Toy Story. For nearly a quarter of a century those two words have been virtually synonymous with two other words – movie magic.
With this latest one on track to make well over $350 million at the domestic box office alone, the series still has plenty of magic. This fourth one is reportedly the last one, but that’s what they said about the third so who knows?
My business manager wants me to review movies as soon as they come out and I apologize to my fans for the delay here but considering Toy Story 4 was #2 at the box office just this past weekend in its fourth week of release whether or not to watch it in theaters will still be a relevant question for a while. Heck, I’m sure there will be kids wanting to watch it all summer long.
Does it deserve the adulation? Sure. That being said, as much as I love the series, my thoughts on the individual movies aren’t varied enough for them to get individual posts; I’ll simply share all my thoughts here.
Toy Story (1995) – One of my absolute favorite movies of all time. Years before I became an Entertainment Weekly subscriber I wound up with a copy of their “Fall Preview” issue for this year during a family trip and was highly intrigued to find out that the first-ever computer animated film was on its way. That holiday season, when my dad and I were home alone, I asked him to take me to this new movie. He then spent years complaining about it, which appalls me. This was after he had already spent years complaining about the time I had him take me to Sidekicks…okay, maybe he had a point about that one.
Back to Toy Story though – I will never, ever forget that night. The magic was almost indescribable but I will try…since it is kind of my job. The sight of this computer animation was unlike anything I had ever seen in a movie – and unlike anything anyone else had ever seen because, again, it had never been done before in a whole feature.
It’s not just the novelty though. The story (no weak pun intended) is incredible. Later the idea of giving personalities to non-living characters and giving them conflicts relatable to humans was copied in films ranging from fellow Pixar entry Cars to eventual Pixar owner Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph to rival Sony Pictures Animation’s (excuse me while I throw up) The Emoji Movie. In 1995 the concept (story) was as novel as the style (computer animation), however, and it’s amazing seeing these toys walking, talking, and feeling full ranges of human emotions. Small children will love it to death, and the rest of us (even myself as a 14-year-old at the time) loved the nostalgic feeling coming from watching the toys’ owner Andy play with them.
Yet even with the plot it’s not just the freshness or the creativity – it’s extremely compelling. Sheriff Woody, the cowboy used to being Andy’s favorite toy from the beginning, suddenly has to compete with the astronaut Buzz Lightyear Andy gets one Christmas. Not just compete in fact – he winds up taking a backseat to him. There are two major conflicts in the film – one is Woody trying to cope with his jealousy of Buzz and the other is Buzz thinking he’s a real spaceman instead of knowing he’s a toy. Both get dealt with when Buzz gets lost and Woody, as the longstanding leader of the toys, has to pursue him.
The other toys, including a piggy bank named Hamm (John Ratzenberger), a dinosaur named Rex (Wallace Shawn), a dog with a slinky inside (Jim Varney), a Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), and a Bo Peep doll (Annie Potts), add a lot of color to the film, both with their looking up to Woody and with their oblivious adoration of Buzz. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are, understandably, the real standouts though. At the time their casting in the lead roles was a no-brainer, given Hanks was fresh off of back-to-back Best Actor Oscar wins and Allen was the star of TV’s most popular sitcom. However, even decades later I still can’t imagine more perfect choices than Hanks and Allen for the affable hero and the charming meathead.
This film received a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars but it’s highway robbery that it wasn’t honored with a Best Picture nod as well. Beauty and the Beast had already (deservedly) broken the barrier for animated films to get that most prestigious nomination four years earlier. Moreover, there was a family film nominated for Best Picture that year: Babe. No disrespect to Babe but Toy Story was much better. It was also better than the other nominees that year I’ve seen. The other nominees included eventual winner Braveheart, Sense and Sensibility, The Postman (Il Postino), and Apollo 13, which ironically starred HANKS as an astronaut.
