CINEMA: B&B Ankeny 12 & B-Roll Bowling, Ankeny, IA AUDITORIUM: 2, SEAT: D12 PRESENTATION: B&B GRAND Auditorium Recline-o-Vision with butt warmers, DTS:X and projection from freaking laser beams PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None RATING: Four stars (out of four)
THE PLOT: Bonnie goes to kindergarten. Wackiness ensues.
The thing about the Toy Story franchise is the endings. You can go through what is a fairly routine and pedestrian approach for a Toy Story script (which is always above average anyway) until that ending, and then...pow. They knock you upside the head.
Wow. They did it again.
How did Taco Bell not get in on the promotional action? The whole story revolves around a spork. The first thing I did after the movie was head to Taco Bell.
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-21-2019, 08:37 PM:
I did read somewhere that they wanted to call the spork character "Sporky." But they couldn't get the rights to make it a character name, so they called him Forky. The negotiations probably broke down from there.
Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-23-2019, 05:40 PM:
Cinema: AMC Patriot 13, Lawton, OK Screen: #7, IMAX Digital, Seats L15 & L16 Format: Dual 2K Projection, 2D, 5.1 audio Presentation Problems: Not framed correctly; left edge of image visible on screen. Movie Rating: 3 out of 4
I was a little surprised at how deep the themes were in this movie. The concepts of letting something (or someone) go and moving on when it's time to do so are grown-up themes. Those themes are comically embodied in the MacGuffin character "Forky." He's a single-use object that is meant to be discarded to spend eternity as trash. Toys outlive their usefulness too, as illustrated by the obsolete toys in an antique store.
Pixar took the risk that these themes might go over the heads of many young kids watching the movie. Yet being able to let go and move on is something we all must learn to do, often when we're still kids. If we can't let go when we should we end up stuck.
The movie's bittersweet ending made it clear this is probably the end of the Toy Story franchise. The "letting go" is happening in more than just this movie's plot line. It has been about 24 years since the first Toy Story movie was released. And 9 years since Toy Story 3. Some cast members and production people from the franchise have passed away and the surviving cast and crew is not getting any younger. Waiting another decade for Toy Story 5 probably isn't going to work.
A lot of critics are raving how "perfect" the movie was, but I couldn't help finding fault with some of the show. Some sequences got a little tiresome for repeating the same diversionary story beat: toys are trying to get from point a to point b before something happens or the family leaves, yet one toy gets distracted by something long enough to throw a monkey wrench into the plot gears. The same story beat is played multiple times when such a thing should happen only maybe once in a movie, and only when it jives with character motivation. Otherwise it feels like Save the Cat! formula.
Another thing that surprised me: the size of the crowd in the theater. It looked like only about 1/3 of the theater's 500+ seats had sold for the 4:00pm Saturday matinee show. I thought there would be a full house. The theater had Toy Story 4 on 3 other screens. Maybe more people were opting for the standard priced shows ($7 per ticket versus $10).
Posted by Connor Wilson (Member # 6088) on 06-23-2019, 06:37 PM:
Truthfully, I saw this movie because I wanted to check out the Dolby Cinema at 34th St. in case I want to see DUNE (2020) at the cinema, and wow! No invasive glow from the exit signs on the screen, bright images, and awesome sound! Truly a beautiful place to see a movie.
As for the movie, Pixar has done it again, technically speaking. This has to be the cleanest, smoothest animated feature I have ever seen. No jagged edges, etc., IMDb lists this film having a 4K DI, and I'm impressed.
Story wise, this movie was eh. I think they should have stopped making these movies at 2.
Posted by William Kucharski (Member # 7246) on 06-24-2019, 02:53 AM:
Woody and Buzz parting at the end, but when Gabby Gabby finally experienced the love of a child.
.
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-24-2019, 08:48 PM:
I liked it quite a lot, although they still have not (and likely never will) beat the last 20 minutes of the original Toy Story. That segment is one of my favorite 20 minutes of any movie I've ever seen, animated or not.
This one was the least funny of the TS movies, I thought.... since the idea of toys having minds of their own has been thoroughly dredged over by now, the "fish out of water" aspect of these stories is no longer the draw. But as Bobby pointed out, the themes are deep as can be especially for an animated movie. I'd dare say it's more of a grownup movie than a kid one.
As for the story itself and the movie as a whole, I have not "loved" any of the Toy Story movies except the first one. They're all good, but they're not keepers in my opinion. The third one had that horrific climax followed by a sad ending, the second one was kind of forgettable (to this day I don't remember much of the story at all). I'd say this one is the best of the sequels, but it still doesn't have that boffo ending that you (or at least I) wish for in a perfect Toy Story movie. It's not one I'll be anxious to watch repeatedly.
I like carnivals - they did a nice job on the carnival animation (except there aren't enough burned-out light bulbs).
2.5 out of 5 for me.
A side note: I like how Disney and other studios are providing "Policy" trailers asking people to shut up and "silence" their phones, but somebody seems to have missed the memo that most people already silence their phones. What's more obnoxious is the bright lights. They need to say "silence AND DIM your phones, or better yet turn them mo-fo's off."
Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 06-25-2019, 09:19 PM:
My wife and I absolutely loved it! We really enjoyed the new characters and just thought they did a bang up job. My only complaint is the lack of a short before the feature.
Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 06-25-2019, 10:57 PM:
I loved this ~ and I've already seen this twice - last Thursday night in 3D, and earlier today in Dolby Cinema. The latter had great colors and what I'm assuming is a 4K DCP. The Atmos mix itself though had more bass in the AMC 'Prime' (3D) auditorium - go riddle me that, the sandbox scene really pumped out a good rumble
Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 06-26-2019, 06:08 PM:
Indeed, the DCinema projectionist's letter confirms that it's a 4K release, but only in the 2D DCPs. Why in this day and age is a 3D DCP still limited to 2K?
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