The Toy Story franchise is an enigma in the animation world. Each story in the series avoided (to some degree) rerunning the plot of a previous entry, always looking for the next progression point for its characters. Part of this is due to Toy Story's not-so-subtle analogy with the work force. Woody is the boss of a company of toys, whose one product is the entertainment and well being of their kid, Andy. It isn't too much of a stretch to claim that the creative leads at Pixar can probably relate most to this series of any other. They run a company, leading others in producing the most entertainment they can for families around the world. Toy Story, then, has always been one of the most artistically led series in Pixar cannon, and is probably why the series has the greatest track record for sequels within the company.
Toy Story 4 looked to be a bridge too far when it was released a few years ago. Hell, Toy Story 3 felt like it was one too many before the release of that film. There is skepticism with sequels in any series, primarily because what makes the original so good often does not work well with further information. Movies, like a lot of art, work best with extrapolation, with the viewer having to take what they saw and projecting it further, either between moments in the film or after the credits roll (sometimes retroactively, projecting out before the start of the film such as with John Wick). Toy Story 3, it turned out, was not one too many, and turned out to be a somewhat messy story with the strongest emotional wallop the series has ever seen. It has been a decade since Toy Story 3, and I still think about the climax of that film. But with that emotional toll came with it the feeling of finality, of this series finally ending and saying everything it probably could. The first film talked about being upstaged by a new employee and letting yourself get aged out, the second film was about dealing with new opportunities and their cost, and the third film was about middle age and the inevitability of death. What could a fourth film possibly offer?
Toy Story 4 doesn't bring as much new to the table as previous entries, but it doesn't waste what it retreads either. Toy Story 4, by and large, is about retirement and the acceptance that comes with it. Elements from previous films, such as forgoing a leadership role in favor of a different leader, being aged out of your job, and potentially finding a new career are all touched upon with referential significance. Yes, we've seen these things before, but where each were a problem to reckon with before, now they are slots in an equation with a difficult answer to accept.
Woody is still having trouble not being the leader in his newfound job being Bonnie's toy, a development that happened at the end of Toy Story 3. Woody understands this time around however, and it is simply bad habit that he sometimes oversteps. But that habit recalls a problem that Woody was dealing with last film: he doesn't have nearly as much of a purpose anymore. Bonnie doesn't like the cowboy doll as much as the other toys - particularly Jessie, the cowgirl equivalent to Woody, which makes sense with her being a girl. Woody sees the writing on the wall, but his choices in the matter are much more complicated than the obvious one. When Bonnie goes to her first day of Kindergarten, she creates a new toy out of a used spork, putty, and pipe-cleaners she names Forky. Forky, no longer trash but a toy, gains sentience but does not understand his new role as Bonnie's favorite toy. To Forky, he is still trash, and feels far more comfortable in the garbage bin than he does in the arms of his kid. Woody takes it upon himself to look after and coach the weird guy, having to explain what is so significant to being a kid's favorite toy, something that pains him just a little bit as he longs to go back to a time when he Andy were all that mattered. When Bonnie's family goes on a road trip in an RV, Forky is lost and Woody decides to go after him, meeting up with Bo Peep, his love interest in previous films, who, after being given away, ended up a lost toy. Woody is uncomfortable with the lost toy life, even as Bo Peep shows how exciting and freeing it can be. They had their time with their respective kids. Isn't it time to, you know, retire?
Toy Story 4 cleverly avoids creating any sort of villain toy again like it did in the previous two films, instead going for the complexly misunderstood, an angle that provides far more thematic material to work with. It is to Toy Story's concept that this series has managed four feature films while still feeling like a canonical whole. Toy Story 4 doesn't feel like an add-on to what was already a complete feeling trilogy. Toy Story 3, as an ending, focused primarily on the job and on mortality, thematically fit for an ending, but somehow Pixar managed to find an even better one. Toy Story 4 plays with the themes of working life, of having a career and contextualizing that as a definitive point in your life, but it goes beyond that to look at what the self is, and what the self wants, and why. To accumulate accomplishments is great, but at some point you have to stop striving for more just for their sake. Eventually, you have to do something for you. Retirement is giving up, it is finally living your life without the worry of making something of it. The pressure is off, and now, though it hurts to say goodbye to so much and so many, it is time to live.
8.0
No comments:
Post a Comment