Ha, what I remember most about the Oscars that year was that my local paper, in its cover story on them, had a picture of a finish line. Trying to cross it were a pig and four human legs. One leg belonged to a man wearing a kilt, one belonged to a lady dressed in old British garb and carrying a book, one belonged to a postman, and one belonged to an astronaut. I suppose if Toy Story had been nominated instead of any of those other movies the question would have been whose leg got to represent it – Woody’s or Buzz’s. If Apollo 13 had still been nominated I guess it would have had to be Woody’s or there would have been two astronaut legs but I’m guessing Buzz would have still felt peeved.
Wow perhaps there really is no limit to how many great stories can be told about those characters. No wonder there have been three more lauded features!
Toy Story 2 (1999) – This time around Woody, whom we learn is a vintage toy from the 1950s, winds up in the hands of a collector (Wayne Knight) who hoards valuable toys for their monetary value. There Woody meets other toys including a prospector named Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer, in his only appearance this series) and a cowgirl named Jessie (Joan Cusack, who becomes a regular). While Woody initially wants nothing more than to return to Andy, Jessie, in the Academy Award-nominated song “When She Loved Me”, talks about being abandoned when her previous owner outgrew her. Woody now starts to think that, rather than return to Andy and get his heart broken eventually, he should remain a collectible and always be celebrated for his value. This leads to the other main characters trying to rescue him, including a hilarious reversal from the first movie in that BUZZ now tells WOODY, “You are a toy! T-O-Y.”
This plot allows the new additions, who are great, while foregrounding the other toys from the previous movie, who entertain with the opportunity. However, this all comes at the expense of the bonding between Woody and Buzz. Their one-on-one rapport was the best part of the previous movie and it’s missed here. I’m not faulting Toy Story 2 at all for this; too many sequels simply imitate the original and this film deserves props for telling its own story that is equally entertaining. It’s purely out of personal preference I’d choose the first film.
Toy Story 3 (2010) – Over a decade later, after Pixar had gone from being simply the production company that gave us the Toy Story movies (and the often-overlooked A Bug’s Life) to being one of Hollywood’s true powerhouses, part of the Disney empire, and the only real Hollywood company brand besides Disney, it revisited the series that put it on the map.
Andy has not aged in real time but is still practically grown up, having reached the age of 17. The time Woody was concerned about in Toy Story 2 has now arrived. Actually it’s already passed, given that it’s implied Andy hasn’t played with the toys in years. However, the movie is set when it is to coincide with the pivotal life moment of Andy leaving for college. There is a plot that results from Andy’s mom telling him all his stuff needs to go to college, the attic, or the trash, but ultimately if you like the previous movies you will like the vast majority of this one. Your specific feelings about this film come down to the ending. I can’t really give my thoughts without describing it so
SPOILERS*Andy is convinced by a note he doesn’t know Woody wrote to give away his toys to a toddler named Bonnie. Many people talked about how beautiful it was, saying it made grown men cry. I’m not surprised; it’s human nature to feel sad thinking about the loss of your childhood, even though it’s a gradual process and things like going off to college tend to make people thrilled when they’re actually happening.
That said, I didn’t like the ending. Why break Andy’s heart? Especially Woody, considering Andy loved him enough to want to take him to college. Is it so bad to want to keep mementos of your childhood? I understand the toys want to be played with, but assuming Andy has kids at one point how sweet would it be to give them the chance to play with their dad’s most treasured childhood items? Much better than letting some random kid have them forever. I could understand a bit more if Bonnie were some underprivileged child, but she has plenty of her own toys and just seems spoiled at this point.
To be fair, Woody was initially excited to go off with Andy and eventually reunite with the others in Andy’s attic. It was after seeing Andy say bye to his mom he had a change of heart. Perhaps she set a bad example – I’ve never seen a mom so determined to rid the house of all traces of her kid, even though she’s supposed to be a loving parent. Still, at least she can obviously still see him in the future whereas Woody apparently had few qualms about cutting ties with his best pal forever.
