Toy Story 4

Welcome to my first review: Toy Story 4.

As of writing this review, I've only seen this film once and that was a week ago so some bits may not be 100% accurate for now and I may have missed out on certain aspects. This review also contains spoilers and may have some biased points.

Story

Toy Story 4 is an interesting film to the saga and very different. At the start of the film, we see why Bo Peep left. Then we go forward to present time to see that Woody just doesn't get played by Bonnie as much anymore. This is basically the backstory point of the movie. The plot, in summary, involves Bonnie making a new toy out of garbage (a spork, googly eyes, sticks and a pipe cleaner) to help her through her first day of kindergarten. When Woody introduces forky to the rest of gang of toys, forky feels out of place and only wants to be in one location: the trash. We then see Bonnie and her parents, with the inclusion of her toys, travelling on a road trip, which later leads to a carnival. When no one is looking or asleep, forky jumps out the window, stating he's not a toy and instead a utensil for certain foods, then for the trash. Woody jumps out rescuing forky. When he finds forky, they walk a long the road, talking. Woody explains to forky how he is very important to Bonnie and a toy. The way Forky understands this is that Bonnie is trash and that he needs to be there. This is a humorous scene as we see how Forky thinks and how its abnormal yet so unique and funny. They then reach the carnival but Woody spots a familiar item in an antique store: Bo Peeps lamp! Both Woody and Forky enter, looking for Bo, and here we see the main villains of the story. Gabby Gabby is an interesting character as deep down we see she only wants what any toy wants: to be played with. However being an old toy, a lot of kids don't seem interested by her. She personally thinks that she can't be played with unless she has a voice box. The other ventriloquist dummy's were creepy and honestly a scary villain compared to any other character in the Pixar universe. We then see Bo rescue Woody followed by a chase scene. Now I can explain the rest of movie really quickly right now: Buzz jumps out the RV, Bo introduces other toys to Woody, Buzz gets stuck in a carnival game, meets 2 other toys, group up with the Bo and Woody. Then they think of a plan to save forky (who had previously been captured by Gabby Gabby and whom he told her everything about Woody). When Woody is caught by Gabby Gabby he agrees to give her his voice box as he knows his only purpose in life right now is to save Forky. Near the end of the movie, Forky finally gets back to Bonnie, but then Woodie decides (with the opinion of Bo and Buzz) that to stay and live a life with Bo, leaving his live long friends, as Bonnie doesn't play with Woody any more. And that's basically it!

Characters

In this movie, we nave our main characters: Woody, Buzz, Forky, Bo Peep and Gabby Gabby. Our side characters are: Bonnie, Bonnie's and Andy's old toys, Duke Caboom, Benson, Ducky and Bunny, and Giggles McDimples. As I will state later, I think this movie should be called Woody as other characters we have already seen and love, aren't important and that't why I sub grouped them as "toys". So the only main character are basically new ones. Let's start with Woody. Woody in this movie is the best we've seen him, he's not selfish, he cares so much for others, he's doing what's right for his owner and not for himself. In the previous 3 movies we've seen Woody as a self centred character but still with friendship, but this is where he changes. After he sees he doesn't get played anymore, he knows he needs to do what's best for Bonnie and that at the end of the movie he knows he needs to be with his lover as that's now best for him without affecting anyone else. Buzz like the 

rest of the movies is still the main side character to Woody, having as much importance as him. Like Woody, Buzz wants to do what's best and he realises that Woody is right about Forky being really important to Bonnie. Forky is a great addition to the group of toys. He's an outcast, confused, but yet still loyal. Due to his low intelligence, there are various comedic scenes that make Forky have his own, unique persona and character. In this movie, we see the return of Bo Peep. My thoughts? Not as great as I would have wanted. Something I liked about Bo Peep in the first couple movies was that she was there to be a love interest for Woody, someone who's calm, understandable and very humanoid. Now she is a total difference character in this movie. We see her new side after being a "lost toy", being played by random children whilst doing whatever she wants. Her sheep have more of a use in this movie which I like as they were completely irrelevant in the previous. We now see Bo Peep as a fighter, a warrior,  an individual. Whilst I like how it fits into the story, the personality for Bo is just not great. Gabby Gabby is not really a villain like we first suspected at the start of the movie. It turns out that the only reason she did what she did was just so she could feel the joy of being played with again. However, how it ends is too child friendly in my opinion. Lots-o' in Toy Story 3 was a good villain because she stayed bad. But as Gabby Gabby turned good, it just felt unoriginal for Pixar. Duke Caboom is my third favourite character of this movie. Mainly as he's played by Keanu Reeves but also his back story is incredible. Not being good enough, owner thinking he's broken and doesn't play with him anymore. We can tell that Caboom is extremely affected by this and it hurts him still over time. We saw how Jessie felt in Toy Story 2, but as time went by, she wasn't too upset when retelling the story of her to Woody, but with Caboom it still hurts him truly. Ducky and Bunny are the comedic pair of this movie and they are my favourite

characters. They are actually funny and not "trying to be funny" nor are they the "cringey" funny. This makes their character work. When they were thinking of plans, they portrayed their ideas in a way where the ending is all the same, even the one that drags out, however that didn't over do the joke. It improved onto it. There's one character in this movie I hate and that's Giggles. She didn't feel too important of the story and can be easily replaced, she's annoying and cringey too a point where it just ruined the movie. We don't really know much about her either. This makes her feel like an unimportant, and forgettable.

Soundtrack

Of course, it's not a Toy Story movie without Randy Newman's "You've got a friend in me". Like always, it perfectly fits into the movie at the correct places and is a beautiful addition. Other songs by Randy are: "I can't let you throw your self away" and "The Ballad of the lonesome cowboy". Unsurprisingly, they are fantastic pieces. 

Overall Opinion

Toy Story 4 is a great film and a great addition to the saga and pixar universe. However, it just doesn't feel like a Toy Story movie. This film reminds me of Logan, how it follows the adventure and end of a character we all came to love. If Toy Story 4 was called Woody, then I would of loved it so much more knowing and expecting that this film is a solo movie. Because that is what it is. The only other character from the group that has huge importance is Buzz, and he's Woody's best friend so it would be fitting for the film to be called Woody. Not only that but the whole movie is about Woody moving on, still helping his child but also his love life as a side story. This works so well but just executed not to the best. From my June Pixar ratings list, Toy Story 4 is 9th and ranks as the worst Toy Story film.