I know there was some disquiet about Toy Story 4 even being made. The BBC and Guardian film critic Mark Kermode was really anxious about it, fearful that the wonderful trilogy was going to be spoilt by an unnecessary addition, one that was made for the money, ruining his ever-so-valued Toy Story experience. He now knows that his fears were unfounded. TS4(or TS Forky as some now call it) is a wonderful victory lap to be enjoyed knowing that the trilogy already has its own Golden medals. We didn’t know we were waiting for it, but now that it is here we can rejoice, cheering and waving goodbye. I am pretty sure it is goodbye.
It has been 24 years since TS first amazed and moved us. It was the first ever full length CGI animated movie and set the bar very high, but ever since then Pixar has pushed that bars higher and higher both technically and content wise. Do we remember how amazed we were by the details of the polyester hair on Monsters Inc, or Merida’s flowing hair in Brave, the photo-realist background in WALL-E? Maybe not, but I can we ever forget the rumbling fears that TS3 fed to us towards the end; then the triple whammy of relief followed by the bitter sweet final scene that we thought was the end of TS.
I will say no more about TS 4 than this. It is an exciting and sometimes frightening adventure, and it is a love story. Not just a romantic love story, it goes much deeper than that. If you want to you can consider its deep existentialist depth - or you simply sit back and enjoy the ride. If you saw and loved the others I think you will love this one too. If (somehow) you have never seen the others, you could actually start here. It is not a sequel, it is just a toy story that happens later. But don’t wait for the DVD; a movie such as this was made for the Big Beautiful Screen (like Rocketman and BladeRunner 2049), so if you want to see it please go out and make it an event.
I was prompted by seeing TS4 to write a longer piece about the deep emotional, moral, philosophical and spiritual richness of the movies. That will be up next folks.
