A Fine Ending to Hopefully the End of the Franchise.

Rating: 6/10 (29 June 2019)

The movie was solid. As far as the four movies go, this one isn't my favorite. It has a couple of very good story points. I found the movie to be a bit dull at points, particularly at the center of the movie. There were just a few times where I felt that it was a bit slow. It didn't stop me from enjoying the movie, but I did struggle to maintain interest at times. Let's just make this clear, I stand by the belief that these movies are for everyone and not just kids. So the excuse that "it's a kid's movie" doesn't fly with me. It's a family movie meant to appeal to everyone. What I had hoped for was a few more laughs. I really only snickered here and there, but I had hoped that I would have been laughing loud and proud at least a couple times. In all honesty, the theater was quiet. If anyone laughed, I sure didn't here them. I say that with remembering that I always laugh good and hard with the first 2 movies. I will stand by this, though. I fully believe that this movie is far better than the third. Toy Story 3 was okay, but I never really enjoy that one in the way that I enjoy 1 and 2. I'm sure that this one, the 4th, will grow on me over time. But, for now, I can say that this one didn't quite resonate with me as much as I had hoped. So, I guess I had my hopes a bit too high. I will say this. Toy Story 4 has a truly surprising twist ending that I definitely didn't expect. Though, If I had to chose between the 3rd movie's ending and the 4th, I would actually have to go with the 3rd. It felt more complete, making this whole movie feel rather unnecessary. Good, but unnecessary. If anything, this ending kind of undermined the ending to the third in terms of Andy's instructions to Bonnie.
Also, I didn't like Buzz's characterization in this movie at all. He was made out to be a bit of an idiot. He always felt more capable in the first two movies, and was decently capable in the third. But, this time around, he seemed like he had no idea what he was doing. It was as if he was there, but he wasn't present in mind. He lacked the ability to think for himself, which was never the case in the first two movies. He didn't seem like he was on his toes. It just felt very out of character for him.
Lastly, I really hoped that the other toys would have had a lot more to do in this movie. I know it's tradition for most of the toys to play background while the focus is on Woody and a couple other toys. That's what these movies are about. But, with such a large cast, there was plenty of opportunities for the others to get more chances to be involved. I feel that that was a lot of squandered characters and opportunities and talented actors to wind up getting shoved in the background with next to no lines..