Hello, it’s me, The Blog Complainer and Toy Story 4 is here! I was never wanting a Toy Story 4 as I was ready to move on with my life, but Pixar said otherwise and I was willing to give them a shot. It’s Pixar after all and they made some of the greatest animated films of my childhood. They have faltered a bit this decade but this is Toy Story, their most beloved franchise, so I had no doubt that they were going to make a great movie!

How can I say this without offending or emotionally scarring some of you? I love Toy Story, I have grown up with these movies. If what I’m about to say may make you upset or feel any other negative emotion then I advise you not to continue with this review.

For those of you still here then I would like to inform you that Pixar made an average movie and that movie was named Toy Story 4! Oh my God, where do I even begin! I’m sorry I had to make that stupid fluffy introduction, but that’s how most people feel about these movies, which is exactly how I would describe this entire movie. FLUFF!!

I’m not doing for this attention, this is just how I feel after seeing Toy Story 4. My best way to describe this movie is it’s just like Finding Dory as it felt like a straight to DVD Disney sequel.

• All the characters go to a new location.
• They meet some forgettable new characters along the way.
• The secondary character is given a stupid B plot.
• More dumb hijinks ensue.
• Pixar smothers the audience to death with nostalgia.
• The only time the movie stops being tame and boring is right at the end when Pixar gives the audience contrived tearjerkers.

I’ll quickly go into some positives before I spoil the whole movie because it’s not a bad movie by any means. Forky is the only great addition to the cast. It’s the most creative element to the movie and he’s cute. The animation and music is up to high standards as you would expect. The voice performances are all good. Woody is still my favourite character even though I’m not a fan of what they did with him, but we’ll get to that. I also liked when they traversed through the small cobwebby gaps in the antique shop. That’s all I have.

Spoiler Zone!

This movie is so incredibly stupid! To be fair there were some dumb stuff in the previous films, but as the scenes were minimal I was willing to suspend disbelief. Toy Story 4 says ‘They’re already invested, so who cares if the plot doesn’t make complete sense and if the characters pull off the most impossible stunts!’ Woody, Buzz and the gang spend a lot of time in open spaces filled with people. You’re telling me not one person, NOT ONE, noticed these toys crossing the open carnival or the antique store! I would let it slide if this happened once like with Woody escaping the daycare centre in broad daylight. But NO, this happens at least three times at the carnival, twice in the antique store, and not to mention the other public places these toys stop at.

Remember when Andy gave that emotional speech to Bonnie about how special Woody is? I’m guessing she forgot that because she is constantly forgetting he even exists. Bonnie and her parents are the most oblivious people on the planet. I honestly don’t see the point of pretending to be toys when these people don’t understand why their TomTom suddenly has a non robotic voice and that’s not even including the many times the RV cracked up.

This movie feels very forced on how the plot progresses. Woody has been walking with Forky all the way to the RV place, but seeing Bo Peep’s lamp in the store window makes him want to abandon Forky and go look for her. I know Woody had a thing with Bo Peep and it’s been years since they have seen each other, but I do not buy that he would abandon Forky like that. Woody has always been the most selfless character in the entire series. He was a bit of a jerk in the first movie, but since then he has become very selfless. After spending a good chunk of the movie watching over Forky, I don’t believe that he would forget about him to go searching for an old fling. (Also no one ever considered that it could be another Bo Peep.)

Let’s talk about Gabby Gabby. Not a bad character, the twist with her was pretty cool, but my main problem is her plan to use Woody’s voicebox to replace her faulty one. I was expecting when she spoke for the first time that she would sound like Woody.

Now to the ending which is the real tearjerker of the movie. I felt the emotions, but I didn’t buy it. I knew where they were taking Woody in this movie since the kindergarten stuff as we’re constantly reminded that Woody isn’t meant to be Bonnie’s favourite and he should give up and move on. He should pass on the role to other toys like Buzz. Woody has always been stubborn and he’s always valued family over everything. I just never really bought that he would leave them all after one bad day and reuniting with his old fling. Not an awful ending, if it made you cry that’s fine. I don’t think it’s as a good as the third movie.

Spoiler Free

Toy Story 4 is my least favourite Toy Story movie and maybe I am the only person who feels this way. The whole movie felt safe, familiar and having the sole purpose to manipulate your emotions. This isn’t the Toy Story I remember. My childhood Toy Story had interesting characters, was incredibly smart and creative, dealt with realistic stories and it was emotional because it felt real. While this feels like they’re out of ideas and they don’t really care about the story except when it’s time for the gut punches.

After seeing this I strongly believe Toy Story 3 should have been the last one and I am completely done with this franchise. Final score a big old 4 to 5 out of 10. I’m not going to bother to recommend it as your money tells Pixar you want more average forgettable Toy Story movies.