Toy Story 4 - Please No More!

★★★☆☆

Toy Story series, being intentionally moral, optimistic and educational, has always been part of my good heartwarming memories. When I thought 'TS3' was a sad yet perfect wrap-up to the series, 9 years later, here comes 'TS4' out of the blue, which is, like the previous three, still fun and inspiring to watch but the ride starts to feel a lot familiar and a bit tedious nonetheless. There's no lack of tear-jerking moments like expected, but I don't think the series should go on and on repeating the successful formula from the first place by just adding some new characters voiced by some celebrities like this time Keanu Reeves. His voice impressive? Not really! His character crucial to the plot? Not at all!

'TS4' is overall watchable but of course not so fascinating and exhilarating as before because things in there seem to get inevitably routine and cliched as you know the story always goes like someone's lost or trapped, then the rescue and help, some pep talks along the way, plus some laughs and hard choices made, and in the end, everything is okay, everyone is fine. Don't get me wrong though. I have no problem with that. In fact, I think we should be more encouraged to check out stories like that so as to remind us human beings how indispensable it is nowadays to be loyal, loving, honest and kind to each other. Those toys have indeed taught us a lot. That, in this episode, you're not lost when you realize you can always make a difference to your life and others' no matter how small or insignificant you think you are! It's always up to you to make the choice though every choice has its price!

Toy Story series reflects the core values of a healthy society, and the bright side of human nature. It encourages the selfish to be the altruistic, the pessimistic to be the hopeful, the dishonest to be the sincere, the damaged to be the healed. Certain that we need such films to help us get through dark moments sometimes. It's just that 'TS4', as 'TS3' could have been a perfect end to the franchise, seems rather unnecessary and a bit mundane!