Toy Story 5 (Movie Review)

Luke and Jackson review, Toy Story 5, written and directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to the Motion Picture Podcast. My name's Jackson, and today I'm here with my friend Luke. We are reviewing the new Toy Story, Toy Story 5. Toy Story 5. Toy Story 5. Toy Story 5 was directed by Andrew Stanton. Right?

SPEAKER_04 0:18

Yeah. Did he direct any of the others?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

I think he directed four. And it brings back all your lovable cast members, Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Rex, Potato Head.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

More minor than others.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Yeah. And some new faces, too, like Conan O'Brien as Smarty Pants and Greta Lee as Lillipad. So fun stuff. What'd you think of the film, Luke?

SPEAKER_04 0:46

You know, definitely not Toy Story 1 through 3. I don't even think I finish Toy Story 4. Holistically, I don't think this movie takes kids very seriously or thinks kids are intelligent enough to understand more complex things without a whole lot of exposition holistically. It did have some redeeming qualities. I'm sure we'll get into that. Um, but you know, not a home run for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah. Yeah, I think like Luke said, I felt like kids' movies nowadays definitely don't treat the children as intelligent. I mean, I think Minions is your best example of that. They just make some noises, ba-bah, and then the kids go crazy.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

So I think I think minions is uh an exception to that rule though.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Okay. Okay. Well, we'll have to review the minions movies and get your actual take. But I figured we could actually just go through the film and kind of talk through what we thought about it, where we thought it was going, what worked and what didn't work. So I guess spoilers moving forward, if you have not seen Toy Story 5, I'd recommend you go see it, make your own opinions, come up with your own thoughts. But let's get into it. So we open in this film on a beach, and a cargo ship has washed ashore with a bunch of Buzz Lightyears, and then all the Buzz Lightyears have this digitized plate on their chest that lights up, and they all wake up and then come together and they can barely talk for some reason. They struggle to make words, but they build a fire and then they see a star and they're like, Star Command, and then they build a raft and leave the island. What did you think of that sequence, Luke?

SPEAKER_04 2:43

You know, I think both the buzzes, we'll call them the buzzes in that sequence were my favorite parts of the movie. There was something about it, and I think there was a separate score for just the buzzes. Something about it just was, you know, they fell into sync. It was a lot, you know, really funny, especially, you know, all of them trying to figure out how to talk and you know what they were supposed to do. Um, but throughout the movie, you know, they became kind of a central theme throughout the movie, but very subtle until the very end. Um, but pretty funny part.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yeah, I really enjoyed the Buzz Army, and it was really nice to cut back to them throughout the movie, see what they were up to, because I thought their plot was far more interesting than whatever else was going on in this movie.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

Yeah, they I would have just gone for just that part.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Before we go further, I'd also like to inform the listeners of the fact that we were supposed to see Supergirl last night. We got to the theater and IMAX was 20 bucks per person, and there were four of us, and we really did not want to spend that much on Supergirl because to be honest, it looks pretty mid.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Yeah, so so if you're wondering why we didn't release Supergirl today, um that's the reason.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah. So we ended up in Toy Story, and we drove to a whole different theater for it, got some margaritas before, yeah, had a good time.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

It was like two hours before we actually saw a movie, yeah, after we're supposed to see Supergirl.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Anyway, I thought that was kind of a funny tidbit I'd throw in. Anyway, after the Buzz Army escapes the island, we go back to the toys, they're just chilling, doing their toy thing. Bonnie, the little girl they go to at the end of Toy Story 3, gets an iPad because she can't connect to other people. And then this is kind of where the plot kicks off. Um, I actually thought it was a really good idea to have this plot centered around tech, considering Toy Story 4 had kind of a lackluster plot and didn't really make sense for the franchise. I felt like That's fair. I felt like this one kind of was more of an original idea that fit with the other three.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

I'd say it definitely related to current events and probably related to kids and adults now and parents in general, more than like you said, Toy Story 4 and you know, some other move like kids' movies and premises. I don't know if I would have agreed with maybe the cash grab of doing a Toy Story 5, but the premise was on point.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Well, they always say they're done making Toy Stories and then they've made three since they've started saying that, so or two, I guess. They said they were gonna stop after three, and they've made two more. Yeah. But anyway, I thought it was a pretty good idea for a plot. I just don't think it was executed the best. It felt very not well planned out, I guess. It felt very um like okay, this happened to these characters, let's cut to the other characters and see what they're up to.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Yeah. Um it felt like it felt like they were trying to recreate some of the plot points, plot beats of the other um movies, you know, especially like them trying to get back to their owner or their is that what they call them, their their kid. Um, them trying to get back to their kid, um, you know, one of them or two of them getting separated, um, another toy taking over. You know, it felt like a lot of the plot beats were the same from other toy stories, just kind of uh shaped in a different way, and shaped to highlight, I think you had said highlight other characters. Don't know if it was executed as well as they intended.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, yeah. Now that you say that, the movie was definitely focused on Jesse's character, who has been in all the movies, minus the first. And she's been a very important character to the franchise. I felt like we've already treaded that ground of she was abandoned in the other movies, and so going back to that and kind of having that theme or having that story as the central plot of this movie, it felt like we were just kind of retreading old ground. Um and it felt like that was just shoehorned into going along with the iPad plot. What did you think about that?

