The toys are back: Woody and Buzz in ‘Toy Story 5’.
TOY STORY 5 **** (102 minutes) G
Of all the superlatives one could lavish upon Disney’s fourth sequel to 1995’s game-changing Toy Story, perhaps the most accurate would be “ka-ching”.
A tad crude, sure, yet that onomatopoeia reflects just how on-point Toy Story 5 is. Set to rule the planet’s multiplexes for the next two weekends (at least), the film has textbook four-quadrant appeal and an upbeat vibe. Talk about nailing it.
There was no great hunger for another entry, to be honest, especially given how perfectly Toy Story 3 (2010) rounded out the original trilogy, an accomplishment somewhat tainted by the forgettable, time-filling adventure served up by Toy Story 4 (2019).
The justification needed for another movie was a great hook – and Toy Story 5 has an uber-topical beaut that taps right into one of the biggest issues facing kids today.
The threat confronting Buzz, Woody, Buzz, Jessie (driving much the plot, bless her boots), Hamm and the rest of the crew is Lilypad, a wizz-bang, do-it-all tablet device that offers lonely little girl Bonnie streams of entertainment to keep her glued to the screen.
Following the pattern with the other kids in her suburb, Bonnie loses interest in her toys as she is drawn into Lilypad’s gleaming world of endless games and, in particular, promises to connect her with friendship groups, something she has difficulty with in real life.
Boasting no fewer than four major storylines – including a ripper strand involving a platoon of Buzz Lightyears – Toy Story 5 features the kind of character-driven action and emotional themes that have long been the signature style of Pixar’s better films.
As usual, cleverly embedded in all the mayhem is a healthy swag of positive messaging about real-life friendship, the perils of screen addiction and the importance of playtime versus screen time.
And as with many films, whether they be franchises or stand alones, it’s also nice knowing how vast numbers of kids were introduced to Toy Story by adults who grew up with them.
It’s this ritual that has made classics of so many Disney films and will likely stand as the ultimate Disney legacy.
Speaking of legacies, a sobering note.
A careful scanning of the film’s final credits did not find any mention of John Lasseter, the creative force behind Pixar’s initial success and director of the first Toy Story in 1995, the success of which ignited the era of digitally animated features. We take them for granted today, but back then it was a huge gamble.
He also directed Toy Story 2, A Bug’s Life and Cars, as well as overseeing many of Pixar’s mega-hits such as Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc.
Alas, in 2018 Lasseter departed from Disney, where he was chief creative officer of the Walt Disney Animation Studios, following serious issues regarding his inappropriate behavior towards staff.
He went on to Skydance where he runs its animation division.
There’s no excuse for Lasseter’s alleged behaviour, though he was never formally charged with anything. Emma Thompson famously pulled out of the Skydance film Luck rather than work with him.
Still, the seismic influence Lasseter had on the evolution of modern animation deserves much better than to fade into the cosmic background of the collective memory.
Surely, just a mention was warranted in the credit crawl for Toy Story 5, which only exists because of the risks he took despite all the naysayers who insisted computer animation had no future.
LEVITICUS ***1/2 (88 minutes) MA
Wow. Here’s the latest primo example of the flair local filmmakers have for serving up the scary stuff.
Dripping with creepy small-town atmosphere and boasting a big rookerful of old-school scares, Leviticus tells of a curse cast upon the same-sex love between two teenage boys by disapproving elders, a curse that creates an evil doppleganger from one of them.
Headed by two committed lead performances (Joe Bird & Stacy Clausen) and sporting top cinematography from Tyson Perkins with an ominous score from Jed Kurzel – the guy whose peerless work on Snowtown taught us what nightmares sound like – writer/director Adrian Chiarella does an excellent job making an admittedly tough concept work so well. And without wasting time.
OK, there are a few logical slips involving just what the doppleganger can and can’t do, yet it’s hard to carp too much when a film clicks this well, audibly scaring the bejesus out of the preview audience members who crammed into Cinema 8 at the Nova last Friday.
They all screamed and yelped at precisely the right moments. It was beautiful.
Just hoping the film finds traction.
Let Us Pray.