"... and beyond."

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2019)

First off, I'll say that 'Toy Story 4 (2019)' is, in and of itself, rather good. I suppose it was bound to be; it's Pixar, after all. It looks incredibly impressive, its near photo-real environments meshing with its stylistic characters, and it has several interesting ideas under the hood. The problem comes when you consider its place within the franchise. Even if it was perfect, it would still be like painting a Picasso on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel: that is to say, stepping on the toes of its predecessor. Its ending, while somewhat resonant, leaves things in a far less satisfying place than 'Toy Story 3 (2010)' did. Unless you totally ignore it, it - essentially - stains your memory of these characters. This wouldn't be a bad thing if the piece felt as though it had a crystal clear and absolutely vital story to tell. It just doesn't though, struggling to conflate its previously mentioned interesting ideas into a strong theme able to consistently drive its characters (and vice versa) - something all three of the prior titles did amazingly well. Here, this struggle leads to some oddly dissonant moments and a sense of, perhaps, too many cooks (or concepts) in the kitchen. As an example, Forky's much-advertised existential crisis essentially only acts as an inciting incident, despite being the most intriguing addition to the canon. Also, the side characters - such as Rex, Ham, Potato-Head and, even, Jessie - are strangely side-lined despite having no real reason not to go on the adventure (they tend to just wait around - though, they do get some action, as an ensemble, later on). In general, the writing isn't as strong as you'd like and the humour is a little lacking, too. Of course, the flick never totally fumbles and still tells a mostly enjoyable tale. It seems to have its heart in the right place, it moves at a decent pace and, in the moment, it's pretty much as likeable as ever. As a stand-alone, it's a decent experience that's actually better than the majority of movies already released in 2019. As a sequel, it's a bit of a retread that doesn't really match the quality of the series' previous entries. If you're a fan of the franchise, you may actually get less out of it than if you're not. It's a lot better than 'Incredibles 2 (2018)', though. 7/10