Massive Betrayal of the Toy Story Series

Rating: 3/10 (4 July 2019)

Watching Toy Story 4 provided a similar experience to viewing last year's Incredibles 2. In the darkness of the theater I appreciated elements in both movies, but in the light of day upon further reflection afterward, I found many discrepancies and disappointments with both films. The main difference between the projects, however, was that Toy Story 4 made me angry.
In many ways, the teaser trailer was accurate: the arrival of Forky, a good idea with a bland execution, singlehandedly derails the series in a weak plot that seems fit for an extended short more than a feature film.
Bo Peep may have been Woody's love interest in the first film, but she was also quick to switch allegiances to Buzz when he wowed the toys with his gadgets and abilities, declaring "I've found my moving buddy" when the space toy enters the scene. (She ironically calls Buzz her moving buddy in this film also.) Beginning the fourth movie with a touching moment of Woody and Bo Peep saying goodbye was to set up the later story arc, but it falls short and feels disingenuous. Perhaps years of being on her own, away from the toys in Andy's house may have hardened her, turning her into a badass, but it doesn't ring true. Instead it feels like a set-up to make sure she fits the Disney mold of how strong women characters behave. The audience is also left to wonder how in the world she changed out of a porcelain dress. Was the switch to pants one of the ingredients needed to complete her badass makeover? I don't see her character making such a drastic change. As in life, women in films can still be strong while preserving a less in-your-face demeanor.
The movie's main conflict is based upon weak premises. Buzz Lightyear's unexplained character metamorphosis is disquieting. While the ensemble approach worked well with the previous films in the series, Toy Story 4 is too focused on introducing new characters while relegating the ones we already love to the back of the RV. The villain, Gabby Gabby, while given sympathetic motivations, was clumsily written. This didn't feel like a Toy Story movie overall.
The part that completely ruined it, though, was the ending, which was telegraphed but not motivated. Not only was it predictable based on the trailer and comments from Tom Hanks and Tim Allen about the last scene, but Woody's leaving everything behind feels completely out of character. It's a regress of his arc from all the previous Toy Story movies. How is his leaving the gang to be with Bo different from leaving the gang to be with Andy in college? After all, the arc in that film was all about letting go. Why does suddenly not being Bonnie's favorite compel him to leave her behind? After all, doesn't he have her name on his boot? How is staying with Bo different from going to Tokyo with the Roundup Gang if his kidnaping had been delayed by ten years? Acting on selfish impulse goes against Woody's core character and beliefs. What's worse, the rest of the gang freely let him go when in actuality, they would have insisted he stay like they've done in the past, while asking Bo to join them. Won't Andy be upset if he finds out that Bonnie lost Woody, especially since he was hesitant to give him up? After all, Andy asks Bonnie to look after his toys for him; he doesn't give them to her outright.
Also, the mid-credits scenes basically reduce Woody to a common criminal, which not only teaches a horrible moral lesson but goes against his principles. When Woody meted out justice in Toy Story 2 and 3, he did it to great effect and only because the other toys (Stinky Pete and Lotso) had it coming as payback for how they had behaved against all of them. The retribution was not because of a personal offense against Woody himself. What did that poor carnival worker ever do to him? Woody hadn't even known about Buzz getting tied up at the carnival, so there's no reason for him to act so heartlessly. And it is hard to miss the irony that his motive in giving away so many of the carnival game's toys was to make sure they were each given a chance to be adopted and loved by a child, the motive that had kept him with Andy, and later with Bonnie, all along.
The scene of Woody leaving was too rushed and felt clumsy. The way Bonnie's parents drove their RV to be in position for it to take place strained credulity in a movie that had already asked viewers to do so on previous occasions. (Just how long would it take a 12-inch tall doll to walk more than 5 miles?) Even if the writers were going for the romantic angle, it did not ring true, since Woody and Bo's reaction upon finding one another again was no more than cordial. Honestly, if it ended with Buzz and Jessie going off on their own for some reason, that would make a little more sense, because Toy Story 3 established their strong romantic connection. Woody's letting go of Bo would have been a much better ending. Some people predicted from the trailer that Bo would become a villain, but even though she officially doesn't, she appears darkly manipulative, leading Woody away. If it was all about Woody moving on because he is a natural leader, then that doesn't justify joining Bo since she's already the established leader of that group.
This movie has been rightly compared to Ralph Breaks the Internet, and even though Vanellope's motivations for leaving felt rushed (and, like Toy Story 4, featured a highly telegraphed ending in the trailers), it worked better because it felt relatively consistent with the character arcs of both her and Ralph. Plus, at least that movie left open the possibility of the lead characters seeing each other again. In Endgame (SPOILERS!), the reason Captain America's ending works is because not only has his love for Agent Carter been long established, providing believable motivation for his choice at the movie's conclusion, but he also has been feeling out of place in the modern world since The Avengers. Endgame, even with its major death, feels more satisfying because its conclusion fits with the arc that was established over multiple movies (End Spoilers). Toy Story 4's ending feels wrong because it was built upon hastily-constructed motives that are supported nowhere else in the franchise. If Woody's departure was inevitable, then framing it around an older Bonnie giving up the toys after years have passed would have made more sense. That would have given Woody slightly better motivation other than simply being upset about not being a favorite (again), even though Bonnie could easily just be going through an anti-Woody phase. This way, Buzz's line about Bonnie not needing him would make more sense. It also would have worked in real-time since years have passed since the third and fourth movies, just like the gap between the second and third.
If Toy Story 4 had been a stand-alone film, it would not be receiving such high praise. The only reason we cry at this ending is because we love the bond established in the previous three films. True fans of the series would do their best to ignore that this ever happened and cap the series at 3 (as well as the Toy Story Toons and TV Specials). It's only the second-worse Pixar movie because it wasn't as boring and forgettable as The Good Dinosaur.
Indeed, if "story is king" at Pixar, it is clear the monarch has officially been dethroned.