Film Review - Toy Story 4 (2019)

Toy Story 4 is the newest in the series and once again sees Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang adjusting to life at Bonnie’s house but one day when Bonnie does her Kindergarten orientation day she makes a new toy called Forky (Tony Hale) who dreams of freedom and the trash so when he escapes Bonnie’s family RV Woody goes to save him only to find his old friend Bo Peep (Annie Potts.)

Oh boy was I very sceptical about this movie as Toy Story 3 while having some minor setbacks was a great end to the film series and the Toy Story short Cartoons and TV Specials were a perfect continuation of the series and its characters in their new home with Bonnie but alas Pixar wants to clear its sequel list so we got one more movie but does it soar to Infinity and Beyond or is it clearly proof that this series should go sailing no more.

Well it is actually a bit of both as I have very mixed feelings on this movie which I will explain further.

Firstly to start with the positives the animation here is beautiful and there were times when I was sitting there watching the film and thinking to myself “Is this Real Life” as it looked so realistic that part of me was fooled into thinking it was live action, there’s one scene in particular with the rain that looked gorgeous and some of the night scenes with the carnival lights were great to look at as well.

Secondly some of the new characters in the film are good fun my favourites being Ducky and Bunny voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele and their timing is great and I could not believe it was Mr Peele in this movie as he’s made such a name for himself for his horror work like Get Out and most recently Us and that man has enormous talent in both shades of light and dark.

But alas I have to talk about my negatives with this movie and firstly I have to talk about the storytelling in this 4th film as it didn’t really grab me very much, every time I’ve watched the first 3 I’ve felt a strong emotional investment in each of them in terms of both their storytelling and characters be it Woody and Buzz’s dynamic in the first film to Jessie’s arc in the second film or the overall “This is the end” feeling to the third film.

Here that just wasn’t the case sure I was watching what I was seeing being projected in front of me but I just didn’t quite feel that same involvement emotionally be it that sense of the journey or wanting to laugh along with the characters or wanting to cry which the end of the third film makes me do every single time I watch it I just didn’t feel all that moved by it very much nor did I feel any kind of strong emotion while watching it.

Also as much as I like Ducky and Bunny the new characters which were a real highlight of the second and third film whether its Jessie, Bullseye, Stinky Pete and Evil Emperor Zurg in the second film or Lotso Hugging Bear, Ken, Trixie, Buttercup, Mr Pricklepants and Big Baby in the third film didn’t really register much for me, Forky barely has any screen time in the film save for a few lines in the beginning and then a few scenes in the third act he virtually disappears in the second act and he’s meant to be the chief new toy in Bonnie’s life and the central figure of this new film.

Also Duke Caboom voiced by Keanu Reeves has some fun gags but didn’t really do an awful lot for me either and Gabby Gaby voiced by Ms Christina Hendricks feels like a very weak villain to me now Toy Story villains are hard to do as every aspect that could be explored has been explored with the villains in the other films but here I just didn’t really get into this villain much.

And so that was Toy Story 4 and save for some nice animation and Ducky and Bunny I didn’t really get into this new movie all that much I felt the story was weak, most of the new characters barely registered for me and the villain felt anticlimactic, 2 and a half out of 5.