Written and Directed by McKenna Harris and Andrew Stanton | 102 min | ▲▲▲▲ | In Cinemas
Given the first three films in this series are all about as good as an animated family franchise can get, numbers four and five arrived freighted with fear by the faithful — have they gone to the well one too many times? There’ve been arguments — certainly the suggestion the fourth film wasn’t in the class of the first three. I can’t argue with that, but it was still a good time, helped immeasurably by the addition of Duke Kaboom, the anxious Canadian stunt motorcycle rider toy voiced by Keanu Reeves.
The fifth time up to bat almost feels like a spin-off, which is welcome. It allows for a little less of a feeling of repetition — though longtime fans will appreciate that Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen) still team up in a chase across town to save a toy. Overall, it’s as good a time as Toy Story 4 seven years ago, if not better.
This movie is mostly about Jessie (Joan Cusack), the classic cowgirl rag doll with her faithful horse, Bullseye. She’s trying to help her kid, Bonnie, get some friends, but Bonnie’s a special girl — she lives in her imagination, and she’s one of the last kids in her neighbourhood still playing with toys. Tech is the villain here, having invaded every home — we see the tell-tale electronic light of devices lighting up kids’ faces in multiple homes. (If this film was made 70 years ago, the same argument could’ve been made about TV.)
Bonnie gets a tablet called Lilypad (Greta Lee) who wants all of her attention, offering her learning games and networking her with new friends digitally. Things are looking bad for the toys. As Rex the Tyrannosaur (Wallace Shawn) says, “Extinction… not again!” Jessie refuses to end her mission to find Bonnie a real friend, even if it costs her status as Bonnie’s favourite toy.
Cue the return of a balding Woody, and Buzz, trying and failing to woo Jessie, who’s just too busy bouncing around town chasing after Bonnie. Jessie ends up back at her original home, where she meets a collection of older tech toys (including a hilarious potty-training device, Smarty Pants, voiced by Conan O’Brien). This while a cadre of upgraded Buzz Lightyears have fallen out of a container and are moving in unison toward our collection of plastic and fabric heroes.
There’s a lot of moving parts in this picture, and a few plot holes — like how does Lilypad connect to the internet when there’s no wifi? There’s also a surprisingly softening of the antagonist that I don’t think necessarily is to the benefit of the story or its crystal clear Invasion of the Body Snatchers message around how tech steals something essential from children.
Nonetheless, the emotional wallop that these movies deliver is very much present through Jessie’s story, her crisis of confidence and despair over not feeling useful to her kid, once again facing the possibility of being tossed aside when Bonnie outgrows her. That’s the ongoing theme of these movies, with the toys as stand-ins for parents. We also get a couple of terrific Star Wars gags, courtesy of Buzz.