SPEAKER_04 7:15

I I definitely agree. It was weird that they brought that up and you know, felt like they're trying to bring closure to it, but you know, the the target audience of this movie probably barely has seen the first Toy Story, so they wouldn't have necessarily needed the type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

I mean, the target audio, the target audience is just going goo-goo gag ass, so yeah, they they probably don't even remember who Jesse is, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

Yeah, I mean, I guess we'd be the target audience for that type of closure, and I didn't feel the kind of closure.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah, it was like it was weird because it reopened that story and didn't really do much with it other than made it more muddled and confusing.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

Yeah. And you had you had a thought too, they had kind of at the end, they revealed that at that tire swing wherever Jesse was left or whatever from her flashbacks from the first or second movie. Um they revealed at the end that there was a lunchbox, and in the lunchbox was like memorabilia from her old owner, Emily, and Emily had actually had a daughter named her Jesse, and I think you had said it seemed like, and it I felt that too. It seemed like they were trying to hint that like Emily's daughter died, yeah. Jesse, and it seemed pretty dark.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yeah, that was a weird um conclusion to that story. I thought it was a very strange choice, yeah, to include that tidbit. But going back to kind of how the plot is going, the kid the toys obviously have conflict with the iPad because Bonnie becomes addicted to it, becomes a zombie. The iPad hates the toys because the iPad thinks it's helping Bonnie. The toys rebel. They randomly bring in Woody, which Woody had nothing to do in this movie other than being old and worn out.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Yeah, and they they really just made fun of Woody the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Yeah. And then Buzz was reduced to a bumbling sidekick.

SPEAKER_05 9:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I know he's gotten dumber over time. Like in every movie, he gets dumbed down, but this was probably his not lowest point, but most evolved into that kind of dumb archetype sidekick he's ever been.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Yeah, it it was really unnecessary to make him like a bumbling idiot and just really fawning over Jesse the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah. I will say that was most of where the comedic relief for this movie came from were those moments. Yeah. But it felt so out of character for him because his whole shtick in the first couple movies was realizing he was a toy, but realizing his purpose was still to be there for Andy.

SPEAKER_04 10:09

Yeah. I think back on the Woody piece, what really frustrated me about that piece was kind of trying to ruin a legacy character of the movie that the franchise was built on. Um, and and it feels like this movie was really trying to promote Jesse as this, you know, all-inspiring protagonist. Yeah. And it was really forced on the audience, and it was forced on the audience in a way that it it had to bring other characters down in order to promote this specific protagonist. So Buzz, for instance, turned into a bumbling idiot who's just fawning over, you know, this glorious protagonist, and Woody is this washed out, bald loser whose bald spot actually blinds everybody, like in SpongeBob.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yeah, I I really enjoyed that nod back to the SpongeBob movie. Yeah. I wonder if it was a nod.

SPEAKER_04 11:08

I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:10

It was a little overdone though.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah, they kept going back to it. Bald, bald, bald, my eyes. But yeah, I agree with you. You said it really well. They made Jesse the protagonist at the Definitely at the expense of characters of ever other of other characters. Exactly. Um But anyway, of course, the toys they get separated. Jesse goes to some other kid's house, incidentally, where Emily is, or Emily used to live.

SPEAKER_04 11:48

And Emily was um Jesse's old owner.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

With bullseye, kind of like she was trying to go with Bonnie to a sleepover, something happened. This old couple brought them to where Emily's house was because she had the riding on her leg or something.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

Yeah. Which is weird that they didn't mention that in any of the other movies. It was just convenient.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah, that was very convenient. But but anyway, they end up at the house, they meet these weird characters, they meet more strange characters, they meet the Conan O'Brien character who I didn't realize was Conan O'Brien, my favorite late-night host until later. So, but he he was relatively funny. He was like this potty character that helped train children to use the bathroom. Yeah. And he had some pretty weird scenes.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

Yeah, some were some seemed like very much in innuendos. Yeah. And it was a little on the on the nose with them. Yeah. It it seemed out of I don't know, out of place. It was like either all the jokes in the movie were, you know, numbless, mindless jokes that weren't really funny, or they were kind of those jokes that were just like I I doubt kids even get that.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah. I I appreciated those jokes, but compared to the rest of the movie, they were so painfully out of place. Yeah. It was very odd and jarring.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

Yeah. But and this was they they actually had their first swear word.

unknown 13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Or almost swear word. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the hippo phone got cut off.

