Good, but underwhelming compared to the other Toy Story movies

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2019)

The Toy Story movies have always had a special place in my heart. I grew up with them from the very beginning as a kid and they've always been movies I re-watched plenty of times. Being very satisfied with how Toy Story 3 concluded everything, I was a little reluctant on wondering how they could pull off another Toy Story movie without it feeling pointless. Needless to say, Toy Story 4 sort of works I guess? It's not boring and still entertaining, but I don't know by the end of it I just sort of felt a little underwhelmed I guess? It's nice for Toy Story 4 to bring back old characters like Bo Peep and change things up a little following the new toy owner Bonnie instead of Andy, but I don't know I just didn't find the final result as satisfying to watch as the first three movies for some reason.
That's not to say Toy Story 4 is a complete waste of time or is bad. Definitely not at all. It focuses almost entirely on Woody and the other characters, including Buzz Lightyear himself, are mostly placed in the back-burner in favour of Bo Peep and the other new characters such as Forky, Ducky, Gabby Gabby, Bunny, and Duke Caboom. One thing that I seemed to notice in Toy Story 4 was that it definitely wasn't nearly as funny as the first three movies. Forky gets a few good moments, as well as Ducky and Bunny mostly being there for Comic Relief more than anything else, but surprisingly from Woody and the main gang? It definitely felt more lacking to me personally. The theme of toys deciding what to do with their own lives and not sticking to normality is certainly one of the more interesting elements of the movie, but the execution of how these events play out to me felt a bit messy in places and there were some contrivances and out of character moments throughout the movie that bugged me.
Nevertheless, whether the movie decides to focus on Forky or Bo Peep, things start to get a bit chaotic with how the plot is structured and there didn't feel like there was really any stakes to the story at all. The "Toy Rules" are really loose here and it takes alot of suspension of disbelief to see toys running around a carnival with no people caring about it at all. The antagonists themselves have good character moments and Duke Kaboom is probably the best new character in Toy Story 4. Bonnie herself is a bit of a bland toy owner compared to Andy, but thankfully she doesn't get too much time just spent on her alone. There are decent emotional parts throughout the movie that worked and I mostly like how it all concludes, but it makes me question if Pixar are going to be milking more Toy Story movies by this point. The animation is top notch as usual, as well as the voice acting from the main cast and all the new characters too.
Overall, Toy Story 4 is fine and not the worst outcome by a long shot, but it's also nothing amazing either. Honestly, I don't think there's anywhere else for these movies to go by this point. Just leave the series on a good note and in case you were disappointed or underwhelmed by Toy Story 4, you could always pretend Toy Story 3 is the real conclusion to the series and consider this an epilogue.
6.5/10