Toy Story 4

"So this is it? After all [they've] been through?" Without planning it, I first saw "Toy Story 4" in theaters nine years to the day after I first saw "Toy Story 3". Between those two films, Pixar fell a little short of achieving the same level of historic success between "Toy Story 2" and Toy Story 3". I think their best movie after the release of the third film was "Inside Out". With Pixar making sequels as part of its deal with Disney, it makes sense that the past nine years was full of good but not great films because sequels are hardly ever as good as the original films. I like how Pixar's era of sequels begins and ends with films in the Toy Story franchise. Pixar has been working on "Toy Story 4" since at least 2014 and was to be released much sooner but then its release date kept getting pushed back. I didn't mind this because I assumed that they were working hard on the film. Now that I have seen "Toy Story 4", I would bet that it was production problems instead that caused the delay. This latest Pixar film was the first to disappoint me but I am glad that it took almost 25 years and 20 films for this to happen. Other studios could never achieve that kind of a track record. Walt Disney himself wasn't that successful and Marvel Studios likewise wasn't perfect with its films. "Toy Story 4" let me down in a number of ways having to do with the supporting characters and the film's ending. I am at peace however with my disappointment because this is just a movie after all but I need to get a few things off my chest in order to fully move on so this is a warning about the upcoming spoilers.

At first, this film was going to be a midquel. Because "Toy Story 3" ended the franchise so well, the filmmakers didn't want to mess with something that wasn't broken. They were risking enough as it is with "Toy Story 3" because the second film had a perfect resolution too. They were thinking of doing a romantic comedy for the fourth movie that would take place before the toys were given to Bonnie. I want to know why the filmmakers didn't go forward with that idea. I bet part of the answer is that the original filmmakers of this sequel were replaced by new filmmakers. This inadvertently violated one of the Pixar's own rules for telling stories: there has to be a really good reason for telling this particular story. That reason then becomes the heart of the film. Without the original conceivers of the story/franchise, the drive behind telling the story becomes lost. I could defiantly sense an imbalance between humor and drama in this sequel, a balance that all the previous Toy Story films achieved perfectly. The previous three movies were also always about getting home but originality was achieved by employing additional story motifs. "Toy Story 2" was a rescue movie and the third film was all that plus an escape film. For the fourth film, I did see some attempts to utilize those same motifs but the show failed on the resolution (I'll talk more about that later). I was hoping for some relatable themes because they are a big part of the franchise. The first film for example explored the concepts of competition and fear of loss. The third film taught about the importance of change and how the past can always be with us in some capacity. I was hoping that the current thematic trends of Hollywood would not find their way into the Toy Story universe as they did with "The Incredibles" and the "Cars" franchises. Unfortunately, after hearing Tom Hanks on a talk show disclose what Disney wants the actors in "Toy Story 4" to say during the marketing phase, Disney is pushing their audiences to think a certain way instead of allowing us to have our own opinions and having us discover themes for ourselves. For example, Disney wants Bo Peep to be viewed as a strong character from the onset of the original movie. I have always thought this myself long before now. If Disney has to push to get that message across in the marketing of this film, they must not be very secure in their belief of that message themselves or they do not trust audiences to create that opinion on their own. Belittling or playing down to your audience can't be good because nobody learns lessons by force. Disney should be promoting diversity of thought instead. Also, if Disney truly believes that Bo was a strong character to begin with, why did they change her for "Toy Story 4"? One aspect of the story that I felt was lazy writing was that Bo forgives Woody too easily after their argument. In the previous movies, it takes hardship and the majority of the movie in some cases to bring about reconciliation between two characters at odds with each other. All the effort of the toys to get the RV to the carousel seemed uncharacteristic of the franchise because there was too much interference on the lives of the human characters. In the first three films, the toys were at the mercy of what the human characters were doing most of the time. This created deadlines and high stakes. When the toys make efforts to delay or derail the humans in "Toy Story 4", you lose the verisimilitude that the franchise is known for. We always want to be asking ourselves if toys really do come to life. We have seen cars stolen before and taken to the airport, we have misplaced remote controls before but because we haven't seen an RV malfunction its way to a specific place before, the ability to relate to what we are seeing on screen is lost. On a more positive note, I like the subplot of Buzz trying to listen to his inner voice.