SPEAKER_04 13:21

Yeah. Which these, for context, in the movie, you know, when she stumbles upon these the potty toy, I don't know what it's called. Oh, Smarty Pants. Smarty pants. You know, Smarty Pants is in shambles, and he's kind of also part of the legacy electronics. So there's like toys that were abandoned, and then the electronics, like the initial wave of them, and now they're abandoned, and so they're also helping the toys all against the tablets.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah. Yeah, I thought they were fun additional characters to add in the movie. They didn't hurt it or anything. I thought they were fun to pair along with Jesse and Bullseye.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

Yeah, it was interesting. And maybe they definitely painted the picture well, the ongoing rise and fall of toys, like even as popular as an electronic will get. And maybe even tablets would be the same way. I don't know if that's true or not, but really at a high level, you know, painting some universal truths. So that is a positive about it.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, it was interesting to remember that things are forgotten over time and things are just things. You can't take that with you. So that was an interesting theme in the movie. And going back to the Buzz plot, all the Buzz groups, we cut back to that plot throughout the movie, and it kind of shows them on their journey. But more specifically, there's this amazing scene where they're walking through the woods, and this is after they had hijacked a crane. Yeah. And we thought they were about to commit some terrorist act, but they really just wanted to see the night sky above the clouds.

SPEAKER_04 15:04

So yeah, they were trying to find Star Command.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah. Anyway, later on, they're walking through the woods and they hear some people coming, so they all climb this tree, and then one of the buzzes gets his leg stuck under a branch, and the other buzzes are mortified, and they look at him and he's like shaking his head, and then one of the buzzes starts to go down for him. Another buzz grabs that buzz's arm and then shakes his head, and then he gives him a thumbs up, and then they climb up the tree. For some reason, that was so funny. Yeah, that was amazing. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

That was yeah, so much raw emotion and and just a head nod.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah. But they climb up the tree, the kid finds Buzz, brings him with him. The Buzzes actually are hostile and get a bunch of knives and things and put out the campfire, and are actually gonna plan to kill this family, but then they see their buzzes like really enjoying being with this kid. Yeah. And so they leave. And then they find out Jesse exists and they go search for her because she's wearing a star, which was very convenient that the picture of Jesse appeared on their phone.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

Well, it was like was a bit of a stretch, but you know, it's a kid's movie. Um, like the the group of electronics, the legacy electronics, use their electronic systems. One was a camera, yeah, the other was a GP Hippo GPS, and the other was the the toilet one. And apparently the toilet one's connected to the other. No way, the toilet one.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Yeah, it's like poop map, dude. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:41

And so he was able to actually upload these photos across all all lily pads across the country apparently had access. No, there's no way. There's some some sort of server that they're able to upload. So they use the uh the family's iPad that was sitting on the picnic table to see that Jesse was, I think, located. They've they found her using the search.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

That's something that really bothered me about this movie, is there there are so many plot conveniences in kids' movies that make no sense, and they don't even try to hide their shame in making these plot conveniences.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

Yeah, I don't remember them doing this in the the other toy stories either.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

I don't think they did. It's just super frustrating.

SPEAKER_04 17:23

They really rely on in these, a lot of times they rely on like a misunderstanding of technology and how it actually works.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

And and maybe we just didn't have that advance of technology back then to have things to say this would be what we would rely on.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

But it doesn't really make sense a lot of the tools they use.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah. Anyway, there's that scene we cut back to Buzz and Woody, they've teamed up, Woody's come back from hiding. Woody reunites with everyone. Buzz and Woody fight the tablet. They originally unplugged the tablet, and then it's kind of interesting because when the electronics are low on charge, they act drunk or high.

SPEAKER_05 18:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

And so that was really weird. Especially Smarty Pants was acting drunk when he was first introduced and stumbling everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Yeah, I I like the part where they were plotting against the tablet, like they were about to torture the tablet.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

And they use the uh Bonnie's lizard to use this L C D screen. Yeah, because it was uh because the lizard has, I guess, recognizable. And so they're they're tapping on it, and then the iPad wakes up and freaks out, and then they find out they can use Siri on the iPad.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Yeah, or Lily because it's called Lily.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah, there's a pretty funny scene with that. Um, and then I don't remember, man. Somehow they like go after Jesse, they figure out where she is.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Um what happened was they um when they're doing the hey Lily, and then she's like fighting back to not respond, but she has to respond, they get her to essentially upload the photo or whatever to all electronics, and it uploads to the printer, and then it prints out um a picture of where Jesse is at, and then the the Roomba shreds it. The Roomba shreds it, which doesn't make any sense. It was like really fast too. Yeah. But I don't remember where or how they ended up finding it.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

I don't know, man. I guess. Oh, wait, didn't Bonnie want to Yeah, Bonnie wanted to go get him, and I guess Woody and Buzz get on the car. And then we have that whole scene, and then this is where, in my opinion, the movie actually gets pretty interesting, the whole third act, because the Buzzes actually meet up with the rest. They're actually like torturing Woody after they find Woody. They have him hung by a string and are lowering him into a pig's mouth.

