Toy Story 5

Toy Story 5
Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Greta Lee
Directed by Andrew Stanton

The "Toy Story" franchise is a rarity when it comes to cinema, considering their epic Rotten Tomatoes scores. The first three films earned 100%, 100%, and 98%, and served as an amazing trilogy for anyone who grew up with the antics of Woody, Buzz, Jessie and their friends. If they were children in 1995, by 2010 they were ready to leave for college, as Andy did at the end of the third movie, moving on from childhood toys and giving strong nostalgic feelings for them. Essentially, it was a perfect trilogy. Then "Toy Story 4" came out in 2019, and while it still earned high praise (97%), it served more like an epilogue to the trilogy - not as memorable or impactful, but still joyous to see them again. Now, with "Toy Story 5," there seems to be signs of decline as it "only" scored a 93%, which is still something most movies would die to have, but its becoming apparent that the series is starting to lose steam. Although it's perfectly serviceable and focuses on a timely topic concerning young children and parents, by focusing on Jessie rather than Buzz and Woody, it loses a bit of its luster and for a short movie gives Jessie not a lot to work with outside the generic tropes the series is best known for.

As Buzz (Tim Allen) struggles to reveal his true feelings to Jessie (Joan Cusack), their owner Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) struggles with making friends, as she still plays with toys while other kids her age have abandoned them in favor of technology. Her parents end up buying her a Lilypad tablet called "Lily" (Greta Lee) that tells the toys that their time is over, and she can make friends for Bonnie through virtual invites and online gaming, to the chagrin of Jessie. As Bonnie becomes more and more obsessed with Lily and she actually becomes friends with three girls in the neighborhood - albeit with caveats - Jessie worries that she'll once again be abandoned, bringing back memories of her previous owner before Andy, Emily. Woody (Tom Hanks) arrives to help the gang but finds Jessie and Bullseye have gone with Bonnie to a sleepover and has disappeared, so he and Buzz go on a journey to find her.

The basic premise of most of the "Toy Story" movies centers around the sentient toys and their adventures, but also insecurities they face. The first movie centered on Woody's fear that Buzz's more technological style will make him obsolete. The second movie focuses on Woody and Jessie's fears of abandonment: Woody being trapped in a Japanese museum as a valuable object, and Jessie with the trauma of being abandoned by her previous owner. "Toy Story 3" sheds light on the fears of growing up and moving on, as Andy begins his new journey to college and the toys worry where that'll lead them. "Toy Story 4" ties into letting go in a different way - Woody's understanding that he can let go of his past owners and forge his own way. Now, "Toy Story 5" sheds light on the growing impact of tech on children, and also returns Jessie to her longtime fear of abandonment. It's becoming repetitive, and for a short movie that has a lot of moving parts, the fifth movie seems to circulate its dialogue to an almost annoying state.

There's quite a few things going on in "Toy Story 5" that could've made for an entire movie in and of itself. One centers on Buzz's desire for Jessie and not being able to tell her how he feels due to...reasons. He's shy, which is surprising for such a superhero figure, and is relegated to the background for most of the film, even though there's also another side story of an army of Buzz Lightyears making their way to "star command," which is a big star in the sky. When Woody arrives, the two friends again come to blows like old times when it comes to saving Jessie and the way they want to go about doing it, as well as stopping Lily from totally taking control of Bonnie's life. Woody's return is essentially a cameo, as he really doesn't have a lot to do this time around other than serve as Buzz's fodder for the B-story.

The main focus this time around is Jessie, and Joan Cusack more than rises to the occasion - sadly, though, she's given very little to work with other than "I hate tech" and "I know what's best for Bonnie" that both could've been used as a drinking game for the adults while the children stare in awe at the obviously stellar animation. She doesn't want to lose Bonnie because she's still dealing with Emily abandoning her. She wants Bonnie to make friends the natural way by playing with toys. She hates Lily because she's helping Bonnie make friends the wrong way. It almost hearkens back to the first movie with Woody versus Buzz - here, Jessie is worried she's obsolete, while Lily is the hip new thing. It's more about Jessie's fear of abandonment than anything, and when she tries to bring a new friend to Bonnie the original way, it's of course hindered by Lily and a series of misadventures with new friends, including Conan O'Brien's fantastic toilet training toy Smarty Pants.

While the fourth movie was heightened by its introduction of the existentially dreadful Forky, this one doesn't have such a new character apart from Smarty Pants, and even his antics grow old quickly. By also pushing Woody and Buzz to the background the movie exposes more weaknesses, such as with the aforementioned repetitive dialogue and reasoning. Jessie is a great lead character, but when she's not given more meatier substance it's all for naught, which is sad because the impact tech has on children nowadays is undeniable - you go to any grocery store and you'll find a mother pushing her child in a cart while the child's eyes are locked on their mother's phone. You go to friends' houses and their children are sitting in the living room on Leapfrogs (which Lily is obviously a knock on). Parents have to give children screen time locks so they're not glued to their screens from sun-up to sun-down. They make friends through online exchanges rather than playground antics. This theme is so strong for "Toy Story 5," but halfway through Lily is almost pushed to the backburner as Jessie meets a possible new friend for Bonnie and spends an exorbitant amount of time trying to get back home. While in the end Jessie learns a valuable lesson about letting go of the past and how tech can be a tool rather than an enemy, it feels like it glossed over a more important lesson in favor of something else.

The Score: A