Toy Story 4 (2019)

I remember when “Toy Story 3” premiered. I remember how excited people were. I remember that the people around me in the theatre were all mainly my age. We were the “Toy Story” generation. We were about Andy’s age when the film premiered in 1995 and we were about Andy’s age as he said goodbye to his toys. We were saying goodbye along with him to these characters that we had grown to love. Except “Toy Story 4” premiered and that all went down the drain.

I am one of the few people who was not excited for a new Toy Story film. I had no reason to be. The trilogy ended perfectly. That was the perfect send off to Buzz and Woody and the rest of the gang. Of course the Toy Story franchise is one of Disney/Pixar’s money grabs so why wouldn’t they cash in on the franchise one more time (hopefully).

Directed by Josh Cooley we find Buzz (Tim Allen) and Woody (Tom Hanks) and the rest of Andy's toys adjusting to life with Bonnie (Madeline McGraw). Woody is repeatedly looked over and he begins to lose his sense of purpose. He regains his sense of purpose when Bonnie returns from kindergarten orientation with Forky (Tony Hale). After making him, he becomes Bonnie’s new favorite toy, but Forky views himself as trash. He continually tries to throw himself away and Woody is dedicated to making sure he remains with Bonnie.

There is nothing here that isn’t original. Woody must adjust to no longer being the favorite much like in the first film. Woody meets toys who are happy being lost as that means they always get played with as opposed to feeling lost as their kids grow older (Toy Story 2). There’s an antique shop where some toys have more powers than others (Toy Story 3). The ruler of the antique shop is Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks). She has a broken voice box, but notices that Woody’s still works and is the same model as hers.

Working for Gabby Gabby are some terrifying ventriloquist’s dummies. Seriously they’re scariest things you will ever see in an animated film. Anyway, after missing from the previous film we see the return of Bo Peep (Annie Potts). She is happy to live free without a kid. She is completely free.

Bo Peep is awesome. She’s always been awesome so it was annoying to see she was missing from Toy Story 3. That is one thing that makes me happy. We find out her fate, and it’s a good one all things considered. She’s happy and no one messes with her. She’s brave. She’s grown

One character who disappointingly regressed in character development was Buzz Lightyear. He becomes nothing more than the comic relief relying on his inner voice to tell him what to do. That’s it. That’s all he does. It’s not bad per se, but that’s not Buzz Lightyear. We have plenty of comic relief toys. One being Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves). Duke is a stuntman Toy from Canada who has an existential crisis anytime he attempts a stunt. He can’t perform the stunts as he’s meant to which caused him to be abandoned by his kid.

The resolution of the film occurs at the town carnival. There are also plenty of post credit scenes to show how the toys are faring after making the decisions they do. This isn’t a bad film by any means. It was entertaining, but I can’t help asking why this exists. It doesn’t add to the original story. There’s nothing new about the material. It’s just there. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I think I’ll stick to rewatching the original trilogy.