This was not the Toy Story I knew

Rating: 4/10 (24 September 2019)

So I watched this movie over the weekend and was excited because I heard some people say they actually enjoyed it and thought it was cute. Umm..I don't think those people were actual fans of the movie because this not only steered so far away from the original, but it steered completely in the other direction of what the spirit of the movie was all about. The charm was just...GONE. I was intrigued in the beginning with the premise of Woody basically not being the popular toy that his kid always wanted to play with and instead was being put on the back burner. I thought this was something different and I was intrigued to see where the story was going to go from there until the whole Forky character showed up and Woody being obsessed with making him believe he was a toy to please Bonnie just got too over the top and dragged on. I hated that they focused waaaay too much on all these boring, weird new characters who were so different from the original crew and basically took way too much screen time while the beloved side characters like Rex and Ham were demoted to just background characters with 3 lines each. You would think this being the last movie they would give them more screen time? And don't get me started on Buzz...did they give him a lobotomy?? I was so annoyed how they turned him back into an idiot toy by giving him a conscious that tells him what to do by pressing his buttons?? Why hasn't he done this in the previous movies? So dumb. And of course they split him and Woody apart (the best dynamic of the movie) for the duration of the movie just so Woody can go chase Forky and get into more unnecessary trouble which in turn takes away from seeing the rest of the toys. Ugh. This movie was so frustrating and I felt completely bored most of the time. Duke Caboom I admit was pretty funny at times but it didn't make up for the lack lustre plot. Bo Peep I get wasn't the same Bo Peep we last saw due to her new living experience not being someone's toy but she seemed like a completely different toy that I basically just categorize her with the new toys in this movie that I didn't care about. The Gabby doll and the rest of the Slappy dolls were creepy and would gave given me nightmares as a kid. I like that they had "Sid" vibes but because I was so bored I didn't care for it. The ending was sad and depressing and I can't believe they would split up Woody from the rest of the gang like that and the toys being ok with it. That wasn't believable to me. I knew it was going to happen but I still hated it. If you're going to have that kind of ending then at least make up for it by making the rest of the movie good and nostalgic for the rest of the original Toy Story fans by giving us more Buzz and the rest of the gang. Ughhhhh. Toy Story 3 was PERFECT. That's my ending not this cash grab.