SPEAKER_04 20:03

Yeah, well, they they come out of because whenever and part of the backstory is that you know Bonnie, because all her friends, like all the friends she was trying to make, had iPads, and so they're kind of cyberbullying her, and so she was kind of ostracized from that group, and when they were trying to the toys trying to communicate with her to get her to get um Jesse and Bullseye from this other family's house, so she to gets her mom to take her to there, and then I guess she ends up feeling like she it would only be cool with using the iPad, so she leaves Jesse and Bullseye there, and that's where kind of the story picks up with the buzzes. And whenever she leaves, then I think the group of them are there, and then all of a sudden, I think Woody has all these lasers on him, and then the buzzes emerge out of the bushes, they're like camouflaged.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah, yeah, and then they're torturing Woody. The OG buzz is with them, he saves Woody, he tells them that their star is here and it's Jesse, and they need to break into the stronghold, and he explains to them they're just toys, and then they're like, But we need to eliminate Zerg, and then he goes, Oh, by the way, Zerg's our dad. And then all of them fall to their knees.

SPEAKER_04 21:26

That's probably the funniest part of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

They just start wailing and crying.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

He like he he didn't even like make it a big part. He was just like, Oh, yeah, by the way, guys, Zerg's our dad.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah. That was amazing. Anyway, they break into the house, they have some funny buzz scenes where they're having to like hide on the walls and things.

SPEAKER_04 21:50

The the military the like the military complex going through.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Jesse's like um very upset about being abandoned by Bonnie now because Bonnie rejects.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

Yeah, and so she goes up to the tree. So she's on the way to that hill with the tire swing, and that's where we talked about the lunchbox.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:08

Which is like she doesn't really need to be rescued.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

So it's more of a story about trying to get back to Bonnie.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

Who Bonnie can't make up her mind.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Sorry to interrupt. No, you're a good man. That was a good tidbit. Anyway, in the room they go up to where Jesse was after she leaves, there's a ton of horses on the shelf. And the Buzzes are like, look at the horses and they're like, oh, let's ride those. And so they ride those over the hill. It's actually really funny. It's a really well done scene. And they go to save Jesse and they're all on these horses. And then we have a really funny scene where Buzz the whole movie is like in love with Jesse, the original Buzz, and he's like, I'm gonna propose to Jesse, which honestly doesn't really make any sense. Like, why would two toys get married?

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Yeah. I mean, he had been in love with her since like Toy Story 2, right? Yeah, I think so. At least two. Yeah. I think so.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

But anyway, there are some funny things where all the buzzes get on their knees because they're bowing down to Jesse because she has a gold star, and he's like, No, no, buzzes. Yeah. And he's like walking up, he's like, Jesse, you need to ask me a question. Wait, no. And then there's a whole funny dynamic, and Jesse dismisses him because she's like, Oh, we need to say Bonnie. Yeah, and then they connect back with the iPad. The iPad tried to get rid of itself. It jumped in a donation truck.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

That one was just that was a little dark. Yeah, that it realized what it had done to Bonnie, and then it saw the donation box, and it was like, it was like, I'm just gonna end myself here.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah, so it jumps in the donation box, and then the toys are like, wait, we need that to connect. Because now they have a plan to connect Bonnie with this other girl that Jesse had been with, so they could be friends.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Yeah, because the owner, the the new owner's daughter of Emily's house, which all a confusing canon string. Um, she had also been a victim of not cyberbullying, but like her friend on the her laptop skipped out on their sleepover, I think. And so they're trying to you know get them together.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

But anyway, Jesse recruits all the buzzes, they go save Lillipad. Turns out the buzzes have drone capabilities.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Yeah, and uh was it the Lillipad scanned their QR codes and then upgraded them?

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah, they get activated and then they start flying. That was pretty wild. I didn't expect that.

SPEAKER_04 24:48

Yeah, because they're all on this truck that's like going 100 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah. But anyway, they decide we're gonna use the buzzes to get out of here, and so they grab all the horses, grab all the characters, and so they're able to escape, but then there's this really funny scene where Buzz is like, Jesse, wait, and then they meet up in front of this tunnel, and this truck is coming, and he's like, I don't even know what he was saying. It was really funny. He was like, I need to ask you a question or something. He was being really fruity. He was like, Will you may and then they kiss or something? Jesse like kisses him and then his leg sticks up. Yeah, it was it was really funny. I probably didn't do it justice, and it was probably cringy hearing me say it.

