{"id":18547,"date":"2019-06-19T08:08:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T15:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18547"},"modified":"2019-06-19T08:08:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T15:08:15","slug":"toy-story-4-benefits-from-new-additions-but-feels-redundant-and-repetitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18547","title":{"rendered":"TOY STORY 4 Benefits From New Additions, But Feels Redundant and Repetitive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Toy Story<\/em> series marks a landmark of sorts,\nhelping establish Pixar animation studios as a major production company and\nproviding early examples of meticulously crafted stories with appeal for both\nchildren and adults. The first trilogy of movies were truly stellar\naccomplishments, providing loads of laughs and even eliciting a strong\nemotional response (with that third film in particular really going in a dark\ndirection). I’m going to get myself in a lot of trouble here by saying that Toy\nStory 4<\/em> is perfectly pleasant and, as expected, impeccably animated. It’s\ndefinitely a good film. Still, the movie also feels a little too familiar and\nthe new plot doesn’t carry the same weight as previous installments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the film begins, Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim\nAllen) and the rest of the gang have moved on and are living with a new owner,\na young girl named Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw). Of course, there’s a different\ndynamic with this child as well as issues affecting both her and the group.\nWhen a nervous Bonnie heads off to her first day at kindergarten, Woody decides\nto tag along and make sure she adjusts to the new chapter in her life. To deal\nwith the stress, the child uses a plastic spork to create a new friend named\nForky (Tony Hale), who becomes an instant favorite. Woody takes it upon himself\nto try and teach the ropes to the cutlery-turned-toy. When the family take an\nRV and head out on a vacation to the Grand Basin, Forky is lost, and gang team\nup to try and locate him. Along the way, they encounter old friend Bo Peep\n(Annie Potts) and antique shop doll, Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gabby Gabby serves as the foil in this story, a lonely doll\nwith a broken voice module. She takes Forky hostage to convince Woody to give\nup his own voice box, so that she can finally be discovered and adopted by a\nchild. While this is supposed to be a great threat, the characters speak freely\nto one another with or without the apparatus. As such, the stakes don’t feel\nvery high this time by comparison. It certainly doesn’t match the themes of\nmortality and near incineration dealt with in the previous chapter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of the gags and interplay between the toys work, but half\nof them feel recycled and overly familiar. Once again, the humans seem oblivious\nto their plastic companions, even when the toys are moving all around them. At\nleast there are a couple of new elements introduced that do work well. Crafted\nfrom garbage at school, Forky is an entertaining addition to the cast and his deep\nobsession with trash certainly raises a smile. The movie also earns some laughs\nas Woody is forced to use refuse-related metaphors to deliver concepts to Forky\nabout his place in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another plus is the late appearance of Duke Kaboom (Keanu\nReeves), a Canadian Evel Knievel-esque stunt biker whose help is required to\nmake a grand leap and help rescue Forky from Gabby Gabby and his captors. He’s a\nvery entertaining character, but his introduction to the film comes late and as\na result, Duke seems underutilized. The film and action sequences would have\nbenefited greatly from more of the cyclist and his psychosis involving a loss\nof confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The movie also tries to deal with issues raised to Woody by\nBo Peep, who has ventured out on her own without a child. She believes that\nBonnie and the cowboy aren’t a good fit, and encourages him to leave the family\nbehind for a life free from ownership. On the one hand, it’s an interesting\nidea that could have offered a few different directions for the toys.\nUnfortunately, the story handles everything so gently and without serious\nconflict that it’s a wasted opportunity. A Toy Story<\/em> film about an\nabusive owner whom the characters must revolt against, resulting in an\nexaggerated revolution over the rights of plastic figures could have added more\nhumor and zip than what is ultimately delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, this sequel appears to go through the motions, delivering the expected jokes and sentimentality against an impressively animated backdrop. The movie is agreeable and I admittedly liked it, but also assert that it offers little that is original or fresh. Toy Story 4<\/em> looks good and is solid family entertainment, but feels inessential when compared to its predecessors, reworking and repeating elements from previous features to mixed results. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Toy Story series marks a landmark of sorts, helping establish Pixar animation studios as a major production company and providing early examples of meticulously crafted stories with appeal for both children and adults. The first trilogy of movies were truly stellar accomplishments, providing loads of laughs and even eliciting a strong emotional response (with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,1455,1539,3720,4342,5922,7283,7762,11533,16155,18035,22886,23015,23087,23160,23168,24466],"class_list":["post-18547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-animated","tag-annie-potts","tag-buzz-lightyear","tag-christina-hendricks","tag-disney","tag-family","tag-forky","tag-keanu-reeves","tag-pixar","tag-sequel","tag-tim-allen","tag-tom-hanks","tag-tony-hale","tag-toy-story-4","tag-toys","tag-woody"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}