To Infinity, and MY FOOT! - Toy Story 4 review
Later in this review, there's a sentence which is in ALL CAPS (not the one about spoilers). Read it now with no context just for fun, then go back and read the rest of the review from the start. Enjoy.
So, number 4. Let's get cracking.
SPOILERS BELOW FOR ALL 4 TOY STORY MOVIES (AND BOTH MARY POPPINS MOVIES, FOR SOME REASON)
First of all, where's the short? All Pixar movies to date have been preceded by a short film, and most of them are great. My favourite (watch to the end, the payoff is fantastic). But the one pretty much everyone loves is this one. This video used to have my second favourite YouTube comment on it (I won't tell you the first because it's not kid-friendly):
"Oh h*** no Pixar, you did not just make me cry over a ROCK."
(That's not a swear word, but it offends some people so I censored it)
So, number 4. Let's get cracking.
SPOILERS BELOW FOR ALL 4 TOY STORY MOVIES (AND BOTH MARY POPPINS MOVIES, FOR SOME REASON)
First of all, where's the short? All Pixar movies to date have been preceded by a short film, and most of them are great. My favourite (watch to the end, the payoff is fantastic). But the one pretty much everyone loves is this one. This video used to have my second favourite YouTube comment on it (I won't tell you the first because it's not kid-friendly):
"Oh h*** no Pixar, you did not just make me cry over a ROCK."
(That's not a swear word, but it offends some people so I censored it)
But we're not here to talk about things that aren't the movie, so here we go.
Remember when Pixar movies used to make you cry at the climax or a random point during the film?
Shortlist of some of my favourites:
Toy Story 2
Up (you know this had to be here)
Toy Story 3
Inside Out
Toy Story 4 doesn't even wait a whole minute before it attacks your crying muscle (I studied IT, not biology).
The Opening: We open sometime between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. My word Andy's changed. The toys all assemble in Molly's (Andy's sister, for those of you who forgot) room because RC (the remote control car) is trapped in a nearby gutter and they need to rescue him using a form of human chain (I say form, it can't really be called a 'human' chain when it's formed of a cowboy doll, a slinky, several dozen plastic monkeys and a lampshade).
While Woody is preoccupied, Bo Peep is donated by Molly to [does research] someone/somewhere. Woody finds her in the box, but she says to let her go because Molly has outgrown her. We then look up to the heavens and the music plays.
Translation:
Pixar: Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.
Randy Newman: #You've got a friend in me...#
Short Clip
I'm trash: TS4 (new acronym, get used to it.) introduces a new character in Forky, played by Tony Hale. Forky is a spork who Bonnie has made into a toy.
SIDE NOTE: Why is he called Forky? As he is made from a spork, wouldn't it be much more logical to call him Sporky? And in case you're thinking Forky just sounds better, that's probably just because you're used to him being called Forky. PIXAR HAS BRAINWASHED YOU. Don't feel bad, they got me too.
Forky is suffering an existential crisis as he is a utensil instead of a regular toy. He spends the majority of the first half of the movie trying to dispose of himself.
F: I am not a toy, I was made for soups, salads, maybe chilli, and then the trash.
SIDE NOTE: Have you ever tried eating soup with a spork? Yeah, good luck with that.
Remember when Pixar movies used to make you cry at the climax or a random point during the film?
Shortlist of some of my favourites:
Toy Story 2
Up (you know this had to be here)
Toy Story 3
Inside Out
Toy Story 4 doesn't even wait a whole minute before it attacks your crying muscle (I studied IT, not biology).
The Opening: We open sometime between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. My word Andy's changed. The toys all assemble in Molly's (Andy's sister, for those of you who forgot) room because RC (the remote control car) is trapped in a nearby gutter and they need to rescue him using a form of human chain (I say form, it can't really be called a 'human' chain when it's formed of a cowboy doll, a slinky, several dozen plastic monkeys and a lampshade).
While Woody is preoccupied, Bo Peep is donated by Molly to [does research] someone/somewhere. Woody finds her in the box, but she says to let her go because Molly has outgrown her. We then look up to the heavens and the music plays.
Translation:
Pixar: Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.
Randy Newman: #You've got a friend in me...#
Short Clip
I'm trash: TS4 (new acronym, get used to it.) introduces a new character in Forky, played by Tony Hale. Forky is a spork who Bonnie has made into a toy.
