Go, Fourth

I remember, after the first Toy Story movie, when Pixar announced the sequel. Sequels are what studios do with their hits, after all. And, impressively, Toy Story 2 was even better than the original. More years then passed, with Pixar focusing mainly on new projects and hardly ever doing sequels. Then they announced Toy Story 3. Couldn't they just leave well enough alone? There's no way a third movie could be as good! And indeed it wasn't. It was even better!

A few months back, a friend of mine was recently hosting an online discussion: what's the greatest movie trilogy of all time? Some said the original Star Wars trilogy. A few claimed Back to the Future. I suggested it might actually be Toy Story... except, of course, that Toy Story was about to cease being a trilogy. And surely there's no way Pixar could beat the odds again, right?

Welp. No, they didn't. But that's not because Toy Story 4 is a "bad" movie. It's just that the bar set by its predecessors (which I recently re-watched before seeing the new film) was set that high. It's not really hating on Toy Story 4 to say that it's the worst of the Toy Story films. One of them has got to be.

There is an intriguing new idea at the heart of the story. Woody is struggling in his new toy room. He remains as certain as ever that his job is to be there for his owner, but Bonnie isn't interested in playing with him as Andy was. How can he be there for her when she doesn't really notice if he's around? It's truly a clever extension of Woody's character arc, the fear he had of being replaced in the original film actually coming to pass.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn't offer much for the other characters. Bo Peep is back (after being absent in Toy Story 3), and her return is a major element of the plot -- but everyone else you remember from the earlier films is reduced to glorified cameos. That includes Buzz Lightyear, more minimized in this story than he's ever been. Sure, the Toy Story films have always been Woody's stories, but they've at least utilized the other characters in fun ways. This movie is more interested in the new characters.

They are a lot of fun, though. There are clever concepts from Forky (the hand-made creation) to Duke Caboom (traumatized by his inability to live up to his TV commercials). There's great new voice casting, including Tony Hale, Keanu Reeves, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Christina Hendricks, and Carl Weathers. And the humor is among the best since the original film, particularly as the toys (far more adventurous now, in their fourth film) push the boundaries of "getting caught" being alive.

Plus there's the animation, which is more stellar than ever. (It's a particularly shocking progression when you watch all four Toy Story movies in close proximity.) This movie features realistic rain storms, a hopelessly cluttered antique shop, dazzling light displays, and facial expressions (on both toys and humans) more natural than Pixar has ever presented.

Also praise-worthy: the movie sticks the landing with an emotional, poignant conclusion. Sure, it falls short of Toy Story 3, whose final 20 minutes (from the garbage dump sequence to the end credits) is all but weaponized to stir your emotions. But Toy Story 4 is very moving, very fitting, and (once again) feels like closure for the series.

If the movie had treated a few of its other returning characters as well as Woody (Buzz and Jessie in particular), this would have been another absolute triumph. As it stands, it's still very good -- worth seeing in the theater, and good enough that I don't "wish they hadn't made it." But I think it's "only" a B+.