The first three films are an essential part of my childhood and Toy Story 5 brought me straight back.
- Director – Andrew Stanton
- Runtime – 102 minutes
- Certificate – PG
- Country – United States
By no means is it a perfect film and I do have some issues with it but it’s hard to not to love a Toy Story film as is, and when it’s probably going to be the closest thing to the original trilogy, I could not help but love it.
My main issue is that this is in no way an ensemble film. 4 in a way was preparing us for this, but here their absence is really noticeable. Obviously I get the reasons why. Some voice actors have sadly passed, one is getting up there and another has terrible political views.
The problem for me is that I don’t actually mind if they don’t have as much screen time because let’s be real, they’ve ran their course and yet they’re still here. They would have been better off being written out the film entirely. I don’t know how they would, but by showing me they’re there and have them do nothing rubs me the wrong way.
The ones that are present are just as brilliant as they always are. I’ve seen people say that this is the least funniest entry into the franchise but I think it’s almost the opposite. If we would rank them purely based on its humour, I’d probably rank it third just behind 1 and 2.
The play scenes are hilarious with this gorgeous animation. The new tech toys that Jessie (Joan Cusack) finds are also funny with Craig Robinson as Atlus being my personal favourite (however that’s probably my bias towards Robinson). The Buzz army is also hilarious and call me crazy but I think they have perfected the delusional space ranger bit in this film. Using them to their advantage and going along with them is too good and to be honest I hope the bit doesn’t keep up in 6 because I don’t see what else they can do with it.
Speaking of Buzz (Tim Allen), my other main issue is their treatment with Buzz. He’s still funny as always and even though he isn’t delusional anymore he still always kept his competence. He could always rally the toys and keep them in line but it’s almost as if they forgot that when writing this film. When Jessie leaves him in charge he doesn’t do that. In all fairness he isn’t given any time considering Woody (Tom Hanks) shows up immediately after she leaves. Their squabbling is again, funny as always, but at the same time hinders any kind of development Buzz could be making.
Who does make a development is Jessie. She is centre stage in this film and takes full advantage of that. To be honest I never really cared that much about her backstory before, but seeing how she constantly keeps going through these moments where it seems what happened with Emily is about to happen again, but always powers through it to make sure she goes back and that Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) makes a friend. They moved me and they reinforce the core idea that’s been present since the first film. I also really liked the scenes where she almost becomes what happened to her by leaving the old tech toys behind simply because she doesn’t like them and then realised what she would be doing. Small scenes like that add so much depth to her character.
However where it lacks in its ensemble it makes up in its story. From a story perspective, this might genuinely be the best film in the franchise.
This film has something to say and knows exactly how to say it. In all the marketing and the start of the film it pushes the villain to be the technology on the form of these Lilypad’s (Greta Lee). That they’re this threat to the toys and that it makes them redundant. However the longer the film goes on its message isn’t so much so that the tech is the problem it’s the ones that consume it and allow for children to be on it all the time.
And for the first time really, the villain of the films are the humans, but more specifically the parents (Sid is not the villain of 1, if anything Woody is more of a villain than him). The film teaches us that technology is okay in limited amounts and that real life and the tech can both help to form connections. Not only is this message good for kids that spend too much time on devices but I feel like it’s also a good message for older generations. The amount of times old people complain about young people and the time they spend on their phones is represented in Jessie being very reluctant. But as the film progresses so does she and sees the value in technology.
Toy Story 5 is the closest feeling that the franchise will probably give to the originals thanks to its recurring bits and humour adding depth to these characters but more importantly a story that has something to say and does so perfectly.