SPEAKER_04 25:41

But yeah, you'll just have to go watch it for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Yeah, you'll have to go see it for yourself. They fly away, and then Buzz is like staring at her as he's flying back. It's pretty funny. Yeah, but then they they go back, they get Bonnie and the girl united at Bonnie's house. Turns out they're best friends, so that's good.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

Or they became best friends in the end.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Buzz gets to marry Jesse in some weird animated sequence, yeah, where they had reversed reversed roles. Yeah, I didn't enjoy the animation of that sequence. There was another one in the movie, it just kind of felt, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

Yeah, so there's a central not theme, but technique used in the movie that's kind of new in this movie where when the child is playing with the toys, instead of having a cut scene where it's them in like I think in the third movie they're all in the wild west. It's more like two-dimensionally animated. It's and kind of like a uh a painted scene.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, it's very dreamlike.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

Yeah, which I don't I don't think I enjoyed. I like the Toy Story 3 version.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah, with the train.

SPEAKER_04 26:47

Yeah. That that seemed more imaginative. This one seemed very two-dimensional, the way that it painted their creativity and imagination, and it made it seem you know very surface level.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah, it seemed very lazy on the animator's part.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Yeah. But in that scene, that scene was actually really funny despite some of the things.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:09

Um I don't remember what Buzz was saying.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah, it was a very comical scene. Buzz came in, he was wearing like a kilt or something. And it was he was being walked down the aisle, and I was like, Was Forky walking him down the aisle? Yeah, Forky. Forky had a very funny movie. He married some knife that didn't have all their marbles.

SPEAKER_05 27:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

And at one point he said, I really love her, but this is gonna be a rough marriage. And that was really funny to me. I don't know why he said that, but it was just out of the blue. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:44

Anyway, going back to the uh I think he was unhinged in uh the fourth movie. Probably.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

I think so. Anyway, they get married, Buzz is says something funny, probably, and then the Triceratops comes in and is like, Buzz has been married three times. What are we doing? Yeah, it's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_04 28:07

That was kind of breaking the fourth wall.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Yeah, it was surreal. And then the movie kind of ends, Woody leaves, which is frustrating because he should have never been separated from the toys in the fourth movie, which he never should have been separated in toy at the end of Toy Story 4, but it's whatever. He leaves, the toys kind of have a happy ending.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Oh yeah, he just goes off with Bo Peep Bo Peep again. Yeah, he's just another plot convenience.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Yeah, uh his inclusion in this movie was kind of pointless, to be honest. It would have made more sense if he hadn't been in this movie.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

And they don't really explain what he's been doing, they kind of hint at him helping lost toys.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Yeah. I think that's what he was doing. Which in my opinion, it's kind of like would he really? Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

Yeah. I don't know. He was kind of but I didn't I didn't see the end of the fourth movie, so maybe he had a character arc.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

This just goes back to my point that there should only be three toy stories. But anyway, that being said, I feel like the movie was pretty mediocre. We just went through the plot, wasn't amazing. I thought the plot idea was pretty good for the technology being versus the toys and very relevant to today.

SPEAKER_05 29:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

But in my opinion, it was just kind of pointless to continue using these characters. And unfortunately, everyone sounds very geriatric in this movie, all the voice actors.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

Yeah, it's interesting because it's been like 20 years, 25 years since the first movie, right? When did the first movie come out?

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Was it like that 1997 or 99? Yeah, even maybe even 95 or 94.

SPEAKER_04 29:51

30 years since the first movie.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

And and some of these actors, voice actors show it a bit.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

It made me sad. Like Jesse's voice actor when she started speaking, I was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

Yeah, Joan Cusack.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Yeah, she sounds really old. And then even like I know they're old, but Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, they had moments where I was like, ooh.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

Yeah, Tim Allen I felt like held up a little better than Tom Hanks.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:19

But yeah, Tom Hanks seemed like you could tell. Yeah. And then like Mr.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Potato Head and the T-Rex, they sounded ancient.

SPEAKER_04 30:28

Yeah, they did, but they didn't have a lot of lines.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah, I think that was for a reason.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

Was Ham in this movie? Or was he a background character? I think he was in the movie. He was in the movie, he was a background character. I don't even think he said anything.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Slinky sounded horrible. Yeah, he sounded like a smoker. He sounded so bad. Yeah. They I think they didn't give them much speaking roles for a reason. They sounded horrible.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

And it just made me sad. Like they're literally gonna work these people in these roles until they die.

SPEAKER_04 30:59

Yeah, it I mean, I wouldn't call it working. I'd probably say it's a cash grab for all. Yeah. I wonder how much they got paid for this. I don't know. Probably a few million. It's probably a pretty easy gig. Not an easy gig, I shouldn't say that.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

But probably a good it's probably not as challenging as being in front of a camera, but I do think there's an art to voice acting.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

Yeah. Yeah. So I take it back.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

And you have to be you have to be very emotive, and they have to sync up the animated character to your emotions and facial expressions. Yeah. And so I think you have to be very emotive when you're like talking into the mic.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

So yeah, which all these I mean, all of these actors are very emotive. So Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, all of them are very, very emotive.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Yeah. Tom Hanks, especially, he has a ton of inflection in his voice. Yeah. He can tell a cool story about how his character's feeling just through his voice.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

Yeah. Yeah. I I wish he got more, like, even though he he sounded worse, I wish Woody got more screen time in this.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah, I'd agree. How did you think this movie worked thematically?

