TOY STORY 4 (O-RVZ MOVIE REVIEW)

DIRECTOR

Josh Cooley

WRITERS

John Lasseter (Original story)

Andrew Stanton (Original story)

Josh Cooley (Original story)

Valerie LaPointe (Original story)

Rashida Jones (Original story)

Will McCormack (Original story)

Martin Hynes (Original story)

Stephany Folsom (Original story)

Andrew Stanton (Screenplay)

Stephany Folsom (Screenplay)

CAST MEMBERS

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Christina Hendricks Keanu Reeves

GENRE

Family, Adventure, Comedy, Animation

MOVIE PLOT (from IMDB)

When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.

REVIEW

Toy Story 4 is the newest entry of the Pixar's Toy Story franchise and it is a sequel that for me wasn't really necessary needed to begin with considering how beautifully and emotionally the previous Toy Story 3 had ended. When the announcement broke about Toy Story 4 currently being in production, there are a few doubts already of whether this new sequel could live-up to the high quality that the previous Toy Story movies had already established. After seeing it today, I would say that even though this new sequel might not be as emotionally-driven story than Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4 is one of the funniest, most action-packed and just a fun road trip adventure that you could have from all of the Toy Story entries.

As you know from the trailer, the story will somehow involve around "Bo Peep", one of the original characters who mysteriously went missing from the previous Toy Story 3, and without spoiling anything from the movie her character arc kind-off set-up the story of this sequel. I think the biggest issue that I have before watching the movie is how will the story goes forward and would it retain the same quality in which its predecessor had already delivered. To answer that doubt, I will say that I really like what they did to its story. Not only they expanded a bit more to it but also they provided more character arc to some of the characters that we have already known, especially to our main character "Woody". They also introduced new characters that I really find amusing and funny especially to this new character toy named "Forky". There is also a new villain on this movie named "Gabby Gabby" which they had also added more dimension to her character and in a way, it reminded me of this other movie without mentioning the title to avoid hints but I really like her character arc on it and her growth as the movie keeps going. I also like the humor of this film. It's not your typical jokes that are just really dumb but the jokes were really witty and smartly placed in each scenes. You could also see that for each entry of Toy Story movies, the animation keeps on improving quite a lot. The graphics were so stunning and its action and movements are just so flawless to look at. It is still an animated movie nonetheless but some of its structures and buildings were so photo-realistically looking. I also like the tone and overall theme of the movie. Though the movie is filled with humorous jokes, the movie is still emotional and talks about finding one's place and purpose in life that is also relevant in our day to day lives. The soundtrack is there especially the iconic Toy Story song "You've got a friend in me". Every time that song plays, it always reminded me of those days when I was a child repeatedly watching the first Toy Story movie and how life was just so good when you were just a kid.

OVERALL

Toy Story 4 is a worthy sequel which they managed to further up the story to set-up future movies if there is going to be new sequels of it. The movie has a sharp humor, well-written character arcs, beautiful animation and just a feel-good tone that just brighten up your day after you have watched it. It may not be as emotionally as the third movie but there are still heavy emotions coming from it. The tone is great, the soundtrack is wonderful and as usual, the actors who voiced the original characters really nailed it ever since they started to play those characters. This movie certainly is up on my top favorites this year and I highly recommend this movie if you have watched all of the previous Toy Story movies. If you have not seen the previous ones then go quickly-catch up to those and then head out to your closest theaters to see this one.