Toy Story 4

The closing chapter to the toys that we all know and love and their journey when a spork comes to life. Woody, Buzz, Jessi and the rest of the gang on one last ride.

My initial reaction to seeing that Disney and Pixar were releasing another Toy Story was more on the negative side. I felt that the 3rd film did a marvelous job wrapping up the stories of these characters, but I was proven wrong. These toys still had so much more to unpack and this is a movie I’m so happy was made.

Director Josh Cooley did a masterful job adding to and closing Toy Story with the most heart wrenching way imaginable. The cast goes without saying, was incredible. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Keanu Reeves, Tony Hale, Annie Potts, and countless others all delivering performances that will bring tears to your eyes. (It brought tears to mine) None feeling overused or underused. It was just perfect.

This film tackles a very deep topic for a kids film. Growing up and moving on. I first saw Toy Story as a kid and connected to the themes at a personal level and here I am as a young adult still feeling this connection and really feeling for these characters. That is something about Toy Story that goes unnoticed. It is in its own way, timeless. You grow up with it and it still speaks to you.

The animation has also improved tremendously since the original Toy Story which came out nearly 25 years. The toys and the people alike all have such an incredible amount of detail and you can see the time and effort put in by the team at Pixar. Some locations felt as if they were real and then had the toys composited into it. Very photorealistic.

It goes without saying that with every Toy Story comes the fantastic score by Randy Newman as well as his well known favorite, “You’ve Got A Friend In Me”. Something about that music and those toys pulls at your heart strings to create some of the most heart felt and genuine moments on screen.

With every movie comes negatives and this film is no excuse. A new toy, a doll, by the name of Gabby Gabby is a key character to the story and to me I felt no performance. Actress Christina Hendricks delivered what felt to be someone talking to a wall instead of a person. Almost soulless. As well as making some characters seem “dumber” then they really are compared to previous films. (I’m trying to stay vague to avoid spoilers)

Another thing is the humor. I didn’t expect myself to laugh as much as I did and it was genuinely hilarious. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, better know as the comedy duo “Key and Peele”, play a stuffed Duck and Bunny that had the audience laughing at every scene they were in. As well as Keanu Reeves as Duke Caboom, who will have you so joyful you won’t be able to contain it.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed this film and I would highly recommend taking the whole family to see it. Just don’t forget to bring some tissues.

I’ll give Toy Story 4 a 4.5/5.