Saw it this weekend. Liked it quite a bit, quite bittersweet. It answers the “What happened to Bo Peep” question nicely, and acts as a nice ending - for one character, at least. I can see how they might continue without them but hope they don’t. There’s no need.
Also liked that the villain wasn’t outright villainous-for-evil’s sake, as well as honorable once they got what they wanted - and the follow-on from that was well-played, too.
Keanu Reeves was awesome.
Also, creepy ventriloquist dummies are even creepier in multiples.
Saw this when it came out and have some observations about the movie as well as the direction films like this have taken.
The movie itself was top notch in its execution. Great artistic animation, music, voice acting, etc. The settings were interesting and beautiful, an antique store and a small-town summer carnival for the most part. The new characters were funny and interesting.
The story I thought was on the weaker side. It felt like a whole lot of ‘party member gets separated, stealth rescue mission, another party member gets separated, stealth rescue mission’ repeated for the duration of the film. I was prepared for the pre-announced tear-jerker ending like TS3 or the middle of TS2 but it never really lived up to the hype.
The other problem I have with these movies and similar franchises like Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon is that they kind of shot themselves in the foot by making smaller spin-off films equal in quality to the originals that came out between the features.
Between TS2 and TS3 we had an 11-year hiatus to build upon. Between TS3 and TS4 we cut off a couple years but they also inserted shorts like The Toy Story of Terror and The Toy Story that Time Forgot so none of the gang really went missing for all that long. It kind of watered down the nostalgia effect when they returned for 4. I felt the same way about the How To Train Your Dragon films. They had so many other mini-films scattered in their time line that I didn’t want to have to catch up on those before seeing part 3.
Direct-to-TV specials aired on ABC.
I thought TS4 was pretty good, but it would have been nice for one of the movies to step outside of the adventure/road trip/rescue genre.
I saw it on Saturday night. I would’ve preferred they just kept the TS saga as a trilogy - the last movie was a great note to end on - but thought TS4 was worthwhile and good fun, although bittersweet at the end. Sorry to see Buzz and Woody parting ways, although glad that Woody and Bo Peep will be together. Those ventriloquist dummies were pretty spooky! Glad the “villain” turned out to be not all bad. Forky was adorable; favorite line: "He’s terrifying!"
Lots and LOTS of Easter eggs in the antique store - see IMDB’s trivia section for quite a few.
I thought it was very well done. A really nice way to spend a couple of hours in the world of Toy Story.
Forky was hilarious, and was spot on with my experience as a parent. Little creations are often given a prized place among toys, even when they’re just bits of junk glued together.
I also liked the touch of the villain not being evil, just desperate and sad at being a broken toy.
I enjoyed it and was glad I saw it but felt it was the least successful of the four.
I also wonder how Andy will feel that the toy he clearly still had attachment to (I rewatched 3 the night before so it was fresh in my mind) is now gone forever. Bonnie is just a kid and didn’t do anything wrong and I know one of the themes of these movies is letting things go but I couldn’t help feel bad for Andy a little.
Maybe I’m just more cynical than you, but I don’t see this franchise ending until ten years down the line (in-universe) when thirtyish Andy somewhat embarrassedly stops by teenage Bonnie’s house on a visit to his parents, to see if he can reclaim the old toys that his own young son is eager to get his hands on because he’s heard so many of Dad’s great stories about his childhood adventures with them. (Adult Andy, btw, is now a writer or creative director of an entertainment company or someting else that points the moral of how important it is to exercise your young creativity in imaginative play with toys and whatnot.)
Woody and Bo and their new gang find out (because they sometimes sneak online and follow Adult Andy on social media? who knows) that the Great Reunification is happening, and the rest of the movie is their madcap adventures in finding a way to rejoin Andy and his new family in their new home.
Saw it opening weekend myself. I think I’m on the same page with everyone else so far.
I enjoyed the movie. Well made, solid story, great voice acting, good characters, etc. Everything you expect from Pixar and especially the Toy Story franchise. Perfectly well executed and lived up to the standard set by the first three movies. So kudos there.
But, it did feel like a money grab. A well done money grab, but nonetheless superfluous. The end to Toy Story 3 was pretty much flawless. And while this one carried on in an interesting way and had it’s own coda, it ultimately undermines the third one. To be super-duper cynical, it kind of felt like it was the post-#metoo/post-Wonder Woman Toy Story. Didn’t bother me really, but one could be forgiven for thinking this was the result of a fair bit of focus grouping and market testing for merchandise.
I saw a very late show, yet there were quite a few young kids in the audience here in the big city. I was surprised how much they loved Forky’s existential crisis. I wouldn’t have expected that to nail their funny bone, but damn if they weren’t howling during the “traaaash” montage. I too remember hearing “Sporky” during some commercials so I wonder if that was a trademark they simply couldn’t get permission to use or what. Sporky, kinda sounds like Sparky, is a better name for sure. Going into the movie I thought Forky would be a pretty lame aspect of the story, I was ready to call Pixar out for jumping the shark with that addition, but damned if it worked.
Duke Kaboom was fantastic. Best thing to happen to Canada this year.
One complaint was they broke the rule about interacting with humans a little too aggressively. I don’t want to overthink it too much, but that felt a little bit like a cheat. It made for a few funny moments though.
That wouldn’t have been as funny. The entire joke is that he’s a Canadian knockoff. Plus Disney likes selling stuff. They could have tried to get Howdy Doody, Roy Rogers or Lone Ranger rights instead of creating Woody. They could have tried getting GI Joe or Battlestar Galactica rights instead of creating Buzz.
The Barbie and Ken storyline was funny. They introduced her as a main character to riff on the predictable romance. If it had been a generic “girly doll and her male sidekick” character it wouldn’t have been as funny and it would have taken a lot of exposition. Plus, Disney ain’t creating a new toy line that beats Barbie on the shelves.
When using a known property serves the story or adds nostalgia, they do it. Otherwise they create their own. In Duke’s case, they get the best of both worlds because him NOT being Evel Kneivel is the best part.
Whatever dude. You can create a generic “cowboy”, “space man” and “dinosaur” toy just fine. Everyone knows what to expect and you can fill them with any personality you want.
You can’t create a generic “potato with replaceable parts” toy without it coming across lame and this aspect of his is essential to his character and several plot points.
In the entire Toy Story universe there’s basically 4 primary or secondary characters who are trademarks. They are a pair of couples and in both cases using a known commodity was essential to the humor and the plot.
But whatever, carry on. If you want to insist that this movie would have been better/funnier with a licensed Evel Knievel toy instead of his fake Canadian doppleganger, feel free to live in that world.
I didn’t say it would be better/funnier, just that it was very obviously directly copying a very specific toy, but not naming it. This isn’t the case of Woody or Buzz who were original characters–this was the Evel Knievel toy except not called Evel Kineval, exactly like if they had had Berby and Mr Tuber Guy in the older movies. And I was just wondering why.
I have never even *heard *of these short films!