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Toy Story 4 Movie Review

Toy Story 4 is a 2019 animated film directed by Josh Cooley and starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. It’s one of Pixar’s worst outings undoubtedly.

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“I am not a toy.

I am a spork!“

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Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang embark on a road trip with Bonnie and a new toy named Forky. Oh boy, how do I even start with this one? First and foremost, let’s recap. Toy Story is one very overrated franchise. I find it immensely overrated in the context of Pixar films as there are so many better films in their canon.

The first movie was good, though nothing special. And the third is undeniably great, even for me. But the second one was lazy and unnecessary. And the fourth one is the worst. It’s just as unnecessary as the second one was, but even more so when you count in the greatness of the third film and especially its amazing finale that renders this entire film’s existence pointless.

What I found most egregious here is the plot. The plot is just repeated from previous movies as there is nothing new here whatsoever and we get the same themes and conflicts that we got before. How many more times are we going to get an existential crisis in a Toy Story film? I have to ask that question as I really cannot understand why the critics heap so much praise upon this film in particular when it is lazy and weak in reality.

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I liked some of the conversations with Forky in particular here, but overall he ended up being underutilized in the bigger scope of things. Woody is okay here, though much less likable than he was before. Others are mostly forgettable with the exception of Bo Beep who’s actually very good and Gabby Gabby who is solid. The anti-climactic nature to this supposed villain made this film less exciting, but overall it was a fine choice as at least they did not repeat the same villain from before. Ducky and Bunny are so hilarious and they infused the necessary humor in this depressing movie, but they seriously needed more screen time.

Toy Story 4 is even more boring than the first two movies when it comes to its action which is so overwhelming and so uninteresting that it left me exhausted. They go from one place to another and then to another, and they are all not all that exciting, certainly not as the movie thinks they are, and simply those chases and “adventures” have always been very annoying and dull in this overrated franchise.

The animation is great, expectedly so from Pixar. The photorealism is amazing, and of course the designs of the characters, and especially some of the scenery was terrific. The score is repetitive, but the dialogue is undeniably good and the themes are well explored, but having in mind that it was repeated from previous movies, it lost its edge or intrigue factor. I found the ending just solid, and certainly not worth any tears out there.

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There is this very irritating feeling when you watch a movie that everyone praised to infinity and beyond, and then you realize that you are among the very few that found it to be not great at all. Toy Story 4 is one such movie for me. Yes, some conversations are pretty good, the photorealistic animation is great and the film has its fine moments for sure, but overall the script is just rehashed in dialogue and themes from all of the previous movies. It’s a very lazy, very unnecessary movie given the greatness of ‘Toy Story 3’ and its finale. The humor is fine, but rare, and its action/adventure elements are overwhelming and very uninteresting. And I love Pixar to death, but this particular franchise is the most overrated thing they’ve ever produced, and this film specifically is their worst after ‘Cars 2’. That’s why I find it very frustrating when critics show bias toward a certain franchise and heap praise when in reality this is just a weak movie when watched with objective, unbiased eyes.

My Rating – 3