Pixar got its mojo back! Even though it took 7 years, this film doesn’t look back. It’s right where it needs to be. Toy Story Films started in the last century, with the first in 1995. A lot has changed and this film is now relatable to what families are dealing with now, technology with everybody on screens.
Writer/Director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL.E and more) wrote all of the Toy Story films in the Disney/Pixar franchise. They also directed Toy Story 4 and 5. All thought Toy Story 4 would be the last installment, but something new, and old, came up to deal with for this, the 5th and latest.
It starts with Buzz Lightyear having crashed on a remote island with a squadron of 50 updated Buzz’s still in their boxes. Their first mission? Original Buzz pulls them out of the boxes and boots them them up to make a raft to go back to Star Command. You know they’ll show up again later, and when they do, spring into plenty of action.
Your favorite main characters are back, but they’re speaking with more mature voices. Cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack) leads the herd this time out when Woody goes semi-retired. Now, he look different, with a paunch and , when he takes off his cowboy hat, there’s a bald spot! Plus Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and Woody (Tom Hanks), are all with deeper, older voices.
Watch us talk about the film more on You Tube in discussion at Mike Crowley’s #Youllprobablyagree channel, and with Don Shanahan, Director of Chicago Indie Critics, talk about “Why Toy Story is More Than A Kids Movie.”
Bonnie, (Scarlett Spears) is the little girl who was the recipient of the toys left by Woody’s kid, Andy, as he graduated high school. She really loves her toys. Bonnie even turned trash into a toy, toy spork. It’s a combo spoon and fork, and dressed it up to make the character Forky (Tony Hale) seen in Toy Story 4. But kids at school aren’t into regular toys any more. They’re glued to screens, with games and text chat that has becomes, to many parents, an out-of-control nightmare.
Jesse especially, sees herself as a kind of guardian for her kid, Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), who finds that her toys as playthings, are just not enough right now. When she goes on a sleepover with other girls, Bonnie is ignored by her new friends who are too wrapped up in their devices. Jessie worries they don’t want dolls anymore, too preoccupied with tech screens like the popular frog-like tablet called Lilypad they call Lily (voiced by Greta Lee). The animation team skillfully shows the mind numbing trance-like effect the glowing screen has on Bonnie, a familiar expression on many kids and parents.
Armed with her own tech toy, Bonnie seems to be getting up to speed making friends using Lilypad. But the sleepover girls are mean, cliquish, and clickish bullies which only increases Bonnie’s anxiety and self consciousness. Under her new friends’ influence, Bonnie stops playing with Jesse who ends up at a farm that was once the home of Emily, Cowgirl Jessie doll’s former owner.
At the farm, horse-loving Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris) wants to return the toy to Bonnie. Parents of both young girls hope their toy-playing kids can connect, but shy Bonnie is embarrassed about playing with toys after the techy girls made fun of her.
At home, Bonnie’s first-gen toys are stuck in a drawer along with a few new low tech toys, Jessie never seen. These are funny characters that will make you laugh. Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien) is the potty training toy Bonnie has outgrown. O’Brien gets a away with funny poop jokes that created a lot of giggles with kids and groans from parents. And then there’s a old kid-friendly digital camera named Snappy (Shelby Rabara) plus, of course, a first-generation GPS device which sounds so outdated called Atlas (voice by Craig Robinson.) New tech develops fast.
The characters, humor, along with Pixar’s masterful, colorful animation keep the story moving garnering plenty of emotion with ups and downs tugging at your heart strings. Joan Cusack, who takes the lead, is such a good role model for young girls.
In fact, Taylor Swift, having grown up watching all of the Toy Story movies, was so touched after screening this film, took inspiration from Jessie, and said wrote the song and produced “I Knew It, I Knew You,” in just two hours in collaboration with Grammy award Winner, Jack Antonoff. Randy Newman to composed music and the score for the film. Of course, Randy Newman, came back to compose music and the score for the film.
Jessie is a good example for young girls of someone who steps up for her friends as a leader. And there’s plenty of action when Buzz and his Squadron get activated and pop up to help Woody.
It’s so easy to get involved with these characters, old and new. Stanton and Harris display screen time vs. play time without making tech super villains. Do they pull punches with kids getting as addicted as parents to screens? Maybe. But Pixar wriggles laughs and warm fuzzies for cool toys worth playing with again.
Disney/Pixar 1 Hour 45 Minutes PG
