Toy Story 4

Toy Story 4, just like the 2019 live-action Aladdin and many others alike that came before it, is made to push Disney's political correctness agenda. A completely unnecessary entry to a franchise that had its perfect ending in the third instalment, Toy Story 4 has its moments but uninspiring on the whole.

To cover the positives first, the visual effects in Toy Story 4 has the most advanced photorealistic quality you'll see in 2019. Rain, vehicles, switches, dust, lighting, buildings, road, trees, grass, signs, grandfather clock, roof, doors, you name it! You'll be wondering whether you're watching a live-action or an animated film, throughout! Even the porcelain surface on many of the toys are exceptionally well done! Camera angles are extraordinary too!

The screenwriters managed to make us like Bonnie (voiced by Madeleine McGraw). You could totally relate to her as the new toy owner after Andy, going to kindergarten and all. She creates Forky (voiced by Tony Hale) and the 'trash' comes to life. From hereon forward, we deal with Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) trying to safeguard him from self-harm and thus an adventure is born.

Josh Cooley's directorial debut takes a nosedive when the plot branched into multiple strands. After Woody's separated from Forky, Buzz (voiced by Tim Allen) leaves his caravan to search for Woody only to be stuck in a subplot revolving Bunny (Jordan Peele) and Ducky (Keegan-Michael Key), Woody meets Bo Peep (voiced by Annie Potts) after a long time along with so many new characters all at once including the skunk car, Forky spends time with Gabby Gabby (voiced by Christina Hendricks) and Benson while waiting for Woody to come for rescue, Bo leads Woody into a toy party to meet Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) and Gabby Gabby finds a lost kid out of nowhere en route to Bonnie are too much to keep up with. It became too much to handle resulting in a heavy dilution primarily because of the introduction of plenty new supporting characters such as Duke Caboom, Ducky, Bunny, Combat Carl, the three sheep and Giggle McDimples (voiced by Ally Maki). All of these characters have absolutely no closure, rhyme or reason to exist other than to crack jokes. Bo changing her mind to help Woody happens so quickly as well, with no push, motivation or justification.

Speaking of jokes, the Toy Story movies have a solid track record for humor, which unfortunately didn't sustain here. Forky is a fitting addition to the series. Him constantly committing suicide thinking he's only trash (again, Disney's political correctness agenda) and calling out for Bo are sure funny. Bunny and Ducky narrating their intense plans to get the cabinet's key by smothering the lady owner only to discover the key's placed right in front of them, Buzz asking Woody what's an inner voice and then following it to accomplish his goal, the three sheep being upset of Woody since he forgot their names, Combat Carl's high five being ignored and toys toying around with driving dad's cart are the sole hilarious pitstops. It's extremely sad that a franchise like Toy Story has to depend on comedians, pop culture references such as PUBG's "Winner, winner, chicken dinner." and purposeless comic reliefs like Duke Caboom to bring out a few laughs.

The Toy Story pictures are well-renowned for its action sequences too! In the fourth one, there's little to no inspiration behind any of the actions. Apart from the rescue mission at the start of the show and Woody being trapped in the middle of a cat, Buzz and Benson, there's absolutely zero excitement for the rest of it to be honest. To make matters worse, Disney couldn't help but inject their female empowerment propaganda through Bo Peep, by making Woody a complete idiotic accessory. Why empowerment means putting down one race to glorify another is beyond us. Why bullshit like this are present in a movie is unfathomable too! Also, does Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) have a darker skin tone here or is it only us?

In midst of all this mess, there's a serious relationship set-up between Woody and Bo Peep. Woody trying to elope with her in the beginning is touching! There's another set up between Woody and Gabby Gabby - the antagonist who had a clear motivation. Woody donating his organ (voice box) to Gabby Gabby shows another step he's taking towards fulfilling his final arc. Woody ending up living with Bo Peep for the rest of his life is amazing and the family goodbye scene is a tearjerker! If only the writing had focused on these important relationships and melt off the redundant characters, the emotional impact would have been close to a hundred percent.

Another legendary franchise has fallen. Our heartfelt condolences. Disney doesn't go gentle into the night; at least not until it has successfully ruined every great intellectual property out there. At this rate, there won't be any summer blockbuster releases to look forward to. Thank you very much, Mickey Mouse.