Toy Story 5: Sweeter than Ever, As the Toys Fight to De-Zombify a Digital-Age Child
By Karen Gordon
Rating: A+
If there is a sweeter movie franchise than Pixar’s Toy Story, I have yet to see it.
Toy Story 5 is a movie for everyone. But if you're feeling down, if the world seems overwhelmingly bleak, or if you just need a reminder that your heart can still be touched, then forget the chores and see it.
And oh yeah, if you have kids, take them too. And the grandparents.
Toy Story 5, which squarely faces the digital age, is a gem that upholds Pixar’s longest running franchise. It’s as good as it ever was, and as good as it gets, a masterclass in how bringing real heart into your story matters.
Pixar, of course, redefined what feature length animated movies could be, with a sophisticated approach to storytelling that is highly entertaining, whimsical, and has depth. Toy Story 5 is psychologically and emotionally connected and deeply touching, on a par with Inside Out, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc.
Pixar movies play well for kids, but also speak to adults in ways that few things do. Using humour and clever storytelling, they touch on the reality of how growing up gives us some wonderful things, but robs us of a kind of beauty and innocence.
The first Toy Story, about the world from the viewpoint of a random assortment of children’s toys, debuted in 1995 to almost universal raves. Ironically, a movie series that leans into nostalgia, is now itself nostalgia.
So once again we meet that familiar box of toys, led by cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack), with astronaut Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) as her deputy. He is not so secretly in love with her and is trying to work up the nerve to propose marriage. He may be a space age hero, but love has him flustered, and bumbling.
The toys have been passed down through several generations, and are now the property of Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) , a sweet, only child, who loves them. But she has a problem: She’s shy, and although there are other kids in the neighbourhood, she can't seem to make friends.
All of Bonnie’s peers are glued to their devices, and are making friends online. Those friendships may rarely play out in person, but that is the state of things for the kids.
Her doting parents (Lori Alan and Jay Hernandez) haven’t let her have electronics yet. But seeing her loneliness, they give in and buy her a kids computer, Lilypad. (Greta Lee).
Lilypad is bright, shiny and a bit hyper. She gets the landscape very quickly and takes the initiative to connect Bonnie to a local online group of girls. And within seconds, Bonnie has friends—at least virtually.
But there’s a big change in Bonnie. She's instantly addicted, entranced, hypnotized and glued to the device. She's forgotten about playing with the toys, which sends them into a panic. Other neighbourhood toys have warned them that the evil ‘devices have made toys obsolete.
Jessie is determined not to let that happen, and calls in help from Woody (Tom Hanks). She, along with Buzz, Woody and her horse Bullseye, confront Lilypad, who seeing that the toys want to threaten her supremacy, begins to poison the well, using her ability to send texts in Bonnie’s name, to get the toys removed.
Thus, begins a fight for Bonnie’s soul, led by Jessie, as Bonnie lies in bed and scrolls, zombie-like, playing the games her new snobby and judgey friends are playing. A scheme fails, coinciding with Bonnie’s first face-to-face hang-out with these friends, and Bonnie and Bullseye end up on a farm.
Being discarded/exiled is a thread throughout the series, one that allows the toys to form alliances with new characters. Here, these include: Smarty Pants, (Conan O'Brien), Snappy, a toy camera (Shelby Rabara) and Atlas (Craig Robinson), a toy hippo with a GPS feature. These unexpected alliances help them address what really matters: Bonnie’s happiness.
Toy Story 5 is co-written and co-directed by Pixar veteran writer/director Andrew Stanton, an Oscar winning veteran. He's part of the team that created the original Toy Story, and has co-written all of them. This is the first time he’s directed, a credit he shares with his co-writer McKenna Harris.
They've crafted a clever, fast moving story with lots of twists and turns. And while it moves fast, it also retains things that make Pixar movies so special and affecting.
It’s also very funny. A delight of Toy Story 5 is the comic asides from the various toys that spring from their identities (Smarty Pants is a wise-cracking potty training toy. You can guess where that leads).
And of course, this is a movie that's also for kids (!), with strong and important themes for them: like not ditching what you love to appease others, or letting prejudices get in the way of accepting good people. It’s also about friendship and real-life shared connections as opposed to the world on social media.
Finally, as the credits roll, keep your bum in the seat. There are sequences and surprises sprinkled throughout.
Toy Story 5. Written and directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris. Stars (voices) Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Greta Lee, Scarlet Spears, Lori Alan, Conan O’Brien, Craig Robinson, Mykal Michelle-Harris, Shelby Rabara. In theatres, June 19.