Oh boy

Rating: 5/10 (24 June 2019)

I enjoyed myself, I can't deny that. The humor was mostly well done and the film had some fantastic character moments. The only thing is what is this films purpose in the franchise? Toy Story 4 felt like a broken record at points repeating recurring themes that have been ingrained by the first three films. I don't have a problem with this inherently but the film doesn't try to make them fresh. It often repeats plot points from the previous films. Sure we get a new unexplored theme but this theme isn't realised in it's full potential. We get causal hints of it but we get very little insight into not only the theme but how Woody feels about it. When the ending comes it doesn't feel earned.
The film is more concerned with being humourous the majority of the time. So when the emotional punch comes it doesn't feel organic within the story. You can't be humourous a good chunk of the time and expect the audience to be emotionally invested. The only reason people are invested is because of the previous three films. Now, I won't lie, I was emotionally impacted by these hard hitting character moments and it's hard not to get swept up into the drama of it all. The only thing is that when your characters and themes aren't developed enough I can't get fully invested. Sure I laughed and had fun with this but don't hit me with emotional beats if your not going to put the proper effort into making it feel like a complete, cathartic addition to the franchise.
EDIT 27/6/19