Toy Story 4

I personally think that Toy Story 3 was the perfect finale for this movie series (With shorts such as Toy Story That Time Forgot as the colophon) but this was an okay follow-up.

I guess all those fans who had Bo Peep as their favorite character would be more than happy to see her again after her notorious abscence in Toy Story 3.

Overall, it was a pretty decent movie, fun to watch but without the same emotional impact of the third part.

7.5/10.

Toy Story 4 takes us back to the beloved universe of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and their friends, while introducing a fresh perspective on what it means to find one's purpose and identity. Released a decade after its predecessor, this installment captures the charm and emotional depth that fans have come to expect, while carving out its own unique narrative.

The film begins with Woody grappling with his role in a world where his owner, Bonnie, is no longer a child who plays with him as much. This poignant shift raises questions about purpose and self-worth that are relatable to anyone who has experienced change in their life. When Bonnie creates a new toy named Forky, a spork that believes it's trash, Woody takes it upon himself to help Forky understand his value as a toy.

The heart of Toy Story 4 lies in its exploration of identity and belonging. Woody's journey of self-discovery is beautifully juxtaposed with Forky's comedic confusion and existential crisis. The humor is wonderfully balanced with deeper themes, making the film accessible for children while resonating with adult audiences.

In true Pixar fashion, Toy Story 4 shines with stunning animation and meticulous attention to detail. The visuals are breathtaking, from the vibrant carnival scenes to the serene backyard settings, immersing the audience in a richly created world. Each character is brought to life with distinct personalities, and the new characters, especially the loveable vintage doll Gabby Gabby, add depth to the emotional narrative.

The film also explores the theme of letting go, as Woody faces the reality of moving on from being Bonnie's favorite toy. In a powerful climax that emphasizes the importance of choice and selflessness, audiences are reminded that love can sometimes mean making tough decisions.

While Toy Story 4 may not have the same groundbreaking impact as its predecessors, it beautifully serves as a continuation that honors the legacy of the franchise. It leaves us with profound reflections on what it means to find our place in the world and the relationships that shape us.

As the credits roll, we're reminded that although toys may not be real in the traditional sense, the emotions and connections they represent are genuinely impactful. Toy Story 4 is a thoughtful, heartwarming addition to the series that reaffirms the idea that every ending is, in fact, a new beginning. It stands as a testament to the enduring power of friendship and the ever-evolving journey of self-discovery.

Toy story was special because of the bonding between the toys themselves and between them and Andy. Now that they are with Bonnie, you'd expect to get that same feeling. It did not develop. In contrast, she bonded with Forkie and the gang was an excessory.

The movie is well put together but the feeling is just gone in my opinion 4 was simply one too many

And forky was a bad character in my opinion

I know time is up to dust off a few gender-driven stereotypes. For that, "Frozen" was a landmark. But there's a fine line between creating new characters and promoting their differences and deconstructing old characters that belong to a whole other storyline in order to promote a difference, that's when I get the feeling that Disney is dangerously toying with its own legacy.

To make myself more specific, I would have no problem with a film centering on a gender exclusive romance and maybe that will be "Frozen II" novelty, but I would have a problem if they made a sequel to "The Fox and the Hound" in order to suggest that there was more than a friendship between Todd and Copper. Watching "Toy Story 4", I felt betrayed by the way the whole relationship between toys and owners, that took a trilogy to be built, was demystified in one single film to shine a light on Disney's 'new order'.

All the previous "Toy Story" movies had a specific story. The first was exploring the psychology of toys within their relationships with their owners. Anyone could relate to that, kids who own toys and adults who used to. It also sealed the friendship between Woody and Buzz, as two of Andy's favorites, not rivals. The second film established the issue of growing up through the Jessie situation and the impeding doom of hormone-driven rejection. Still, Andy and Woody realized that they were not articles among others or valuable items to be worshiped, having ANDY written on their feet was their value and it was perfect while it lasted.

The trilogy ended with the perfect tone (and note), Andy, now grown-up, realizes that the sentimental value of his toys depend on their current utilization as much as their past, so he gives all the toys, including Woody, to Bonnie. For the first time, there's a voluntary separation between the partners, it's an end of era but also a new start. And the toys' "circle of life" has always been about children having toys not toys having children, the song wasn't "I've got a friend in you" after all. In that fourth opus, there's such an obsession with that notion of "having children" that it felt like they were procreating them. I'm not exaggerating, it's used so many times it became a whole overarching theme.

But I didn't have a problem with that because the film started with a rather touching scene. Feeling rejected by Bonnie, Woody follows her in her first day at school and helps her create a new toy, "Forky", I just loved the way the "Spork" came alive on the sole basis that he was considered a toy, and the way Woody felt responsible in a fatherly that wasn't totally out of place in the film's context. Because the motive was still Bonnie: he didn't want her to lose her new toy, Woody was still thinking of his owner, and that's the way all toys behaved, not because that's the way it should be, but because that's the way it was established as soon as the series began.

This is why I just hated the way Woody admitted at the end that he did that because he had nothing else to do, as if toys were supposed to have an existence of their own, and being a lost toy was an option. Woody cared for Bonnie and Forky and it was out of character to describe this as a weakness. But the film constantly shows Woody as a weak character, both morally and physically, and for that, the studios came up with the right contrast: Bo Peep who is of course the incarnation of the Disney heroine, she's brave, bad-ass, perfect, not one ounce of vulnerability and nothing is impossible to her. Meanwhile, Jessie was relegated to a tertiary character while she could have been the female lead after all.

The character of Gabby Gabby was a great addition though, acting like a Disney villain (especially with her scary minions-automatons) but displaying a hidden depth that broke my heart. That Gabby had the potential, but Bo was such a caricature that I could hear the marketing strategy behind her creation "let her awesomeness put Woody to shame" and she did a great job at that. Naturally, she's proud of not "having children" which seems to associate parenting with a form of commitment a girl should be proud to reject. Quite hypocritical from a studio whose main audiences aren't seniors.

Now, maybe I'm overanalyzing, but when you also have two toys who insist on "having children" since they've been "waiting for three years" and they're males, it's of course a nod to the right for adoption, which draws the obvious parallel between belonging to children and having children. Which says in subtext, women shouldn't make raising families a priority but it's clearly one for those who've been denied this right. The message isn't wrong but just off-topic in the context of a series where a/ toys have always been the possessed ones not the possessors, b/ when the possession was a mark of friendship and nothing else and c/ when viewers could relate to owners, even from the toys' perspective. By over-humanizing them to make them timely relevant, something of the series' charm was lost.

My view is rather conservative but only in the sense that I wished the spirit of "Toy Story" to be conserved the way it was in the first three films, I enjoy a progressive film like anyone, but I wish Disney could do that with new characters, not with series whose arcs were perfectly closed. But I think I see where they're coming from, they're probably preparing a spin-off prequel that will center on Bo Peep, so maybe "Toy Story 4" is only a vehicle for her. Ironic that in the film, it's a skunk.