SIDE NOTE: Why is he called Forky? As he is made from a spork, wouldn't it be much more logical to call him Sporky? And in case you're thinking Forky just sounds better, that's probably just because you're used to him being called Forky. PIXAR HAS BRAINWASHED YOU. Don't feel bad, they got me too.
Forky is suffering an existential crisis as he is a utensil instead of a regular toy. He spends the majority of the first half of the movie trying to dispose of himself.
F: I am not a toy, I was made for soups, salads, maybe chilli, and then the trash.
SIDE NOTE: Have you ever tried eating soup with a spork? Yeah, good luck with that.
Later, he explains to Woody that the reason for his wanting to be in the trash is not just because of his existentialism, but also because he sees trash as comfortable and warm. Woody explains that that's why Bonnie needs him.
F: I'm Bonnie's... Trash?
W: N- W- [sighs] If it helps.
DISCLAIMER: There is no source for the above quote so it is quite possibly partially or completely wrong.
TS4 is mostly about Forky's journey of self-discovery, but there are two other main plots.
Antagonist: Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) serves as the main antagonist of the story. NOTE: antagonist, NOT villain. One of the things that make Pixar movies so great is that they usually have no villain.
Toy Story (1995) - Sid
Toy Story 2 (1999) - Al/Stinky Pete
Toy Story 3 (2010) - Lots-o' Huggin Bear
Gabby Gabby has many similarities with all her predecessors, because she has a broken voice box, meaning that while all other dolls like her were sold to be played with, she was consigned to be left alone, similar to Stinky Pete, although he became a collector's item whereas she was demoted to the shelves of an antique store. Therefore, she is trying to be more proactive in finding an owner, trying to acquire a working voicebox to replace her own.
Gabby is also the only TS antagonist to get a happy ending (Sid: traumatised; Al: cheated out of his money; SP: given to a girl who would ruin his 'mint condition' plans; Lotso: tied to the front of a garbage truck). However, as the movie progresses, Gabby becomes more sympathetic and relatable and you are actually rooting for her by the end of the movie. This is not the case for any of the other TS antagonists.
In fact, when she finally gets the voicebox, she tries to attract the attention of a girl she has been watching for a long time, but the girl quickly becomes disinterested and abandons Gabby again.
By this stage, the audience is now rooting for Gabby so much that this is seen as another crying muscle attack by Pixar (what did we do to you?!) and we are genuinely upset about it.
That's why we love it when later there is another girl who is lost at the carnival and Gabby gets to go with her and comfort her (again, Pixar? I don't think my crying muscle can take much more!)
Bo Peep: Bo was in TS1 as Woody's love interest (COMPLETELY unnecessary and inappropriate, especially with some of the dialogue included). She was also in TS2, albeit as a more minor character. In TS3, she was conspicuously absent, and TS4 explores why.
We discover that Bo and her sheep Billy; Goat and Gruff have relocated to the trailer park and now seem to get played with by whatever children are at the park, thus not being tied down by an 'owner' who outgrows them.
Throughout the movie, Bo tries to get Woody to join her, but he keeps refusing and instead focussing on getting Forky back to Bonnie.
Bo Peep: Bo was in TS1 as Woody's love interest (COMPLETELY unnecessary and inappropriate, especially with some of the dialogue included). She was also in TS2, albeit as a more minor character. In TS3, she was conspicuously absent, and TS4 explores why.
We discover that Bo and her sheep Billy; Goat and Gruff have relocated to the trailer park and now seem to get played with by whatever children are at the park, thus not being tied down by an 'owner' who outgrows them.
Throughout the movie, Bo tries to get Woody to join her, but he keeps refusing and instead focussing on getting Forky back to Bonnie.
ENDING SPOILER:
In the end, Woody realizes Bonnie has outgrown him and decides to join Bo Peep in going round with the carnival trying to get toys new owners along with Ducky, Bunny and Duke Caboom (more about him below). There's even a few post-credits scenes showing them going around fixing the carnival game to be 'prize-every-time.
The cat: Look at this cat and tell me it's not a real cat. That's pretty much it, except try comparing it with the dog in Toy Story (1995).
The cat: Look at this cat and tell me it's not a real cat. That's pretty much it, except try comparing it with the dog in Toy Story (1995).
Plush Rush: Possibly the funniest scene in the entire movie is this scene. Ducky, Bunny and Buzz need to get a key to get into the cabinet where Gabby and Forky are. Buzz asks for ideas to get the key and Ducky and Bunny come up with 3 plans. You can see the first plan on the TubeYou (link above), but the second plan is even funnier and I won't ruin it here.
