Once again, we’ve seen the fourth movie in a series, and once again I’m impressed with the quality. Toy Story 4 (2019) features the same amazing animation, acting, and imagination that has been present throughout this series. And it continues the tradition of telling a story which touches on the heart of the human condition, in this case the question of what to do when one’s purpose in life disappears.
Our continual hero, Sheriff Woody, and most of his companion toys have moved on to a new family and a new child to help raise, Bonnie. Unlike Andy, who considered Woody to be his best friend, Bonnie likes to create her toys, and when she creates Forky from a discarded plastic fork and some trash, it’s up to Woody to train Forky for toy-hood.
In fact, for the heavy responsibility of being Bonnie’s favorite.
During the training, they encounter the long missing Bo Peep, who had been a toy of Andy’s sister, and given away years earlier. Woody discovers his affection for Bo is undiminished, even as he learns that she is not only a Lost Toy, supposedly a horror for any toy, but she revels in it.
But lurking in the small town Bonnie’s family is visiting is the Antique Store, the home of the eerie Gabby Gabby, a doll full of dark purposes and manic drive, assisted by several Charlie McCarthy dolls. And she wants? Something of Woody’s, and she’ll do anything to get it – including holding Forky hostage.
In Woody, we see the relentless drive to do right, even in the face of the high cost of doing so, and how that can work out against all the odds. More importantly, we also watch as Woody realizes that in order to grow and mature, one must learn to accept that sometimes you are not the center of someone else’s existence, and that transitions, as painful as they may be, are a necessity of life.
Some new characters, and a new purpose in life, finish the lesson.
Strongly recommended.
