Wow.
Thank you, Pixar.
If you follow me on any form of social media you know that my love for Toy Story is real.
Heck, Audrey and I even wrote our names on the bottom of each others shoes for our wedding...
The Toy Story films and their characters have always been special to me. They kick-started my imagination in a great way. And, as someone who plays with inanimate objects for a living, I owe Pixar a LOT. It's so cool to me that after 25 years I still get to check in on my old friends and be a giddy 10-year-old for a few hours.
The movie opens with a flashback to one of the favorite places of my childhood: Andy's room.
We get an awesome look at Woody and Bo Peep in action together in their hey-day, rescuing an abandoned RC from the side yard. Moments later, Bo is taken away and a beautiful, but silent, goodbye happens for Woody. Cue the tears and Randy Newman's You've Got a Friend in Me".
And that's just the first 15 minutes.
All of our favorite toys have their shining moments, and the new members of the cast, Tony Hale as Forky, Keanu Reeves as Duke Caboom, Ally Macki as Giggle McDimples, Christina Hendricks as Gabby Gabby, and Key & Peele and Ducky & Bunny are wonderful and perfect additions to the already existing Toy Story family and all have unique dynamics that we've not seen in a TS movie before.
And don't get me started on those Dummies...
(I would bet good money that they were inspired by a certain evil Dummy that I hang out with...)
I know a lot of people complained that a fourth film was unnecessary after the picture-perfect ending of TS3 , but I disagree. Pixar knows their audience too well. Toy Story 3 happened when a lot of us who grew up with the first two films were graduating and moving into a new stage of our lives. As someone who just got married, I feel like the conclusion of Woody's story speaks to those of us starting a new chapter with someone we love. But maybe I'm just a softy.
Clearly I was already in the bag for this movie, but it met and then exceeded all of my (admittedly very high) expectations. I hope I get to experience it again in theaters, it's too good to only see once.
To Infinity and Beyond,
Avery
