To a trilogy and BEYOND!
Initially, when I heard there was going to be a fourth Toy Story, I was a little disheartened. The movies have been near and dear to my heart, as I was growing up they came out around the right time for me to be the perfect audience for them. So, once they had their swan song and gave us a sad, honest, perfect and heartbreaking ending, I was happy and content with a fun, amazing trilogy (which is hard to come by these days). However, then they announced another movie in the franchise and it instantly bummed me out, and as I walked into the theatre to watch it, I was not looking forward to it at all. I was under the impression that I was not going to enjoy this movie on principle alone. Boy was I wrong.
The story still follows the original gang of toys, as they’re living a new life with their new kid owner named Bonnie. Everything seems to be going normally but with a few exceptions; a new toy is made (Forky, voiced by Tony Hale, the now alive plastic spork), and other toys are getting forgotten. That general idea may sound familiar and it does mirror the first one, but with some twists that actually keep it fresh; there’s another story that gives us back story for Bo-peep and the two storylines merge pretty well. Overall it didn’t blow me away but it was a fulfilling and simple story. The jokes were consistent and there was one running joke with some of the new toys that actually gave me a belly laugh (stay through the credits to get more of that).
The obvious key to these films is the animation and voice acting. Which both were great overall, as usual. There is a lot more of Tom Hanks in this than the original cast, which was fine as it is a very Woody centric story. It didn’t bother me that much. Woody is the leading cowboy in this franchise and everything revolves around him and his relationships to his owners and the other toys. His relationship with Buzz is crucial but his relationship and how he cares about his owner is what really tugs at your heartstrings. Woody’s care about Bonnie has that same effect now, despite our love for Andy. As for the new cast members, they provided some of my favourite parts of the movie. Key and Peele and Keanu Reeves were hilarious and every time their characters were on screen, it was a delight.
The new characters, as well as all the returning characters, designs and animation were on point, something Pixar does really well. Pixar always manages to perfectly blend animation with voice acting and it really shows in Toy Story 4. The way the character’s move in relation to the voice acting provided brings the characters to life in a way other studios can’t do. The obvious last thing to say about the animation is that I don’t know how else they can make this series look any better, I’m sure Pixar will surprise us again but it is a beautiful animated movie.
After leaving the cinema I was happy and content. It didn’t reinvent Toy Story into a new franchise or change the world of animated storytelling, except maybe showing off Pixar’s amazing capabilities. The film made improvements and with those, it shined, it made improvements where other Pixar sequels have failed to improve. With new characters, new locations and a new spin/homage on itself, I enjoyed it greatly and I think it’s a great addition to the Pixar catalogue. As always this Toy Story film is great for adults, young adults and kids alike. I mean you couldn’t possibly dislike this film.