Toy Story 4

Official Australian release date: 20/6/19. Viewed: 19/6/19.

Director: Josh Cooley

Actors: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy

Rating: G

  

‘Toy Story 4’ is the sequel no-one asked for, but it is another excellent entry in the Pixar filmography – probably not quite as great as the original ‘Toy Story’, or the most recent ‘Toy Story 3’ (crazy that even it’s nine years ago!), but still a great film. We’re reintroduced to Woody (Hanks), Buzz (Allen), Bo Peep (Potts), Jessie (Cusak), Slinky (Clark), Rex (Shaw), Hamm (Ratzenberger) and the gang in a flashback, which sets up the film as a reunion story for Woody & Bo Peep.

Now that the toys are enjoying their second lease on life after Andy passed them on, Bonnie (McGraw) is “their kid”. When she goes to kindy, she creates a new toy – Forky (Hale), which is exactly what it sounds like. When Bonnie, her parents and the toys go on a roadtrip holiday, Forky gets lost and Woody embarks on a rescue mission. This search for Forky also parallels Woody’s search for relevance.

There’s plenty of adventure and toy-action, as well as plenty of great new characters – Duke Caboom (Reeves), Ducky & Bunny (Key & Peele), Gabby (Hendricks), Giggle (Maki) – but it’s hard to go past the originals (& “newer” additions of Trixie the triceratops [Schaal] and Buttercup the unicorn [Garlin]), including Mr Potato Head, pieced together by previous lines from the late Don Rickles. The friendship between Woody & Buzz is still key, but not at the forefront – it’s almost a “love” story between Woody & Bo and a father/son story between Woody & Forky. Needless to say, excellent CGI, great soundtrack and a fantastic ending.

Overall: Another excellent story about life and love.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.