Toy Story 4 [Blu-ray + 4K UHD]

    The toys are back and ready for an epic road trip adventure! The fourth installment shows Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) and the gang embarking on a journey with their new kid, Bonnie. Along the way, Woody tasks himself with the safety of Bonnie’s new favorite toy: Forky (voiced by Tony Hale). Created during Bonnie’s first day in Kindergarten out of trash, Forky is an unusual toy. Woody spends the film trying to find his place among the toys while ensuring Forky stays at Bonnie’s side. Along the way, an unexpected reunion with an old friend leads Woody to question his old outlook on being a toy.  

    The fourth installment of the Toy Story is a nostalgic blast from the past for many who grew up with the franchise. At the same time, it brings in loads of new viewers into its fold. A truly heartwarming and funny animated film, Toy Story 4 is a continuation of the epic tale that started nearly 25 years ago. You’ll both laugh and cry while following the gang of toys through its grand adventure.   

    We revisit plenty of our old friends from the past such as Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jesse, and many more familiar faces. Plenty of new characters that warm your heart are introduced such Forky, Ducky, and Bunny (voiced by Key and Peele), and Duke Caboom (voiced by Keanu Reeves), and a few others. What sets this film apart from the other installments is the key focus on Woody’s struggle with becoming an unused toy. The film explores the relationship between children and toys as they grow up. While the third installment showed how Andy pasted on his toys to Bonnie as he went off to college, this film touches what happens to the toys that don’t get pasted on.    

    The aspect that Toy Story 4 did best was to bring us all back to our favorite world of toys. It brought old and new viewers alike back to the playground that we said goodbye to in the previous installment. The world that started with Andy’s toys, in the beginning, is just as bright, funny, and heartwarming as ever and you can’t help but jump in. Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang welcomes you back and grab your attention from start to finish. The fourth installment of Toy Story is a great movie to sit down and watch with your whole family.    

    The most interesting part of this whole film is was the reintroduction of Little Bo-Peep (voiced by Annie Potts). Her character brought up a whole different part of the world Toy Story never explored. The “lost” toy culture was an interesting view on showed the viewer the nomadic lifestyle of toys who don’t belong to one child. Rather than having one sole owner, the lost toys spend their time moving on from area to area and finding children that need toys to play with. After getting pasted on and abandoned, Bo-Peep ended up falling into the lost toy lifestyle. She’s the perfect way of introducing Woody to the other side of toys, who belong to only to themselves.   

    The characters that stole the show we’re the dynamic duo of Ducky and Bunny who had you rolling in laughter with their banter and wit. Though they didn’t much screen time, the bits they did get always stole your attention. Along with their crazy proposed plans, Ducky and Bunny are sure to become crowd favorites of the franchise.   

    The flaw with the movie was that as viewers said goodbye to toys in Toy Story 3. While it was awesome to see the continuation of the films happened, this film seemed like an unneeded add on. It did provide us with the potential of new content to be explored as Woody left the toys and Bonnie to join Bo-Peep as a lost toy. Truthfully, I believe that the franchise should have left the original toy gang of Woody and Buzz where they left off and gone in another direction with other characters.   

    The biggest let down with Toy Story 4 was how out of character the toys seemed. Woody, Buzz, and Bo Peep all seemed to act outside from there usually a character in previous films. Buzz held a lot of self-doubts and lacked leadership, while Woody lacked his usual spunk. Bo Peep was no longer prim and proper but rather a resourceful, lobe wolf type of nomad. I will agree that these changes are merely character progression with time, but it still throws you off slightly. It’s not a major factor, but it does leave those familiar with the franchise with a bit of a loss. The progression of characters is typical but in this form wasn’t really what was needed. Woody’s departure at the end makes sense plot-wise but is out of character for him to leave the gang behind to follow Bo Peep. All in all, it wasn’t a major deal breaker to change up the characters slightly only that it could have been handled better.  

    All in all, while this isn’t the best from the Toy Story franchise it does deserves to be watched. While to me it seems more like a standalone film revolved around our favorite characters it’s still a good movie to watch with the family. It may be a variation from the other films, but it still does what all Toy Story movies do. It teaches us valuable lessons about growing up and the real world while having fun with the lovable characters from our childhood. 

Special Features: 

Delated Scenes 

Bo Rebooted 

Toy Stories 

Woody & Buzz 

Toy Box 

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