Famous Good Friends – “Toy Story 4” DVD Review

We know these heroes

Toy Story is simply a story about toys. In the first part of the series, they are owned by Andy, later Bonnie, the boy’s sister, plays with them. The most characteristic non-human heroes in the popular animation are: Woody the cowboy, the astronaut Buzz Lightyear, the dog Thin, Mr. Tuber, the pig Hamm, the shepherdess Bou and the dinosaur Rex. In Toy Story 4, fans of the series will meet several new characters whose creations influence the entire plot proposed by director Josh Cooley. These are i.a. Art (a plastic one, we use it for elegant consumption in fast-food, don’t you?), Gabi Gabi, Druh Wybuch, Kwaku and Bunio.

A reflective beginning

The film begins with memories of a few moments from Andy’s childhood, when the characters lived together in the boy’s family home. The featured events take place nine years earlier than the actual storyline of Toy Story 4. The beginning of the film can be considered extremely sad by the youngest. Known from the first animations of the series, the shepherdess Bou, the beloved cowboy, with her sheep leaves the house of Andy and Bonnie to bring joy to another child. Skinny, the boy’s favorite toy, gives up on love (he doesn’t run away from Bou) because he realizes Andy still needs him. This state lasts a long time, but eventually the human hero grows up. It quickly turns out that the cowboy is no longer so important to Bonnie. A girl prefers dolls or … Cutlery, a handmade toy. However, he does not fully understand what the relationship with the child is all about.

Meanwhile on the screen

There are four languages ​​to choose from on the Toy Story 4 DVD : English, Suomi (ie Finnish), Polish and Svenska (ie Swedish). On the next screen, Walt Disney offers us two options: quick start or the main menu. We don’t have much time to choose one (about 10 seconds), no choice means we want to start watching right away. Unfortunately, before we start screening, we need to look at another Disney production, ie. Onward ( Forward ). On the screen we watch the world in which fantastic creatures live. Dubbing is a very weak side of this production and viewers will notice this detail at the very beginning. Another advertising material is related to the film now reigning in cinemas. It is Disney’s Frozen II (Frozen ). Both of the displayed excerpts of the production have Polish subtitles automatically activated. Later, in the settings (we can find them in the main menu), we can specify the options we are interested in. Similarly – the language versions are the same (you can choose from: English, Finnish, Polish, Swedish), moreover, there is also a special option for the hearing impaired. For more demanding viewers, the so-called Maximizer where we can make sure our home theater has the correct settings (i.e. picture format and border, brightness, contrast, gamma correction and sound). On individual slides in this tab there are famous Disney heroes from such series as: The Incredibles , Monsters and Company , Long ago in the grassand Ratatouille , we can also easily recall them.

And a surprise on the menu?

In the main menu we can also watch the trailer (s). However, it has not been clarified what and … the unaware user of the album, instead of watching the Toy Story teaser, is forced to take a look at the previously mentioned Onward and Frozen II . In the last tab “special extras”, we can turn on the comments of the creators of Toy Story 4(only in English). Initially, we unconsciously start watching a movie and at the same time we listen to the story about the production. I am not convinced of such a solution – the viewer cannot focus on the plot (most of the characters’ dialogues have been muted, although production elements are revealed frame by frame), nor on the duet of Josh Cooley (director) and Mark Nielsen (producer). Only after a few minutes do we begin to understand that the 96 minutes of the film was accompanied by a commentary from the creators. I recommend a Toy Story 4 screening with a commentary after watching the original version, but I am not sure how many recipients will want to take a look at the film again, with the commentary of the creators, additionally in English.

We will not forget your votes

Toy Story 4 is a screening for the whole family. The video is fun and the ending is reflective. As this is probably the last movie in the toy series, viewers could expect a really good production. Indeed, the story that began in 1995 finds its conclusion after twenty-four years, and it does so in a big way. In the Polish version, we have the opportunity to hear, among others Robert Czebotar (Chudy), Łukasz Nowicki (Buzz Lightyear), Edyta Olszówka (Bou Peep) and Julia Kamińska (Gabi Gabi). Unfortunately, here too I find a certain technical nuance – while the names Woody and Gabi Gabi (Gabby Gabby) have been translated, the shepherd girl Bou is according to Bou Peep’s inscriptions. An interesting fact is that the name of the producer, Mark Nielsen, with whom the interview was made available on DVD, for example, it does not appear on Filmweb (next to John Lasseter and Galyn Susman), while on imdb.com it is in second place, right after Pete Docter. By the way, John Lasseter had resigned as co-director of the production a year earlier, leaving Cooley the sole author of the film.

A few words at the end

Toy Story 4 is a successful production. The youngest viewers will surely like it, and their parents – especially those who know the previous parts – also have a chance to have fun in front of the TV. Despite the aforementioned technical nuances, the DVD release is prepared correctly and, more importantly, comes with an interesting addition. The youngest will surely like the album, so it is worth investing in it.