The Toys are back and so are the tears. They haven’t forgotten how to make you laugh. They certainly haven’t forgotten how to make you cry. The question is how much is your child invested in this franchise? Like if they discovered that Woody and Buzz had died in a tragic gardening accident, would that scar the child for life? Slow down; that didn’t happen. But you ought to know your child’s threshold because the last time we were here, the transfer of prisoners from Andy to Bonnie (voice of Madeleine McGraw) solicited the most tears in all of 2010 cinema.
The first part is gonna be a little confusing – Toy Story 3 happened in 2010 in our real life calendar, nine years ago. Toy Story 4 opens within, I’d guess, a year of Toy Story time for Woody (Tom Hanks) and pals, but the film actually throws us back to a memory “nine years ago,” NOT when Andy left for college in our real timeline, but when Andy was a pre-teen in the Toy Story timeline. In the throwback, Woody has a big moment: while saving a toy from a gutter disaster (probably involving the clown from It), Sheriff Woody gets left in the rain and finds himself next to a box of departing toys including the girl who pulls Woody’s string – a ceramic Bo Peep (Annie Potts, who hasn’t gotten this much play since that third season episode of “Magnum P.I.“). Woody has a big on-the-spot decision to go with his heart or go with his boy. We all know what he chooses; Toy Story 4 is the follow up, nine years later.
At Bonnie’s, Woody ain’t even the sheriff anymore; his title has been forcibly transferred by Bonnie to cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack). Score one for feminism among the pre-school set. Relegated to the world of dust bunnies, who do not yet come to life until Toy Story 5, Woody takes it upon himself to do some helicopter parenting (who are you, Shaft?) to ease Bonnie’s transition to pre-school. Sneaking away in the kid’s backpack, Woody saves Bonnie from the cruel inhuman monster that is kindergarten by tossing a bunch of crap at her station, hoping something will fly. Something does fly: Bonnie takes a spork, some pipe cleaners, a popsicle stick, and the power of Lord God Almighty and creates Forky (Tony Hale), a hideous personification of inferiority complex. In the next 15 minutes of action, Woody’s job goes from protecting Bonnie to protecting her beloved new creation. You see, Forky thinks he’s garbage and uses every attempt possible to throw himself away. Man, I so wish catpoop did that.
There’s a very, very subtle message here -yet an outstanding one- that states, essentially, garbage is only what we perceive garbage to be. And the more Forky insists he’s garbage and ought to be tossed, the more we the audience –including all children watching—will insist that Forky is not garbage; if this translates to a mere ounce of green behavior from historically wasteful sources, Toy Story 4 will be worth more than the box office reaps.
I won’t go further. I’ve only touched the barest bits of plot and this is a strangely complex film to be aimed at such a young crowd. Yet it is high quality and easily digestible. Unlike several “kids” films this year (I’m lookin’ at you, Lego 2), Toy Story 4 is not difficult to follow despite the intricacy of tale. This is Pixar at its best. Love Incredibles 2 or Coco all you want; the Toy Story films are still the jewels of the Pixar crown. There are a lot of laughs, a lot of tears, and a lot of growth in this film, and I, for one, love the idea that a sentient toy can survive just fine without a child. Many do, apparently. This is a message previously missing from Toy Stories.
That all said … the flaws in Toy Story 4 are far easier to find than the previous iteration. Sometimes motivations seem a tad specious; also, some of the best laughs are motivated by very dark humor. That’s nitpicking. What isn’t nitpicking, imho, is the lack of minority representation among the Toys, and it’s pretty noticeable these days even if you’re not looking for it. For instance, the film introduced Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), sort of a vintage Canadian Evel Knievel toy. Why couldn’t this be a toy of color? Give me one good reason. What? There were no black people in Canada in the 1970s? Here’s the thing – Woody is white, Buzz (Tim Allen) is white, Bo Peep is white, Jessie is white, Dolly (Bonnie Hunt) is white, even Forky is white. The rest of the Toys are animals or animal hybrids. Hundreds of kids are gonna “be” Duke Caboom come Halloween. Yeah, Bonnie herself seems to be a girl of color; do you see any kids playing “Bonnie?” I don’t.
This is not a difficult thing and I think Pixar blew it. Is it material enough to spoil the enjoyment of the film? It shouldn’t, but it will for some viewers. Suffice to say, Toy Story 4 is a wonderful watch with blinders, yet it falls short of its predecessor … but I’ll forgive it because, well, what animated film doesn’t fall short of Toy Story 3?
♪Bad toys
Whatcha want, watcha haunt
Over, round and through
From Stretch Armstrong to Nikki Ceaușescu
Bad toys, Bad toys
Trapping heroes two: A spork and sticks of glue
With Woody on rescue♫
Rated G, 100 Minutes
Director: Josh Cooley
Writer: Andrew Stanton & Stephany Folsom
Genre: Ye weep what ye woe
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of all things Toy Story
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Jealous DreamWorks execs
♪ Parody Inspired by “Bad Boys”
