STARRING: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Conan O'brient, Scarlet Spears, Greta Lee, Shelby Rabara, Mykal-Michelle Harris and Craig Robinson. Story by Andrew Stanton, screenplay by Andrew Stanton. Directed by Andrew Stanton. Budget $250 million. Running time 102 minutes.
It's been 31 years since the very first Toy Story film arrived and changed absolutely everything about animation and heralded a new era that spelled the end of full-length hand-drawn feature films. It created the standard look for all CGI animated films for a decade to come and made Pixar the greatest animation force in the world. With it's battle cry of 'Story is King!' and the declaration that they'd never do a sequel, Pixar ruled the roost and each film in its canon roared and zinged. Then Disney took over and 'Greed is Good' became its mantra and they started out churning out sequels to successful animated films. However in the case of Toy Story, this wasn't a bad thing and both Toy Story 2 and 3 set new benchmarks in both the skill of animation and the strength of the stories. And if they'd left it there then those first three films would heralded as the greatest trilogy of all-times. However Disney needed to squeeze more money out of the franchise and did TS4, which while not being a bad film, wasn't that memorable. It came out in 2019 and all I can remember of it is that Keanu Reeves was one of the voice actors. And then in 2022 we were given Buzz Lightyear, an animated film based on the character of Buzz and that was truly bad.
And so we arrive here for the fifth in the series, but has it learned from from those past two miss-fires and returned to the dream of story first or is it yet another soulless, cash-grab?
And so we arrive here for the fifth in the series, but has it learned from from those past two miss-fires and returned to the dream of story first or is it yet another soulless, cash-grab?
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean an cargo container washes up on a desert island and disgorges a literally ship load of hi-tech Buzz Lightyears who promptly set off in search of Star Command, not knowing they are toys. Meanwhile thousands of miles away little eight-year old Bonnie, the little girl who inherited Andy's toys, longs to make friends but still plays with old fashioned toys, like Jessie and Buzz, and the rest is gifted the latest 'tech-toy' called Lilypad, who promptly takes over Bonnie's life leading to an existential drama as the toys are left behind and Jessie (Joan Cusack) and Bullseye is forced to go on a complicated and multi-layered quest that sees her taken back to her very first home and the loving hands of another lonely girl called Blaze. Into the complicated mix drops Woody who sets off with Buzz to try and rescue Jessie, thinking she's in trouble. Leading all to a dramatic and emotional ending which will leave you with moistened eyes and a lump in your throat.
My god, a month ago I was slagging off the last Pixar film, Hoppers as a cluttered, over-complicated and needlessly messy affair that seemed more determined to teach a valuable lesson than to entertain. Coupled with the fear that Pixar had lost its way of late with a series of films that utterly failed to ignite my enthusiasm that I approached this one with a sense of trepidation. Luckily the fact this was co-written and co-directed by Andrew Stanton made me give it a go and I'm bloody glad I did!
Toy Story 5's main focus is Jessie, who takes the lead role leaving Woody and Buzz to more secondary roles as they play catch up and try to help the mostly female cast, With both Bonnie and Blaze providing the emotional core of the film, Toy Story 5 explores themes of legacy, social media and its effects upon a generation of children who live by the screen, and idenity. And through it all march the army of Buzz Lightyear super toys set on getting to Star Command, which just so happens to be in the back garden of Blazes house.
Animation wise, this was first class, the lighting is so good it looks utterly natural, which is also its main failing. This looks so realistic that it stops looking like animation and becomes something different, it almost looks like AI cartoons, everything too smooth and perfect. Call me old fashioned but I want my animation a little bit rougher than this. But that is the only failing of this wonderfully joyous and emotional rollercoaster of a film, a film I'm not ashamed to admit left me silently weeping tears. It's at turns funny, emotional and thrilling and for once it doesn't push your buttons and seems to organically arrive at it's central message. By the end I was smiling ear to ear.
I loved it and it's gone a long way to restore my faith in Pixar and to redeem them their recent past digressions of the likes of Hopper, and the woeful Buzz Lightyear.
My god, a month ago I was slagging off the last Pixar film, Hoppers as a cluttered, over-complicated and needlessly messy affair that seemed more determined to teach a valuable lesson than to entertain. Coupled with the fear that Pixar had lost its way of late with a series of films that utterly failed to ignite my enthusiasm that I approached this one with a sense of trepidation. Luckily the fact this was co-written and co-directed by Andrew Stanton made me give it a go and I'm bloody glad I did!
Toy Story 5's main focus is Jessie, who takes the lead role leaving Woody and Buzz to more secondary roles as they play catch up and try to help the mostly female cast, With both Bonnie and Blaze providing the emotional core of the film, Toy Story 5 explores themes of legacy, social media and its effects upon a generation of children who live by the screen, and idenity. And through it all march the army of Buzz Lightyear super toys set on getting to Star Command, which just so happens to be in the back garden of Blazes house.
Animation wise, this was first class, the lighting is so good it looks utterly natural, which is also its main failing. This looks so realistic that it stops looking like animation and becomes something different, it almost looks like AI cartoons, everything too smooth and perfect. Call me old fashioned but I want my animation a little bit rougher than this. But that is the only failing of this wonderfully joyous and emotional rollercoaster of a film, a film I'm not ashamed to admit left me silently weeping tears. It's at turns funny, emotional and thrilling and for once it doesn't push your buttons and seems to organically arrive at it's central message. By the end I was smiling ear to ear.
I loved it and it's gone a long way to restore my faith in Pixar and to redeem them their recent past digressions of the likes of Hopper, and the woeful Buzz Lightyear.
9/10
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