Toy Story 5 info:
Director: McKenna Harris and Andrew Stanton
Writer: Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris
Starring: Joan Cusack, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Conan O’Brien
Intro
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. If you remember last week, I mentioned something about making plans for the future of this website. Well, I would like to announce here first that I will be transitioning this into a podcast with a buddy of mine. More details will follow soon, but we will still be doing movie reviews, but it will be mixed in with a bunch of other stuff and lots of silliness as well. Stay tuned…
In the meantime, I also talked about going to the drive-in movie theater last weekend and seeing two movies. The first one was “The Breadwinner”, which I discussed last week. The second one was “Toy Story 5,” which is my main topic to cover this week. But before I dive in too deep, let me get the spoiler warning out of the way. If you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to know anything about it, I would turn around and check out some of my other stuff before coming back here to see what this is all about.
Toy Story 5 recap
Directors McKenna Harris and Andrew Stanton take over the Toy Story helm this time around and make another interesting start. Like all the previous Toy Story films, the opening scene is normally something slightly different, but still sets up something to happen later. This time around, it’s a shipment full of Buzz Lightyears that are on the move and looking to find their way back.
Back at Bonnie’s, the toys are about to face a new crisis. It’s been two years since the events of Toy Story 4, so that means that Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is also two years older. With Lilypad’s introduction into her life, everything starts to change. She begins to spend increasingly more time on the tablet and less time playing with her toys. When Jessie (Cusack) calls Woody (Hanks) to tell him about Lilypad. During a broken connection, Woody thinks that Jessie is calling for help, so he shows up.
Even though it’s a full cast of characters this time around as well, the sole focus in “Toy Story 5” is Jessie (and Bullseye to a lesser degree) and her mental journey back to Emily. Buzz (Allen) and Woody are both still main cogs, as their focus is more on each other and the power struggle to take the lead role. Even though they both want to find and help Jessie as well as stop Lilypad, they both have different motives.
In the battle to stop Lilypad, she keeps getting the best of them, even getting a majority of the toys put into a box and onto a garage shelf. Eventually, she sees the harm she is doing to Bonnie and tries to donate herself. This is when all of the toys shine. Putting together a rescue mission or a heist is what they do best. This time, it’s trying to save Lilypad and introduce Bonnie to Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris). Jessie discovers Blaze living in the house where she used to live with Emily.
In the end, they get them to meet, they become friends, and they play with the toys along with Lilypad. Woody goes back with Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves). Buzz finally gets to ask (more or less) Jessie to marry him, and all the toys seem to have a happy ending.
My thoughts on Toy Story 5
So, since seeing this, I have tried to explain my feelings about it, and I don’t feel like it’s coming across properly. “Toy Story 5” is nowhere near a bad movie; in fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I loved the story of Jessie and her getting some peace from past traumas. All the Buzz’s were a fun addition, and it’s always nice to see so many of the familiar characters make a return… in fact, pretty much all of them did.
In addition to all the characters I’ve already talked about, we get all the returning favorites like Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), Trixie (Kristen Schaal), Forky (Tony Hale), and, of course, the original group of Slinky Dog (Blake Clark), Rex (Wallace Shawn), and Hamm (John Ratzenberger). Also, like with any new Toy Story, we have our share of new characters as well, led by Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien) and Atlas (Craig Robinson). It’s great to see all of these.
However, my one main issue with this film is how it deals with Bonnie and Blaze at the end. What appears to be a happy ending on the surface only leads me to one thought… Bonnie may have a friend now, but she is still growing up and will very soon not be playing with any of those toys anymore. So, Woody got his happy ending in Toy Story 4 with Bo Peep, but what sort of ending do the rest get, other than Buzz and Jessie being married? This is where I struggle to make my point.
I feel really good about where Bonnie is at the end, but the toys are doomed to lose another kid sooner rather than later as she continues to grow. Why not give them a happy ending as well? Hopefully, you understand where I’m coming from. I’m happy to see another story from this franchise, I’m just afraid that outside of Jessie (maybe Buzz), not a single story was moved along to put them into a better spot moving forward.
Overall, it was a fun ride, and I’m glad we got to enjoy this at the drive-in movie theater. I will also be 100% watching this as soon as it comes out on Disney + because it deserves a rewatch for sure. I also wonder how much I miss when I do go to a drive-in, and there are always cars and people moving around. In the end, the ending bothers me, but not enough to put too much hate on the finished product. I still give this a 7 out of 10.
Watch or wait?
Honestly, this could go either way. If you love Pixar or Toy Story, I’m sure you’ve already seen it. If you have kids, I would definitely go and check it out. Other people may not enjoy seeing cartoons on the big screen, and that’s ok too. Waiting for this to come out later is still an acceptable answer. It will be worth the wait.
Ok, that’s it for me this week, that means it’s your turn. If you’ve seen “Toy Story 5” already, what are your thoughts? Do you have similar feelings about the ending, or do you have a different opinion? Do you like seeing all the characters make a return, or do you think it was character overload? Either way, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I will be back next week with another mindless movie review of some sort.
