Toy Story 4 (2019) Disney/Comedy-Adventure RT: 100 minutes Rated G (nothing offensive) Director: Josh Cooley Screenplay: Stephany Folsom and Andrew Stanton Music: Randy Newman Cinematography: Patrick Lin and Jean-Claude Kalache Release date: June 21, 2019 (US) Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Madeleine McGraw, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Ally Maki, Jay Hernandez, Lori Allen, Joan Cusack, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Emily Davis, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Blake Clark, June Squibb, Carl Weathers, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, Jeff Garlin, Timothy Dalton, Jodi Benson, Jeff Pidgeon, John Morris, Jack McGraw, Laurie Metcalf, Mel Brooks, Carol Burnett, Betty White, Carl Reiner. Box Office: $434M (US)/$1.074B (World)
Rating: ****
The Toy Story series is the only movie series that’s been consistently excellent. Think about it. Every franchise has that one movie that just doesn’t cut it. Star Wars has Attack of the Clones. Indiana Jones has the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Star Trek has The Final Frontier. Police Academy has…. oh, never mind. The point is there’s never been a bad Toy Story, a point proven by Toy Story 4, the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of a cowboy named Woody (Hanks), a spaceman named Buzz Lightyear (Allen) and their entire toy family.
The thing I love about the Toy Story movies- well, I love many things about them but let’s stay with this one thing for now- is that Pixar respects the franchise enough to take their time developing each film. Think about it. It was 11 years between the second and third movies and 9 years between the third and fourth. These aren’t cash-grab sequels like Monsters University and Cars 2 & 3. Like its predecessors, Toy Story 4 is funny, poignant, exciting, action-packed, beautifully animated and even existential. That’s right, I said existential. The Toy Story movies are as much for adults as they are for children.
Directed by Josh Cooley, the writer of Inside Out making his behind-the-camera debut, Toy Story 4 opens with a flashback to the night Woody’s love interest Bo Peep (Potts, Ghostbusters) left the fold to be with another child. Woody doesn’t want her to go but Bo Peep assures him that part of being a toy is being taken away. That’s what happens to toys. Well, that’s one of the things that happen to toys.
In present day, it’s been two years since Woody, Buzz and company went to live with Bonnie (McGraw, Ant-Man and the Wasp), an imaginative child about to start kindergarten. Woody has been delegated to the closet with other ignored toys. Fearing he’s outlived his usefulness, he overcompensates by trying too hard to protect Bonnie from the realities of life. Worried that kindergarten orientation will be too much for her, he sneaks into her backpack and watches as her new classmates ignore her. He covertly grabs a few items from the wastebasket and places them in front of her for arts and crafts time. One of the items is a spork that Bonnie turns into a homemade toy (popsicle stick feet, pipe cleaner arms, googly eyes) that she names Forky (Hale, Arrested Development). He becomes her new favorite toy.
Forky comes to life and immediately begins to question his purpose in life. He believes himself to be trash and keeps trying to throw himself away. Woody keeps recovering him from the can while trying to make him understand that he is now a toy. When Bonnie and her family go on a road trip in an RV, she brings Forky along with some of her other toys. Woody goes along to keep an eye on Forky who invariably jumps out of the RV. Woody goes after him and tries to bring him back. On the way to the RV park, they pass an antique shop where Woody’s spots Bo Peep’s lamp. He and Forky go inside to find her but meet talking doll Gabby Gabby (Hendricks, Mad Men) instead. She’s the de facto villain of Toy Story 4. She wants Woody’s voice box to replace her broken one as she believes it’s the only thing preventing her from being taken home by a child. He escapes from the store but inadvertently leaves his companion behind. Gabby Gabby and her ventriloquist dummy henchmen hold Forky captive until Woody agrees to give her what she wants.
Meanwhile, Woody reunites with Bo Peep who’s happy in her new life as an ownerless toy who drives around in a motorized skunk car with her “kids”, a three-headed sheep named Billy, Goat and Gruff and bff, a miniature cop named Giggles McDimples (Maki, Wrecked). She and her little family agree to help Woody rescue Forky and get him back to a frantic Bonnie. Meanwhile, Buzz and the others conspire to keep the RV right where it is until Woody and Forky return.
The whole Toy Story gang is back including cowgirl Jessie (Cusack, Working Girl), Rex the T-Rex (Shawn, Young Sheldon), Slinky the Dog (Clark, The Waterboy), Hamm the pig (Pixar mainstay Ratzenberger) and the Potato Heads (Rickles and Harris). The late Don Rickles, to whom the film is dedicated, appears courtesy of previously made audio recordings. There are some new faces as well like a pair of plush carnival toys, Ducky and Bunny (Key and Peele), and a Canadian daredevil motorcyclist named Duke Caboom (Reeves, John Wick) who definitely deserves his own spin-off movie. His backstory is pretty cool.
I won’t mince words. Toy Story 4 is not only one of the best films I’ve seen this summer, it’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year. In a word, it’s wonderful. Since the first movie premiered in ’95, I’ve been a loyal fan. The idea of toys coming to life when humans aren’t looking is simple but brilliant. Show of hands, how many of you as kids imagined your favorite toys having their own adventures while you were at school or sleeping? I’m sure it’s almost everybody. It’s an idea that never gets old. Why? Who doesn’t like a little bit of magic in their lives? I’m well past the days I played with toys in my room but when I watch a Toy Story movie, it’s like I’m a kid again. The stories told in these movies are pure imagination. They’re also beautiful and I don’t only mean the computer-animation which, as usual, is first-rate, top of the line quality. The lessons they teach about friendship, loyalty and growing up are absolutely terrific. All four movies have succeeded in wringing a few tears out of me.
Now let’s look at Toy Story 4 from an adult point of view. Kids don’t give a fig about existentialism but it’s one of the core elements of the series. The characters go through existential crises. Take Woody. He’s an old toy questioning his purpose now that his kid doesn’t play with him anymore. He fears becoming obsolete the same way old people fear death. His watching over Forky is his way of fighting off those fears while still feeling useful. I’ve already mentioned Forky questioning his own existence. The movie even ends with a question asked and unanswered by philosophers throughout history: “Why am I alive?” A lot of thought goes into these Toy Story movie yet they’re still accessible to children who are there for the colorful images and their favorite characters.
The voice talents, as always, are terrific. Hanks and Allen still have great chemistry. Reeves is an awesome addition to the family. Hendricks doesn’t exactly exude menace as Gabby Gabby and it’s this very quality that makes her villain a sympathetic one. At the end of the day, she only wants what all toys want, a kid to call her own. Randy Newman is back on board with a new song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” that I’m sure will be on this year’s Oscar ballot. I think I’ve said all there is to say about Toy Story 4. I know this review is already too long. I’ll close by urging you to see this movie whether or not you have children. It’s that rare kid’s movie you don’t look creepy going to see without a kid. It’s outstanding!
