Toy Story 4 Review

Synopsis
At her first day of school, Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) creates a new toy named Forky (Tony Hale). It’s up to Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and the rest of Bonnie’s toys to keep Forky safe while on a road trip.

Review
Like many, I was skeptical when a fourth Toy Story movie was announced. Toy Story 3 had wrapped the story of Andy’s toys up to that point superbly. Several shorts have been made since then (which are perfectly okay with me) but another full-length feature felt like an attempted cash grab. Going into this movie I was torn. On one hand, I love the Toy Story films and welcome the chance to play with these characters. But on the other, as I said, the story of Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the crew felt complete. Even though it doesn’t quite hit the emotional highs as previous films in the franchise, Toy Story 4 offers a good conclusion for the characters many of us have grown attached to since 1996.

Firstly, if you thought the animation of Toy Story 3 was top-notch, then you’ll be blown away from the animation of Toy Story 4. As the toys go to different environments, from Bonnie’s room, to Bonnie’s family’s RV, to a playground, to an antique store, and many places in between, each place has its own aesthetic and feels unique. Toys are not made from the same material. Toys like Buzz Lightyear are completely plastic, Woody is a mix of fabric and plastic, and Bo Peep is porcelain. Buzz has a pretty matte look, you can see the pilling on Woody’s shirt, and Bo Peep has a shine to her Buzz and Woody do not, and all the other toys have similar characteristics. Look at the character posters to see examples of what I’m talking about. It’s honestly breathtaking the amount of detail that has gone into making these characters look as realistic as possible. The bar of what of animation is capable of just keeps going up and up.

For the first three films, or “Andy Trilogy” as I’m going to start calling it, the toys mostly shared the spotlight. There was more of a focus on Woody and Buzz but characters like Rex, the Potato Heads, Jessie, and Bullseye shared the screen pretty evenly. However, this time around the focus is on Woody, who becomes the sole heart and soul of the film, with everyone else being demoted to support duties. One of my favorite parts of the previous film was seeing all the different personalities of the toys together so it was disappointing I didn’t get to see as much of that in this film.

One of my biggest, if not my biggest, concern with creating a follow-up film to the wonderful Toy Story 3 was where the writers would take the story, as Toy Story 3 added a perfectly fitting ending to the story of Woody, Buzz, and the gang. In typical Pixar fashion, they proved that there is almost always more story to tell, and they told it well. I’m not a huge fan of how they made Woody the central character like I mentioned above, mostly because of how it shifts the narrative of the whole franchise, but I won’t get into that here. However, once again, Pixar created a story that has a lot of heart.

I thought Toy Story 4 was GOOD 🙂 While I’m still not ecstatic that this movie was made in the first place, I still enjoyed it. This series serves as breadcrumbs to track how far computer animation has come, as this is one of the best looking computer animated films I’ve ever seen. Toy Story 4‘s heart is in the right place but it ultimately falls short, which isn’t too surprising given it had to follow the emotional franchise-ending of Toy Story 3.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Josh Cooley – Director / Story
Andrew Stanton – Story / Screenplay
Stephany Folsom – Story / Screenplay
John Lasseter – Story
Valerie LaPointe – Story
Rashida Jones – Story
Will McCormack – Story
Martin Hynes – Story
Randy Newman – Composer

Tom Hanks – Woody (voice)
Tim Allen – Buzz Lightyear (voice)
Annie Potts – Bo Peep (voice)
Tony Hale – Forky (voice)
Keegan-Michael Key – Ducky (voice)
Jordan Peele – Bunny (voice)
Keanu Reeves – Duke Caboom (voice)
Ally Maki – Giggle McDimples (voice)
Christina Hendricks – Gabby Gabby (voice)
Madeleine McGraw – Bonnie (voice)
Jay Hernandez – Bonnie’s Dad (voice)
Lori Alan – Bonnie’s Mom (voice)
Bonnie Hunt – Dolly (voice)
Kristen Schaal – Trixie (voice)
Jeff Garlin – Buttercup (voice)
Wallace Shawn – Rex (voice)
John Ratzenberger – Hamm (voice)
Blake Clark – Slinky Dog (voice)
Don Rickles – Mr. Potato Head (voice)
Estelle Harris – Mrs. Potato Head (voice)

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Entries for the Christmas in July 2019 Blogathon are due in two weeks! To find out more, check out the post here.

