Note: Sadly, there is still no short film before this Pixar movie.
Michael's Movie Grade: A-
A pure treat for Pixar fans.
I was very skeptical when I first heard of this film. The franchise's story has come to a conclusion twice and despite how much I love these movies, there seemed no need to continue the story. While this movie is technically an unneeded epilogue to an already finished story, it is a darn good one.
Jessie has been a franchise standout since her first appearance in Toy Story 2 (1999) and with this movie she takes center stage. If this franchise is going to continue, I think this is the way to do it, instead of focusing on Woody and Buzz, whose stories have been told and feel completed, turning the attention to other characters. Jessie is a perfect choice for this. She is a character that can be fun and funny, but she also has a sense of emotional depth. She received what is possibly franchise's most emotional moment when her backstory was told in Toy Story 2. This backstory is expanded upon here, in a very emotionally satisfying way. One scene revolving around her back story made me tear up in the way only Pixar can do.
The storyline revolves around Bonnie getting a new tablet device and spending less time with her toys because of this. Jessie of course with her back story takes this especially hard considering what the poor cowgirl has been through. Yet Jessie is not the only character, we create a strong emotional bond with. We also feel a major bond with Bonnie. This is probably the most I have ever connected with this character in any of her three movies. Here she is bullied by her peers for still playing with toys. Trying to seem more grown up and fit in she becomes ashamed of playing with her toys. This is a situation we can all greatly relate to. We all have felt ashamed of loving something that we truly love because someone might view us as childish or not want to spend time with us. This movie does such a great job of digging into this universal experience, creating some very emotional moments.
I great appreciated how this movie dealt with Lilypad (the tablet Bonnie gets). It would have been so easy to simply makes this character a stereotypical villain. Yet this movie went beyond that. Her only intention is to help Bonnie. Even if she goes about it in the wrong way, she does truly care about Bonnie, just as much as the toys do. The whole film takes a more complex stance than toys are good and tech is bad. Instead, it acknowledges that technology can be a great thing, but it is not a substitute for human imagination or social interaction.
As well as the great themes and emotional moments, this movie is also really funny. There were many moments here that I laughed out loud. The humor hits on a consistent basis here.
If I had one problem, it is about how the filmmakers found a way to bring Woody back into the story, after he left the gang at the end of the last movie, yet he didn't really contribute much to the story here. It kind of makes the ending of the last movie lose some of its emotional impact.
This film is directed by Andrew Staton, who was a screenwriter on the previous Toy Story movies and directed some of Pixar's most beloved movies including Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008). Staton also co-wrote this movie with Kenna Harris. She had worked as a story artist on the Disney films, Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) as well as the Pixar movie, Luca (2021). She was also the story supervisor for Inside Out 2 (2024) and worked as a character designer on the TV show We Bare Bears.
As a sidenote, after the passing of Don Rickles, rather than giving Mr. Potato Head a new voice actor, they instead use a few lines from previous Toy Story films. I thought this was nice as it is hard to picture anyone else voicing Mr. Potato Head. As another sidenote, I love the use of a classic song from Bambi (1942) at a very appropriate time.
A surprisingly great movie.
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