Toy Story 4

*Warning Spoiler*

seen 7/23/19

I have loved the Toy Story movies since the beginning. However, when I heard they were making a 4th installment I wasn’t all that excited. Then the trailer came out and I was still not really excited for this movie. The way Toy Story 3 ended I thought was a perfect wrap up to the series, I didn’t want a 4th movie to ruin that. I went to see this movie due to the word of mouth and the good faith I have in Pixar.

To start off, I really enjoyed Woody’s journey during this movie. It felt more like Woody’s story than any other character’s where as the past movies were about the group’s journey. I loved the fact they were able to develop this character of Woody further. Just as I thought there was no where else to go, Pixar is proving me wrong. 

I also really enjoyed the new characters that were introduced in this movie. Ducky and Bunny may have had some of my favorite parts in the whole movie, they had me cracking up. Forky was also a nice addition however I had gotten pretty annoyed with the character at first when it was just kept thinking it was trash. However, that was probably the point of the character in the beginning. By the end I found myself liking the character just fine. 

I was a little disappointed in the “villain” of the movie. The whole time the movie is setting up this character, Gabby Gabby, to be this “bad” toy. It seems like she will be a serious problems for our protagonist. However, she makes this deal with Woody and when Woody honors his part of the deal, so does she and all of a sudden she is no longer the antagonist, just like that. It happens extremely quick. Now I get this is still a kid’s movie and maybe they didn’t want to retread what they did with Lotso in the 3rd movie but for me I would have rather she be an antagonist the whole way through. 

I also didn’t get the time line of where this movie fit in with the other movies. At the end of the 3rd Bonnie is in pre-k and at the start of this movie she is starting Kindergarten. It seems that there has only been several months that have past between the 2 movies, however it is unclear. The main reason this bothers me is because it seems like Bonnie stops caring about Woody too easily. At the end of Toy Story 3, Bonnie loves Woody, calling him “ my cowboy”, and started to make that  strong attachment to the toy which is why Andy feels ok giving up his favorite toy to her. The way Bonnie just stops caring about Woody in this movie takes away from that emotional impact of the end of the 3rd. Now I get that kids have their phases of toys and I might have been ok with that if she was tired all of her other toys in the same way. But Bonnie isn’t tired of those other toys, she clearly plays with and cares for all of her toys except for Woody. Her disregard for Woody like this just didn’t make sense. 

Overall I had a good time and enjoyed this movie. I didn’t need a 4th movie in this series but I was still satisfied with the movie that was made. I am curious to see where Pixar goes with this series now. I think there are many different directions they could take it. I wouldn’t say this was my favorite in the series but the heart of the original series was definitely there and if you ask me it earned its place in the Toy Story series.