Toy Story Review

Synopsis
Woody (Tom Hanks (voice)) has been the favorite toy of Andy (John Morris) for years. When Andy receives the latest toy Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen (voice)) for his birthday, Woody fears he is going to be replaced as Andy’s favorite toy.

Review
Toy Story is shares the honor with Aladdin as being THE movie of my childhood. I watched it repeatedly for months on end. The imagination and creativity really drew me in in a way that few movies did or have since. It helped too that I share the same name as the main human character, but that didn’t matter that much. Some films we watch from our childhood don’t hold up years later and we realize that the only reason we enjoyed it so much was because we didn’t know any better. Thankfully, Toy Story doesn’t have that problem at all.

Right away, the film establishes Andy’s relationship with his toys. It begins with Andy playing with Woody, Hamm, Bo Peep, Mr. Potato Head, and the rest of the gang. Clearly, Woody is Andy’s favorite toy. Then, once the toys are alone, it becomes evident how imaginative the film is. When we are kids, our toys are alive to us. They have back stories and personalities, but that is all in our head. Toy Story is our childhood imagination come to life. That’s one of the reasons it can connect across generations; Kids see their imagination coming alive and adults go back to when they were children and when their imagination ran wild.

Another reason why it is universally enjoyed is because everyone can relate to something in the film. Like just mentioned, the younger audience can visualize themselves in Andy’s position, loving his toys, playing with them all day, as well as being enticed with the idea that their toys have a life when they aren’t around. Older viewers, on the other hand, can relate to the toys on a personal level. These are children’s toys who are going through very adult problems. It’s a very clever storytelling and character building technique used by Pixar that gives the film a wide audience.

I have no doubt that no matter what, Toy Story would have been considered a technological marvel. It is the first fully computer animated film, but it is starting to show its age. It is very flat compared to much of today’s computer animation. However, it has stood the test of time because it also tells a great story. Another twenty years from now, I can almost guarantee that this movie will be enjoyed just as much then as it is now and just as much as it was twenty years ago.

There is no way I could talk about Toy Story without talking about the voice cast. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are absolutely perfect as Woody and Buzz. The role of Buzz was almost voiced by Billy Crystal instead of Allen, which I feel would have been a huge mistake. Hanks and Allen have such great chemistry together. Besides Hanks and Allen, each actor has a unique voice that makes their character stand out. A few of my favorites are Pixar staple John Ratzenberger as the piggy bank Hamm, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, Wallace Shawn as the low self-esteem Rex, and the perfectly well cast R. Lee Ermey as the toy soldier sergeant.

Randy Newman adds a positively brilliant score. “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” is one of my favorite original songs in a movie. “Strange Things” is another enjoyable tune, even if not as memorable.

Toy Story is the definition of a timeless classic. Even twenty years later, it is considered one of the best animated films ever and is responsible for kick starting Pixar as the emotional storytelling powerhouse they are known for. Movies about friendship are a sure fire way to tug at my heartstrings and I think Toy Story is one of the reasons for that. When I was younger, I enjoyed this movie for the concept and characters. Now, I can also relate and empathize with Woody and Buzz. The great story and characters are easily relatable and allow this movie to soar to infinity and beyond.

Rating
5/5

Also read my reviews for Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
John Lasseter – Director / Story
Andrew Stanton – Story / Screenplay
Pete Doctor – Story
Joe Ranft – Story
Joss Whedon – Screenplay
Joel Cohen – Screenplay
Alec Sokolow – Screenplay
Randy Newman – Composer

Tom Hanks – Woody (voice)
Tim Allen – Buzz Lightyear (voice)
Don Rickles – Mr. Potato Head (voice)
Jim Varney – Slinky Dog (voice)
Wallace Shawn – Rex (voice)
John Ratzenberger – Hamm (voice)
Annie Potts – Bo Peep (voice)
John Morris – Andy (voice)
Erik von Detten – Sid (voice)
Laurie Metcalf – Mrs. Davis (voice)
R. Lee Ermey – Sergeant (voice)
Sarah Freeman – Hannah (voice)

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And with that, Drew’s Reviews officially turns two!  I didn’t plan it but I couldn’t think of a better film to review for by blog’s birthday.  Thanks for everyone’s support and the likes and comments over the last two years.  I hope Year 3 is just as fun and exciting! 😀

Lightning Review: Ghostbusters 2

Synopsis
Five years after their battle with Gozer, the Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), have disbanded. But the when the negativity of New York begins to materialize as a mysterious river of ectoplasm underneath the city, they must reform to control the resurgence of paranormal activity.

