Toy Story 4 wasn't as good as its predecessors but it's not bad

Rating: 7/10 (9 September 2019)

SPOILER ALERT : If you hadn't seen the movie yet don't read this review.
9 years ago in 2010 was the end of what was presumed to be the last film in Toy Story franchise, which started 15 years earlier with the original film in 1995 and over a decade after the second one in 1999.
Toy Story 3 ended on such a high note with Andy (who was the original owner of the main toy characters in the previous films) all grown up and moving on to college, so he gives up what's left of the old gang : Woody, Buzz, Jessie etc to a little girl named Bonnie (who was seen playing with Woody earlier in the film).
It was the perfect way to end the series in my opinion so when I heard that Pixar was making a Toy Story 4. I was against it at first, as I felt there was no way Pixar was gonna top the ending of the previous film but I was willing to give it a chance.
Fast forward almost 3 months after the 4th film's release and after watching it a couple of times at the movies, I thought the film was great even though in comparison to the other Toy Story movies, it's the weakest out of the bunch and this is why :
The good parts
The film began with a flashback scene to show the events that took place after Toy Story 2 but before the 3rd one in which the character Bo Peep (who was Woody's girlfriend in the earlier films) was donated after Molly (Andy's sister) outgrew her and then Woody attempts to bring her back to Andy's house but she tells him to go on without her (which sets the tone for the rest of the film when we see Bo again) so that was a nice touch by Pixar (by the way the animation is impressive).
The bad
Then we fast forward to the current timeline which takes place after Andy grew up and gave his toys away to Bonnie (including Woody) and everyone seems to be fine with it except for Woody (whose taken a backseat in Bonnie's closet) after being the main protagonist for nearly 25 years, this is what he gets ?
I didn't agree with how Bonnie neglects Woody for no reason and she doesn't even care about him when he gets lost, despite his attempts to make her happy with the new character Forky (who he helped create in her kindergarten orientation class).
Forky is the new character who is the equivalent of what Woody was to Andy, so while I wasn't happy with what they did with Bonnie's character in the 4th film, I understand why they did it but the whole "You are a toy" and "the reason why you exist is to be played with" has already been established in the old films, so I felt he was unnecessary in that case.
Another thing that was disappointing was how the rest of the Toy Story characters were also pushed to the sidelines in favor of the new ones, especially Buzz Lightyear who is reduced to a running gag where he can't make decisions for himself without pressing his voice commands on his chest to make the decisions for him.
Bo Peep has also been given a makeover, with her old white and pink polka dot dress with the bonnet replaced in favor of a blue jumpsuit with a broken cane and she is now living her life on her own terms as a lost toy without the restrictions of being stuck on a shelf for years and she encourages Woody to do the same thing (which was great) but here's the problem :
The plot with Bo Peep is merged with the Forky arc from earlier in the film (he is now being held hostage in an antique shop by a new toy named Gabby Gabby) who is a doll with a broken voice box who wants to be loved by a kid, so she sends a group of ventriloquist dummies to attack Woody to rip his out of him.
The motives behind Gabby Gabby's story are understandable but it doesn't give her the right to be selfish to pull someone else's voice box out just to make herself happy and when she finally gets the attention of the girl she wants, she doesn't even want her so what was the point ?
The other new characters were great additions to the Toy Story series such as Ducky and Bunny (who attack Buzz for taking his spot at the carnival) and their one liners were hilarious, Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) the Canadian stunt toy on the motorcycle stole the show but I wish we could've seen more from the old characters.
So while Toy Story 4 isn't a bad film by any means, it's also not as good as the other three because of the issues with the plot and the characters, so if you want to see the movie the way it should've ended then watch Toy Story 3 and pretend this one doesn't exist.