"Toy Story 4" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Pixar is a name now that is practically synonymous with quality. Sure, you can argue that in more recent years Pixar has fallen off compared to their heyday where they were on a streak of now widely revered animated classics. But even now when you do get lesser films like "Finding Dory" or "Brave", you still will be rewarded with releases like "Inside Out" and "Coco". So, I disagree that Pixar has lost their magic touch entirely. They still have it, and the only movie of theirs that I would argue as legitimately bad is "Cars 2" (although I'll admit I haven't seen "Cars 3" or "The Good Dinosaur", I could tweak this opinion in the future). I'll also admit that Pixar's weaker movies tend to be their sequels. There has been one obviously vast exception to this general rule: The "Toy Story" series. These first three movies are regarded by a majority of people as some of Pixar's best films ever, and I would put myself in that camp. I love every single film almost equally. I do hold a special place in my heart for the first film, as it's probably my favorite Pixar movie (this may change, as I plan to watch every Pixar movie again and rank all of them- coming soon!). I thought the third movie was a practically perfect way to end off this series of movies. We had grown up with these toys, and now we could move on. But then, "Toy Story 4" was announced. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little worried with this announcement. It made me wonder if Pixar was truly going to turn into a company who only did cash grabs on nostalgic properties. I should've never had those worries in the first place. "Toy Story 4" is a superb addition to this series, and may be even better than the third movie.

This movie is an interesting addition to the Toy Story world. I appreciate that a lot of it feels quite unlike any of the other films, making it its own unique entity. There are so many actual risks taken in this movie, which is exactly what I want from Pixar. In this film, Woody, Buzz, and the gang's new kid, Bonnie, is going into Kindergarten. It's clear she's not too excited about this, and isn't seeming to do well on her first day. Thankfully, Woody sneaked into her backpack, and in his own clever way lets Bonnie make a new toy that can comfort her. Out of a plastic spork, red pipe cleaners, and a Popsicle stick comes Forky. This toy soon becomes Bonnie's new favorite. However, when it soon comes to life, Forky has an existential crisis that it belongs in the trash. Woody has to show Forky how to be a toy, all the while grappling with his own place in the world now that Bonnie seems to be losing interest in him. This is only the outline for the movie. There's a lot that happens here, making this one of the more complex Toy Story films plot-wise. As usual though, Pixar knows how to balance all of its many threads to make each of them understandable. There's so much to love about this film. What should obviously be talked about first is the animation. I don't know how Pixar was able to improve on "Toy Story 3"'s already stellar animation, but somehow they did. More than ever, Woody looks like a toy you could reach out and touch. There are so many tiny details that make him seem realistic, like the way his face has this shining effect, or the fact that the marker of Bonnie's name looks a little worn. Bo Peep is markedly better looking in this film than the first one, now looking like an actual breakable doll. It is truly impressive what they do to make each toy look even more feasible. The surrounding animation is incredible as well. In the antique shop where a majority of the film takes place, there is so much detail put on the dust or cobwebs that surround the store. There is a cat who looks for many moments like a real cat. It's jaw dropping when you do a side by side comparison of the dog form the first film to the highly lifelike cat from this film. There are so many colorful and creative moments to the movie. It is stunningly beautiful to look at, and the animation moves so gracefully. There's not a bad or weakly animated moment here. I wouldn't expect less from Pixar, but still, the animation here somehow managed to surprise me in delightful ways.