THAT SAID, the filmmakers had to know that not everyone would like the ending. When you’re making a choice that bold, sometimes just affecting people’s emotions very strongly shows you did something right. The fact that I was reading people’s thoughts on the ending for months speaks to the fact that it was, at the very least, powerful. I actually saw a great article talking about Toy Story 3’s ending being in the pantheon of tearjerkers where children part with their favorite childhood playthings, also citing when Christopher Robin goes off to boarding school at the end of the A.A. Milne Winnie-the-Pooh books and basically all of The Velveteen Rabbit and Puff the Magic Dragon. At this point I’d also add a moment in Inside Out, although I’ll leave those of you who haven’t seen it (and are really missing out!) to discover it for yourselves. *SPOILERS
So overall, although I didn’t care for the ending, I understand what it was trying to do and it did that beautifully. That was after a whole movie of a lot of the amazing stuff we’ve come to expect.
Toy Story 4 (2019) – Almost ANOTHER decade passed but the folks at Pixar haven’t lost a step. This time around nowhere close to real time has passed in the story and the reason is clear – the toys aren’t shown to have been with Bonnie for long because we need to see how she and Woody have never built a real connection. I mentioned Entertainment Weekly when talking about the first movie; now I’ll mention it again because the current critic gave it a “B” grade, saying among the criticisms that a lot of the movie took place in a carnival, calling that a disappointment for a franchise that had found ways to make mundane places adventurous.
I’m surprised the critic would say that without giving credit for how much of the movie takes place in an antique store and makes THAT adventurous. As far as how the antique store becomes important to the plot, it’s where Bonnie’s new favorite toy, a spork named Forky (and hilarious filled with manic energy in a way only Tony Hale, Arrested Development’s Buster, can do) ends up trapped, needing help from Woody and his long-lost love Bo Peep, who is now enjoying the life of a toy unburdened by a child.
There are basically three major plot threads – Forky becoming Bonnie’s favorite toy instead of trash, Woody struggling to bond with Bonnie while missing Andy, and Bo Peep trying to convince Woody her life is the way to go.
SPOILERS*A lot of people who thought Toy Story 3 ended the series so perfectly were upset about there being a new one. I made clear I didn’t like that ending so I was (with reservations) looking forward to seeing a new one. The great reviews from others helped convince me but I did something I never, ever have in my life – I read the ending in advance. I was hoping Woody and Andy would reunite. While that doesn’t happen, I was convinced to watch the film after finding out it does end with him leaving Bonnie. I felt the ending of Toy Story 3 was forced emotion, as I couldn’t quite buy either Woody or Andy’s actions. I was glad to see that, in this movie Woody is pining for Andy and must regret abandoning him.
I feel like each movie in the franchise has had a different allegorical life lesson. The first was about trying to find our place in the world and not letting our feelings about it be affected by others, the second was about enjoying the present day instead of worrying about a hypothetical future, the third was about learning to let go of your loved ones when necessary instead of trying to hold onto the past, and the fourth was about understanding that no one can form a connection with everyone else and how you thus need to follow your own heart. *SPOILERS
As much as I thought this film undid damage from Toy Story 3, I didn’t LOVE it the way I did the first movie or even the second. Sure, there are some great additions to the cast –including the man of the hour Keanu Reeves! – but the characters from the last movie not named Woody and Buzz had little to do. While the sight gags, the jokes and the heart are right there, it feels a little stale at this point. Not only is this the fourth entry in a 24-year-old franchise, but along the way the movie about anthropomorphic non-humans thing has been done so much. I cited some earlier. There have been other good ones (The Secret Life of Pets) and other terrible ones (Bee Movie) but the point is it’s been done so much. Never as well as Toy Story has yet there’s just no way this latest film could feel fresh anymore
Still, it did nothing wrong and did a whole bunch right. I still loved it (just with the letters in “loved” lowercase, LOL) and I’m really glad I watched it. If there is a Toy Story 5 announced I’ll be excited and optimistic.
If I had to rate all the movies so far individually, I’d say the first is a 100, the second a 99, the third a 91, and the fourth a 98. While that averages out to only 97, I love the first one so much I’ll gladly give it a 12 extra credit points. Hmm, that averages out to 100. What are the odds?
Bottom Line: Best tetralogy in film history. What even comes close?
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