I now come to the biggest problem I had with "Toy Story 4". The ending of the film broke a lot of promises made to us throughout the franchise. While Pixar never promised us anything in the literal sense, some of the best lines and scenes from the past three films were forsaken. It caused me great pain. Woody in the past three movies was always acting selfish, even if it was just a little. Towards the end of each film, he puts aside his selfish ambitions for the betterment of others. In the first film, he helps Buzz understand the value of being a toy at the expense of his own value. In "Toy Story 2", Woody sacrifices immortality by going back to Andy. In the third film, Woody gets the toys donated to Bonnie because they, including himself, can do much more good in Bonnie's room than in Andy's attic or at college. Also in "Toy Story 3", we get the ultimate character description of Woody: "He's brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind, and smart. But the thing that makes Woody special, is he'll never give up on you... ever. He'll be there for you, no matter what." Well guess what folks: Woody just gave up on Bonnie at the end of the "Toy Story 4". Disney is starting to teach a wrong message to kids and I have noticed this over the past year. The message I am hearing is that responsibility doesn't matter because someone else can handle it; do what you want instead of what's best for you and others. First it was Vanellope and then it was Thor and now its Woody. I'm now officially scared to watch the computer animated remake of "The Lion King". Is it going to end with the song "Hakuna Matata"? If this was going to be Woody's ultimate fate, I would have much rather him end up at college with Andy instead. The reason why I was able to accept the ending of "Toy Story 3" was because Woody is part of a family of toys. As mentioned, Woody could do more good with his friends making Bonnie happy. Does the Oscar-winning song "We Belong Together" not matter anymore? The argument can be made that Woody had no future with Bonnie but those who say that must not remember the previous films. How is Woody being in Bonnie's closet different from being "replaced" by Buzz in the first film? In the second film, Woody's arm ripped and he was put on the shelf. In the third film, Andy placed Woody in the college box. In every Toy Story film, Woody is tempted to leave his kid and his friends but in the end, he does the selfless thing and goes back to his kid and/or family of fellow toys. After Woody went missing in "Toy Story", did Andy not care because Buzz is now his favourite toy? The answer is no because it took Woody going missing for Andy to appreciate him. After seeing what I saw in "Toy Story 3", I think Bonnie would have missed Woody when he turns up missing. I say that the filmmakers had the power to give Woody a future with Bonnie. I think they were trying to pull another surprise, emotional ending like the last time. In the process, they seem to have forgotten what's best for the characters and all that they had been through. Maybe they were trying to think of the saddest, most dramatic ending they could. I must admit that Woody leaving his family and his kid was very sad, so much so that I have a lot of trouble accepting it. "Toy Story 3" was all about the toys finding a future together, not apart. Woody and Buzz's friendship has always been in danger in every previous film. Because of that, I'd say that Woody has a stronger relationship with Buzz than with Bo. I have three movies worth of evidence to prove it. Twenty-five years ago, a toy taught me that "life's only worth living if you're being loved by a kid" and I became a fan of Pixar and the Toy Story franchise "because I believed him". With "Toy Story 4", I feel like Pixar is telling me that I wasted my time. The biggest promise I feel that Pixar broke was that "when it all ends, [Woody] would have ol' Buzz Lightyear to keep [him] company...for infinity and beyond."

Another Pixar rule to telling great stories is to simplify and combine characters. You'll feel like you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free. There were a number of secondary characters that were not needed in "Toy Story 4". In the third film, the filmmakers got rid of some minor characters including Bo in order to make way for all the new ones that were to be introduced. You really didn't feel competition for screen time. Giggles McDimples was completely unnecessary in this new movie. In the past, Pixar has constructed a character first and then an actor was sought out who could not only bring the character to life but also add unto what the filmmakers had already done. Jordan Peele however is at a highpoint in his career and so it scares me that Pixar is submitting to the temptation of using a big star instead of what feels right by the story. Then again, he might have been cast before the success of his film "Get Out". Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were only well-known actors when they were cast in the early 90's but became superstars in the approximately three years between recording their lines and the release of the original film. The same might have happened with Peele. I also had a problem with Bo Peep running around in her underwear. It seemed less empowerment and more objectification. Forky on the other hand was a good character because he underwent character development. In every Toy Story sequel, there is a secondary character that enjoys their own subplot of progression. In the second film, it was Jessie and in the third film, it was Ken and Barbie. I just wish Forky didn't have to compete for screen time against the other new characters. This brings me to an important observation that we have no villain for the first time ever in a Toy Story film. In the previous two films, the villain is revealed over time. We get a backward revelation in the fourth film because the character that we think is the villain is really just a desperate toy. Gabby Gabby is not really a villain at all but her character journey competed with Forky's journey and that overloads the plot of the movie as a whole. While Ken and Barbie underwent a journey of growth together in the third film, Forky and Gabby were on different paths of character development because they each had different goals. Moving into some fun facts now about "Toy Story 4", Don Rickles was not able to record for this film, unlike what I had previously thought. The production problems were still ongoing when he passed away. As a result, they used archival audio for Mr. Potato Head. This is Bonnie Hunt's eighth Pixar film. The only other actor who has been in more Pixar films is their good luck charm John Ratzenberger (Pixar employees don't count). Ratzenberger is back in the role he started in for Pixar so no cameo was necessary. The best vocal performance in the movie I feel came from Keanu Reeves. Duke Caboom isn't the type of character I would cast Reeves to play but despite this, the character still worked on screen. I'm impressed because I am familiar with Reeves voice and yet I couldn't hear it. I like how Carl Weathers reprised his role of Combat Carl (he debuted this character in the Toy Story Halloween TV special).

