Directed by: Josh Cooley
Written by: Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom
Cast: Tom Hanks, Annie Potts, Tim Allen, Christina Hendricks, Tony Hale
Back in 1995 Pixar released the first ever completely computer generated feature film, forever giving us the term CGI. Toy Story made all the money that year, and we got two new Disney icons on the same level as Mickey Mouse and Goofy: Sheriff Woody and Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear.
Now, here we are twenty-four years later, and nine years since their last feature together, but what we thought was the end with Toy Story 3 was just leading us to the closure these wonderful characters deserve. Not everyone will be happy with the final story, but all things end, I mean nothing really lasts beyond infinity.
We start off the film with a flashback to nine years ago, just after Toy Story 2, and the mystery of what happened to Bo Peep (Potts) is answered, as Woody (Hanks) says his tearful goodbyes to his friend. But fret not, they are reunited in one of the most incredible adventures for the Pixar toys.
But I am getting a bit ahead of the story. Woody has a new role as he literally collects dust in Bonnie’s closet. Oddly enough, Woody isn’t even close to her favorite toy. The ungrateful brat has elected a new sheriff in town! But, when Woody sees that Bonnie is afraid to go to kindergarten, he takes it upon himself to break the rules and stow away in her backpack. Not very law-abiding, Sheriff.
You can argue that right off the bat, Woody isn’t really doing this out of love for Bonnie, but rather to feel useful again. You could easily see a scenario where Woody is discovered in her backpack and Bonnie is sent home with a note. Granted, in today’s touchy-feely society, they’d probably give her a breaking the rules trophy or something.
Bonnie gets essentially ignored, except for this one little jerk kid who is eating an apple that I think was supposed to somehow represent either the patriarchy or Steve Jobs, perhaps both. That kid steals her tray of arts and crafts that she is supposed to use to make a decoration on a cup with.
Woody witnesses this and risks exposing the fact that toys are sentient creatures as he hustles over to the trash where the little apple-biter just tossed some of the art supplies as unceremoniously as he tossed his apple into the bin.
Woody grabs a bunch of trash and supplies from the bin and dumps it in front of Bonnie who then proceeds to make the movie’s MacGuffin, or, I mean the most annoying character in Toy Story history since Dolly, or as you all know him, Forky (Hale). Bonnie’s teacher commends her on her creativity, and the pride in making something special gives Bonnie a real connection to Forky.
Now, here is where it gets interesting, once Woody introduces everyone to Forky, he keeps trying to go back to the trash which is where he belongs. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I started out with an irrational disdain for Forky, so his inclination to constantly try to toss himself into the trash gave me quite the laugh. It was all I could do not to yell out, DEW IT!
Because Bonnie was so good at Kindergarten orientation, her dad decides to reward her with a road trip. Kinda awesome, really, all I got from kindergarten orientation was learning how to sit Indian style, the PB&J song indelibly stuck in my head, and a fear of this large brick wall they made rule breakers sit in front of in the sweltering heat of South Florida. But, good for Bonnie.
On the RV road trip, Forky’s constant attraction to the trash, where he belongs, forces Woody to keep a constant vigil on the wayward foon.
[Swift aside: This might be a bit dark, but given that we saw the ultimate fate of what happens at the dump in Toy Story 3, that toys can actually die, was Forky’s draw to the trash a draw to ending his existence? I hate to go there, but he reminded me of the little squirrel in Igor played by Steve Buscemi who was constantly trying to off himself.]
Woody is ultimately no match for Forky’s terminal tenacity, and he launches himself right out the back window of the freakin’ RV! Of course, Woody follows him.
Woody does find Forky and drags him back to where the RV will be camping out that night in a pretty funny sequence. But before he gets back, Woody sees a reflection of his past, a reflection from a lamp that is the spitting image of the one Bo Peep had, and he forcefully shoves Forky into the mail slot of the “Second Chance Antiques” shop.
It’s there that he meets my new favorite character of the franchise, Gabby Gabby (Hendricks) who is one of those weighted eyelid dolls from the fifties. Her voice is beautiful and soothing, but right away you know something is not quite right with her.
