For some lore on this review series
I said in my Coco review that were two Pixar movies that were playing in background and I went in and out of attention. Toy Story 4 was one of those titles. Going into this installment of the Toy Story franchise I knew the basic premise and ending but how the plot unraveled and coalesced, I haven’t really the foggiest.
Toy Story 4’s reputation does proceed it as it’s considered the weaker of the Toy Story movies. However at one point in time is was a very highly anticipated movie sequel getting a mention in The Muppet’s Most Wanted opening song ”We’re doing a sequel, The studio wants more, While they wait for Tom Hanks to make Toy Story 4”
So while it took the studio a while and is still considered a weaker unnecessary addition to the saga was it that bad?
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Emotional Whiplash!
To be honest, Toy Story 4 is a puzzlement. I didn’t hate it but I understand the criticism surrounding this movie. The choices made in this movie after the third installment feels overly weird. It does feel like emotional whiplash.
Positives? Sure, Why Not?
Let’s start with the positives. The animation is gorgeous. Hands down Toy Story 4 is the best the franchise has looked and you can tell the animators but they’re all into animating this movie.
The humor is great. Bunny and Ducky are hilarious. I didn’t mind Buzz conflating the concept of conscious with this voice commands and picking what resonates.
I also enjoyed Duke Caboom as well as Billy, Goat and Gruff. After Forky had his reliezation about him being no longer trash, he got better but we’ll get back to Forky. Would I have wanted more Trixie and Bullseye in in this plot instead of just being there? Yes! Also I miss my boy the shark but he is long gone at this point.
This Movie Makes some Odd Choices
Much of the discourse surrounding this movie is Woody’s decision to leave Bonnie and his friends to go off with Bo Peep as a lost toy. This decision is in stark constant to the previous movies where a toy’s purposes hinges on being loved by a child AND/OR getting played with thus feeling love and value.
As Bonnie isn’t playing with Woody he feels his purpose isn’t being fulfilled thus he tries to keep Forky in check and out the trash can because Forky is Bonnie’s current favorite toy. So Woody isn’t getting played with anymore, nor he the leader of the toys of the room he did however still get selected to go the vacation. Also just add Woody going on about Forky reminded me of The Simpson when Homer voice and animated character Poochie and pitches to animators that “Whenever Poochie’s not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, ‘Where’s Poochie?'” I was getting that a lot throughout this movie.
A Toy Makes a Choice
While in the first movie Woody learns that he doesn’t have to be Andy’s favorite toy, that new toys are ok. Given Woody’s lesson from the first Toy Story movie and Woody’s actions in this fourth installment that Woody can be alright not being favorite if he is still the leader. In Andy’s room Woody was the leader of the toys or at least was high up the hierarchy of respectability. In Bonnie’s room there was already a de-facto leader and it’s not Woody. So Woody throughout the franchise has enjoyed a leadership role or in a position of prominences within his toy group. So as he is not in either position he that is used to within Bonnie’s room he tries to make himself important to aligning with Forky and then when he reunites with Bo Peep he realizes he is important to Bo Peep and that changes his outlook on being a chosen lost toy.
If you read Woody’s decision has he needs to feel important for his own internal validation rather than being there for a child than Woody’s decision to leave is an okay outcome for this part of the saga and yet it does contrasts too much with the other movies with little character interception. Basically it’s a classic Maestro vs Tribal mentality where Woody has been more of maestro in this movie than tribal. It all just feels wrong and hollow.
A Villain Whom the Movie Justifies Her Actions
Speaking of validation the villain of this movie is Gabby Gabby. She’s a pull string doll from the late 50s with a defective voice box. It’s due to this flaw that she has never known the love of a child. Therefore she has been languishing in an antique shop where she has a mob boss status.
As she REALLY wants to have a child she feels she needs to be perfect. Thus she wants Woody’s voice box and kidnaps Forky to induce the trade. So we have another rescue scenario. The issue is unlike Pete, Lotso, or even Sid, Gabby Gabby is awarded because she gets her own way and her voice prove key to getting her a child.
While the movie tries to play this as a heart-felt moment it just lands as the villain was proven correct in her outlook that she was justified in kidnapping Forky and taking Woody’s voice box. It all feels rather icky.
Final Thoughts or Maybe Not! Who Knows?
While aspects of Toy Story 4 that are fun and entertaining it’s too much a paradigm shift from the other movies in the franchise. Too much what happens in this movie is driven by bad emotional decisions and weird sense of values and conflated important.
Not to mention the implication of toys’ existences and mortality. It’s a little weird when one sits and think about it but of course the movie and Toy Story as a whole doesn’t want the viewers to really think about it too much as made evident but the last line of dialogue by Forky about how he came to even be a toy by saying “I don’t know.”
Yes, it was an unnecessary sequel that while does expand more on the world via lost toys as the inventible conclusion for a toy’s longevity and existing not at the whims of child but it’s still the same old story where Woody does something the involve a rescue, Buzz acts the weird himbo and the other characters we’ve grown to like getting waylaid as supporting cast. Buttercup does get a weird subplot about getting Bonnie’s dad arrested and yet Abby Gabby gets a happy ending. It’s a weird narrative.
