Did we really need a Toy Story 4?

Toy Story 3 was the perfect movie, and it brilliantly bookended the trilogy. So should anyone bother with Toy Story 4? Yes, definitely.

Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending in a trilogy, and not just because it famously made grown men weep in cinemas across the world.

It was a tale that was so packed with nostalgia and emotional resonance about the pain of leaving childhood behind.

For once, it wasn’t just about Woody and the gang, but also about Andy, and in that character shift, we all found ourselves part of the story in a way that we weren’t before. It was gut-wrenching, but also hopeful when the toys found a new home with Bonnie.

It was a perfect end to the trilogy that launched Pixar into the entertainment powerhouse it is today.

So it’s with trepidation that we approach Toy Story 4, a movie that certainly didn’t need to exist — what could it add to a story that was already bookended?

Happily, it works — partly because it didn’t just try to replicate Toy Story 3. Instead, it’s an adventurous romp with characters we’ve known and loved for more than two decades, while adding a new dimension of exploring what is a toy’s purpose.

A new adventure

Woody (Tom Hanks) has always been loyal to Andy — he was Andy’s toy — and sacrificed his love story with Bo Peep to stay with Andy — this is shown in flashback and answers the question of what actually happened to Bo between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.

Woody defines himself not just by his friends, but by being a good toy, even when Bonnie leaves Woody in the cupboard. When Bonnie starts kindergarten, Woody stows away in her backpack.

From his vantage point, he witnesses the birth of Forky (Tony Hale), a googly eyed plastic spork fashioned out of garbage and a pipe-cleaner.

Forky has an identity crisis fast becoming an existential crisis — all he wants is to return to the comfort of the bin to wrap himself in a banana peel or used serviette and he will throw himself there at every opportunity.

Sign up for our entertainment newsletter to get the What to Watch guide every Friday afternoon in your inbox

Only a toy a kid could love

But Woody understands how important Forky is to Bonnie and appoints himself Forky’s guardian, rescuing him from his kamikaze intentions.

When Forky and Woody end up lost during a family holiday, Woody spots Bo Peep’s (Annie Potts) sheep in the window of an antique store. It’s there that we meet the movie’s antagonist, a sociopathic doll called Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) with a broken voice box.

She comes with her own gang of creepy as hell ventriloquist dummies — one of them is named Vincent in what must surely be a nod to Vincent Price. It’s unnerving, but not enough to make you think you’ve accidentally wandered into the other anthropomorphic toy movie out this week (Child’s Play), but enough to flash back to Goosebumps’ Night of the Living Dummy.

Ye gods

Toy Story 4 spends most of the time with Woody, an adventurous Bo Peep and the new characters, which also includes a Polly Pocket-esque Giggle McDimples (Ally Maki), a pair of attached carnival soft toys Ducky and Bunny (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) and Canadian daredevil action figure Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves).

While this means there is precious little of Buzz (Tim Allen), and especially Jessie (Joan Cusack), Rex (Wallace Shawn) or the Potato-Heads (Don Rickles, Estelle Harris). But the newbies make up for it, in particular Ducky and Bunny, which benefit from the easy-flowing comedy genius of Key and Peele’s natural energy together.

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele’s softies are wonderful new additions to the Toy Story universe

Reeves is also enjoying a renaissance at the moment, and his melancholic Duke Caboom will add to the Keanu fervour.

Hale is the perfect choice for Forky, his typically panicked voice working so well as the newcomer who has no idea what is going on at any point.

At the heart of the story is a surprisingly deep throughline of Woody grappling with his conscience — of whether to spend his strange little life in the service of his kid or to have a little something for himself.

Toy Story 4 really is Woody’s movie

It’s a different focus for Toy Story, and it’s also real character development for Woody, a character that’s been marked by his stability and reliability. For Toy Story to try something new on its fourth outing is impressive.

The plotting is tight, the writing is funny and heartfelt and while it doesn’t have the emotional resonance of Toy Story 3, this stands well as its own film. Its ending is one that could easily function is a springboard for another chapter, or as the final outing for the series.

Toy Story 4 proves, once again, that there’s still life left in this charming and smart franchise.

Rating: 3.5/5

Toy Story 4 is in cinemas from Thursday, June 20

Share your movies and TV obsessions | @wenleima