Toy Story ranks among my favourite film franchises alongside the Indiana Jones Saga, John Wick, The Dark Knight Trilogy, and Back to the Future.
Toy Story 4...really did not do it for me. It's a really good film - just not a great Toy Story film.
- The sidelining of side-characters was a bummer, but not unforgivable. Buzz's character being completely gutted is in that category of unforgivable, though.
- Woody at the end of Toy Story 3 - and in the subsequent shorts - made peace with leaving Andy behind and starting a new chapter. To retcon that development and undo that beautiful ending of the third film was just not necessary. Woody can 100% have a crisis of "Will I be okay not being as loved by a new child as Andy loved me?" - that's compelling! And adds to Woody's depth as a character. But having him still hung up on Andy felt like a regression.
- Gabby-Gabby. She was a great villain - but the resolution to her story was an awful message, honestly. She felt 'defective' for lacking a voice-box - which would be a great metaphor for children born with a disability. So...that being the case - her achieving happiness solely from having that disability 'fixed' is a really sour, sad message to send to children. Like...wow. That's NOT a good message, honestly. What should've happened is Woody or another toy should've shown Gabby-Gabby that she is 100% worth being loved by a child as she always is - and that the only thing stopping her is her own fear. She puts herself out there and gets adopted. That's a far healthier message to send to children than 'fix your disability and you'll be loved'. Do I think the latter message was the intent? No. But I think not seeing how this would come across is very tone-deaf.
- Woody being mutilated. His pull-string is iconic - removing it for the already problematic resolution for the villain, being guilted into doing it - leaves a foul taste in my mouth.
- The gang splitting up. One of the comforts that made Andy moving on go down a lot easier for viewers was the reassurance that our core gang we grew up with and loved were still together. Having Woody up and leave...that stings.
- I always said the ending should've been a mirror of the start - Woody on one side of the rail on the carousel with Bo-Peep on the other side (just like the box at the start of the film) with Woody being the one asking for her to come with him, this time. And they make a pact that once Bonnie grows up - that's when Woody/Bo will go off on adventures together. Woody and the gang get more time together, Bo Peep gets to still be a free spirit with Woody later on, and the gang gets more time with Bo Peep that they'd been robbed of when she was given away.
- Woody leaving the group after feeling unplayed with enough felt like a betrayal of the heart of the series. "It doesn't matter how much we're played with - what matters is that we're here for [child] when they need us, that's what we're made for, right?"
Toy Story 4's ending - especially the panning shot of the toys - felt very manipulative. That shot, I remember in the theater - going "
Oh...this is Pixar going 'now is when you cry'." It didn't feel earned and like I said...manipulative.
All this to say...I kind of welcome Toy Story 5. Is it unnecessary? Oh, I'm sure!
But I think that the director is promising and I believe that he's likely heard loud and clear the fans' feelings about how the last film ended, and this has a chance to be an ending that satisfies everyone.
I'm under no delusion that my opinion on
Toy Story 4 is the majority consensus. That film was acclaimed by audiences and critics, full-stop. It was a huge hit. But I do think that Pixar/Toy Story fans (and we are a minority) have made enough noise that there will be some taking into account for the next film.
Toy Story may end up like the Indiana Jones series. A 5 film series where the 3rd was the best ending, overall. A controversial 4th film was made - and a 5th film releases and fares a lot better with hardcore fans/audiences/critics and ends the series on a much better film overall but still isn't thought of as reaching the heights of the original 3. But regardless, 3 is still considered the 'best' ending.
I can live with that.
I have hope that 5 will be better, for fans like me.
In some ways it feels like more of a throwback to the original film, what with the pronounced focus on Woody and Buzz at the expense of the other toys, and Buzz being somewhat self-unaware in some ways (not understanding that he's a toy in the OG, not knowing what a conscience or 'inner voice' is in TS4) and being played more for laughs than he is in TS2&3. That's not counting Spanish Buzz lol.
