To say I was curious when Toy Story 4 was released would be only the begining, having liked the first three a lot, two being by far the best, I was wondering what would happen here.
Oh. My. God. They've literally destroyed the entire story with this latest entry. TS is about Woody, Buzz and his buddies having fun with Andy, and seeing the world from their point of view. Andys departure at the end of III was a huge red flag for any possible 4th Movie. Was I right to be worried? In all ways yes.
The new owner of the gang, Bonnie, is basically not even a character at this point, the story tries to focus on her starting school and creating a new character to play with, but said new character, Forky, is barely even engaging. He just wants to live in the trash cans because thats how he believes he was made.
Then theres the rest of the Toys who I was eager to see again, like Jessie, Slink and the others. They're around for a bit while they go on a road trip, but when they get to their destination the biggest of all warning bells rang out in my head.
The new setting is a dusty old antiques store full of creepy, sadistic dolls and minions who try to freak you out (and fail, this isn't annabelle its a Toy Story Movie), while Woody attempts to locate Bo Peep who has basically been missing since the second movie ended. She should've stayed in that shop of horrors because the entire cast full of lovable characters that we know is side lined to make her the main interest of the movie, alongside Woody.
I'll say it. These characters by themselves are decent, but can they shoulder an entire plot arc while trying to escape utterly pointless creepy horror tricks like Gabby and her jump scare intended goons? Not a chance. This new direction from Pixar was a -huge- mistake, it's trying to turn Toy Story into something it was never intended to be.
Saw this movie at the theatre and left thinking something I never thought I'd say about one of the all time great animated hit series.
"My God, That was Awful". My advice, try this if you want, but dont expect an awesome Toy Story adventure, there is only one way to save the series now. Make a prequel, around the characters we really wanted to see and hope they never make this mistake again.
4/10, Sorry pixar, you missed the mark, by a mile.