A risky gamble, but pays off in the end

Rating: 9/10 (4 September 2019)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Woody and the gang are back, and their new owner Bonnie is preparing for her first day at Kindergarten. By a freak accident, Woody gets taken with her to Kindergarten, where Bonnie ends up creating a toy of her own- Forkie, made with a discarded plastic fork and some accessories. When Forkie gets separated from Bonnie, and the little girl gets upset without her favourite toy, Woody, driven by a sense of duty to keep his owner happy, embarks on a desperate mission to find him, leading him into all sorts of triumpths and trevails.
Toy Story 3, the last Toy Story film, was already released over ten years after the previous film in 2010, which shows how it was already seen as a sure fire box office success even back then, and therefore safe to regurgitate after such a long lapse since the last one. Toy Story 4 emerges with less (but not much!) of a time gap in the shape of nine years since that film, but once again there's the feeling of the studios being in desperate need of something safe and easy to make a quick buck. And, that aside, three is the magic number. Things were wrapped up nicely that time around, with the grown up Andy going off to college, and handing his beloved childhood toys over to the little girl Bonnie, who is the focus of their attention here.
And yet, from this new stand point, director Josh Cooley, making his feature length debut, still manages to evoke the magic and charm that made the first three such successes, albeit from a different stand point. While not featuring massively in the film, Bonnie's attachment to her toys (especially the one she created!), and their reciprocated affection makes for as endearing a film as any of the others, with Woody's devine sense of duty and loyalty to his owner shining through. Buzz fits in nicely in a background role, as contrasting and wise cracking a sidekick as ever to his mismatched counterpart.
There is a feeling of pushing the boat out too far, tarnishing the originality and magic, certainly of the first two, and even the third film, but Cooley proves them totally unfounded, creating a production that, certainly for the most part, maintains the magic and excitement of the last few, whilst keeping the same high standard of spellbinding animation. Nobody could rule out a fifth film, but on the basis of this, I'd at least give it a go first. ****