That clip is also on the TubeYou, but it's pirated content filmed in a cinema and I can't support that enterprise, so no links I'm afraid. Unfortunately, you'll either have to see it in cinemas for yourself, or wait until the DVD comes out. It's definitely worth it though (plus there's another 99 minutes of awesomeness to look forward to!)
Duke Caboom: Duke is another new character
ted for the 4th instalment, however, I noticed very little of him in the marketing for the movie (I've since Googled it, and apparently I just wasn't paying attention). He is a Canadian stuntman ("The Canuck with all the luck!") probably loosely based on Evel Knievel.
Duke is voiced by the legendary Keanu Reeves, who is currently adored by the internet for various reasons (#consensualhugs, #icecreamreceipt, #billandted3, #keanuwalking, #matrix4)
PSA: If you find Keanu on any kind of social media, it's fake. There are a tonne of fans out there and some of them have accounts you can follow, but Keanu himself has no SM presence, so if you find a fake account claiming to be him, report it.
I got distracted, and now I can't think of anything to say about Duke, except that he poses a lot and he didn't originally have much of a character, until Keanu asked a lot of probing questions. Here's his TV Spot to keep you interested.
Running Jokes: There's a number of running jokes in the movie:
Buzz' Inner Voice
Near the beginning of the movie, Woody tells Buzz to 'Listen to his inner voice' (ie his conscience). For some reason Buzz goes completely out of character and interprets this as listening to his pre-recorded catchphrases (I've tried to find a list, but so far no luck).
Every time he faces a tough decision, he presses the button on his chest and one of the catchphrases helps him to make the decision. Later in the movie, Woody decides to go back into the antique store and Buzz isn't sure whether or not to help him, so he presses his chest several times, always getting a message about abandoning or running away (fortunately, they do it better than how I describe it).
Billy, Goat and Gruff
During the prologue (Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry), Bo Peep mentions to Woody that her sheep (who are actually one toy with 3 heads and 12 legs, because why not?) are called Billy, Goat and Gruff. When Woody says he never knew they had names, Bo replies:
"You never asked."
Later when Woody reencounters them at the carnival, he has forgotten their names. I initially thought that made Woody stupid because they have easy to remember names, but then I realised that he was only told their names once, hasn't seen them since in anything from 9-20 years (timeline unclear) and sometimes I meet new people and forget their name the next day, so I can talk.
Ducky and Bunny
Ducky and Bunny are also new characters for TS4. They were first introduced in a teaser trailer released November, in some meta humour, by talking about how much they love the TS movies. Because of how the trailer worked, I assumed that they weren't actually characters from the movie, just characters invented for the trailer, possibly played by Pixar staff (not an unreasonable assumption, consider Emporer Zurg (TS2); The Green Aliens (TS1-4); Dad's Anger (Inside Out) and Jangles the Clown (Inside Out)). How wrong I was.
As it turns out, they are played by comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, and this advert is a cleaner parody of their Valet sketch series (Link not kid-friendly). Key and Peele gel together nicely and they were allowed to record most of their lines together, with some room for improvisation.
The running joke is that although they are separate characters with separate personalities and voice actors, they are sewn together at their paws? Hands? Wings? so they struggle to get around, especially when they have to get through tight spaces and can't decide who gets to go first. This is the part of the teaser trailer that I don't like, because in the trailer they are separated and do not have this problem. This is fixed in the next trailer, which is just footage from the movie.
Now to possibly the weirdest part of my notes. I claimed that TS4 is the opposite of Mary Poppins. This is wrong. TS4 is the opposite of Mary Poppins RETURNS. What do I mean by this though?
The answer lies in the climax of each movie (MP, MPR, TS1-TS4). In MP, the climax is simple. It's elegant. It's emotional. There's no dialogue to complicate matters. All it consists of is a man walking through London, knowing he's about to be fired. On the other hand, we have MPR, which has a climax of Alexander Hamilton climbing Big Ben trying to turn back time, because that makes sense(no clip available, although there is some BTS stuff if you want to check it out.
MP climaxes have started peaceful and built up to action-filled climaxes, which are much more common nowadays.
On the other hand, you have TS. In TS1, the climax is a car chase with a car, a moving truck, a rocket and an RC car. In TS2, the climax is a chase around a luggage carousel (I know that's not what it is, but I don't know what the actual term is. Comment below if you know). In TS3, the climax is the main characters sitting holding hands, ready to embrace their doom (If you haven't seen it before, it's just as awful as it sounds, and then some. It's been 9 years, and that scene still gets me right in my crying muscle). In TS4, the climax is just the main characters standing on the canopy of an RV talking and it still gets me (WHY PIXAR WHY?!) and half the cast apparently.
