VERDICT This fourth Toy Story isn’t as
essential as the previous films in the
series, but there’s no denying the joy of
seeing Woody and friends back in action,
while once again it’ll likely leave you
with a tear in your eye.FOURTH INSTALMENTS HAVE never
been easy. The likes of Rocky IV and Star
Trek IV: The Voyage Home are easily
outnumbered by such fourquel farragoes as
Superman: The Quest For Peace, Batman &
Robin and Jaws: The Revenge. These days,
it is a brave studio that ventures into
post-trilogy territory without a Harry
Potter-style series blueprint. But Pixar, as
we well know, is one of the bravest. It can
afford to be, with a 15-out-of-15-star
trilogy like Toy Story in its Hall Of Fame.
Nine years ago, after Woody, Buzz and
their landfill-avoiding friends were
bequeathed by a college-age Andy to the
young Bonnie, it appeared their story had
definitively ended. They’d let Andy go. Toy
Story 3 was a fitting and deeply touching
farewell. So you’d hope Pixar has a very
good (narrative) reason to unpack these
characters once more.
In truth, Toy Story 4 doesn’t feel quite
as coherent or emotionally compelling as
the previous three. Where Toy Stories 2
and 3 were perfectly cut jigsaw pieces that
completed a bigger picture we never
previously realised was there, 4 feels
distinct; less an essential new chapter than
an interesting epilogue.
Woody and Buzz are no longer the
buddy-act unit they were in the previous
films. In fact, Buzz’s storyline feels almost
tacked on here, spun around what should
be a one-off gag about him finding his
“inner voice” through his pre-recorded
Space Ranger catchphrases. Meanwhile,
Jessie, Bullseye, Hamm, Rex and co barely
feature, with little more to do than hang
back at ‘base camp’ and fret about Woody.
However, there is much to enjoy in
what is happening to everyone’s favouritesheriff. Firstly, his new buddy act with the
confused spork-turned-toy Forky, voiced
by Arrested Development and Veep’s Tony
Hale. Freshly created by Bonnie, he’s a
loveable mess of a plaything, with
mismatched googly eyes, a wax strip for a
mouth and a snapped lollypop stick for
feet. Unlike the other toys, his raison d’être
is unclear. Woody insists he exists for
Bonnie to love and play with; but all Forky
wants to do is nestle in the cosy oblivion of
a waste bin. Woody’s obsession with
mentoring the former spork, and keeping
him with Bonnie, is really the rag-doll
cowboy’s way of dealing with his own
mid-life crisis. He’s not as important to
Bonnie as he was to Andy, and he’s getting
played with less and less.
This feeds into Woody’s second
narrative strand, which is a love story. With
her absence in Toy Story 3 explained via a
pre-credits flashback sequence, Annie
Potts’ Bo Peep gloriously returns, reunited
with Woody after having lived for years as
a lost toy — and all the happier for it. She
is entertainingly recast as a wry, resourceful
survivor, full of grit and self-reliance, and
bemused by Woody’s continuing
dependence on being owned by a kid. In
arguably the series’ most grown-up
storyline yet, the film asks whether two
people who were once close, but whose
lives have been pulled in such different
directions, could ever make it work again.
Not that this is trying to be a
miniature plastic Casablanca. Like former
Toy Story films, the emphasis is firmly on
delivering laughs, throwing in some scares,
and thrilling us with madcap action.
The laughs are primarily delivered by
the new additions: Keanu Reeves as the
self-doubting Canadian stunt-cyclist Duke
Caboom and Keegan-Michael Key and
Jordan Peele as carnival fluffies Ducky and
Bunny, whose cute, fuzzy exteriors belie a
hilariously sadistic streak. The scares are
rooted in an antiques store-set subplot
involving a creepily needy old-school doll
voiced by Christina Hendricks and her
dead-eyed ventriloquist dummy henchmen.
And the madcap action zigs and zags
throughout, from a striking, storm-tossed,
torch-lit rescue mission, to a hairy
encounter with a toy-eviscerating cat.
It might not take us to the epic highs
of its predecessors — which is, to be fair, a
skyscraping bar to reach — but this is
certainly the strongest fourth series
instalment since Fury Road. DAN JOLINTOY STORY 4
DIRECTOR Josh Cooley
CAST Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts,
Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan
Peele, Madeleine McGraw, Christina
Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Joan CusackPLOT Woody (Tom Hanks) is struggling to
adjust to his new position in Bonnie’s
toybox. He’s no longer in charge, and is
getting left in the cupboard with increasing
regularity. But when Bonnie creates her
own toy, Forky (Tony Hale), Woody finds
new purpose: teach the confused newborn
the ways of toys. One that is complicated
when, during a road-trip, the pair get
separated from the rest of the gang.OUT NOW
HHHH RATED G / 100 MINSBuzz (Tim Allen)
hanging out with new
pals Ducky
(Keegan-Michael
Key) and Bunny
(Jordan Peele).
Below, left to right:
Woody (Tom Hanks),
Buzz, Jessie (Joan
Cusack) and new
recruit Forky (Tony
Hale); Woody and
Forky take a walk;
Woody and long-lost
love Bo Peep
(Annie Potts).