Toy Story 4

As quite an avid Toy Story fan - my dad is an even BIGGER fan - I have to admit that I wasn't all that excited for Toy Story 4. 

Of course I was going to see it, but it sounded like it had a bit of a long road to getting created and the initial trailers just really weren't doing it for me. 

I didn't want to believe that Disney had turned one of its most beloved films into a cash grab a la Cars, but the lack of laughter and imagination I was feeling from the trailers made me feel that. 

Ultimately, I think a lot of us, myself included, just felt like Toy Story 4 didn't need to happen. I'm never against sequels if they deserve to exist or can entertain at a level similar to the first (much like LEGO Movie 2 did earlier this year), but Toy Story 3 was so final that a fourth film felt like a reach. 

Luckily the minds at Pixar respect these characters as much as we do and Toy Story 4, while completely inessential to actually needing to have been made, is a wonderfully great time with the old gang. It has lofty expectations in terms of the three films that came before it, of which it never reaches their highs, but it's still got plenty to offer in terms of laughs, heart, and downright astonishing animation. 

Toy Story 4's critiques really come when it's compared to the films before it and assessing whether the "4" hanging from it's title card was well earned. At the end of the day the story presented is actually the best part of the film and is shockingly a fairly logical progression of the "life of a toy". In Toy Story 3 we were all left emotionally devastated in what we believed to be our friends' final moments and right after again when Andy passed along his toys to an adorable neighbor named Bonnie. Toy Story 4 doesn't need to exist in the sense that I think we all would have been ok had the previous film's poignant ending been the last of it, BUT Toy Story 4 studies - a couple years later in the movie world and many years later in the real world - what happens to an aging toy. Surprisingly, it doesn't even go down the route of using it as a metaphor for technology, but instead explores the space of wondering when a toy's job is done. To say much more would be spoilery, but that theme is poetic and it's all encapsulated in an exciting, if not somewhat familiar adventure.

If I imagined Buster Bluth in toy form,
I feel like this is frighteningly accurate

Throughout that adventure we get to revisit with some old toys and are introduced to some new ones. Woody, more than ever, is at the forefront of this film and it's truly his and Tom Hanks' film. Popular members like Rex, Ham, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, and even Jessie and Buzz to a certain degree are in much smaller roles this time. Filling that gap is the return of Bo Peep who's been living the life of a "lost toy" and Forky (played by Tony Hale doing a freaked out version of Buster from Arrested Development) who's a toy that Bonnie made. While you may be disheartened to hear that most of the cast is relegated to the background, I can assure you that the new additions are fun and memorable. Key and Peele are here as Ducky and Bunny, respectively, and they're responsible for some really big laughs (but also some of the films "failed" laughs). Keanu Reeves is also along as Duke Kaboom who is sparingly and perfectly used (and probably my favorite add). In all, it's an eclectic and large cast that all make these toys feel alive, led easily by trusty Tom Hanks.

The humor of the film for me was mostly hits with some misses - though perhaps I had my expectations set too high from online first impressions. Toy Story 4 is still a funny film, but it's clear that some of the novelty has worn off with the physical humor in particular. We now take these toys seriously as characters so some of the laughs from "Oh look it's a toy doing XYZ!" just aren't there anymore (for me at least). I also found Ducky and Bunny to be inconsistently funny, mainly because they were just an embodiment of Key & Peele, but G-rated. They have one fantastic recurring joke throughout the film, but otherwise I didn't find them all that funny (though I still liked their characters). Forky and especially Duke Kaboom are hilarious though, particularly Kaboom's backstory, and will likely be fan favorites after this.

What perhaps wowed me the most about Toy Story 4 however is its animation. Granted, it's been several years since the previous film but at times the film looks almost photo-realistic. I kept asking myself if they had brought in "live" elements (similar to The LEGO Movies) because stuff looked so damn good. Even simple things like the aging on Woody's plastic is just an insane level of attention to detail. Many years after the original film it's jaw-dropping to see how Pixar have truly become masters of their craft and how the technology has advanced. 

"Yes I Can-ada!"

No matter how you look at it, Toy Story 4 is a pretty significant achievement. It's an entertaining revisit with characters that have spanned multiple generations and even if it's not quite at the level of the first three (at least for me), it's still a heartfelt and funny time with a story that earns that "4", rather than just being the cash grab we were afraid of.

CONS

• In the grand scheme of things, we didn't need a Toy Story 4
• Humor had a few misses for me. Key and Peele in particular - aside from their hilarious recurring joke - fell flat 
• If you're heavily invested in the other toys, they all get sidelined here

PROS

• Wonderful cast of characters, old and new. Woody is front and center here and is one of Tom Hanks' best and most iconic characters
• Heartfelt story that is a smart progression forward after we all thought Toy Story 3 was "the end". I wasn't a wreck like I was at the end of TS3, but this one still has some well-earned emotional beats
• Often funny and, at times, hilarious. Duke Kaboom, "plush rush", and Forky were my favorite elements (in that order too)
• Colorful and vibrant
• Insane animation with an unparalleled attention to detail. Truly stunning
• Great pacing and it's short (~90 mins) and sweet

Rath's Review Score | 8.5/10