To Infinity and Beyond!

Rating: 4/10 (22 June 2019)

Pretty good flick. It never really justifies its existence though, and it doesn't have the emotional impact I think it needed (especially if it's the last one). The story feels really inconsequential for the first half at least, and one of the side characters was kinda pointless. There's also a lot of plot conveniences that I found stupid, and sometimes this film relied on contrivances way too much (especially the part at the end with the RV). Don't get me wrong the previous films had that too, but I don't think the previous three relied on them that much. Also I think the overall story could've used some more development, I cared about the characters and what was happening because of my investment in the previous films, but this one not so much. I think it's good enough to make me invested it's just not on the level that I think it should be. My last complaint is that I wish the old gang got more screen time, specifically Jessie, and especially Buzz given the outcome of the story. However, I love everything they did with Woody and Bo Peep, I also love the new characters especially Forkey and Duke Kaboom (Keanu Reeves is perfect as always). There's a long tracking shot of two characters walking that I loved, and there's a scene with rain in the film and it's absolutely stunning. The visuals and animation are perfect, almost photo realistic at this point. Also the humor is pretty good, there were some jokes that I found to be genuinely hilarious, this film might actually be the strongest in terms of humor. Tom Banks's voice acting performance in this film as Woody is absolutely perfect, this might actually be his best in the franchise, other than maybe the third film. Once I've had more time to think about the film and see it again, my rating may go up. I know that I really liked this film, but not as much as the trilogy. In terms of Pixar sequels I would say this takes the edge over films like, "Finding Dory", "Incredibles 2", "Monsters University", and all the Cars films of course. In conclusion, Toy Story 4 feels like the "optional" epilogue that comes after the perfect ending to a story that you love, but it's a pretty good "optional" epilogue.