Random Movie Review - Toy Story 4

A lot of people didn't really want another Toy Story film given that many of us felt the third one ended the series perfectly. But its OK because although the "Andy Davis" arc as I call it came to an end with Toy Story 3, anyone who remembers watching the very first film knows and loves these characters like me. So of course we will always want to see more of them and Pixar did just that. Not only did we get a fourth film, but we got a series of shorts known as Toy Story Toons and two made for TV specials in the form of Toy Story of Terror and Toy Story that Time Forgot. So here we are with the fourth film which manages to fix an issue that came about with the second film. The issue being that it advertised itself as having everyone get a lot of screen time but only a handful did in the end. This time, all the characters seen in the poster have more screen time than pretty much any other character in the film. So let's go to infinity and beyond once again in a story about love, friendship and of course toys:

So to my surprise, this is the first Pixar film I have seen at the cinema that doesn't start with a short film (though I guess with this being a highly anticipated film much later on in production, this is understandable). The film begins nine years in the past between 2 and 3 in which Woody (reprised by multi award winner Tom Hanks) and Bo Peep (reprised by Annie Potts) make a successful attempt at rescuing RC from the storm. But in the midst of it all, Bo and her sheep Billy, Goaty and Gruff are given away. Bo attempts to convince Woody to join her, but he declines when a young Andy Davis (voiced by Jack McGraw while John Morris reprises his role as the older one) calls out and finds him. Many years later and the majority of the toys given to Bonnie (this time voiced by Madeleine McGraw) have adjusted and enjoy their new lives and their new owner. Except for Woody who is often left in the closet, but becomes determined to accompany her in her backpack when she goes to her kindergarten orientation due to her being scared of change. While there, Woody secretly manages to help Bonnie make a new friend quite literally who later becomes her most important toy to date; Forky (voiced by Tony Hale). On a week away on an RV, Bonnie takes most of her toys with her and its on this trip that Woody starts to help Forky understand about being a toy while also reuniting with an old friend who shows him the life of a lost toy and probably will change his perceptive of being a toy forever.

One of the best things about these films is that no matter how long we wait for them to come out, we just all love these characters. So much so that many toy brands have caught on to allow us to have all these characters ourselves. The fourth one is good. It brings the series back to its roots with the two main heroes going on an adventure and leaving most of the other toys behind. The focus is clearly on Woody and Bo's love relationship shown in the first two films with the crisis Forky faces also having a focus. It also has a villain who is different from the villains we've had in the other films (saying why this is would be a major spoiler) and it also shows us that sometimes listening to our inner voices can be a good thing. The one thing I didn't like were the lazy score which although manages to cram in the music we've had in previous films, there is far too much of it which makes me wonder if anything original in it was included in this one. Another thing I like is the references to the fact that Bo Peep and her sheep are way more fragile than our heroes as well as the comic relief that some of the new characters bring. There's even some old Pixar characters from their earlier short films that make an appearance too. So yeah its an overall good film with a tear jerker of an ending. Though I will say if you were hoping to see the supporting toys like Andy's former other toys a lot in this film, you may be a bit disappointed. 9/10