3 Short Paragraphs: Toy Story 4

2019, Josh Cooley (primarily in the art dept of Pixar) -- download

*deletes previous attempt*

I need to figure out why movies that leave little impression on me are so hard to write for. I guess it goes back to the fact that I am not writing review, but writing personal blog posts about movies (and TV) that I have seen. Writing a by-the-books-review of a movie that I didn't care one way or the other for is just not going to be interesting to me, or to you. But really, let's be honest, I only care if its interesting to write for me -- as the three of you still reading this anachronistic medium wouldn't notice if I went away.

So, Toy Story, Episode 4: Return of Bo Peep. Did you notice she was gone? I didn't. She got sidelined after Ep 1 but I always had an issue with her anyway. She was not a toy, she was a lamp. This is a world where toys have sentience, but not every single appliance. That we know; did the refrigerator and the toaster have a torrid affair as long as humans and toys were not watching? One can only hope. So then, why a lamp? This movie (4) briefly visits the cosmic question of the Birth of Toys when a spork is hastily given life by the lonely Bonnie, the current owner of our cadre of older toys, including Woody and Buzz. Sporky immediately has an existential crisis which causes no end of trouble for Woody, who is having his own minor midlife crisis. That trouble leads to the troubling reunion of Bo and Woody.

Again, its not that this is a bad movie, but that it did nothing for me. There is some clever writing, some heart felt scenes, some familiar re-treads at humour but for the most part, it just felt like the franchise is in the same boat as Woody and friends --- tired and needing to be just put on the shelf. But unlike these sentient toys, a movie can be forgotten about without causing emotional distress to the movie itself. So Pixar, move on. Or less harshly, Toasty, you don't have to see it just because it was put out.

P.S. Yes, Duke Kaboom (Keanu Reeves) was great. That's all.