Toy Story 4 (2019)
★★★½ — Toy Story 4 (2019)
Let me be straight with you: nobody asked for a fourth Toy Story. The third one ended so perfectly, so emotionally, that the very idea of coming back felt like a mistake before a single frame had been shot. And yet here we are, and here's the thing. It's really good. Annoying, isn't it?
Toy Story 4 works, and it works better than it has any right to. The story picks up with Woody feeling a bit lost in a new chapter of toy life, and it sends him on an adventure that ends up being genuinely about something. It's about purpose, identity, and what you do when the role you've built your whole existence around starts to slip away. That's not bad going for what the cynical part of my brain kept trying to dismiss as a cash grab.
But look, let's talk about Forky, because Forky is the best thing in this film by a considerable distance. A plastic spork with googly eyes and pipe-cleaner arms who is convinced, with total sincerity, that he belongs in the bin. He's genuinely, properly hilarious. The kind of funny where you're laughing before the joke has even fully landed, because the concept alone is so daft and so committed that it wins you over immediately. Every scene he's in has an energy that lifts the whole film.
Then there are the visuals. I don't throw around words like "astounding" lightly, but I honestly sat there at points just marvelling at what Pixar have done here. The antique shop setting in particular is extraordinary. The way light filters through dusty glass, the texture of old wood and fabric, the depth of shadow in the background of each shot. It doesn't look like animation in the traditional sense. It looks like they somehow filmed inside a dream. The craft on display is genuinely humbling.
The new characters are a mixed bag, which is fair enough for a film juggling this much. Some land beautifully, some feel like they're there to fill screen time. But the film never drags, and the emotional beats, when they come, are earned. The ending in particular is brave in a way I wasn't expecting. It doesn't go for the easy, comfortable resolution. It makes a choice, and it sticks with it, and I respected that enormously even as part of me wanted to argue with it.
Is it the best in the series? No. The first two films have a kind of lightning-in-a-bottle quality that's almost impossible to replicate, and the third remains probably the most emotionally complete of the lot. But this is a worthy addition rather than a hollow one, and that genuinely surprised me. It finds something new to say rather than just reheating what came before.
Four stars. Come for the spork, stay for the visuals, and don't be surprised if the ending catches you somewhere you weren't prepared for.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2019 | Watched: 2026-04-27
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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