MP has got more action-y, but TS has got less action-y. Toy Story is the opposite of Mary Poppins.
Q. E. D.
Nearly the end of the review, I promise (that statement is for me as much as it is for you).
Post Credits Scene
After the movie ends, we are shown some mid-credits scenes of Woody, Bo, Ducky, Bunny and Duke leading their new life fixing carnival games to be prize-every-time. Ducky and Bunny then 'do the ole' Plush Rush' on the carnival worker, then grow huge, finally shooting lasers out their eyes and breathing fire.
Cut to the real world, with Ducky and Bunny just walking around making pew pew noises.
Woody: Or we could just give more toys to kids?
Bo: Yeah, let's do that. (They walk away)
Duke: Do you really shoot lasers out your eyes?
Ducky:
Bunny:
Duke:
Bunny: ... Yeah.
Duke: Whoa.
Of course, the next question is,
Will there be a TS5? Pixar have said no for now, but haven't ruled it out completely.
BREAKING NEWS: I just noticed some symbolism in TS4! Look closely at the new characters! Aside from Gabby Gabby, they're ALL considerably smaller than the main characters from the other movies!
Duke Caboom
Forky
Giggles McDimples (OK, so that one wasn't hard)
Anyway, TS5. I think I know what it'll be about, and I've attached my design of the poster. I hope you like it (if it works)
Finally, the questions.
Answers from previous review:
1. The thing that links Aladdin (1992) and Scooby-Doo is Frank Welker, who plays Cave of Wonders/Abu/Rajagh in Aladdin and Fred Jones in all iterations of SD (and Scooby in most of them)
2. Michael Keaton (Batman in Batman (1989)) and Jodi Benson (Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989)) played Ken and Barbie in Toy Story 3 (2010).
That clip is also on the TubeYou, but it's pirated content filmed in a cinema and I can't support that enterprise, so no links I'm afraid. Unfortunately, you'll either have to see it in cinemas for yourself, or wait until the DVD comes out. It's definitely worth it though (plus there's another 99 minutes of awesomeness to look forward to!)
Duke Caboom: Duke is another new character
ted for the 4th instalment, however, I noticed very little of him in the marketing for the movie (I've since Googled it, and apparently I just wasn't paying attention). He is a Canadian stuntman ("The Canuck with all the luck!") probably loosely based on Evel Knievel.
Duke is voiced by the legendary Keanu Reeves, who is currently adored by the internet for various reasons (#consensualhugs, #icecreamreceipt, #billandted3, #keanuwalking, #matrix4)
PSA: If you find Keanu on any kind of social media, it's fake. There are a tonne of fans out there and some of them have accounts you can follow, but Keanu himself has no SM presence, so if you find a fake account claiming to be him, report it.
I got distracted, and now I can't think of anything to say about Duke, except that he poses a lot and he didn't originally have much of a character, until Keanu asked a lot of probing questions. Here's his TV Spot to keep you interested.
Running Jokes: There's a number of running jokes in the movie:
Buzz' Inner Voice
Near the beginning of the movie, Woody tells Buzz to 'Listen to his inner voice' (ie his conscience). For some reason Buzz goes completely out of character and interprets this as listening to his pre-recorded catchphrases (I've tried to find a list, but so far no luck).
Every time he faces a tough decision, he presses the button on his chest and one of the catchphrases helps him to make the decision. Later in the movie, Woody decides to go back into the antique store and Buzz isn't sure whether or not to help him, so he presses his chest several times, always getting a message about abandoning or running away (fortunately, they do it better than how I describe it).
Billy, Goat and Gruff
During the prologue (Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry), Bo Peep mentions to Woody that her sheep (who are actually one toy with 3 heads and 12 legs, because why not?) are called Billy, Goat and Gruff. When Woody says he never knew they had names, Bo replies:
"You never asked."
Later when Woody reencounters them at the carnival, he has forgotten their names. I initially thought that made Woody stupid because they have easy to remember names, but then I realised that he was only told their names once, hasn't seen them since in anything from 9-20 years (timeline unclear) and sometimes I meet new people and forget their name the next day, so I can talk.
