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Toy Story 4

Toy Story thoughts -

An extremely good movie and a worthy sequel. The movie manages to justify it's existence very quickly. Where TS3 gave us the emotional weight of Andy's goodbye, TS4 gives us the emotional weight of where the toys went from that point and seemingly drawing the franchise to full closure. Many emotional moments throughout, but also extremely funny. While the humor was well spread, Key & Peele's characters really brought a ton of humor as well as Keanu Reeves' Duke Caboom. The movie was also the deepest of the Toy Story movies imo as well.

If they were to try and pull another sequel out of this franchise after what I just watched, I think it'd be a bridge too far. Honestly, i'm not even sure how you make that movie compelling and worthy of existing.
 
I saw the movie last night and I thought it was great! Would I put it above Toy Story 3? Probably not. For me, it ranks at the “bottom” with Toy Story 2 (extremely unpopular opinion), but all of the films in this series are amazing.

Without spoiling anything (I hope), I love how the running gag is how almost none of the toys’ schemes actually go right and they have to improvise. A lesser movie would have plans go smoothly or with maybe one hiccup, but even then, there’s some deus ex machina that ends up solving everything. That’s not Toy Story. The writers always write themselves into a corner with the toys being in seemingly impossible scenarios, and the fact that they always have to improvise really creates tension for the audience. I’m glad the team understands this and carried it into the sequel.

The ending was really emotional. However, since my part time job is working at a movie theater, I pretty much got it spoiled while ushering. I think I would have felt the impact of the decision one of the characters made if I had been surprised by it. Still, it’s a satisfying ending, and while I still think Toy Story 3 was an amazing conclusion, this is a great epilogue to the series.
 
I saw the movie last night and I thought it was great! Would I put it above Toy Story 3? Probably not. For me, it ranks at the “bottom” with Toy Story 2 (extremely unpopular opinion), but all of the films in this series are amazing.

Without spoiling anything (I hope), I love how the running gag is how almost none of the toys’ schemes actually go right and they have to improvise. A lesser movie would have plans go smoothly or with maybe one hiccup, but even then, there’s some deus ex machina that ends up solving everything. That’s not Toy Story. The writers always write themselves into a corner with the toys being in seemingly impossible scenarios, and the fact that they always have to improvise really creates tension for the audience. I’m glad the team understands this and carried it into the sequel.

The ending was really emotional. However, since my part time job is working at a movie theater, I pretty much got it spoiled while ushering. I think I would have felt the impact of the decision one of the characters made if I had been surprised by it. Still, it’s a satisfying ending, and while I still think Toy Story 3 was an amazing conclusion, this is a great epilogue to the series.
Personally, I actually think the original Toy Story is actually the "worst" now. But that's only because of the time the movie was made in and how new CGI was back then. And like you said, all of the films in this series are great anyway.

It's tough on if I would put this ahead of Toy Story 3. I think it's pretty tight. Both movies were the end in their own way. TS3 was Andy's end, while TS4 was more focused on our connection to the toys we've loved all these years and finishing up that story. The emotional weight of both TS3 and TS4 is very strong. I think I still might say TS3 is just a bit better, but I really enjoyed TS4.
 
I saw it, and I felt for being a "filler" movie, they did a god job on not making it filler at all. My biggest complaints rely on the fact that we don't spend much time with the OG gang and its more on a focus of Bo and co. Also, they dumbed down Buzz a lot which was kind of a weird thing. But it was very heartwarming and I wish the final 15 mins were a little bit less rushed. I still think 3 will forever stand the test of time, but this is at the very bottom of the barrel for me (not necessarily saying that's a bad thing though since the standard is so high for the franchise).
 
I saw this tonight, so here are some hastily put together thoughts...

I walked into TOY STORY 4 profoundly skeptical about the necessity of this movie’s existence. The first three TOY STORY films are excellent family entertainment of the highest quality, and they form an almost perfect trilogy that had a brilliant and deeply satisfying conclusion. So from the very moment a fourth film was announced, I was unconvinced that there was anything else that could be done with these characters that wouldn’t somehow weaken the beautiful wrap-up that 3 already provided.

It is a relief, then, to find that TOY STORY 4 - while easily the weakest TOY STORY installment (for me) - is absolutely still a heartfelt and quality endeavor. It even takes some gutsy and emotionally-challenging chances with how it uses its central characters, and that’s quite refreshing and should be applauded. Most importantly, this doesn’t feel like a pure cash grab (even though it clearly is to some degree); care was taken here to deliver a real, proper TOY STORY movie. It also has weighty and complicated ideas that it wrestles with, which makes it an intellectually-fulfilling experience, not just an emotional and visceral one. Fundamentally, the story grapples with this idea of coming to grips with outliving your usefulness, which is a HUGE concept to build a family vehicle around, thematically, so credit to the filmmakers for pulling that off. Also, everything involving the story’s antagonist, Gabby Gabby, is fascinating and challenging (in a good way), and - despite my concerns that it would be redundant - new territory for these movies. The movie's also terrifically funny in ways that should be appealing to almost anybody.

