Toy Story 4 (2019)

Toy Story 4

Written by Andrew Stanton & Stephany Folsom

Directed by Josh Cooley

Accompanying Short: Tin Toy

Written & Directed by John Lasseter 

If it wasn’t clear from my Toy Story 3 review, I was pretty upset when Pixar decided to make Toy Story 4. 3 ended the franchise in a really great way, neatly tying up the main story in a way that was inventive, emotional, and honest. Toy Story 4 had the potential to just ruin the fitting climax that Toy Story 3 had delivered. Upon watching the film, I’ll say that Toy Story 4 isn’t bad, per se, but it still tarnishes a stellar trilogy that came before.

LOOK AT THIS HORRIFIC…THING. LOOK. AT. IT.

Toy Story 4 also has the (dubious) honor of being the only Pixar film to be released without a short in front of it. Why? I’m not sure. So, for this viewing, I decided to watch Tin Toy, which was actually shown in front of some releases of the original Toy Story (if you recall, I chose to review The Adventures of André & Wally B., the other short that was released with Toy Story, for that review). Tin Toy is a STUNNING reminder of how far computer animation has gone, because this short, 32 years later, looks HORRIFYING. Mainly, the baby looks…terrifyingly creepy. Like, the stuff that nightmares are made of. A baby that is both a newborn and a 90-year-old man at the same time. Benjamin Button. It’s…no. No thank you. Yes, it’s 32 years old, so I’m sure that for the time it was amazing, but now there is CREEPY BABY AND I AM NOT HERE FOR IT.

Woody and Forky

Okay. Toy Story 4. As I said, it’s not BAD, it’s just…unnecessary. It tells an interesting story, but it never seems to escape the brilliance of its predecessor. The film follows Woody and the gang (well, really, mostly Woody) as they contend with a “toy” that their new owner Bonnie makes: Forky, made from trash and art supplies, mostly a spork. It’s interesting to see Woody placed back into a father-figure-type role, much like he did with Buzz in the original film, but at a much greater capacity here. There’s also the romantic subplot of Woody and Bo Peep, whose absence in the third film is explained immediately when this film begins. It’s all entertaining, but just feels like empty calories.

Ducky and Bunny vs. the shopkeeper

Of the four Toy Story films, this one is definitely the silliest, with new characters Ducky and Bunny (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) and Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) being hilarious and welcome additions to the cast. Ducky and Bunny’s proposed methods for obtaining a key from the owner of an antique shop are brilliantly inspired, and it’s always fun to hear (or see) Reeves tap into his comedic side. There is also an abundance of slapstick elements throughout the film, so what the film lacks in heart (although it sure tries), it makes up for in humor.

Gabby Gabby

That heart is centered on both the plot between Woody and Bo, and the attempts of Gabby to steal Woody’s voice box (because of plot reasons that I won’t go into). Gabby is an interesting and unique antagonist because she (SPOILER ALERT) gets a redemption arc. The last two Toy Story films have featured an antagonistic toy who gets their just deserts; Gabby gets what she wants, not only from Woody but what she wants as a result of that. It’s a nice way to flip the script, but it also just doesn’t quite land emotionally. It’s one thing to have a character the audience has rooted for for the duration of the film get what they want, but Gabby is a character who spends the bulk of the film acting as an antagonist, and when she’s not on-screen, other characters waste no time in describing how awful she is.

Woody’s long-lost love, Bo Peep

Finally, there’s the ending. For three films, we have seen Woody be terrified of the thought of being a lost toy, and yet here, he decides to abandon his owner and become a lost toy. Granted, she has already begun neglecting him, and his new mission is to help other toys be found by new owners, but it’s such a sudden reversal of his thought process that it just feels…unearned. His leaving of the group is treated as if it’s expected by the other toys, when there has been no such inkling that Woody was considering this; they all seem rather okay with him leaving. I get where the filmmakers were going with this, but it just doesn’t ring quite true.

Is Toy Story 4 as bad as I expected? No. It’s still a pretty good film, and certainly much better than some of the other films in Pixar’s catalog. However, the entire film just feels as if the filmmakers KNOW how well they ended the previous film and now have metaphorically painted themselves into a corner, and they now have to work extra-hard to get themselves out of it. If this film was set between films 2 and 3 (and obviously had some different plot elements), I’d probably rank it a bit higher, but for as good as it is, it just doesn’t quite measure up to the rest of its franchise.

SHORT GRADE: C-

FILM GRADE: B+