Tag: Pixar

Toy Story 5 Review: Toys vs Tech.

I grew up watching the first two Toy Story movies.
Despite releasing over a decade later, Toy Story 3 was just as amazing, as was the fourth installment, which released after nearly a decade.
Now, seven years from that, we have Toy Story 5, which thankfully maintains the series’ quality.
For the fifth film, the writers decided to tackle the subject of kids entertaining themselves more with technology than toys.
The movie centers around Jessie (Joan Cusack) this time, who becomes concerned when Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) gets a tablet known as Lilypad (Gretta Lee).
Not only does this risk the toys becoming obsolete, but Jessie also worries that Lilypad could lead Bonnie to the wrong friends. 

Toy Story 5 centers around the conflict between tech and toys.

This makes Toy Story 5 the most topical of the flms, and I love the way the messaging they decided to go with.
Instead of making the technology completely bad, it showed how they could coexist with toys through Jessie’s meeting with a toilet training toy named Smarty Pants (Coan O’Brien).
As for Jessie herself, we get the continuation of her storyline from Toy Story 2, eventually resulting in one of the most moving scenes of the franchise. 

Jessie steps up as the main character in this film.

But what about Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen), the main characters of the past four films?
Well, Woody had his character arc resolved in Toy Story 4 so he is just here as moral support this time around.
Buzz thankfully gets more to do than he did in the previous film, although the rest of Bonnie’s toys feel more like cameos than anything else.
The movie is most focused around Jessie, the conflict between toys and technology, and a weird side story about some lost Buzz Lightyear toys.
The latter storyline seems to just be there so a part of the third act can work.

It also feels largely disconnected from the rest of the film before that point

That is my only big criticism of Toy Story 5 though.
Along with the great commentary and character arc for Jessie, the animation is fun, the story is charming, and it made me reflect on my own time as a kid.
Five movies in and the Toy Story franchise is still going strong when it comes to quality.
Will there be a sixth one, though?  
We shall see. 

Toy Story 4 Review: Four Installments in, Still Going Strong (Reposted).

4 and a half stars
I can honestly not think of a single film series where there have been four fantastic installments in a row, except Toy Story.
Before seeing the most recent of them, I, like many, was concerned about where the story would go.
Toy Story 3 felt like a perfect sendoff for the franchise so I was concerned that they were just doing another one for a cash grab.
I was wrong, however, because Toy Story 4 is another heart warming installment in the series with great character growth, animation and laughs.

animation toy story.jpg
Toy Story 4 delivers a strong story with the best animation out of all the films by a wide margin.

Directed by Josh Cooley, the film follows Woody (Tom Hanks) who is still dealing with the departure of Andy in the previous film pretty heavily.
When his new kid, Bonnie, literally makes a toy out of a spork, which she names Forky (Tony Hale), Woody makes it his mission to protect him to ensure her happiness.
However, this becomes difficult when Forky is separated from them on a family trip and, upon looking for him, Woody is reunited with the long lost Bo Peep (Annie Potts), who has certainly changed a lot since Woody, and the audience, saw her.

Bo Peep
Woody and Bo Peep’s relationship is at the center of the story, being a key part to Woody’s character arc.

The two then work together to rescue Forky and bring him back to Bonnie, before she and her family leave them behind.
Accompanying this story is, once again, the animation and comedy, which are all spot on.
Animation continues to get better and better every year, and it looks especially stunning in Toy Story 4.
Along with this, the comedy is also fantastic with new characters Ducky and Bunny (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele), and Duke Caboom (Keeanu Reeves) being particular highlights.

Ducky and Bunny.jpg
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are hilarious as Ducky and Bunny, especially during the plush rush scene, which is more than the trailers make it out to be.

It is with the character development of Woody, though, that the film truly shines, with Woody having what is probably his best arc out of any of the films.
Many of the new characters have great arcs as well, including the film’s villain (if you can even call her that) Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks).
However, this also ties into the one issue I have with the film.
This being that, even though Woody, Bo, and other characters’ arcs are fantastic, characters like Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and many more of Woody’s friends feel a bit underdeveloped and underused.
Otherwise, Toy Story 4 is another great installment in the franchise, and it will be interesting to see if it continues or if this is the final one for real this time.