SPEAKER_04 32:07

I'd say the I know we talked about the premise and theme. I felt like it had a solid theme, at least from a it had a solid theme from the dangers of technology for children. Yeah. And and I think it really drove that well, but it it tried to do another theme too, where it was also like getting abandoned by your or maybe maybe the plot device device or execution was getting abandoned by their owner. But like I didn't feel like that was as the the abandoning by their kid w was just something that was you know used over and over throughout the movies, and so it felt like they were trying to do two different themes at once.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

I feel like these movies always have heavily favored nostalgia and leaned into that in a sense of purpose and maybe not being as useful as you once were, which is true to life. I mean, yeah. I've read a book before, I'm forgetting the title, but kind of talks about how you're at the top of your game in your younger years, and then as you get to your middling and older years, you have to redefine in your older years what your purpose is and what you're going to be pursuing because you're not at the top of your game anymore. I feel like that's reflected really well in these movies as these toys are redefining hey, what's my purpose here? What am I doing here? My original person has grown out of playing with me, yet I supported them through their journey. I think Toy Story 3 did this really well whenever Andy aged out of being a child. Their new purpose was shifted to making Bonnie happy, and I guess they could keep redoing that idea over and over again, but I don't know. I feel like that was such a perfect ending to this series. You mean Toy Story 3? Yeah, Toy Story 3.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

Yeah. Well, it felt like with the fifth movie, you know, they're really not able to give up on Bonnie, which it's like, you know, the in Toy Story Three, like you were saying, they found a new purpose, but it doesn't feel like in here in this movie they're able to really either move on, but maybe they don't want to accept the challenge to move on. But it feels like they always want to be toys. And at least Woody, you know, for the old man they turned him into, Woody was able to find a new purpose, and it was outside of you know being a conventional toy. Yeah, absolutely. What what uh you know major themes do you think it was trying to drive home?

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Yeah, definitely this this theme of what I was saying of purpose is always transparent in these movies. I think there were also themes of growing up and adolescence, like how technology is forcing kids into that prematurely. I thought that was an interesting theme.

SPEAKER_04 35:11

I felt like to that point it had a lot of great themes on you know the social interactions of kids and warning against that. And it did make me a little sad thinking about like that is how our society is because of you know tablets and iPads. And I mean, it was a power still a powerful message.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Yeah, and I think it's dangerous going forward. All these kids as they grow up, they're gonna lack that social foundation of being able to operate in the world. Yeah, whenever they get into adulthood and their older years, it's gonna be a painful transition, I think, for them to interact with generations older than them, and also just picking up on social cues and interacting with people.

SPEAKER_04 35:59

Yeah, no, totally.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

But how do you feel about the animation?

SPEAKER_04 36:05

Did you like it? I feel like you know, it's gotten to the point where the animation is so detailed that it's almost like looks like reality. Yeah, and it's I don't know if I like that as much. I think this was Pixar's most expensive movie of all time. Really? Yeah, there was like even details on the cabinet where it looked like distressed wood. Um I I just don't you know, even the toys, the toys looked less like toys. Like they like Jesse's face seemed almost like perfect, less like a toy and more just yeah, like you said, like perfect. Yeah. And maybe it was just Jesse. I think even Buzz seemed a little like toned down a bit.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Yeah. I think they need to work on the fact that these toys are being played with roughly for years. So they're gonna have scratches and stuff on them. I don't understand why they didn't have any marks or blemishes other than Woody, who had balding spot.

SPEAKER_04 37:01

Well, maybe in Toy Story Six. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Yeah, not again. They should make the Toys meet up with the minions in Toy Story Six and then they serve Zerg.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

Yeah, they're in the same universe.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Did you ever see that Buzz Lightyear movie?

SPEAKER_04 37:20

No, no, with Chris Evans?

SPEAKER_01 37:22

No, yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_04 37:24

Was it good?

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Uh it was very unnecessary. Why didn't Tim Allen play Buzz Lightyear? He had been cancelled at that point. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_04 37:32

Like just from society?

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah, he probably did something.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

But he's uncancelled for this? Yeah, he's uncancelled. Was Chris Evans upset that he didn't get this role?

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Um, I don't know. I I doubt Chris Evans cares. He's too busy doing Marvel.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Yeah. Well, is this like the multiverse of Toy Story? So it's Buzz of Earth 617 versus Buzz of Earth 983.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_04 37:57

We have too many multiverse stories now. Yeah, it's like every franchise has a multiverse. I I would watch the multiverse of Toy Story. They're gonna have to do that after this.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

I mean, there's no more stories I don't think they can do anything else with these characters. You don't think they could do a multiverse?

SPEAKER_04 38:16

That would be so dumb. Yeah. Lotto. Lotto's a nice guy in the other one.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Yeah. They bring back Sid. Yeah. He's like the protagonist.

