changed the way most animated properties were written at the time and going forward, and produce a trilogy that, while maybe not spotless, ended things off in a very satisfying and emotionally effective manner. So of course, Disney decided to release another movie once they realized they were throwing away a money-making machine, and Toy Story 4 was brought into the world with the fanfare of pretty much nothing. Set a year after Toy Story 3 where Andy’s toys have been donated to another young girl named Bonnie (voiced by Madeline McGraw), Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) starts to be left out of playtime and tries desperately to find a purpose in Bonnie’s life now that he lacks one. That arrives unexpectedly when in the first day of Kindergarten, Bonnie literally makes a new friend, a spork turned into a toy named Forky (voiced by Tony Hale), who doesn’t believe that he is a toy and tries to constantly throw himself out. Woody tries to keep Forky from leaving Bonnie and does everything in his power to convince him of his new purpose, but this results in both of them getting lost when Bonnie’s family are on a road trip. After arriving at an antique store, Woody comes across his old friend Bo Peep (voiced by Annie Potts), who has now become a ”lost toy” and enjoys the lifestyle that comes with not being pinned down by a kid, which Woody can’t understand as he is still desperately trying to return to Bonnie with Forky. Deciding to help them out, Bo Peep takes Woody through the carnival area of the park (where Bonnie’s family have stopped) but Forky is taken by an antique porcelain doll named Gabby Gabby (voiced by Christina Hendricks) who longs for Woody’s voice box in order to be complete and finally get bought by the child who keeps coming into the store. With the rest of the toys, mainly Buzz (voiced again by Tim Allen) going out to search for Woody, and with Woody and Bo trying to get Forky back from the clutches of Gabby Gabby, the race is on to return everybody to Bonnie before they leave for good, but will Woody actually want to? With truly terrible advertising and a purpose that is pretty much non-existent, it’s at least nice that Toy Story 4 isn’t not a terrible movie, just an inoffensive one. It does still feature some likeable elements that on occasion feel like the typical brand, but there is a lot of things run with this film from a story, writing and character standpoint that make it fail as a generic kids flick, but especially as a Toy Story sequel.

Since this film already had to climb over the hurdle of continuing a franchise that already had a perfect ending point, it’s not helped by the fact that the overall story for this film written by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom, Josh Cooley (who is also the director of the film), Valerie LaPointe, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, and Martin Hynes is just not that good, and even backtracks on certain components to the point that it actively damages what came before it. It does come to a fulfilling conclusion that does change up the status quo in a way that would prevent any repeating, but the direction it takes to reach that endpoint is at best mediocre, and at worst, boring and ill-fitting for this brand. Every sequel previously felt like it was continuously upping its stakes and providing something fresh and new that the audience hadn’t seen yet, while still keeping true to its overall spirit and message and containing its usual great writing, animation, and characters. Here it feels like the movie exists because the name is popular and it would be crazy not to include another film, and it results in diminishing returns from almost every angle. The director for this movie was Josh Cooley, who worked on Pixar as an artist previously, but had written the screenplay for Inside Out and was finally given a chance to direct a film, and you can feel that inexperience. While it does have some nice scenes that bring the usual Toy Story charm and emotional intelligence to it (with a scene at the end of the film involving a lost child being the closest thing this film has to an actual emotionally powerful moment), there’s a distinct lack of weight in this film that makes it feel like any other random animated property rather than the pioneer of animation that this franchise is. The script for this film written by Stanton and Folsom is just constructed in a way that doesn’t really feel like traditional Toy Story, with character decisions that are either wasted or kind of feel out of place, humor that feels too much like an SNL skit than a timeless kids film, and a story that has a great conclusion, but felt like it sacrificed character and depth in order to reach that one point. It isn’t awful to get through, but its constantly obvious that it isn’t up to standard.

