Toy Story 4 - Review

Can this movie series do no wrong? I, like most of you out there, was more concerned rather than excited when I heard the news that there was going to be a Toy Story 4. Again, like everyone out there, I thought that the third movie ended the Toy Story Trilogy perfectly. *SPOILERS FOR TOY STORY 3* Woody, Buzz and the gang went to a new home and it was the perfect send off. However, because Hollywood can't leave anything alone these days, we have Toy Story 4. But with such a great track record, I stayed optimistic that Pixar would bring their A game and put all their effort into making another great movie. Now that I have seen it, I can safely say that Toy Story 4 is wonderful. Although it may be the weakest of the franchise, it's still an amazing movie.

One thing that I have always loved the Toy Story movies for doing is that, they always bring everything we love about these movies every single time and somehow always keep it fresh and new and exciting. This time around, we have the majority of the original gang here and they all have a new owner, Bonnie. However, unlike Woody's previous owner Andy, Bonnie's attention seems to be given to many of her other toys and Woody spends most of his days watching playtime from the closet. Let's face it, Woody has become a veteran with all the time and attention being given to all the newer more exciting toys. So what's a toy to do? Well, after Bonnie comes back from her first day of Kindergarten with a new toy she created with some arts and crafts materials, Forky, Woody takes it upon himself to be forky's caretaker making sure he is okay so that Bonnie can play with him and have Forky as her favourite toy. One major problem, Forky doesn't believe he's a toy at all! He thinks he's trash and will stop at nothing to end up in the garbage. After a daring escape on a camping roadtrip, Woody's mission is to rescue Forky and bring him back to Bonnie same and sound. On their adventure, they run across tons of new toys and are faced with daring challenges and even run into some familiar faces.

Toy Story has always been able to be great fun for the whole family. The humour, great animation, likable characters and simple stories allow the little ones to enjoy, but this franchise has always mixed in the very modern dialogue along with very adult messages and themes.

The animation this time around is absolutely gorgeous. The person I went to see this with and I both turned to each other many times during the movie and said, "Wow, that looks so real!" The human characters and the toys are now so distinctly different unlike the first film where they almost had the same texture. This is a beautiful looking movie. With all the colours, the lighting effects, the attention to detail, it looks incredible.

Again, we have Tom Hanks back as Woody and Tim Allen back as Buzz. Although they might not be together for most of the movie, their comedic timing and chemistry is still as great as ever. It's a shame that some of our original characters are not in the movie much because some of the actors have passed away or are getting up there in age. Luckily, we get a whole new swell of characters like Duke Kaboom, Canada's Greatest Stuntman played by Canada's own Keanu Reeves (which got a ton of laughs from us hosers up here in the Great White North), Bunny and Ducky played by the hilarious duo of Key and Peele (seriously, they had me laughing out loud hard in this movie) and Gabby Gabby who plays the "villain" of the movie, although she's nowhere as menacing as Lotso the bear from the third movie. The returning character is Bo Peep who has turned into an adventurer rather than Woody's girlfriend from the first two films and she adds much excitement to this movie.

But the best thing that this series has done and what this movie in particular does so well is that it deals with real, adult messages. Whether that be finding your true purpose, dealing with heartbreak, facing the inevitable, fear of loss and death, putting aside your selfish desires for the joy of others, etc. I could write a whole essay about the life lessons that this film gives us, but to not spoil the movie, I will leave it at that.

Not only has the Toy Story franchise entertained us and triggered our sense of imagination and wonder, but it has also told us valuable lessons about life and family and friendship. Although I may point to Star Wars or Harry Potter as my favourite film franchises, I can't deny that the year I was born, another film franchise began and has always been there. That perfect franchise, is Toy Story and Toy Story 4 is a wonderful, wonderful movie.