So I saw this movie on Friday with my boyfriend and as far as I know it was it's first week being out this week, however if I'm wrong please correct me because our theatre often gets movies a week after they have already opened around the world. I should also mention now that I don't really have too much of a connection with the Toy Story series. I never watched the first one to completion because it scared me as a child and I've never had the courage to watch it again, I did see the second one which made me cry, I also saw the third one which made me sad but didn't wow me as much as the second one. I did feel like that was a nice end to the series, as many other people did to. However, it wasn't as we all know now.
So what did I think of the polarizing Toy Story 4? Well I did like it. It is a very good movie and certainly much better than the movies studios like Illumination are putting out, both animation-wise and story wise. I'm telling you, there are so many well animated scenes in this movie it's just stunning. At some points it's hard to tell the animated parts from real life. There's this scene with a cat and I actually thought it was a real life cat until I remembered this was an animated movie. There were some changes I was not too keen on, like the Bo Peep redesign. No, not her outfit change, her
facial change. As you might've noticed, Bo had her face heavily changed. Whether this was to make her more appealing to the audience, to make it easier to make dolls out of her, or just to make it easier to animate facial expressions I do not know, however I'm not a fan. I feel like her old design was much more of a classic porcelain doll look. It looked a lot more accurate, and her design was pretty unique. Now she just has the generic modern Disney face that Anna, Elsa, and the re-designed Disney princesses in Wreck it Ralph have. It also makes it rather jarring when you're going from the original movies to this movie and you see such a big change. It's like when they completely changed Tony's facial structure from the original Incredibles to Incredibles 2. Very distracting and sometimes took me out of the movie. Also, and this might be just an issue for me, but because of her redesigned facial structure, she lost some of her porcelain effect to her, now it looks more like she's made of that really shiny plastic they sometimes use for doll's arms and bodies (if you know what I'm talking about).
As for actual Bo in the movie, I found her to be quite enjoyable. She was totally awesome whenever she did one of her stunts and I find her clothes swap interesting, although a bit of me will always prefer her poofy dress (but that's not practical for a "lost toy" on the run, now is it?
). I will say sometimes I do think she was a bit too rough around the edges sometimes, but I think that also could just be because she was hardened living on the run and stuff. Her little Polly Pocket-esc friend (I can't remember her name exactly so for the rest of this I'm going to call her Giggles since that's what I do remember of her name) did make a comment saying something along the lines of "I didn't know you (Bo Peep) had a soft spot", which is a nice explanation to her acting the way she did.
Something I thought was very interesting happened all the way at the very beginning. Woody almost,
almost left Andy to be with Bo which I thought was very sweet. I never thought I'd see the day when Woody would come that close to leaving Andy. That scene really made me see how much Bo meant to Woody.
Since I already brought up Giggles before, I guess I'll bring her up now; I did not like her very much. Yes she did have some funny moments and everything, but I mostly found her to be kind of annoying and rude. There's this part (specifically after Bo and Woody get into their big fight) where she's talking about how right Bo was to leave from Woody and everything and is just trash talking him. I know the purpose of that was to make Bo realize how much she loves Woody for his flaws and everything, but it just made me really dislike Giggles.
Speaking of characters I dislike, I was not a fan of the two prizes from the carnival (the rabbit and the duck) or the Canada biker action figure dude. I found them all to be rather annoying and the Canadian biker man to be a bit of a re-hash of Ken from the previous movie. I mean he's not an exact copy, but there are some connections that can be made. The two stuffed animals often ruined the flow of the movie for me and I found their interruptions to be VERY annoying. I would've liked them better if they were more toned down.
Now I know this might make it seem like I hated all the new characters, but I didn't. In fact, I thought Forky was a very cute and funny character. I was rooting for him the whole time, and the chemistry between him and Woody was nice.
This movie also introduced one of my favorite characters so far in the whole series: Gabby Gabby. Gabby Gabby (who I will now just call Gabby for simplicities sake) is a doll who is supposed to be like Chatty Cathy and is the "main villain" of this movie. She came out of the factory with a broken voice box, so when she finds out Woody has one that works, she wants his. In an effort to get his voice box, she has her goons (who are like the old ventriloquist dolls, not dissimilar to the one from Goosebumps) capture Forky. It's also important to mention that she resides in an antique shop owned by an old lady. The old lady has a granddaughter named Harmony who Gabby dreams of being played with, but in order to let Harmony see her she has to have a working voice box. Eventually Woody agrees to give Gabby his voicebox after Gabby explains why she wants his voicebox so bad (in a scene that made me tear up) and when Gabby tries to impress Harmony...she dismisses her. That scene made me gasp so loud and feel so much for Gabby. Gabby becomes upset and Woody tries to cheer her up and in the process realizes there are more than just one kid in the world to please.
As they're all on the quest to get back to Bonnie's camper, Gabby spots a lost girl who's afraid and needs comfort. Gabby ends up comforting the girl in a scene that made me cry. (ironically it made me cry more than the ending scene where Woody separates from the gang) I also really like Gabby's musical motifs and everything. It always makes me feel some pity for the poor doll who I relate to in a lot of ways.
Also yes, Woody does split from the gang in a scene that, while done pretty decently and had a lot of heart, felt rather rushed.
Speaking of the gang, they aren't really in this that much. It's odd having Mr. Potato Head being so silent, but I know of course why they'd have to do that. There was one line he got, which I'm pretty sure they had archived from a previous installment in the serious so, at least he got one line. Jessie was hardly in this movie and neither the other toys besides Buzz. Now, Buzz wasn't really in the movie a lot either, but he did get a bigger part than what the others got. I just wish there would've been more Buzz and Woody interactions though, there wasn't that many in this movie...
Also I find it odd how Bonnie just suddenly doesn't like playing with Woody anymore. She was absolutely smitten with him in the last movie, and now she's just tossing him aside? I guess children do change their favorite toys quickly, but it just felt odd. Let's just hope Andy doesn't ever come to visit their house for whatever reason.
It does make me wonder how Bonnie feels about Woody suddenly being gone. I'm sure at some point she'd notice since sometimes kids do come back to toys they previously cast aside for a while.
At the end of the day, my boyfriend and I both left the theatre teary eyed. This movie really was a good movie. Was it necessary? I'm not exactly sure. On the one hand, I was perfectly content with the ending of the third movie. On the other hand, I was really curious to see what happened to Bo Peep. So should you see this movie? If you are a fan of the Toy Story series, I'd say yes. If you don't really like the series, I don't really see this movie changing your mind. This movie was funny and had a lot of heart though, so if you like movies like that I'd recommend seeing it, but I'd advice watching the previous films before to get the full experience.
Also did anyone else see the Tin Toy reference? Clever stuff Pixar, clever stuff.
also I'm lowkey upset there wasn't an after credits scene with Barbie and Ken, although there wouldn't really eb a point in it, Barbie and Ken are just my two favorite characters of all time. Although, maybe if Barbie and Bo could have a talk about what it's like to have their kid part with them...that might've been interesting.
Anyway what did you guys think? Who was your favorite character and did you enjoy the movie? Tell me please, I haven't gotten to hear many opinions yet since the movie just released.
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