Toy Story 4

2019 Disney/Pixar
Directed by: Josh Cooley; Written by: Stephany Folsom and Andrew Stanton
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Madeleine McGraw, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Ally Maki, Jay Hernandez, Lori Alan, and Joan Cusack
MPAA Rating: G; Running Time: 100 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

My reaction to the initial Toy Story 4 announcement was likely the same as most: Why are they making another Toy Story? After all, 2010's Toy Story 3 ended things definitively. The third installment is a near perfect film, dealing with heavy themes of aging and mortality, and it provides a perfect conclusion to the then 14-year-old film series. Also, Toy Story 3 came 11(!) years after Toy Story 2, making it feel even more like an epilogue. Well, Toy Story 3's status as "the final Toy Story" has ended. For $ome reason, Disney has decided that, nine years after the last installment, the world needs at least one more Toy Story film.
Toy Story 4 picks up about two years after the last film left off. Woody the Cowboy, Buzz Lightyear the space ranger, and the now myriad other toys are living peacefully with Bonnie, the young girl they were given to at the end of Toy Story 3. As Toy Story lore goes, the toys are all--unbeknownst to their owners--alive, hanging out and talking in their own society when no humans are in the room. However, making their humans happy is the toys' chief concern.
Woody, the series' main protagonist, is particularly concerned with how anxious Bonnie is about starting kindergarten. Turns out Woody, once star of the toy box, is not Bonnie's favorite toy, or even one she really plays with much at all. As Woody has spent the last three films learning the universe doesn't revolve around him, though, he takes this new development in stride. Besides, he's gained a streak of selflessness that drives him to help Bonnie acclimate to her new school year, without her ever being the wiser.
This task evolves into Woody's new mission in life: keeping Forky alive. Forky, a craft Bonnie made on her first day of school out of a spork and other pieces of litter, has miraculously come to life. Poor Forky thinks he is trash and not a toy, though, and believes he belongs in the trash can. In a montage bit of philosophical comedy that will delight adults and children for markedly different reasons, Woody must continuously save Forky from suicidally jumping into whatever dumpster or garbage bin is closest, all set to a jaunty tune by the returning Randy Newman. It seems that all is right in the Toy Story cinematic universe. This movie is just as funny and enjoyable as its predecessors.
As the toys go on a road trip with Bonnie's family, new toys are introduced that fit right in with the original gang, though they add new angles of humor. National treasures, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, bring a couple of wacky carnival-escapee toys to life. Keanu Reeves even shows up. Forky gets kidnapped at an antique store, and Woody is introduced to toys even older than he is: an ancient talking doll with a busted voice box, and a group of mute and terrifying abandoned ventriloquist dummies.
The film goes into some new thematic territory, exploring what happens when toys no longer have an owner and go rogue. A grand, yet surprisingly small-scale adventure occurs. Everything feels perfect yet again, until a great parting has its intended emotional weight lightened, as the Toy Story series finally meets the crux of cinematically crying wolf.
Indeed, with 20 minutes to go, I thought, this is so charming and fun, Pixar could just keep making Toy Story films into perpetuity. Why not? They're enjoyable, and you don't feel at all bad for enjoying them. But then, Toy Story 4 takes a stab at finality, just like Toy Story 3 did. Knowing full well that "goodbye" at the end of Toy Story 3 did not truly mean "goodbye," I could not emotionally invest in Toy Story 4's ending. I greatly enjoyed Toy Story 4, and yet my heart immediately rejected its conclusion. Maybe, in 40 years, when I start to feel like those antique store toys, and I know for certain that Toy Story 4 was indeed the last tale in the Toy Story saga, I'll be able to connect to its would-be stirring conclusion.