It’s an imperfect movie, though, more so than any of the first three TOY STORYs. The focus here is so squarely on Woody’s journey and headspace that other characters are kind of relegated to supporting status (at least in the sense of not really having arcs of their own), which feels a little strange. And on the subject of that journey for Woody, I’m not fully sure I completely buy its trajectory and what the story has him engaged in. Personal mileage will vary, I’m sure. In fairness, the movie does do an excellent job of comparing and contrasting contrasting Woody with the varied perspectives of Bo Peep, Gabby Gabby, and Forky (who are all great here), but I question the way it’s all framed in terms of Woody’s psyche. I’m not saying it categorically doesn’t work, and it smooths out by the end, but I just don’t know how I entirely feel about it on a writing level.

But even with that taken into account, TOY STORY 4 is still very good cinematic comfort food, and it again demonstrates that when Pixar is at their best (or, in this case, at least solidly very good), they’re operating on a whole other level of quality and ambition compared to the other major animation studios.

this is a great epilogue to the series.

I think considering it an epilogue is a great way to look at this movie in the context of the wider series. The first three are the major arc, and the fourth is a smaller-scale piece designed to give just a little more closure to the characters (particularly Woody).

But that also means there better not be a fifth one. They pulled this one off, and they shouldn't push their luck any further. This is a satisfying place to let it be.
 
I think considering it an epilogue is a great way to look at this movie in the context of the wider series. The first three are the major arc, and the fourth is a smaller-scale piece designed to give just a little more closure to the characters (particularly Woody).

But that also means there better not be a fifth one. They pulled this one off, and they shouldn't push their luck any further. This is a satisfying place to let it be.
I wholeheartedly agree that there better not be a fifth... but I don't trust that I won't be in a theater watching TS5 in 6-7 years UNLESS Tom Hanks and Tim Allen both just decide they're done - no matter how much money they're offered. Tom Hanks has said that he said goodbye to Woody after filming TS3 and after Woody's story arc in TS4, I imagine he said goodbye to him for real this time.

Hell, Don Rickles' Potato Head voice was in this movie and that man has been dead for 2 years.
 
So... did I miss something important to the conclusion by leaving after the mid-credit scenes instead of sticking around until the end?

 
Box Office Mojo is saying it's coming in "well below studio and industry projections" in what has been a very soft June at the domestic box office.
 
Yeah, this has truly been an awful year for the box office. However, I can't imagine Disney is disappointed because it still had a franchise-high opening weekend and managed to pass Incredibles 2 opening weekend worldwide to take the top spot for an animated film. Since there won't be any other animated films on the horizon for nearly two months until Angry Birds 2 lands in August, I can see this having good legs, especially once word of mouth gets out.
 
Box Office Mojo is saying it's coming in "well below studio and industry projections" in what has been a very soft June at the domestic box office.
Still the third largest opening of the year, however.

Yeah, this has truly been an awful year for the box office. However, I can't imagine Disney is disappointed because it still had a franchise-high opening weekend and managed to pass Incredibles 2 opening weekend worldwide to take the top spot for an animated film. Since there won't be any other animated films on the horizon for nearly two months until Angry Birds 2 lands in August, I can see this having good legs, especially once word of mouth gets out.
Yeah, TS3 opened at $110M and legged it's way to $415M and over $1B WW. With word of mouth the way that it is and the weak offerings coming up outside of Far From Home and The Lion King (which I would consider as direct competition, tbh), I can see TS4 putting up similar numbers. Personally, I've already got a second showing planned.

Disney is probably slightly disappointed though as their "conservative estimates" were for a $140M opening weekend, with some projecting anywhere between $160-180M.
 
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Much better than it had any right to be. I was also very surprised by just how funny the film was. I think the humor, along with the new characters kept it from felling like too much of the same.

But yeah. No Mas :whiteflag:
 
Just saw the movie a second time. I guess biggest problem I had upon second viewing was how quickly Gabby Gabby goes from being villain to friend.
 
I think she's pretty consistent, actually. To me, it's more Woody's attitude towards her that changes, which in turns allows her to be seen in a different light. I bought it.
Oh, I bought it too, especially from Gabby Gabby. She’s misunderstood and just wants a kid to love her like Andy loved Woody. But she literally had just disassembled Woody :lol:

I don’t have all too many criticisms of the film though, so it’s really a minor thing.
 
How could no one at Disney have foreseen this coming? The first time I saw one of these, I knew they looked risky.


Disney is late on announcing this recall. They haven't been selling that plush Forky in the parks for about 2 weeks and when I asked a CM why (a week and a half ago), she said it was bc the toy was a choking hazard.
 
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