Major letdown...and here's why!

Rating: 5/10 (20 June 2019)

Now before I get started I've got to make it clear that I'm one of the biggest Toy Story fans out there. In particular the moving nature of the third instalment genuinely brought me to tears as I'm sure it did with a lot of you all.
While I had major concerns about the 4th movie's existence in general, I was willing to give it a shot. And don't get me wrong while Toy Story 4 is certainly not a bad movie, it's also not something that will sit in the hearts and minds of this generation any longer than a brief passing moment.
The problems start with the randomness of the plot, and the amount of themes that it is trying to cover in one movie. Is it primarily about getting Forky home to Bonnie, about Woody finding Bo, about Gabby finding an owner or about something else entirely? None of it is made particularly clear to the audience.
The beauty of the first 3 movies were that they had a clearly defined main plot: Toy Story was about the battle between Buzz/Woody and getting back to Andy from Sid; Toy Story 2 was about getting Woody back to Andy, and Toy Story 3 was about escaping the day care centre. Unfortunately in Toy Story 4, an actual coherent main plot is removed in favour of action sequences, the favouring of new characters instead of beloved old ones along a few amusing gags here and there.
Toy Story 4 remains unsure what it wants to ultimately be about and I guess that blurred vision comes from the variety of 8 (yes 8!) screenwriters who are credited for their input into the story. Regulars such as Jessie, Rex, Hamm, Bullseye, Slinky Dog and the Potato Head are all given next to no screentime which is a massive disappointment. Keeping them in the van for most of the movie is a lazy and ultimately boring decision for many of these beloved characters who each found much better things to do in Toy Story 2 and 3 in particular.
Instead the barrage of new characters makes things far too confusing for the audience. The movie needed to be about Forky or Bo - not both. There wasn't any tension in finding Bo nor was there any in getting Forky back to Bonnie. A more wild-cap adventure separating Woody and Forky from the gang and finding Bo at the very end of the film might have had a better pay off but unfortunately neither mean all that much to the audience given the other issue of spending so long at the Antique Store.
Meanwhile another huge part of the movie - Buzz is a shell of his former self. He has precious little to do that actually affects the plot and really needed to be in more actual danger and peril or more useful in saying Woody and Forky.
Finally put, everything just feels so low-stake compared to the first few films. There's no fear of being incinerated, getting trapped on a plane to Japan or being torn apart by a crazed kid. Instead it's just all a bit simplistic and the film lacks any real dramatic tension. Perhaps they needed to make Gabby more evil before her transformation? Or use the height of the ferris wheel for a bigger finale at the top somehow? It all just felt too warm and fuzzy and lacked the energy of all the films that have come before it.
Yes this movie still has its moments - Duke Caboom is an amusing and welcome addition, Forky is a very likeable addition too and the ending was a nice send off - but unfortunately the setups all seemed too rushed that it didn't have the emotion it ultimately should of. I think by having too many writers the ultimate vision for this film got lost and the movie is all the poorer for it, which is a real shame!
Kids will still like it and you'll find a few laughs, but this is certainly a step down from the original 3 films.