And when you meet her friend Benson, a terrifying looking ventriloquist dummy that reminded me of that episode of “Tales From the Crypt” with Don Rickles (Mr. Potato Head), you understand she is going to be the film’s villain.
But, the best villains are the ones we can’t just hate but somehow connect with in spite of ourselves. Gabby Gabby is a broken doll, and there is something she needs from Woody that he’s not too keen on giving up.
Buzz (Allen) is freaking out back at the RV, but with a new found power of sorts, he starts listening to his voice box which Woody has inadvertently convinced him is his inner voice telling him what to do. So, Buzz listens to his voice box commands and takes off to find Woody, leaving behind all the other toys from Bonnie’s room. They’ll be fine, right?
Almost immediately, Buzz is captured by a droopy-faced carny and placed on a board of prizes, where he meets my other favorite characters of this film, Bunny (Jordan Peele) and Ducky (Keegan Michael-Key). They are joined at the hand and are garishly neon-colored, cheap toys who are pissed off that Buzz is now the top prize.
They make sure he knows how they feel about his presence as the latest present, and as they attack him, Buzz uses their momentum to escape. They chase him down and eventually end up joining the team to find Woody and Forky. Luckily, Buzz doesn’t end up in one of those tunnels like in Us!
Meanwhile, Woody is snagged by the antique store lady’s granddaughter Harmony (Lila Sage Bromley) and is taken to a local park. It’s there that Woody reunites with Bo in a pretty clever fashion too.
Bo and her creepy three-headed sheep have been roaming the world Road Warrior style and living it up, genuinely loving their freedom. Bumping into Bo rekindles something inside Woody, and while he is thrilled to see her again, he tells her all about Bonnie and Forky and that he has to go through Gabby Gabby to get him back.
Bo is like, uhm, no thanks, “that doll is weird.” But, Woody being Woody, he never leaves a toy behind. See, that’s Woody’s thing. So, Bo reluctantly agrees to help him, but makes it clear she is in charge.
They head back into the store, and we see Gabby Gabby has been speaking with Forky all about Woody, and it’s here that we learn what really drives her is wanting a kid of her own. But, since she is broken, what kid would want her?
Again, not to get dark, but for me to connect to these plastic toys, I have to assume as much humanity in them as possible. So Gabby Gabby is actually a pathetically tragic character. I mean, right out of the box she was broken. Draw your own comparisons to people here, but sometimes we think if there was that one thing we could fix that is “wrong” with ourselves, then the world would truly love us. That’s Gabby Gabby’s pain.
Forky is just the MacGuffin to be rescued, the damsel in distress, I guess who ends up getting saved/rescued/transported with the help of Woody and Bo and some new friends. Bo knows (Ha!) that she will need help and recruits Canadian super-toy Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) who has his own performance issues.
Come to think of it, that antique shop, called “Second Chances,” has an awful lot of toys looking for that second chance to be whole again. Oh speaking of that store, I want to spend at least two hours going through each nook and cranny, and who is that Granny? I think there are probably tons of Pixar Easter eggs strewn throughout the place too!
Woody realizes in his final encounter with Gabby Gabby that what she needs is not something that has much use to him anymore anyway, and he sacrifices his purity, I guess you would call it, to give her that which will make her whole and thus loved by Harmony.
Now the gang all has to make it back to the RV, and in my favorite sequence which I shan’t ruin here, the toys conspire to help stall the parents and Bonnie. Jeff Garlin as Buttercup has one of the funniest lines of the whole film, and Gabby Gabby gets the closure she finally deserves.
Speaking of closure, Woody and Buzz get closure of their own as do Bo Peep and even Duke Caboom. And try not to cry, well, actually as emotional as the ending was, I got more choked up with the plight of some of the other characters.
What makes this movie so special is the unique new characters that Woody and Buzz encounter as they go on an RV road trip with Bonnie and her parents. Yes, two parents, woo hoo! Each character challenges Woody and to a sadly much lesser extent, Buzz as they develop and evolve beyond just needing to belong to someone else to feel like they belong in the world.
I have loved all of these films, earnestly, and Toy Story 2 was my least favorite of the bunch. Toy Story 3 was great, but this one is nearly flawless in every way. Also, make sure you stay after the credits – yes, all of them.