SPEAKER_04 38:28

Yeah, Sid's like an educated PhD.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

I wonder what Sid's up to nowadays. That's a good question. Wasn't he a trash man? That's what I heard.

SPEAKER_04 38:38

Yeah, they tried to make him into a trash man. Or he was wearing the shirt.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah. I'm pretty sure he was a trash man, Toy Story 3.

SPEAKER_04 38:45

Yeah, yeah. Sid, I think they showed his shirt. The guy with the trash guy was wearing a shirt. Yeah. The same skull shirt.

SPEAKER_01 38:52

Oh, I have an interesting thought that I was thinking about during the movie that I wanted to run by you.

SPEAKER_05 38:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

I had this thought that the generation, our generation that grew up on Toy Story, the effect it had on us seeing inanimate objects have emotions and feelings, how that had an effect on how we treat the things we own. Really? Yeah, so for example, I kind of have an issue where it's hard for me to throw away things. And I'm wondering if subconsciously it's because I grew up on Toy Story. And you can say the same thing about how Walt Disney did this with uh Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, how they made the animals and Bambi, they made the animals very characterized and emotive and human.

SPEAKER_05 39:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

And it that had an effect on the way people hunted for animals and or you can have pets now. Yeah, and a lot of like the organizations that protect animals, not that that's the only reason, but old yeller couldn't get made anymore. I know.

SPEAKER_04 39:58

And it's just it's I don't know if I'd promote another old yeller movie.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

I actually don't want another old yeller movie because I love dogs, but yeah, whenever a dog does die. But going back to my thought, do you feel that at all? Have you thought about that before? That the impact Toy Story has had on the way you interact with objects.

SPEAKER_04 40:23

I don't know. I don't know if I probably hold on to objects, maybe. I mean, do you mean like toys or do you mean just all objects?

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Just the way you treat things. Like, I feel like nowadays people well, this has always happened. People are so attached to their belongings and things, and they feel like that defines who they are, is what stuff they own. So I'm wondering if this movie or if this franchise, if anything, had an impact on that for humanity. Yeah, let me stew on that one.

SPEAKER_04 40:59

Okay. I don't know if I'm necessarily I don't think I was affected in that way, but maybe I was affected in a different way. And I think I was more imaginative, you know, when I was a kid, and maybe part of it was because of that movie. I think a lot of I think a lot of Disney movies made me a more imaginative kid. Yeah. In general. And as I, you know, got an iPad and a phone later on, I became a you know, a shell of my imaginative self. Yeah, now you're just a robot.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Yeah. You can barely interact with people.

SPEAKER_04 41:30

Yeah, no creative spirit over here. Yeah. He's just a blank wall, folks. Yeah. I just do my job and go home. He just lives in corporate. Yeah. Well, you know, as a whole, Jackson, I know we've gone through several themes, really covered most of this movie from a plot perspective, theme perspective, animation perspective, because you can't really talk about actual cinematography besides you know, animation. As a whole, what would you rate this movie?

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yeah. So I went back and forth. I think I'd rate it a two and a half out of five, which is I've I'd say fairly generous for what it was. I wouldn't say it was outstanding by any means. I mean, I grew up watching Toy Story and Shrek and Finding Nemo and other movies that I just think are so well made, and I just don't even understand how we can't get back to that.

SPEAKER_05 42:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

And even like more I know it was back in 2009, but movies like Ratatouille that are even newer are still so good and so rich in their storytelling. I just don't understand how we can't get back to that. I know we've had a few good movies like the new Puss and Boots movie, The Last Wish, or whatever that was called, was really good.

SPEAKER_04 42:51

Yeah, even like and Coco was a while back. Yeah, but like that movie was good. There's a few like really good movies, but not like a lot of them are just you know Disney slop now.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Yeah, and I just don't understand it's either the filmmakers just don't have respect for children anymore, or they there's some trend where they just don't feel as though children can pick up on a lot. But it bothers me a lot because we got a lot of good stories back in the day, and I just feel like that's something lacking for this generation.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

Yeah, I'd agree. I definitely agree.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

But how did you feel about the movie? Would you rate it?

SPEAKER_04 43:31

I'd rate it a 1.5. Okay. And I was thinking two because it had some redeeming quality with the buzzes. I really like the buzzes. And the third act was really good. Yeah, really like the buzzes. But compared, you know, compared to today's movies, maybe it's a three. Yeah, but I think the bar really has to be Toy Story one and two when you look at this movie. And compared to that, it you know, it falls completely short.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

Yeah, I'd agree. And that brings up the That I was looking at Letterboxd and people were glazing over this movie. It had tons of good reviews. I mean, I think it's rated over three on average. Really? And so I just it makes me sad that the bar is so low for kids' movies. Yeah. Just honestly, movies in general. People rate movies so highly now that aren't even that good. It makes me sad that people don't hold stories to higher standards and don't scrutinize movies more because I do think people deserve better than what we get.

