Toy Story 4

Toy Story 3 came out nine years ago and I was pretty pleased with it. Well, more than a little. It was pretty much perfect, which means I wasn't expecting a fourth outing. And when a fourth outing was announced by Pixar, I certainly didn't expect it to be in any way as good as the third.

Except it was.

Toy Story 4 could be seen as unnecessary, as so many films with the letter or number 4 in their title are. And I guess it is unnecessary, but in the very capable hands of Pixar the story and characters never feel unnecessary. A new adventure is had by Woody, Buzz, Bo, Jessie, newcomer Forky and everyone else and it feels very much necessary.

The animation and cinematography in the film is amazing. The entire film is gorgeous to look at, but pay attention to the scenes where Woody and Bo say goodbye in the rain, Woody and Forky are walking along the highway, Bo is leading her entourage on a daring plan through the antiques store, Woody and Bo catch the late-day sun-through-the-chandelier, and anything during the carnival at night. It is all truly spectacular.

Again, Pixar makes tells a story through animation and toys that is so relevant, beautiful, touching and poignant that I laughed and cried. I was also a little terrified of the dummies! This movie may be animated and rated G, which in our culture means "kid movie" but this most certainly is not; I can't imagine any kid younger than 11 sitting through it and actually enjoying it.

I love that the story gives us a completely bad-ass Bo Peep, a character who didn't have much character in the first two films. Woody is quintessentially Wooody, and Buzz has some great moments as he listens to his "inner voice".  And Rex gets the best line of the movie - Look at how long his arms are!

Definitely see this in the theaters. It'll likely be my favorite film of the summer.