Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Tom Shanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Madeleine McGraw, Christina Hendricks, Jordan Peele, Keanu Reeves, Ally Maki, Jay Hernandez, Lori Alan, Joan Cusack, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Emily Davis, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Blake Clark, June Squibb, Carl Weathers, Lily Sage Bromley, Jeff Garlin, Maliah Bargas-Good, Jack McGraw, Juliana Hansen, Estelle Harris, Laurie Metcalf, Steve Purcell, Mel Brooks, Alan Oppenheimer, Carol Burnett, Betty White, Carl Reiner, Bill Hader, Patricia Arquette, Timothy Dalton, Flea, Melissa Villasenor, Jeff Pidgeon, John Morris.
The feeling of trepidation that you feel when a series of films that you have watched evolve over a number of years ends is quite understandable, it is quite another set of feelings that grip you hard in the stomach when you hear that the studio behind the franchise decides that there is still room to shoehorn one more tale into the mix. What drove you to the first couple of outings was the originality, then nostalgia takes over and a wish to see how those characters finish their days, safe in the knowledge that time has been kind. Another edition to the story, the possibility of undoing a generation’s hopes and dreams a distinct possibility.
The fear that such a cruel animated act could be bestowed upon Woody, Buzz and all the familiar favourites that have inhabited the Toy Story franchise would have been at the forefront of the mind to anyone who first embraced the 1995 original and deemed it a classic, that to now have fourth adventure bestowed upon them, seven years after what could be considered the perfect end as the trilogy concluded, would have been understandable, it would have been the most logical of thoughts.
Toy Story 4 bows to the pressures of the long serving fan, and those that have since come into the world since, brought up on a diet of pure insurrection and timeless messages of friendship and escapism, imagination and the nod to anarchic behaviour, and keeps the imagery alive and constant, whilst moving forward with a reasoned argument that character’s must evolve, even when they are descended from the world of cartoons.
It is thanks though to the reintroduction of Annie Potts’ Bo Peep that the story takes a giant step onwards, one that brings out the best again in Tom Hanks’ portrayal of the honour bound and loveable Sheriff Woody. Missing from the third encounter with the toys, Bo Peep moves the story onwards, one that could arguably point the way towards another series of films and one that would take the action away from the bedrooms of either Andy or Bonnie.
Whilst Annie Potts brings great impetuous to the role, and some of the secondary characters and their human voices enjoy a, possibly, last hurrah in the sun, Joan Cusack’s eager and dynamic personality leaving her stamp on cowgirl Jesse, and even Keanu Reeves reinserting himself into a comedic part with ease as Canada’s greatest stuntman Duke Caboom, it is with a certain sadness that Tim Allen’s engaging appeal as the voice of Buzz Lightyear seemed less than enthusiastic as he had been in the first two Pixar offerings, a kind of morose resignation, perhaps delivered by the realisation that the film was not about Buzz’s and Woody’s friendship anymore, that time and story-telling must move on. Whatever the reason, it has a sinking effect on the film as a whole, and whilst now there is scope to move on and away from the original idea that made the franchise captivating, charming, it still leaves the cinema goer less than perfectly happy with the result.
Toy Story 4 is a good continuation of the series, one that arguably was not in demand or expected, but one that is good to have in the open and visited with those you love.
Ian D. Hall