Good bye, John Lasseter

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2019)

At last I saw the movie with my kids.
I'm not sure I got what I expected, though I'm also not sure that's a bad thing. For example I read many complain about the scary scenes (ventriloquist dummies really feel like zombies) but they have probably forgotten how scary the altered toys were in the first movie - and probably they did not watch the movie with kids back then. As for the movie, the numerous rewrites show, as it's slightly unfocused and the drama - of which we have a lot - might be a bit less effective than it could have been, but otherwise it's a rather interesting one - that is, I believe, not a kids' movie anymore. I mean, yes, kids (those who don't get scared) might find some scenes to enjoy (probably fewer than in earlier episodes) but it's a lot more for adults who grew up watching Toy Story. Or...
...maybe it's not even really for them; it is mostly for Pixar. It's one of the very personal Pixar stories. Pixar likes to tell stories about themselves. That's how, when they introduced the (more or less) first full-length CGI movie it was about a toy with new technology vs. toys with old technology and finding how these can exist together. Cars, the other love project for John Lasseter, was also about new (highway and race car) vs. old (route 66 and cars), the new one helping out the old one in the end. Then there was Ratatouille, made at the time Pixar was considering leaving Disney, also a movie that was almost completely rewritten during production, and it was about a rat who proves to be a great successor of a mouse a chef who appears holding pans in Mickey Mouse shape or, once, in a traditional animated form, while the head of the restaurant was trying to make more and more money by franchises instead of focusing on quality and bringing out the childhood wonders from their guests, finally the rat opening a succesful new restaurant independently. And now Toy Story 4 bears the credit of 8 people as 'original story by', including John Lasseter who did not take part in the movie in any other way (not even as a producer) after leaving the company for the known reasons.
Whatever Lasseter did or did not do, I believe his leave must have been a somewhat bitter event for the studio and it shows in this movie that is full of leaving and finding new friends, giving others the possibility to talk and entertain others, finding your love, finding out who needs you the most... and letting go. Of course it also works if we have no idea about Pixar; it's growing up and leaving your family, it's getting older and letting your kids have their own life, so it's about fundamental developments in life which makes it strong... even if not the happiest episode in the series.