Does the world need another Toy Story movie? It's a bit of an odd question, as you'd be hard pressed to name any movies the world actually needs (well, aside from safety ones from the 70s about not putting your hand in a blender). But with the Toy Story story having pretty much wrapped up with the third film, and the fourth being generally seen as a tolerable but pointless extension, what hope is there for number five?
While your mileage may vary, Toy Story 5 does make a reasonable case for its existence, thanks largely to two things: Jessie (Joan Cusack) steps up into the lead role, with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) now the sidekick and Woody (Tom Hanks) as Special Guest Star, and the story is about something shiny and new.
That new thing being the world of screens, which we're informed fairly early on has led to the end of the Age of Toys. Well, not Jesse and the rest of the supporting cast (who this time are barely more than cameos), thanks to their current owner Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) being built different from the average screen-addled pre-teen.
This does have a downside when it comes to connecting with the other kids (fans of the classic Pixar approach to emotional devastation will be glad to know this gets in early and hard with Bonnie sadly asking her parents why nobody will be friends with her). Her parents have the solution; a kid friendly tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee), on which she can play games with the kids from her dance class via "the pond".
Jesse is horrified at the idea of Bonnie just randomly fishing for friends. The cool kids will eat her alive; Jesse's own unresolved trauma at being cast aside by her first owner has, of course, nothing to do with it. Lilypad's sassy attitude doesn't help matters much, and soon the war is on - and in war, the newest technology always has an edge.
Jesse calls in Buzz, who's out in the world working alongside Bo Peep (Annie Potts) rescuing discards tossed aside as screens re-order toy society. Plans go awry, toys get lost, Jesse ends up back on her old farm teaming up with a bunch of obsolete electronic toys in need of a recharge, and are screens really the problem or is it just that little kids can be jerks?
Meanwhile, a shipping container of all-new Buzz Lightyear toys has been washed up (and broken open) on a tropical isle. They come to life, break out of their packaging, get busy surviving, and find meaning in their lives: find Star Command. But what does their quest have to do with the rest of the story?
It's a solid mix of heart-wrenching emotional drama for toys and kids (tears will be shed) alongside some well-crafted physical action, each amplifying the other while it all moves along at a bouncy pace. Bumping Woody to a supporting character (the running joke is that he's now seen as past it, with a bald patch repeatedly deployed for humorous effect) helps to avoid the feeling of fan service, while Buzz (the original) is largely fumbling around trying to figure out a way to propose to Jesse.
The verdict on screen time is surprisingly nuanced - there's no bad way to play, just bad people to play with - and using your imagination is prized no matter what. There's a number of sequences animated in a looser style showing the stories the kids have come up with for their toys that are entertainingly bonkers; fancy costume balls and extravagant weddings are mashed up with bomb plots and murder in a way that makes playtime seem a lot of fun.
The series hammers home hard the idea that toys should be passed on when the owners grow tired of them, which feels like a counter to the argument that the Toy Story series should have ended a decade ago. And - as the film almost but not quite acknowledges - the idea of living toys that watch over kids and know what's best for them is moving ever closer to high-tech reality. Enjoy your imagination while you can.
- Anthony Morris
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