The characters are still the recognizable faces that everybody knows and loves, but most of them (both new and old) aren’t in the best way. The centre focus for this film is Woody, which makes sense as he’s the lead character, and in all honesty, most of his involvement in this film is actually handled pretty well. The character has struggled with trying to be noticed by a child before, but the direction of making it about self-worth and purpose in existing in a nice addition and his interacts with characters Bo Peep where their conflicting ideologies clash, and with Gabby Gabby, who sees Woody’s need for purpose and relates to it, make for some nice scenes. With that said however, the film does seem to be back-flipping around pre-established points in order to reach this final destination, making it feel a little hollow and unearned (Bonnie goes from loving Woody and taking him away from Andy, to immediately forgetting he exists quite quickly). It’s also nice to see Bo Peep brought back into the picture after being weirdly sidelined in the last film, and she’s given a nice new purpose and made more active than in previous films which is nice, her glassy design has been changed and does feel a little too ”Disney Princess-y” in moments, but she’s still animated well, and her and Woody do share good chemistry, so she works out in the end. While these two are handled well enough, the rest of the cast aren’t given much of a role and get massively sidelined until the end of the film. It feels like the film was created specifically for Woody, and everybody else was relegated to one-off scenes and lines that barely factor into anything. While this could be understood for some of the new character, the original ensemble who were very crucial in the past three films, now feel like third-tier characters. Jesse (voiced again by Joan Cusack) is given a single scene and nothing much else, Buzz is stuck with a one-off joke that feels like demeaning and lame that he feels like he’s used the poorest despite having the most screen time, and the others barely even get a line of dialogue throughout the film (which makes sense given how many of their voice actors have passed away). The new additions to the film aren’t bad by any means, but they are nowhere near as iconic as the other cast members that have been created. Forky, despite being the focal point for the film, doesn’t really stand out that much despite a fine enough voice performance by Tony Hale and an occasional decently funny idea (him constantly trying to throw himself out is a little funny), Gabby Gabby is more of an antagonist than a villain as she’s written to be more than just being one-note evil, and her desires and wants are given more depth and intrigue than most of the rest of the film, so she turns out pretty good,  a character by the name of Duke Kaboom doesn’t really offer too much but the voice acting by Keanu Reeves makes him work just enough, and two plush animals named Ducky and Bunny (voiced by Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peel) aren’t as annoying as they appear in the trailers and they do get a very funny scene involving the key to the antique store and a fantasy in the end of the film.

The animation in this movie is very pleasing to look at and is honestly the element that is the coolest to see evolve from the first film to the latest. Going from what would kind of look like a technology demo with the first film (especially in regard to its human characters and the animals), to shots that can almost look photo-realistic at times (mainly in its environments) with this movie is pretty cool and seeing that evolution throughout the years not only the franchise, but also for Pixar in general is really cool. Its amazingly bright and colorful, the characters are still very expressive and full of emotion, the humans are still animated in a unique 3D manner, but they still look good enough, even the way the toys move match how their anatomy and inner components would naturally make them operate, and it takes advantage of these pre-conceived ideas and has fun with some of their movements (those creepy ventriloquist dolls moving like lifeless corpses with limp limbs is pretty great against their dead eyes and hollow smiles). The way the shots are composed in this movie is also really impressive, with several angles and fun camera work handled by cinematographers Patrick Lin and Jean-Claude Kalache almost feels like it’s actually in the space through the almost flowing manner in which its filmed. The music for the film is perfectly serviceable for what is typical of the Toy Story brand, but there’s no moment of impressive score or even memorable song, which is weird as despite the mixed quality of Randy Newman’s music in certain films, he’s usually created some pretty iconic songs in this franchise, whereas here that is just not the case (the song might’ve gotten nominated for an Oscar, but it did not deserve to).

Toy Story 4’s worst offense is that it’s just an average movie from a lineup of movies that revolutionized the animated filming industry and created such memorable, connectable, and even emotional stories and characters that stay in the hearts of many for generations upon generations. This feels like a continuation of that from a shallow viewpoint, not a sequel that had passion put behind its creation; it feels the same, looks the same, and features the same people (for the most part), but it’s clear that the motivation and the purpose isn’t the same as it was with the other films. The film still has great animation, good voice acting, an occasional good line, and if written and handled better this could have been a nice way to end the franchise for good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to where it started from. Kids and nostalgic adults are who this movie is made for and for that crowd, it’s a perfectly good movie to check out and view to get the memories flowing, but you can’t escape the fact that this Toy Story saga shouldn’t have gone beyond infinity.