Many are commenting on how beautiful and how well animated "Toy Story 4" is. While their observations are correct, I value a well-crafted story more than the visual aspects of a film. I always like to identify a "wow moment" in every Pixar film, which is a point in the movie (not necessarily at the end anymore) where the characters or the story pauses in order to take in the complexity or beauty of what is happening. The rain storm at the start of the movie is a good candidate but I would say that the chandeliers in the antique story are more typical of a Pixar wow moment. Pixar also likes to include some easter eggs or cameos from previous films. I did not locate the Pizza Planet Delivery Truck as of yet but I did identify Carl's grape soda pin and Tinny from Pixar's first Oscar-winning short film, "Tin Toy" (also the first computer animated film to win an Academy Award). While Pixar has enjoyed immense success over the past half a century, it didn't come easy. Many of their past films such as "Toy Story 2" and "Ratatouille" encountered production woes and required hard work to overcome them. I would like to know if Pixar worked hard to overcome the problems happening with "Toy Story 4". The fact that the release date kept changing tells me that Pixar was trying to buy time instead of stepping up to the challenge but I have no proof of this. I am more inclined to believe that if one of the filmmakers had lived his personal life as honorably as his career, this movie would have been better. "Toy Story 4" tragically marks the end of an era at Pixar and even at Disney. While this particular filmmaker was given story credit, we will probably never see his name on a Disney or Pixar film again. This is director Josh Cooley's first feature film as director. He has been working at Pixar though since "The Incredibles", mostly as a storyboard artist. I enjoyed his short film "Riley's First Date?" more than "Toy Story 4".

From 1995 until 2010, Pixar was unstoppable. The 2010's on the other hand were a decade of moderate success for the studio. It is a little sad but realistically speaking, even the Walt Disney Studio has had ups and downs ever since its inception. Pixar couldn’t remain unstoppable forever but I find they do better with original films and when they have the freedom to produce whatever they want. In 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar, there was a push for sequels but Disney it appears also gave Pixar the freedom to make sequels to certain Pixar films when they wanted so that the creative process and the desire to make the movie in the first place was not hindered. This worked in that only "Cars 2" received negative reviews and Oscars continued to be won by films like "Brave", "Inside Out" and "Coco". The heads of Pixar got to be the heads of Walt Disney Animation because of the 2006 acquisition deal and this begat the Disney Resurgence. Despite all this, we can all agree that Pixar enjoyed more success in the previous decade than this one. Pixar may be on to this fact because following "Toy Story 4", there are no new sequels planned. Another way that this sequel marks the end of an era for me is that even before seeing "Toy Story 4", I had decided going forward to forgo my traditional marathon of watching all the Pixar films before seeing newest film from the studio. I have been doing Pixar movie marathons since 2005 but there are just too many films now. Even if there were few films, it would be hard for me to include "Toy Story 4" in the marathon. I will miss this tradition because it was so motivational and uplifting. I could sense for over twenty years that Pixar wasn't just about making money. They mostly desired to tell great stories. The production of "Toy Story 4" started out with that mentality but the delays and problems might have caused the filmmakers to lose sight of that way of thinking. This was just one Toy Story film too many. I think that Pixar got a little too cocky but thank goodness that it took so long for them to make a film that fell short in my eyes. I mostly wish the ending and supporting characters were handled differently in "Toy Story 4". Having said all of this, I must acknowledge that I am probably a lone voice of disappointment. I will not pretend that I am right and everyone else is wrong. While I may have my opinion, I don't want to force what I think on others (unlike what Disney and the rest of Hollywood is trying to do). I just want to share what I think because of how much I care about the franchise. The last thing I want is to ruin the experience of this movie for others and so I am more than fine if people disagree with me. Just as Andy had to let go of his toys in "Toy Story 3", I have to grow up and let the next generation have fun. I will not become one those Star Wars anti-fans that decided starting in 1999 that their childhoods were ruined. My childhood is not ruined because I can just be happy with the first three films. I also have a lot of faith in Pixar as they go onward making original films (pun intended) I just wish that "Toy Story 4" was for everyone, including me. Disney and Pixar should know better than to "tangle with the unstoppable duo of Woody and Buzz Lightyear".

3.5 Stars out of 5