Review of Toy Story 4

Toy Story 4 gives us the goodbye we didn’t know we needed

First Iron Man, now Woody? Could somebody please go make sure that Marty McFly is safe in 1985?

The Toy Story franchise hasn’t made a single misstep. Everybody said they should have let it die after 3, because it was such a powerful and complete ending for the characters. Well I did, and I assume everybody else is like me. We wouldn’t want to go Crystal Skulling up the 298% fresh trilogy. But then we would be denied this new awesome installment, once again sitting at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. And who cares if our need to have the perfect trilogy is slightly tainted by an awesome movie? There’s always Back to the Future.

All the regulars are back in this one, albeit briefly. And Woody once again finds himself trapped between his loyalty to his kid, his kinship with all the other toys, and the burden of making sure no parents or kids find out that toys really are sentient when they choose to be. But that’s just one of the many things we ignore about Toy Story when we put in the VHS. Yes, I have Toy Story on VHS. It’s that old.

Woody is once again loyal to a fault, going well beyond what any toy should be asked to do in the line of duty. He leaves his gang and his kid and his ride behind to save a self-destructive spork who has flung himself out of the camper window. Not for Forky, but for Bonnie, his kid. Along the way, he meets an antique toy who wants his voice box, some terrifying ventriloquist dummies, and his old flame, Bo Peep. There is a lot of action and emotion and comedy along the way, and of course, a moral of sacrifice for the happiness of others. In particular, a little girl who was lost at a fair was able to find some comfort in a toy that nobody wanted. Aww. Tears were shed.

But the real tears came a few minutes later. When we realized that Woody was leaving the gang to be with Bo. Much like Endgame, we were saying goodbye to a franchise. Barring Tom Hanks somehow going bankrupt, we will never see these friends together again. But it was a happy goodbye. More Cap than Iron Man. And it was rushed, much like Woody’s actual goodbye. The car was starting. He had to decide. And just like that, it was over. Kind of like how you’re supposed to leave your 3-year-old at school. Any longer goodbye would be too heartbreaking. And with that, the original Pixar franchise – the one that wasn’t sure if an audience would be able to connect with these characters for an entire full-length movie 24 years ago – said its goodbye. Thank you.

8.5/10

Dustin Fisher