TOY STORY 4 (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

toy story 4 (2019) movie

Genre              |   Animated Adventure

Classification   |   PG

Running time   |   100 minutes

Released         |   30 June 2019

cast

Tom Hanks ... Woody (voice)
Tim Allen ... Buzz Lightyear (voice)
Joan Cusack ... Jessie (voice)
Annie Potts ... Bo Peep (voice)
Wallace Shawn ... Rex (voice)
John Ratzenberger ... Hamm (voice)
Estelle Harris ... Mrs. Potato Head (voice)
Timothy Dalton ... Mr. Pricklepants (voice)
Keegan-Michael Key ... Ducky (voice)
​Jordan Peele ... Bunny (voice)
Keanu Reeves ... (voice)
Patricia Arquette ... (voice)

director

Josh Cooley

writer

​​John Lasseter ... (original story by) &
Andrew Stanton ... (original story by) &
Pete Docter ... (original story by) &
Lee Unkrich ... (original story by)
 
Will McCormack
Stephany Folsom ... (screenplay by)
C.S. Anderson ... (concept advisor)

cinematographer

​

music

​Randy Newman ... (original score composed and conducted by)

film editor

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box office result

Worldwide               $​1,073,394,593

Australia                 $​28,980,439

North America        $​434,038,008

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the best dialogue

Forky: I'M NOT A TOY! AAAH!
Woody: Hey, hey, somebody get him before he pokes an eye out.

Forky: I don't belong here!

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TOY STORY 4 (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

Images

Posters

Images

Posters

TOY STORY 4 (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

​When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.

TOY STORY 4 (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 20 June 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

If there’s one movie franchise that strikes fear into me more than any other, it’s Pixar’s enduring TOY STORY series...

The reason is simple…

When I first saw TOY STORY all the way back in 1995, I realised as soon as it started that I was watching something very special. Just like SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS did in 1937, with TOY STORY, the Animation genre took a quantum leap forward, showcasing just how much could be achieved by way of computer rendering.

I loved TOY STORY so much, I saw it again the next day…

A couple of years later, I was working for The Disney Stores; exactly at the time when “Buzz Mania” gripped the world. Pixar had not yet been subsumed by The Walt Disney Company, but the distribution agreement between the two companies made them so closely related that Disney was able to leverage Buzz, Woody and a great many more of Andy’s bedroom play pals.

By the time the second film came out in 1999, I had moved on from Disney, but the company had become ingrained in my DNA, as had the relationship with Pixar. I couldn’t wait to see TOY STORY 2 and I wasn’t disappointed!

The eleven year gap between the second and third film was enough time for me to meet someone, marry, have kids of my own and take them to see TOY STORY 3 as their very first cinema experience.

While the third film is regarded as a superb piece of storytelling, beautifully rendered, full of drama, it felt like it was a film made for grown-ups that kids might enjoy. It was dark and disturbing with flashes of humour and fun. It was the opposite of the first two movies.

I love the third film, but, by the end, it felt like the series had matured and its denouement was the logical place to stop.

I was extremely fearful when the fourth film was announced…

The second film had topped the first. The third film had topped the second (in an altogether unexpected manner).

How could a fourth TOY STORY movie do justice to the wonderful, enduring legacy the three prior films had created?

The answer is: EFFORTLESSLY.

TOY STORY 4 does not have the gravitas of the third film, but what is does do is seamlessly deliver a plot-driven story with the greatest of lightness, humour and poignancy. This film shifts the tone closer back to the first and second movies where the “kid” (now Bonnie; not Andy) becomes the focal point for the eclectic bunch of toys led by Tom Hanks’ Woody and Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear.

The new film also sees the return of Bo Peep, voiced by Annie Potts, who hasn’t been seen since the second film in 1999. Bo’s return comes at the expense of Joan Cusack’s Jessie, who played a central role in TOY STORY 2 and was a key supporting character in the third film. The film’s writers, of which there are no less than eight credited, use Bo as the catalyst to force Woody to confront some home truths and spin the series off in an entirely new direction (if Pixar are game enough to tackle a fifth outing some time in the future…)

As far as the fourth film is concerned, both young and old fans of the series should be well satisfied with what first-time Feature Director Josh Cooley delivers.

Perhaps the biggest difference between TOY STORY 4 and its predecessors is the humour.

It’s a funny, laugh out loud film.

It has a great mix of jokes, one-liners, sight gags and audience winks that cater for all age groups.

The surprise packet in the humour stakes is the Keanu Reeves’ voiced Duke Caboom, Canada’s answer to Evil Kenevil…

Reeves cops a lot of stick for his limited acting range, but with Duke, he takes the self-awareness of those limitations and puts in a vocal performance that simultaneously captures the outrageous nature of his character and makes him endearing to the audience for the sheer stupidity of stunts that he attempts in an effort to help Woody and Bo to rescue the newest toy in the collection: Forky.

Forky, voiced by Tony Hale, best known to audiences from the TV series VEEP, is a unique creation; made from a plastic fork adorned with bits and pieces cobbled together and fashioned into a figure by Bonnie on her orientation day at Preschool. Forky becomes Bonnie’s new favourite toy, joining Woody and the gang as Bonnie’s Mum and Dad embark upon a road trip before their daughter has to head off to school full time.

Forky proves to be a handful and only Woody’s protective persistence prevents the self-aware piece of disposal cutlery from being - quite literally - thrown out with the trash as he seeks solace in the nearest garbage bin the first opportunity he gets.

Eventually, Woody’s efforts fail and Forky makes a jump for it.

Woody selflessly throws himself out the window of the fast-moving RV in a hastily put-together rescue effort, understanding that Bonnie’s happiness hinges on Forky being present and accounted for when she wakes up in the morning.

From this point, TOY STORY 4 takes flight and heads off in all manner of directions, as multiple character arcs ebb and flow through the course of the story.

It’s a real joy to be so entertained by something that requires the greatest suspension of disbelief in order to tell its story.

Yes, viewers are reminded from time-to-time that this is, after all, an animated film...

For example, Pixar’s animators continue to create stylised humans that look like cartoon characters...

But this helps make the “toy” characters seem so much more real and gives Pixar’s talent artists a chance to show-off with some of the best phot-realistic animation yet seen in one of their films.

Despite the wonderful animation, at its heart, the TOY STORY series has always been about friendship and loyalty. Woody and Buzz came to learn this by the end of the first film and now, by the end of the fourth film, this friendship is again reiterated and one of the film’s best moments occurs between these two toward its end.

Amid the TOY STORY merchandise craze of the mid-1990s, Pixar and Disney released a limited edition Giclee print of the scene from the first film where Woody and Buzz finally reconcile their differences and realise they have to work together if they want to escape a horrible fate at Sid’s hands. The print is titled “Friends at last…”

If there was a similar Giclee released for the fourth film, depicting Woody and Buzz, it would have to be called “Friends forever…”

With both excitement and relief, that was how I felt by the time the TOY STORY 4 credits had finished and the lights came up. (BTW, stay for the entire end credit sequence.)

TOY STORY 4 was like catching up with an old friend you haven’t seen for a while. There’s been some tough times and some things have changed, but there’s a comfort that, for the time you’re together, there’s going to be a few laughs, maybe a couple of tears and, at the end of the day, you will walk away from your time together thinking “you’ve got a friend in me”...

TOY STORY 4 MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Toy Story 4 - Wikipedia
​Toy Story 4 (2019) - IMDb
​Toy Story 4 (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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