Toy Story 4 (2019)

Director: Josh Cooley

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.

Having enjoyed ‘Toy Story 3’ immensely, I was looking forward to ‘Toy Story 4’, but at the same time I was worried the story had nowhere left to go.

All the main characters from the previous films join together once again for another adventure. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy ‘Toy Story 4’ as much as I did ‘Toy Story 3’. This installment is aimed at a young demographic. Yes, obviously, being animation, but ‘Toy Story 3’ had a rather mature theme and it was action-packed and exciting. This installment – although also an action adventure – had a very simple premise: get to Bonnie. There were too many incidents reminding me of a cartoon rather than an animated feature. The adventure element was also more childish. Maybe that was their vision for this installment, who knows.

Forky was by far my favorite character. At times some of the other characters had so little screen time that I completely forgot about them. Mr & Mrs Potato Head, for example –  who were so prominent in ‘Toy Story 3’ – hardly even features in this film. There are simply too many characters. The comic relief characters Bunny and Ducky were so annoying! The Dummies, on the other hand, were creepy characters, while Gabby Gabby was sinister. As with many Hollywood franchises (Ice Age, How to train your dragon), this one also became a schmultzy love story – Woody and Bo Beep. Hmf.

The animation is awesome. Some scenes actually looked like the real thing.

‘Toy Story 4’ was a huge box office success, raking in over $1 billion on a $200 million budget.

Would I watch it again? No.