Working just as well in this film is its slew of new characters. I was at first a little disappointed to see most of the old gang not paid as much attention to in this film. Even Buzz, who has played a big role in the other three films, is reduced to a relatively minor subplot for the majority of this movie. However, I think new life is breathed into this movie because of how great pretty much every new character is, along with their respective voice actors. I appreciated the substantial attention given to Bo Peep. Annie Potts's voice work is stellar for this character, making her confident yet compassionate characteristics clear to the audience. I appreciated that Pixar paid special attention to this character, affording her a lot more complexity than the first movie did. Her and Woody's chemistry is off the charts here. Huge props go to Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele for their absolutely hysterical performances as Ducky and Bunny. There was never a moment when they were on screen that me and my brother weren't laughing. I appreciate that Pixar clearly let Key and Peele bring their comedic talents to the stage, while making it more appropriate for kids. I think you'd be hard-pressed to not laugh at what they do. The animation that accompanies their characters makes the comedy jump off the page from a visual standpoint as well. The ever-lovable Keanu Reeves is great here as Duke Caboom. I would actually be interested to see Reeves do more voice acting in the future, as you can really tell he's having a ball here. He brought a cool energy to the movie, and I appreciated that the film gave Caboom his own mini-character arc that is funny but also legitimately heartfelt. The character who I feel may go the most underrated is Gabby Gabby, played by Christina Hendricks. This character (minor spoiler alert) takes on a somewhat similar role to Lotso in TS3. However, she does not go in the direction I was expecting, which was a truly nice surprise. Many aspects of her character does feel somewhat reminiscent of Lotso, but her character arc truly makes her stand out from most Toy Story characters. This movie doesn't really have a villain, and I think that works to this film's benefit.

I purposefully left out two particular characters for a separate paragraph. The character everyone has been talking about is Forky, with a hysterical voice acting performance done by Tony Hale. It makes sense why Forky is so popular, as his frequent catchphrase of "I'm trash" does appeal to the cynical dark humor of all the millennials out there. There is plenty of comedy to be found in his existential crisis throughout the film, but there is also some rather interesting things to pick out about this character if one were to look a little deeper. I think Forky was needed to make this film exist. His journey in trying to understand his role as a toy is sort of the catalyst for the most important character arc here- Woody's. There are undeniably many great characters in this film, but at the end of the day, this film clearly belongs to Woody. I think that was the best possible decision the director and writer Josh Cooley could've made. For all the plot threads going on here, Woody's is the one that we're supposed to care about most. Tom Hanks, as always, is wonderful as this character. Woody is practically an extension of Tom Hanks's own personality at this point, which does give Woody a unique human connectivity that I don't think the other toys have to such a significant extent. I think Woody will be very easy for an older audience to connect to, especially for those who have grown up with this character. He's wiser than he's ever been, but he's also still uncertain about his place in the world. I feel like I can connect to that now more than I ever could when I was a child. Where his character arc goes I don't want to reveal, but it made me quite emotional. The ending of this movie packs a punch. I'm not quite sure if gave me the same huge emotional punch as the ending of "Toy Story 3", but it still hit me all the same. There was one clear reason this movie was made: Woody's development was not quite done yet. That much is clear to me now. This movie was actually necessary; it wasn't just a cash grab. It actually makes the series feel even more satisfying rather than cheapened, which is quite a rarity in movie series that go on beyond a trilogy.

I don't have many significant issues with this movie. Like I sort of alluded to earlier, it was a little disappointing to see the old gang of toys not paid as much attention to. To be fair, it's not like they were huge characters in the other films, but I still would've liked to see a little more of them. The only character paid significant attention to was Buzz. I ultimately wasn't as invested in what he was doing. It also seemed like the movie dumbed him down a little bit too much. The way his character acted here felt more like how his character would've acted in the first Toy Story. I do understand why his B-plot thread was needed. Because it was clearly not as significant as Woody's or Forky's stories, it didn't ruin my positive feelings about this movie in any significant way.

What more can be said about "Toy Story 4"? I was blown away by this film. It is yet another stellar addition to what is undoubtedly Pixar's best series of films. I'm not quite sure where it ranks in the TS series or in Pixar's catalog as a whole, but it will definitely be on the higher end. I feel brave enogh to say that this movie feels reminiscent of Pixar when it was in its biggest winning streak. That is yet another added bonus. I can't recommend this movie enough. It's definitely one of my favorites of the year!