How do you top perfection? Like this!

Rating: 10/10 (24 June 2019)

Toy Story is one of those animated franchises that you remember watching as a kid, and then growing up with. If you were anything like me, Sid and his creepy toy creations scared you and your parents didn't allow you to watch it again until you were older, or in other words, eight instead of five. But getting to grow up with this franchise has been a sheer delight. The first movie was brilliant, and the series has never stopped topping itself. The second movie was incredibly well written, and has stood the test of time as being one of those rare occasions when a sequel stands up to the original movie. The third one is a work of perfection, with no flaws whatsoever.
But if the third one was perfection, then how, as a studio, do you have the guts to take a movie that had everything, including the perfect ending, and attempt to better it? After all, by definition, perfection is, well, perfect! But somehow, someway, Pixar have managed to do the impossible. They have topped Toy Story 3.
This movie had all the hallmarks of not only a timeless Pixar film, but a timeless animated film in general. It had amazing animation, with some incredibly intricate work hidden amidst the vastness of scenes like the carnival and the antique store. The store itself was an animated set piece to marvel at, with all of the different antiques having their own unique place in the film. It felt like careful thought was put into that, and animating the backgrounds is just as important as the foregrounds.
I was also impressed with the way they animated Bonnie's first day of kindergarten. To the average adult, a kindergarten classroom is simply that: a classroom. It's nothing to be frightened of, or set in a place of complete domination in your psyche. But for Bonnie, and for most kids that age, it is an incredibly scary environment. In another instance of incredible attention to detail, Pixar oriented the cameras to capture everything from Bonnie's point of view. You feel the absolute horror she's feeling as she heads into elementary school for the first time. The room is gigantic, and it feels endless. The kids are all loud and new and different, and that can be very off putting to a kid at that age. You can read Bonnie's emotions, and she doesn't have to go into a cliche tantrum out of fright. When she sits down and another kid comes over and steals her art supplies, it's like she's lost her best friend. But then she creates Forky, and the rest is Toy Story history.
The level of emotion shown in this movie is magnificent. At the end, when Woody says "farewell" forever to the gang we've come to know and love, you can see the pain each character is feeling. Yet, through this pain, there are major glimmers of happiness. Woody has found another purpose in life: bringing toys and kids together! That's something that's really cool. They don't just fling Woody aside and let the other toys walk all over him in his relative "old age." They almost retire him, and let him go on new adventures with Bo Peep and her friends.
I've gotta give major props to Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, who give majorly hilarious performances in this movie as Ducky and Bunny. These are plush animals who, on the one hand, seem to be having some kind of existential crisis about "what they look like on the inside," but on the other, are two toys who just want a kid to make happy. These two steal the show every moment they're on screen, and Keegan and Jordan's vocal effects are just as funny as their written dialogue.
I also love how the movie doesn't have cut and dry heroes or villains. After the disappointment that was Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, the use of Gabby Gabby here felt completely refreshing. Having her become a reformed antagonist towards the end of the picture, while keeping Woody a very flawed character, was a brilliant idea, and their chemistry on screen is amazing.
The reintroduction of Bo Peep is also amazing. I thought they were gonna ride the feminism hype train and have her be a masculine female character, but they didn't. They made her independent and brave, without making her lose any of the things that make her who she is, and that was also brilliant. Watching her rekindle her soft romance with Woody was a delight, and the two work very well together.
On the tiniest of downsides, the movie does take a little bit to get going. But once it does, it's such an enjoyable ride. You don't want it to end. I thought Toy Story 3 had the perfect ending, but that was just Woody saying goodbye to Andy. Watching him say goodbye to the other toys may be even more heart wrenching. The perfect ending line to the perfect way to end a near perfect franchise is said between Woody and Buzz: "To infinity, and beyond." That's a perfect way to describe this film, and in this reviewer's opinion, it's the best in the entire franchise.