Toy Story 4 - Review

Toy Story 4

Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the gang embark on a road trip with Bonnie and a new toy named Forky (Tom Hale). The adventurous journey turns into an unexpected reunion as Woody's slight detour leads him to his long-lost friend Bo Peep (Annie Potts). As Woody and Bo discuss the old days, they soon start to realize that they're worlds apart when it comes to what they want from life as a toy.

REVIEW: I have seen all three previous “Toy Story” films. Believe it or not this franchise started in November 1995. I damn sure would have screwed up at that Jeopardy Game show response in question form.  No way would I have guessed its almost 25 years old. Even still, it has grossed with its original and two sequels a worldwide box office total of $1,970 Billion in revenues…………………….it is an animation phenomenon.

Over almost a quarter of a century this franchise film has been able to appeal to a newer generation of children again and again while undoubtedly still remained appealing to people like me and younger – people who are now adults with children and grandchildren of their own. So, with such an imaginative rich legacy of critical and financial success it’s only natural over time the quality should have subsided a bit over the years. If for no other reason the initial creative minds at PIXAR who created this animated magic should have longed moved on professionally to other more stimulating projects. So just practically speaking there should be some diminishment in its quality over time………..  RIGHT? Clearly not in this case.

“Toy Story 4” (again) is cleverly masterful with lots of humanity, grace and an abundance of endearing heart that will indeed touch your heart, even better than most well intentioned live action films with humans.

The geniuses at PIXAR could have easily been satisfied with their previous work and retired these odd assortments of 1950’ stylized but equally charismatic toys. But what this current and its previous films all have in common is their unique ability to get inside you – to touch you with a basic and yet meaningful story of how these cartoon characters truly care for one another with an added virtuous dynamic bonus of them caring with real displays of deep personal reflection. And if that was not enough they also earnestly seem to care about their own lives, their own futures, their own fears and their own place in the world that viscerally connects the viewing audiences that coincides to their own goals, concerns, fears and aspirations. Toy Story’s legacy has been to connect all of these emotional dots and then pitch perfectly create a story that resonates with all people regardless of their ages.

Now, I will not be offering any plot details with “Toy Story 4” today. However, I will say it appears to be the last of this film saga. But nevertheless, this last one is exciting, enchanting, touching, surprising, funny, poignant, heartfelt, sweet, innocent and creative. It is a reaffirming homage to their 25 plus years journey together wrapped in singular universal belief, that we all had at some period happiness in our childhood. Happiness largely due to the many early years we had someone who cared for us and in turn we learned to care for them and others. And whether in fact it was a member of own family or just from the randomness coincidence of meeting a stranger who became a new dear friend. Either way caring for others still adds a fantastically spark to all lives that can be rewarding and reflectively enduring.

Toy Story 4“is an absolute must see with a huge timeless life’s lesson to experience inside. But in the process of watching and leaving the theater, if this film doesn’t touch or you don’t see the lesson in. Or you don’t feel the lessons in it; then you maybe, just maybe you might want to seriously reconsider feeling your pulse to determine who in fact was the real human in that theater you just left and who was up on the screen made out of plastic.

4.00 Stars