Toy Story 4 (2019)

Tom Hanks talking about his final session voicing Woody for Toy Story 4:

https://screenrant.com/tom-hanks-toy-story-4-ending-emotional/

Calling it "a moment in history" is certainly big buildup. What could he be referring to?

Anyway, I assume/hope we will probably get the first teaser for the movie this month with Ralph Breaks the Internet, which would follow the pattern of Disney beginning the marketing for Pixar's big June release with the Thanksgiving release prior (Incredibles 2 with Coco, Cars 3 with Moana, Finding Dory with Good Dinosaur, etc.) Obviously, Ralph isn't a Pixar film, but I suspect they'll stick to this trend because in the end, it's all Disney.

 

Huh.

The teaser really doesn't give us any indication of what this movie is, other than showing us the toys are back. And no sign of Bo Peep, whose return is apparently important. Basically it's a save-the-date for those people who don't follow movie industry news, who will go see Ralph Breaks the Internet and not know yet that Toy Story 4 is coming to inform them that the movie's in the works. That's okay, I guess. It matches what Pixar has done with teaser trailers in the past; last year at this time we got the teaser for Incredibles 2, which was just Jack-Jack shooting lasers at the logo.

It's interesting to see Mr. Potato Head still there following the death of Don Rickles. I wonder how they will handle his voice, whether with a recast or with old sessions from the previous films a la Paul Newman in Cars 3.

Also, from Disney's social media comes the teaser poster, which I gotta say I kind of like for its simplicity:

 

Another trailer, introducing Ducky and Bunny, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele:



And more new teaser posters:





It's interesting to me that they don't feel the need to put the title on these posters at all. The Woody one from yesterday, and the Buzz one, don't need it for people to know what it is because those two are iconic. However, I wonder whether or not, if the posters featuring the new characters, are hanging in theaters, whether people would know what they are supposed to be advertising without the name.

Funnily enough, this reveal means Keegan-Michael Key is in both Toy Story 4 (June) and The Lion King remake (July, as one of the renamed hyenas) for Disney next year.

It's sort of funny to me that Toy Story 4 is coming along in the midst of its '90s Disney contemporaries all being remade in live-action. Which is not to suggest that they should remake Toy Story, ever, but it's ironic to find this film still continuing that storyline emerging just as the other films that came out around it (Aladdin, The Lion King, etc.) are on the remake docket.

 

That would be awfully dark even for Pixar.

 

Tim Allen talked a little bit about a new character being voiced by Keanu Reeves:

https://ew.com/movies/2018/11/22/toy-story-4-keanu-reeves-tim-allen-jimmy-fallon/

 

Keanu Reeves talked to Collider a little bit about Toy Story 4, and says the people at Pixar called him out of the blue and pitched the role for him specifically. That's gotta be a cool feeling.

http://collider.com/toy-story-4-keanu-reeves/

 

I think this qualifies as a rumor because the source is a leaked Russian calendar and not anything official from Disney, but I thought it was worth posting anyway.

Some might consider this to be a spoiler -- I don't -- but don't click if you don't want to know.

https://movieweb.com/toy-story-4-new-photo-characters-plot-details

The below is speculation on my part based on the information at the link:

Spoiler

If the synopsis is correct, this will be the first Toy Story film which has a shorter than than the amount of real time that has elapsed in the world since the last film. It might also require Bonnie to be recast, since I doubt the kid who voiced her for the third film in 2010 could pass for a kindergartner now.[/spoiler

 

In my opinion, The Hobbit has tainted the legacy of The Lord of the Rings a bit. I know The Lord of the Rings is still untouched, but it's hard to watch it without being reminded of the over-extension and diminishing creative returns when they returned to that well.

I really, really hope that Toy Story 4 is as good as what has come before. The series has meant so much to me over the years that I don't think I could bear it if it's bad.

Back to the Future? Although there's no reason to wait until January...

Also, if your kids are enjoying the Toy Story films proper, you might think about getting the Blu-rays for Toy Story of Terror and Toy Story That Time Forgot, the TV specials for ABC. Obviously, they aren't as substantial as the feature films, but they are extremely entertaining ways to spend more time with the characters, who are all consistent with their personalities and voice talent from the films. They're short enough that they really should be sharing a single disc, but I find enough value in them that I don't really mind having bought them. "Of Terror" also includes all of the Toy Story Toons shorts, and it's nice to have those all in one place. You can get "That Time Forgot" for free as a Disney Movie Reward, if you've got enough points for it from buying other discs.

 

Of course you do.

 

I'm willing to give Pixar the benefit of the doubt for the time being. They must know that, given Toy Story's place as their legacy franchise, making a bad one would diminish the general goodwill toward the Pixar brand far more than another bad Cars sequel would. At least I hope they would realize that while making the next one. It's entirely possible that they've made another winner, and we'll all be very grateful for its existence when we see it. If not, I'll certainly be vocal about it. But for now, I think they've earned what, for me, I would term as cautious optimism.

 

I disagree. If they deliver a bad Toy Story sequel, it won't make the first three any less brilliant, but it would be a severe disappointment and I wouldn't be as trusting of the quality of their brand in the future. The good name of Toy Story matters more than Cars sequels or Monsters University being less good than the original, because Toy Story is what made their name in the first place.

Lasseter is a different issue, and out of all the people who have been taken to task as a result of the Me Too movement, it has been the most disappointing to me to learn about his misbehavior because I admire his work so much. I wish that he had the common sense to realize that what he had been doing was wrong and that he shouldn't be doing it. I know Lasseter has been married (I don't know if his wife is still with him or not after this stuff came out), but I don't see why he found it difficult to just do the kinds of things he was accused of doing at work with his wife at home instead, and be professional with colleges and employees in the work environment.

But Lasseter still directed three of my favorite films of all time (the first two Toy Story films, and A Bug's Life), and I have seen all three of them since the news broke about him and I can still watch them and love them just as much as I did before. His talent doesn't excuse his behavior, and I think his immediate hiring at Skydance Animation is deeply problematic. But that doesn't make his existing work any less terrific.

 

Bo Peep is back, and she looks different. I'm really curious and excited to see what has happened to this character since we last saw her in Toy Story 2.