Review
Successful sequels can be difficult to pull off because they need to remain true to the previous film(s) while standing on their own. Unfortunately, I think Ghostbusters 2 tries too hard to capture what made Ghostbusters so entertaining and fails to offer something different. It follows very much the same formula as the first: the Ghostbusters come together, there is a montage of them catching random ghosts throughout the city while researching the big baddie, then the team focuses on the villain. There really isn’t too much unique about it. The cast didn’t seem to be as energetic as before, particularly Bill Murray. He was able to shine by playing on the character’s selfishness but Peter and Dana’s (Sigourney Weaver) relationship became one of the central focuses of the film, derailing Murray’s humor, as well as the story. Rick Moranis, one of the best parts about Ghostbusters, gets a larger role this time around but he isn’t used as effectively. In the end, Ghostbusters 2 was too similar to it’s predecessor to really stand on its own and failed to recapture to magic of Ghostbusters.

Rating
2.5/5

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Ivan Reitman – Director
Dan Aykroyd – Writer
Harold Ramis – Writer
Randy Edelman – Composer

Bill Murray – Dr. Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd – Dr. Raymond Stantz
Harold Ramis – Dr. Egon Spengler
Ernie Hudon – Winston Zeddmore
Sigourney Weaver – Dana Barrett
Rick Moranis – Louis Tully
Annie Potts – Janine Melnitz
Peter MacNicol – Dr. Janosz Poha
Harris Yulin – The Judge
David Margulies – Mayor
Kurt Fuller – Hardemeyer
Wilhelm von Homburg – Vigo
Max von Sydow – Vigo (voice)

Ghostbusters Review

Synopsis
Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are parapsychologists who create the Ghostbusters after losing their jobs at Columbia University. They use their knowledge of the paranormal to rid the streets of New York from ghosts. But they mey have met their toughest spirit yet when they get a call from Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) after she sees a demon in her fridge.

Review
I can’t remember the first time I saw Ghostbusters, but I do remember I was really young and I really, really enjoyed it. Bill Murray’s quips, Dan Aykroyd’s excitement (particularly over slime) and Harold Ramis’ dramatic scientific babble all entranced me. It may seem like a weird mix, but they somehow manage to craft a story that is equally enjoyed by both my younger and older selves.

This movie’s success no doubt comes from the chemistry between Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis. The way they are able to bounce off each other is fantastic. Each brings their own sense of humor to the mix; Murray is great at improvisation and gives some of the most memorable lines, and Ramis is more science nerd than the others, but Aykroyd is the heart of the cast. He is brimming with energy that comes through the screen and you can’t help yourself but smile.

Rick Moranis is the unsung hero of Ghostbusters. Like with Aykroyd, Moranis brings so much energy to his performance. He is a socially awkward accountant who lives across the hall from Dana Barret (Sigourney Weaver). I can’t mention enough how fantastic Moranis is with the role. He is able to do more with the part than I’m sure was originally intended.

Ghostbusters was very well paced. Gozer was introduced when they first start busting ghosts and they came back to it in between other ghosts but that plot point is not developed until the end. We get to see the Ghostbusters become celebrities without the ghosts becoming too daunting. Then we see why these guys are perfect for the job of taking down a demon.

Often times in comedies, large special effects take focus away from the jokes, but not in this movie. The special effects work well in the film and actually add to the comedy. Some funny gags come from the special effects. I mean, they were responsible for Slimer after all.

No matter how old you are, you will enjoy Ghostbusters. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis are a great comedy team. Although Rick Moranis steals the show with his performance, an incredible feat given the rest of the cast. He is so energetic and plays the socially awkward neighbor perfectly. Excellent pacing and special effects only add to the experience. So in the words of Ray Parker, Jr., “Who ya gonna call?”

Rating
4.5/5

Also check my review for the sequel, Ghostbusters 2.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Ivan Reitman – Director
Dan Aykroyd – Writer
Harold Ramis – Writer
Elmer Bernstein – Composer

Bill Murray – Dr. Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd – Dr. Raymond Stantz
Harold Ramis – Dr. Egon Spengler
Sigourney Weaver – Dana Barrett
Rick Moranis – Louis Tully
Annie Potts – Janine Melnitz
Ernie Hudon – Winston Zeddmore
William Atherton – Walter Peck
David Margulies – Mayor
Slavitza Jovan – Gozer
Paddi Edwards – Gozer (voice)