MOVIE REVIEW: TOY STORY 5

 

Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs get exponentially harder when they go head-to-head with a new threat to playtime.

Director: Andrew Stanton

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, Annie Potts, Bonnie Hunt, Melissa Villaseñor, Kristen Schaal, Keanu Reeves, Ally Maki

Release Date: June 19, 2026

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy

Rated PG for some thematic elements and rude humor.

Runtime: 1h 42m

Review:

Toy Story 5 shows that Pixar’s flagship franchise still possesses the emotional resonance and charm that made the original so special with this entry dealing with the encroachment of technology into childhood.  Andrew Stanton takes the reins behind the camera for this entry, delivering a visually impressive film that makes the well-known characters and the world they inhabit pop onscreen like never before.  The level of detail on display with each shot is truly staggering as each character and scene offers up a feast of visual treats.  There’s a noticeable pop in this entry that makes sequences like a battalion of high tech, fluorescent, Buzz Lightyears marching in a dark forest instantly memorable.  Stanton utilizes a watercolor flourish for scenes that occur in the children’s imagination as they play with the toys which brings a certain vibrancy to those moments.  Visual wizardry aside, the story is still concerned with the original conceit of the meaning of childhood and how these toys help with the natural progression of growth.  The script deals with the modern incursion of technology into that sphere and how it accelerates children’s emotional growth at the expense of creativity and imagination.  Joan Cusack’s Jessie takes central stage here as she tries to fight off Greta Lee’s Lilypad who quickly takes over Bonnie’s life.  Cusack has always given Jessie an emotionally damaged energy which is further explored as the character is on the precipice of losing a third child, prematurely in this case.  It’s a spotlight for the character as we get a real sense of her deep drive and perseverance to help her child while also dealing with her own personal trauma, a reveal in the final act will have your eyes welling up and ultimately coming to terms with it.  She spends the lion’s share of her time with obsolete children’s tech played by Conan O'Brien’s Smarty Pants, Shelby Rabara’s Snappy and Craig Robinson’s Atlas.  The foursome share some wonderful chemistry together which makes it easier to overlook the fact that this entry has Tom Hanks’ Woody and Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear take more of a secondary role story wise.  Hanks and Allen do get moments for their characters to get their due but those looking for a story focused on their core relationship will probably be left wanting for more.  The story itself does a solid job of working through the issues of tech in modern children’s growth however, much like Toy Story 4, this entry feels more like another epilogue to the original trilogy. 

B

Movie Reviews: UP

Saturday, May 30, 2009
Movie Reviews: UP
IN THEATERS

UP

Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old balloon salesman, finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. From the Academy Award®-nominated director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.), Disney•Pixar’s “Up” invites you on a hilarious journey into a lost world, with the least likely duo on Earth. “Up” will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D in select theaters.

Cast: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger, Bob Peterson, Jordan Nagai, Delroy Lindo

Director: Pete Docter

Opened May 29, 2009

Runtime: 1 hr. 36 min.

Rated PG for some peril and action

Genres: Family-Oriented Adventure, Children's/Family

Review:

I can’t think of a studio that has a better and more impressive track record than the creative dynamo that is Pixar. Ourside of Cars, their weakest entry, each of their films have been excellent or just plain spectacular. Last year’s Wall-E was a marvel and an accomplishment that would make pretty much anything any thing else look very ordinary, even from Pixar. Up more than maintains those high standards and it also shows Pixar’s continued ability to tell incredibly heartfelt and emotional stories in an animated setting. With the opening of the film director Pete Docter takes us delicately through the main character’s life long love story and that handles weighty issues such as the couple’s inability to have children to the wife’s eventual death. The montage is told only with images and music but it’s done with such style and effectiveness that it’ll probably be the images you remember much later down the road. Once we are introduced to Carl Fredricksen, voiced excellently by Ed Asner, we feel the character’s loss and his loneliness. Asner does a wonderful job of conveying sincerity in his words in a way that it’s nearly impossible to not connect with Carl. Newcomer Jordan Nagai voices Carl’s stowaway 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell and does a wonderful job giving his bulbous shaped character an excellent sense of childlike innocence and naivety. Anser and Nagai work well off each other and their characters are perfect foils for each other; Russell is dealing with a similar sense of loss. Christopher Plummer rounds out the voice cast as the great South American explorer and adventurer Charles F. Muntz who inspired Carl and his wife Ellie as children. Muntz’s character is limited to the third more action oriented act but Plummer does a wonder job of giving Muntz a crazy Ahab sensibility. Pete Docter’s direction is well handled and the movie flows lyrically from scene to scene. The visuals are beautifully realized and are a real treat for the eyes especially if you see this in 3-D. The character design is sufficiently distinctive but you can’t help but feel like they borrowed some ideas from The Incredibles. Scripting is solid and the jokes and slapstick are fun if at times a tad predicable. Up really is another step forward for Pixar and their ability to tell a well grounded emotional story in fanciful setting in an enjoyable manner is simply unmatched.

A