Woody Hassle-Bon

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2019)

I too felt that following "Toy Story 3" another sequel would be pushing it, and I'm not sure if that opinion coloured the whole experience for me, but through pretty enjoyable, I came away from "Toy Story 4" a little underwhelmed.
Having started pre-school and struggling for friends, Bonnie (Madeline McGraw) makes a new friend in Forky (Tony Hale) who struggles with the transition from Utensil to toy and is constantly trying to return to the trash. Seeing his importance to Bonnie, Woody (Tom Hanks) desperately tries to keep him onboard whilst the family go on a road trip. Their escapades lead to Wood reconnecting with Bo Peep (Anne Potts) who was passed on by Andy's sister several years earlier.
I don't want to go overboard with my criticism here, there is plenty to admire with "Toy Story 4". As with all Pixar films it looks fantastic, the surfaces and textures are great. There's lots of work done on the backgrounds, cameos and Easter eggs filling the shelves of the antique store. There are a few moments that are funny enough to register with the adults in the audience, mostly revolving around Key and Pelle's characters or Keanu Reeves' Duke Kaboom, an Evel Knevil parody.
The problem is, it's just not as good, worthy or significant as "Toy Story 3". It's not as emotionally satisfying as it essentially reheats some of the series story points, there's no real villain to the story. The ending is a little contrary, both in terms of the "rules" of being a toy and anything we've seen in Woody's personality previously.
As I said, let's not go overboard with the criticism, it's a perfectly solid entry, but for Pixar and for the franchise, it feels a little underwhelming