Toy Story 4 Review by Anne-Marie Nkhoma

Our favourite childhood toys return to the big screen for their 4^th studio film. The fun-filled franchise began over 20 years ago and has still managed to keep its relevancy, with the release of Toy Story mini-films and toys of characters sold in stores worldwide.

    

   The movies are a product of Pixar animation studios. It was written by Pete Docter, Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow. However, John Lasseter directed and helped to write the series.

        

In the first film, watchers find out that toys are just like humans- they have minds of their own! We meet main character Woody, who is a cowboy, owned by a boy named Andy. As the films progress, Andy gets older, and Woody’s adventures become more thrilling and their adventures don’t just happen in playrooms.

        

Throughout the series, Woody must accept that Andy isn’t getting any younger and that his duties as a toy aren’t needed. However, by the 3^rd movie, Woody and his friends have found a new owner called Bonnie. And in this film, we follow them again, preparing Bonnie for school- but Bonnie’s found comfort not in Woody, but in a plastic fork called Forky. Toy Story 4 also reunited its audience with much more skilled Bow Peep, who has been living outside rather than with a child.

      Pixar films cost around $175 to $200 million to make, and the film had made 47.4 million on its first day alone, proving that people couldn’t get enough of Woody and his crew.

I’d give this film ★★★★/★★★★★, because as well as sentimental moments, Toy Story 4 was exciting and hilarious to watch. What upset me about the film is that the ending hints that there may not be another Toy Story film, and this subliminally tells fans of the franchise to let go and to move on with our lives.