The Toy Story trilogy is considered nearly perfect by many. The first movie revolutionized animation and introduced Pixar to global audiences. The love for these characters was put into the two sequels with consistent quality. The third movie somehow managed to bring almost everyone to tears with its emotional conclusion about saying goodbye to the toys that once brought us so much happiness. It was honestly a perfect ending.
Now we have a $equel…
In this continuation, the band of toys spend their days with their person, Bonnie. However, Woody is often left out during playtime. His displacement is accentuated when she creates a makeshift toy – Forky – out of a spork, pipe cleaner and popsicle sticks. Bonnie and her parents spend the duration of the movie on a road trip and the toys are all along for the ride. Forky keeps trying to remove himself from the equation, yet Woody does everything he can to make sure that Bonnie isn’t let down by Forky’s absence.
The majority of the movie takes place between an antique shop and a carnival. Along the way, we meet old faces and new – notably Bo Peep (Annie Potts), Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), Ducky & Bunny (Key & Peele), Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) and her dummy minions, The Bensons.
The plot follows the near-identical structure of the other Toy Story movies. A toy is lost/stolen. The gang goes to save it. A jealous and villainous toy/boy does everything they can to prevent the rescue. And finally, a conclusion that leaves you with all the feels. I guess, if the toy ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The problem here is that Toy Story 4 has no reason to exist. I hate calling a consistently fine movie – unnecessary, but it’s the definition of that. We have seen Woody go through an existential crisis in every movie. It’s great to see an animated character that’s so conflicted, but this cowboy is the Woody Allen of the Pixar world. Instead of leaving the story with class, we are forced to wonder if Woody is really better off being a lost toy instead of being a loyal toy.
Toy Story 4 does its best to punch you in the face to promote tears, but the tank is on empty because of the beauty of Toy Story 3’s end. There is closure given here, but there’s no reason there couldn’t be another two sequels to this movie, just becau$e.
Thankfully, Pixar still holds this franchise to high esteem and there is still love and quality within. The animation is immaculate. These characters look better than they ever have and their surroundings, down to the dust bunnies, are vibrant and near realistic. This series hasn’t lost any of its humorous charm along the way either. It’s got its fair share of chuckles. The standout hilarious moments come from Duke Caboom’s redemptive arc and from Bunny/Ducky’s all-too-extended plan of retrieving a key.
Sadly, none of the original characters really get anything to do. Buzz Lightyear gets maybe three minutes of screentime. There’s even less for Jessie and the rest of the gang. This is strictly focused on Woody, Forky and Bo Peep.
Toy Story 4 feels like a Pixar short that has humorous enough writers to keep the audience happy for 100 minutes. Gripes aside, this unnecessary sequel is still much better than the sequels from Cars, Monsters, or Nemo. Pixar doesn’t tarnish the series, even if this story didn’t need to be told. It’s a thirsty, but better-than-average way to prolong Pixar’s landmark franchise. B-
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