SPEAKER_04 44:31

Yeah, definitely agree.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

But what would I assuming where you would place this in the Toy Story canon, but how would you rate this amongst the other Toy Story films? Would it be top, bottom, middle?

SPEAKER_04 44:45

You know, I'd say it's probably better than the fourth. I didn't really finish the fourth, so I don't really remember. Yeah. But the the fourth seemed unmemorable. Yeah. But it might be tied with the fourth. Okay. For last. Yeah. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 45:02

I'd agree with that. I'd probably go again, I haven't seen these movies in probably five to ten years. Yeah. So I hardly remember them. Well, I do remember them, but not specifically. So I'd probably go one, two, three, which are all both all three are actually pretty good. Yeah. One and two, especially, are fantastic movies.

SPEAKER_04 45:22

I feel like three faces some very more in-depth themes. Yeah. And it does it executes it really well.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Yeah, it's like we were saying earlier, three really puts them in the position of their purpose in life and not really confronts it. Whereas this movie kind of half confronts it. Yeah. Kind of re-treads old ground. So I'd go one, two, three, and then four, five are probably equal. Five's probably a little better than four. Four didn't really feel like a Toy Story plot. And I hardly remember even what it was about.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

It was about them trying to save uh Forky, that's Bork, I think. Uh-huh. Or maybe it was a Fork.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

I thought they were saving Bo Peep. Or they maybe meet Bo Peep.

SPEAKER_04 46:06

Yeah, I don't remember. It didn't seem like a It was weird that they made the plot around a character who's kind of new.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Yeah. It's hard because the best sequels usually justify themselves. And you can tell whenever there's a story that needed to be told that advances the character's development, advances where the plot is was needing to go. I just feel like the last two Toy Stories really fell flat and felt like DLCs almost of the main story. And they weren't stories that necessarily needed to be told for these characters to grow and develop.

SPEAKER_04 46:45

Yeah, they don't really add on to your understanding of the characters.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Yeah, because we already thought Jesse had resolved her bitterness in Toy Story 2.

SPEAKER_04 46:54

And she really had. It didn't make sense for them to rehash that.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yeah, because she is loved by Andy in that movie at the end. And so it was an interesting choice to rehash that and retread that.

SPEAKER_04 47:13

Yeah, but what I was thinking about was the Toy Stories create such a foundation, Toy Story 1 and 2 create a foundation with the central characters. And I understand if you don't want to, you know, give Ham, Mr. Potato, and Rex central roles in the movie, but they didn't really they didn't really try to foundationalize some of the new characters like the Hedgehog. Like they they they in Toy Story 3 they started with some great characters. I know they gave them great roles like the Hedgehog, and I think it was the horse, who is played by Jeffblum. I forget his last name. Jeff Goldblum. That would be crazy. Yeah. Um he'd be just spouting philosophical nonsense. Uh, but they don't really foundationalize those characters like the first two movies do. They they try to they try to recycle old characters without doing it with all of them.

SPEAKER_01 48:11

Yeah. I'd agree. They seem so much like background characters. What the first movie does so well is that Andy's room feels like an actual place, like a massive place. Like I feel like they're even like a little bigger in this movie than they usually are. Yeah. Because they're like running around Andy's room. There's so much to do in there and see. Like the perspective of it. Yeah, and then the characters in there, it that room feels lived in. Like these characters feel like they're part of this room and part of this story in the first movie, and even the second and third, even though they kind of go outside and explore a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 48:51

I think part of what this movie does is it focuses too much on the humans, and that's why it gives it the perspective of that it's like the human's perspective. That's very true. And it gives almost too much screen time to the humans. It's like I didn't come to watch Toy Story to see humans, it's not human story, it's toy story.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

Because Andy was always part of the plot, but he was kind of this figure that they were striving towards to make happy, but it was their story, it was their interpersonal conflicts, it was what they were going through, Buzz and Woody's conflict.

SPEAKER_04 49:24

And a lot of times, even in the first Toy Stories, the adults or even humans like kids were kind of in the background, like you heard the footsteps, or you didn't even see all of their body.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Yeah. And like even Sid, who's an antagonist in the first movie, doesn't take up too much screen time or doesn't take away from he just kind of provides a plot device naturally that gets them separated and kind of gives Woody a reason to help Buzz or Yeah, yeah, that's fair. But yeah. Overall, good franchise. The last two movies have been sad. Hope they discontinue this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:05

Making these characters definitely go go re-watch one, two, and three. Yeah, the first trilogy is very good. Maybe this is just a reminder to watch those.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Yeah. Anyway, that pretty much wraps up our coverage on Toy Story 5. We hope you enjoyed listening. Luke, any closing remarks?

SPEAKER_04 50:27

You've got a friend in me.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

There you go, folks. There you have it. That wraps up Toy Story 5. We'll see you next time.