There aren’t really any scary moments or anything inappropriate for younger children, though naturally there are the odd few silly double entendres that will make adults giggle.
I hadn’t even finished telling my sister that I had the opportunity to review Toy Story 5 before she said, “We’re all going. EVERYONE wants to see it.” It was a non-negotiable – my sister, Ms 10, Mr14 and Ms 17 and I all headed off, flappingly excited (OK probably just me flapping) to see if the latest in the Toy Story franchise could measure up to the others.
There is the most bizarre start to the film – a cargo crate washes up on a deserted island, and boxes and boxes of Buzz Lightyears are let loose. Slowly, they explore the island, make fire, then in the distance they spot a star. STAR COMMAND! They have to head towards the star….
Meanwhile, back in the city, Jesse is the new sheriff in town, as Woody is off rescuing old and discarded toys, and Buzz is Jesse’s deputy. The toys have a new owner, as we saw in the last film, named Bonnie. Bonnie is now 8, and loves playing with her toys but what she really wants is friends. A new family has moved into the street but she’s too shy to approach the kids. The toys are cheering her on behind, but she’s just too shy.
Bonnie’s parents decide to give in earlier than they wanted, and buy Bonnie a Lilypad – basically a kid’s tablet – so that she can talk to the other girls in her dance class and make friends with them, as everyone else seems to have technology. Naturally, the next thing we see is Bonnie glued to the tablet, day and night, but at least she’s chatting with the girls in the dance class.
The girls decide to have a sleepover, and invite Bonnie. Bonnie is so excited, and Jesse decides she’s going along to check these girls out, as she hasn’t seen them before and isn’t sure they are good friends. The girls spot Bonnie with toys, and tease her for playing with toys still, so she sets aside her toys, grabs her Lilypad, and tries to blend in.
Bonnie is not like the other dance girls, but thankfully this isn’t stereotypically done as her being the “quirky” girl – she’s just still a kid that likes to play with toys as well as technology, and the dance girls bully her for it. Jesse decides she’s going to help. Unfortunately, as she and Bullseye, the horse, head off to help, they are discovered out on the street by an elderly couple, who see that Jesse has a name and address on her so they decide to do the kind thing and return the toys. The problem is, that address is for her previous owner, Emily, who is all grown up now.
The new family in the house also have a daughter around the same age as Bonnie. Her name is Blaze, and Blaze, while she has a tidier, “older” looking room, has lots of toy horses and also has a real horse, Daffodil, and a pet pig, Jimmy Dean. Blaze plays with them, runs around the yard, but also has a Lilypad, though she doesn’t use it much. Blaze discovers Jesse and Bullseye and loves them – playing with them and making up involved stories about what they’re doing.
This is when Jesse knows that not only does Bonnie’s Lilypad need to go, but Blaze and Bonnie are birds of a feather and would be great friends, but how can she make this happen?
Pixar really does know how to do a kid’s film that everyone can get something from. There’s so many levels to their films, and this one had us talking for ages afterwards, pulling it apart and trying to decide who was the good guy and who was the bad guy. As strange as it sounds, there is a very deft hand at work with the storylines. There are so many shades of grey, and while it would have been very easy to go down the “all technology is evil and kids shouldn’t use it” line, they didn’t. One of the messages is that technology can be a great tool, but it can also then as a tool be used poorly. Even Woody says, “Toys are for play, but tech… is for everything.” We all had a rant about the parents – we wished they had been watching what was happening and reading the conversations on the Lilypad so that they knew what the dance girls were saying to her. I think that’s also a massive positive from this film – the fact that we were all standing around talking about it all, who we liked, what else the characters should have done, means that it’s a great conversation starter.
Thankfully, too, many of the original actors are back to give their voice to their characters – Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack. The actors who did the original voices of Mr and Mrs Potatohead, Don Rickles and Estelle Harris, both passed away, and while there was much discussion around never recasting but using voice bits, they were recast using Jeff Bergman and Anna Vocino as they sound very close to the mark. As such, Mr and Mrs Potatohead don’t have huge parts in this movie.
And as for the cargo-load of Buzz Lightyears? I’m not giving that one away, you’ll just need to see it.
Yes, of course I cried again. When Bonnie was bullied, when Jessie said she didn’t know if she mattered any more… super thankful movie theatres are dark and no one can see! The kids were fine with it all. There also weren’t really any scary moments or anything inappropriate for younger children, though naturally there are the odd few silly double entendres that will make adults giggle.
There’s been a lot of talk about this movie – does it need to be done, is it overkill, what more can happen in the toy’s world – and I’ve heard people flat out saying they refuse to see it as they’re too big of fans of the first film. For these people, they’ll just need to watch Toy Story 1 and 2 over and over. For us, we loved it and decided on a 9/10. (Secretly, I’d probably go closer to a 10, but Ms 10 in particular is a really hard critic.)
And as an aside, we saw it at the Palace Nova on Rundle Street. A fabulous way to see it, especially on a weekend, as there weren’t a lot of kids, the seats are big and comfy and the staff are friendly. If you get yourself a Palace Nova membership, you also get cheaper tickets and all the latest info emailed.
Reviewed by Michelle Baylis
Rating 4.5 out of 5
Distributor: Disney/Pixar Films
