JacobsonCinemas

Toy Story 5 takes place a few years after Toy Story 4. The toy’s new owner Bonnie is now older but is having trouble making friends due to still playing with toys while the other kids play with technology. Her parents get her a new tablet called Lilypad in order to connect with them. Seeing that technology has started replacing toys, Jessie worries that Bonnie will end up replacing them with Lilypad and end up throwing them out like how her original owner Emily did. So, Jessie plans to help Bonnie make friends while coming into conflict with Lilypad while also finding closure to her trauma.

Unlike the previous films which had Woody as the main protagonist, here Jessie is in the spotlight which I thought was an interesting and refreshing idea. I like how this film deals with her trauma when she actually returns to Emily’s old farm and actually finds out how much she really meant to her. Toy Story 5 came out at the perfect time when technology such as phones and tablets has become more of a priority than toys and how much AI has been all over the place. In most media technology would be considered evil but this film surprisingly shows the pros and cons of technology that’s done very well. Yes, the film does show that tech can cause us to be too preoccupied and how we can end up making the wrong friends. Still the film does show the good side of tech. Jessie starts with a prejudice against tech toys which is understandable because it ties to her backstory. It’s only when she meets Blaze’s old tech toys led by Smart Pants that care very deeply for their owner is where she realizes that not all tech is bad. Heck, Lilypad isn’t really a villain in this, she’s just doing what she was programed to do, and even feels regret after her actions cause Bonnie’s “friends” to mock her.  I also really liked the Buzz Lightyear army side plot. It’s really charming, funny and well told with little to no dialogue. It honestly could serve as its own Pixar short.

Like pretty much every Pixar film, the animation here is amazing. I love how Bonnie’s play sessions are animated using painted CGI and it’s absolutely amazing to look at. It would’ve been so easy to have them animated exactly like Andy’s play sessions but I felt that this was a clever way to show that every kid has their own different way to play. SPOILER: A great detail is that Blaze’s play sessions also have the same animation style as Bonnie’s which brilliantly foreshadows them becoming friends in the end. I will admit the set pieces in this film are probably the weakest in the whole series. One of the neat things about the Toy Story series is that they manage to make typical locations feel more epic and grander. toy store, the airport, a daycare center, and the junkyard. Here, the only set pieces are Bonnie’s house and Blaze’s farm and they’re not very memorable.

Toy Story 5 isn’t as strong as the original trilogy but it’s still a really fun continuation that handles the pros and cons of technology and both toys and tech can live in harmony if we work to. Did it really need to exist, probably not but I you can tell the people who made this care very deeply for the series and really wanted to tell this story. Toy Story 5 is proof that this long running film series still and always will have the same heart from 1995 for infinity and beyond.

Verdict:

+Buzz Lightyear army side plot

+Jessie in the spotlight

+The animation

+Theme of technology

-Weak set pieces

Score: B+