Toy Story 4 Review

I have been a huge fan of the Toy Story series since 1995/96. I view the first as the best of Pixar's work and the sequels to be fantastic. Was it necessary to have a fourth movie? No, but if done right, it can still hang with the best for greatest franchises, and it does. They hit all the right spots and it's more original without relying on a ton of repeated gags.

Woody and the gang belong to little Bonnie Anderson, following what happened at the end of 3. She now attends school and the cowboy toy secretly helps her with creating a new toy, Forky. The Andersons go on vacation and the spork jumps out the window of the family's RV. So now, it's a race to get Forky back to Bonnie or else things won't be the same when heading back to school. As always, it's becomes an adventure and encountering all sorts of other toys in the process.

This is mainly a Woody movie. You don't see too much of Buzz Lightyear and a lot of the other toys, though Buzz does get his share of screentime. The other toys, they have a few moments, especially towards the end. You will be laughing hard at a few scenes. Returning for the first time since the second film, we get to see Bo Peep and her sheep. She has a lot of scenes for this film and it's not purely a romantic angle. They turned her into an adventurous toy that does things her way and can handle a lot of stuff. One thing they do address is her absence in 3 and what happened to her. Honestly, she was one of the highlights for the movie.

Regarding new toys, there is Duke Caboom. This is the summer of Keanu Reeves, and despite the small amount of scenes, this was a great and funny toy. Even funnier are Ducky and Bunny, played by Key and Peele, Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele. Though their humor is a bit more adult oriented, to entertain kids with these characters is a surprise and its effective. They actually provide some of the adult type humor that sneaks up in Pixar films. Then there is Gabby Gabby, who is kind of a villain, but not in the way of like a Sid or Lotso or even Stinky Pete.

That's the thing, really. There's nothing really evil in the movie. It's not a bad thing and it's refreshing for a kids film. Not much anger, either. Maybe one or two scary parts, but not to the level of 3. As far as CGI goes, it's amazing the improvements that has been made since 1995 with the original. Little details make it very noticeable and more real every year. And the cast, as usual, is phenomenal.

They do reuse quite a bit of Randy Newman's scores from the trilogy. Normally, it's a bad thing, but it's not overused, and they use it in the right spots. The only thing I'll without spoiling is that the ending will surprise you. Whether or not it will make you cry, I don't know. But what I can tell you is that this is a movie you should be seeing in the theater. This is a franchise that has stood the test of time, and this fourth one will for a very long time. Probably the best movie of 2019.

Score: 10 out of 10

Burnt Out June 2019

I look at the last few weeks as not holding high on people's expectations. This month in particular has not been kind, though that will change with Toy Story 4 this weekend (I hope).

I can't express my view on these movies so far since I haven't seen them, but  maybe the concept of The Secret Life of Pets worked well enough for just one film. It's not like Despicable Me where you can do enough original stuff for a trilogy of films and keep people interested. And Dark Phoenix doesn't have much going for it. X-Men without familiar faces just doesn't work.

The last time we saw a Men in Black film was in 2012 with the same two guys that were in it since the first one in 1997. I don't know if people are still skeptical or if the change in different members hurt it potential. It's not a bad trio. There's Liam Neeson and Chris Hemsworth, who are superstars in themselves. Then you got Tessa Thompson, who's stock is rising. She is a good actress, and her performances in films like Creed show that. But who knows. And did we really need another Shaft? It was a modest hit in 2000. Was another one necessary?

With a legion of horror movies and action films over the next two weekends, none of them will reach number one. I do believe Toy Story 4 will be dominating theaters in its first two weekends. I don't know if it will have the same impact as the third, but it will still be a huge hit. I don't see Child's Play making any decent numbers unless it surprises many. The Conjuring and Annabelle films are huge draws, but it will be tough for them next week. But this second half of June should give the box office a huge shot in the arm it desperately needs.