Ducky and Bunny
Ducky and Bunny are also new characters for TS4. They were first introduced in a teaser trailer released November, in some meta humour, by talking about how much they love the TS movies. Because of how the trailer worked, I assumed that they weren't actually characters from the movie, just characters invented for the trailer, possibly played by Pixar staff (not an unreasonable assumption, consider Emporer Zurg (TS2); The Green Aliens (TS1-4); Dad's Anger (Inside Out) and Jangles the Clown (Inside Out)). How wrong I was.
As it turns out, they are played by comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, and this advert is a cleaner parody of their Valet sketch series (Link not kid-friendly). Key and Peele gel together nicely and they were allowed to record most of their lines together, with some room for improvisation.
The running joke is that although they are separate characters with separate personalities and voice actors, they are sewn together at their paws? Hands? Wings? so they struggle to get around, especially when they have to get through tight spaces and can't decide who gets to go first. This is the part of the teaser trailer that I don't like, because in the trailer they are separated and do not have this problem. This is fixed in the next trailer, which is just footage from the movie.
Now to possibly the weirdest part of my notes. I claimed that TS4 is the opposite of Mary Poppins. This is wrong. TS4 is the opposite of Mary Poppins RETURNS. What do I mean by this though?
The answer lies in the climax of each movie (MP, MPR, TS1-TS4). In MP, the climax is simple. It's elegant. It's emotional. There's no dialogue to complicate matters. All it consists of is a man walking through London, knowing he's about to be fired. On the other hand, we have MPR, which has a climax of Alexander Hamilton climbing Big Ben trying to turn back time, because that makes sense(no clip available, although there is some BTS stuff if you want to check it out.
MP climaxes have started peaceful and built up to action-filled climaxes, which are much more common nowadays.
On the other hand, you have TS. In TS1, the climax is a car chase with a car, a moving truck, a rocket and an RC car. In TS2, the climax is a chase around a luggage carousel (I know that's not what it is, but I don't know what the actual term is. Comment below if you know). In TS3, the climax is the main characters sitting holding hands, ready to embrace their doom (If you haven't seen it before, it's just as awful as it sounds, and then some. It's been 9 years, and that scene still gets me right in my crying muscle). In TS4, the climax is just the main characters standing on the canopy of an RV talking and it still gets me (WHY PIXAR WHY?!) and half the cast apparently.
MP has got more action-y, but TS has got less action-y. Toy Story is the opposite of Mary Poppins.
Q. E. D.
Nearly the end of the review, I promise (that statement is for me as much as it is for you).
Post Credits Scene
After the movie ends, we are shown some mid-credits scenes of Woody, Bo, Ducky, Bunny and Duke leading their new life fixing carnival games to be prize-every-time. Ducky and Bunny then 'do the ole' Plush Rush' on the carnival worker, then grow huge, finally shooting lasers out their eyes and breathing fire.
Cut to the real world, with Ducky and Bunny just walking around making pew pew noises.
Woody: Or we could just give more toys to kids?
Bo: Yeah, let's do that. (They walk away)
Duke: Do you really shoot lasers out your eyes?
Ducky:
Bunny:
Duke:
Bunny: ... Yeah.
Duke: Whoa.
Of course, the next question is,
Will there be a TS5? Pixar have said no for now, but haven't ruled it out completely.
BREAKING NEWS: I just noticed some symbolism in TS4! Look closely at the new characters! Aside from Gabby Gabby, they're ALL considerably smaller than the main characters from the other movies!
Duke Caboom
Forky
Giggles McDimples (OK, so that one wasn't hard)
Anyway, TS5. I think I know what it'll be about, and I've attached my design of the poster. I hope you like it (if it works)
Finally, the questions.
Answers from previous review:
1. The thing that links Aladdin (1992) and Scooby-Doo is Frank Welker, who plays Cave of Wonders/Abu/Rajagh in Aladdin and Fred Jones in all iterations of SD (and Scooby in most of them)
2. Michael Keaton (Batman in Batman (1989)) and Jodi Benson (Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989)) played Ken and Barbie in Toy Story 3 (2010).
New Questions:
1. Why are sheep the opposite of Heaven? (+50pts if you figure this one out, it's ridiculously hard)
2. When are Bo Peep and Rex dating? (same as Q2 last time, refers to the actors, not the characters)
IUN (In Unrelated News, its an acronym I'm trying to spread. It will be my legacy), I just discovered this Toy Story promotional toy. I thought you should know about it (if you've forgotten who that character is, I'm not surprised. She only appears in the first movie, and even then only for a short time). I thought this one was bad enough!
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