Full disclosure: I love animation movies but I am anti-sequel in general and present the Ice Age movies as incontrovertible proof of steady deterioration of quality with successive installments of a film franchise (it is rare that we have a sequels of the quality of the Munnabhai films). The film Toy Story was a great idea, but the attempt to differentiate each successive toy story made subsequent installments uneven and implausible (not that talking toys with a world of their own is in any way plausible). Toy Story 4 is coming and its trailer tells us what to expect.
There is Forky, a toy crafted from a spork that seems to have existential angst, a bunch of evil looking ventriloquist dummies. Bo Peep appears to be encouraging Woody to expand his horizons (?) and a big fair or amusement park of some sort interspersed with dollops of drama.
A lot of toy story fans loved the trailer and cannot wait for the movie to be released (the movie is slated for release on 21 June 2019).
It is a rudimentary toy at best, but it appears to be the key to this edition of the story. As one commentator put it, “Forky, the suicidal spork, is shown (the) positive side of being a useless toy.”
It is was an interesting premise that toys have a secret world that we know nothing about, that they speak, have emotions, allegiances and character traits. But this is the fourth movie now! Surely an idea done to death!
A lot of people thought they should have stopped at Toy Story 2 or 3; or like me; at Toy Story!
I would agree; they are way creepy. The dummies look a lot like the chief villain in the Goosebumps stories, Snappy.
Perhaps it is Snappy? With his twin? Who can tell in these things!
Perhaps the underlying theme is that of the impermanence of all things and difficulty of coming to terms with the ephemerality of life. Or you could just say it’s a wooden toy, and move on.
A lot of people were highly indignant that the filmmakers changed Andy without so much as a by your leave. Me, I didn’t mind it a bit.
Unlike some of us, others seem to have a significant emotional investment into the film franchise. They laugh with the toys and equally they cry for the toys. I suppose I shall watch the film, because I’ve seen the previous editions. But I’ll be honest - I'm not really holding my breath.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]